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niklasluce39-blog · 6 years ago

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On-line Mp3 Cutter

As Wes Phillips not too long ago reported on this web site , CD gross sales are down and legal downloads of audio files are up. Stereophile has been criticized greater than once for not paying enough attention to the topics of MP3 and other compressed file codecs, equivalent to AAC , and for FLAC to MP3 Converter offering no steering in any respect to readers about learn how to get the best sound high quality from compressed downloads. In contrast to the software program, FLAC to MP3 converter you should use online FLAC to MP3 converters as in case you are in a good community environment, ignoring the OS differences. convertio is a free online FLAC to MP3 converter that is simple to make use of. The performance of the device is terrific. The device has a simplified design for easy conversion. One can be required to sign up an account to get the converted file and use extra options. convertio is a free on-line FLAC to MP3 converter. " icon after which drag and drop any music file or playlist from Spotify to Sidify Music converter. Test the music that it's good to convert and then press "OKAY".

Nonetheless, gear is bar-none the easiest way to improve the standard of your sound. Equipment is like the engine and ignition elements of your car - audio format is like the brand of gasoline you utilize. Sure, it can make a distinction, however provided that you go out of your solution to actually use something that's unhealthy. In any other case, it is insignificant within the bigger scheme of issues. Would you pay $zero.20 extra a gallon if Shell guaranteed its fuel improved the power output of your car by 0.08%, and also you needed to go to a special fuel station to get it? No - not unless you are the lead engineer of an F1 staff. That's what lossless audio high quality is - it is the last little bit you can squeeze out of a near-excellent setup. The default profile can have a bitrate of 192 kbps, however you'll be able to click the Profiles button and create a brand new profile. FLAC to MP3 Converter allows you convert FLAC to MP3 Audio. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format much like MP3, however lossless, which means that audio is compressed in FLAC with none loss in quality. Now you may enjoy the versatile audios on your MP3 Participant wherever and whenever. Simple settings, high speed, and pleasant interface. Now, simply select your preferred technique to obtain the converted file and click on on Convert" to upload and convert. If you happen to didn't chosen any particular technique to receive the information, you'll be provided a Download" button once the recordsdata are converted. Unlimited video downloading and changing to MP3. MP3 FLAC Converter is an greatest FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) Audio Converter. It could actually convert MP3 to FLAC audio codecs. Key options: Batch-convert limitless FLAC files within the quick and easy setup interface; Multithreading are supported and the more information you change the quicker. Sound Normalizer is the potential for growing the volume achieve of every aac file, thereby avoiding that some aac recordsdata sound too low, whereas others have peaks of very high volume; obtain aacgain song normalization aac normalisieren freeware. Like MP3 earlier than it, FLAC has been embraced by the music industry as a cost-effective method to distribute CD-or-better-quality music, and it doesn't have the auditory problems of MP3s. FLAC is lossless and more like a ZIP file - it comes out sounding the identical when it is unzipped. Beforehand the only approach to get "lossless" information was via the uncompressed CD formats CDA or WAV, however neither is as space-efficient as FLAC. If you choose MP3+FLAC from the encoder settings of your VAULT, the MP3 recordsdata are stored in a separate folder so usually are not listed. 4) Burn the WAV recordsdata to a CD. Trim mp3 tracks and other audio recordsdata on-line with out putting in complicated software program on your machine. Those who manage their music library with iTunes nonetheless can't use Ogg Vorbis or FLAC in that software; ditto for Algoriddim Djay. Pioneer Rekordbox did not list assist for Ogg both. FLAC to MP3 Converter Free means that you can convert audio information from FLAC to more helpful and common MP3 format.

AAC - Advanced Audio Coding, also referred to as AAC, is similar to MP3, although it's a bit extra efficient. Meaning you can have files that take up much less area, but with the identical sound high quality as MP3. And, with Apple's iTunes making AAC so fashionable, it is virtually as broadly suitable with MP3. I've only ever had one system that couldn't play AACs properly, and that was a couple of years in the past, so it's pretty exhausting to go mistaken with AAC either. If, for example, you've bought some music in FLAC format, and need to listen to them in iTunes, use XLD or one of many different programs to convert them to Apple Lossless; since both codecs are lossless, you may have precisely the same information in the ensuing recordsdata. (Converting from one lossless format to another does not result in any change in high quality.) And you will retain any metadata within the original files as effectively.

Regardless that this window says Import Settings, it is where you select the settings to convert files. Convert online videos from 1,000 well-liked websites to MP3 with ease. When compressed with losses a sound undergoes sure modification. For instance, the compression cuts the sound frequencies which can be inaudible for a human ear. When decoded, the file might be different from the unique in terms of data saved in it, however will sound pretty much the identical. How one can convert FLAC to Apple Lossless Audio Format has aggravated many users who wish to play FLAC audio files on Apple units. The FLAC-to-ALAC converter I introduce in this article will enable you to clear up this problem.

Okay, if the Online Audio Converter somehow wasn't quick sufficient for you, here is essentially the most streamlined version of all. Select a file, choose your MP3 output format, choose from four quality options, and convert. That is it. There's no room for personalization, cloud storage management, or anything, just click the following internet site pure conversion that's perfect for a few quick file changes. That being said, the web site does provide a free download of a far more complicated instrument on your desktop that we really like. If did not wind as a web pick, it might have in all probability made it in as one among our desktop selections.Wonderfox's Free HD Video Converter Manufacturing facility offers a pleasant, straightforward-to-use multimedia converter program totally free, supporting all kinds of audio and video formats, with options to transform them to nearly another format of an identical sort, with a variety of presets to make sure compatibility with a range of smartphones and different device-friendly codecs. Users can set the bitrate and backbone, configure the encoders used and tweak the body rates, sample rates, and audio channel settings. The app even includes a video downloader for ripping internet movies. The free version limits you as much as 720 HD settings, with 1080 Full HD, 4k resolutions, batch conversions, and other features accessible in premium model, HD Video Converter Factory Pro. Still, even with these limitations, it is an incredible package.

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letohost · 6 years ago

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Err… “DNS server could not be found” errors are most common when you try to visit some websites on Google Chrome. Don’t worry! You are not alone here!

More than 80% of internet users may have faced the issue with “DNS server could not be found” message which occurs when the Domain Name Server is not available.

So, why do we call it Unavailable?

There are a few possibilities that one of three things causing the error to pop up every time you try to reach some websites.

Either, the DNS address is not configured properly in your PC or it’s Invalid

The server at the address might be defective for some reason.

Or, it happens that the address is unreachable.

Without having more information about the particular “DNS server could not be found” error. We only assume the following methods mentioned in this article may help you to get rid of the disaster.

For instance, when you visit some websites the first that happens in the backend is the browser contacts the DNS server. Henceforth, the DNS lookup gets failed which results in nasty “DNS server could not be found” error messages.

When you pay a visit to a website, of course the website know about your visit but do you know you are also observable by the third party trackers used by the website.

You may be surprised to know that the majority of websites uses third-party trackers in order to collect information of the users such as geographical location, devices used to view the website and so on.

Although these trackers are somehow responsible for taking out your personal information. Moreover, these trackers cover millions of websites and the company behind them create massive data by combining data trackers collects from each site.

Now, you must be thinking why should we tell you that?

Unlike every other website you pay a visit, it keeps all your sessions during the visits. This is done through the use of “Cookies”. Although Google Chrome allows most of the website to load trackers or a few websites asks the user consent before it uses the cookies.

The “DNS server could not be found” issue might arise from here. This is due to because most trackers do not have an effective mechanism to opt out, therefore, when you visit a website that blocks the trackers and third-party trackers will eventually get blocked showing you “DNS server could not be found “errors.

Look at the below screenshot to know what we’re talking about.

In this article, we’ll find the fixes to the problems so that you do not have to worry about the “DNS server could not be found” again.

Or, there are two possible reasons

The DNS server is working but network connection can’t reach it

The DNS server is not working even if your network can reach it

If it happens to be any one of the following then, there might be a physical problem with the network, even a software problem with the interface causing this. A configuration problem with the network or a firewall blocking access.

Usually, you need to check the network configuration and later check the automatic repair function by clicking at the network icon.

If it isn’t helpful. Please read the entire post for resolving the “DNS server could not be found” error in a more advanced way.

Ensure you have updated the drivers

The reason why you are seeing “DNS server could not be found” error messages on your browser is due to the incorrect, outdated or corrupt drivers. Ensure that you have the latest driver installed in your system.

Manual driver update

In order to manually update your drivers, visit your hardware manufacturers website and search for the most updated version from the list. If you have a problem finding the correct drivers then, you can simply contact the manufacturers and get everything you need.

Automatic driver update

You can find tons of the easy to use automatic driver updater tool that scans your Pc and download the missing or outdated drivers for you. This is defiantly a better option for them who are not willing to download each driver. Plus, most of them you find them on the web are free!

Clear Chrome’s Host Cache

Apart from outdated driver issues chrome host cache corruption will prevent you from accessing the websites. Though you can make an easy fix to it you will need to follow some steps.

Step 1 Open Google chrome type in an address bar “chrome://net-internals/#dns

Step 2 Now press the enter key and message will be displayed on the screen stating something below in the screenshot.

Step 3 Now you need to click at the button saying “Clear host cache” next to host resolver cache.

Step 5 Assuming that you have completed the above steps now refresh the page and see if the issues are still persisting.

Delete the files in your ‘etc’ folder

Though this is another fix to the “DNS address could not be found” issue. Follow the below steps to make a fix to it.

Step 1 Browse through your ‘etc’ folder found in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc.

Step 2 Once you have found the exact folder. Attempt to delete all the files in it.

Step 3 Ensure that Google Chrome is closed down before performing the operation

Step 4 Now, open the Google chrome after you have finished with the following steps.

Step 5 Check the websites to see if the problem is resolved or not.

More Findings

If the error messages appear stating the “DNS address could not be found” means the browser is not able to find the Domain Name System. There is a lot of fix to it such as changing your DNS server.

The issue to “Server DNS address could not be found—3300” is due to the misconfiguration. In order to make a fix to this. Follow the below steps.

Step 1 Press the Windows logo + R (for the run command) from the keyboard.

Step 2 Go to the control panel

Step 3 Select the “Network and Sharing Center”

Step 4 Click on “Change adapter settings” from the left side of the screen.

Step 5 Right-click on the Local Area or Wireless Network Connection icon and Visit the properties.

Step 6 Now, you will come to know about the list of connection is using.

Step 7 Click on the “Internet Protocol Version 4” (TCP/IPv4)

Step 8 Once selected ‘Click on the properties” button.

Step 9 You will get a “General tab” then

Step 10 If “obtain DNS server Address automatically is not selected” then, check the box to select it. And click on the “Ok” button.

In case, if it is already selected then, select to use the following DNS server address instead and click on done.

Note: The Preferred DNS server should contain 8.8.8.8 along with than the Alternate DNS server should be 8.8.4.4

Know how to renew and clear your DNS

If you use a windows computer, windows stores the IP address of the websites you pay a visit. This is done for faster loading of the website you visit more frequently. The cache present is either corrupt or outdated but you can renew and clear it using the following steps mentioned below.

Step 1 Press the Windows + R key to bring out the Run box. Now, open “Command Prompt” using the combination of keys CTRL + SHIFT + Enter to open the command prompt in administrator mode.

Step 2 It may look a little tricky especially for non-tech savvy users but here, you have to type in ipconfig /flushdsns and hit the “Enter” key. This will allow wiping out the cache if it’s outdated or corrupt.

Step 3 Well, you’re done with flushing the DNS. Reboot the system in order to see the new affected changes.

Make use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

If you still have the server DNS addresses could not be found the error with some websites then, download and use a VPN service to resolve the issue. It is done to make access to some website forbidden by your ISP (Internet Service Provider).

If you are not sure which VPS service you should choose, you can always go for NordVPN used by millions of users on the web to make access to the blocked websites from the ISPs.

FAQs: –

What does it mean when you have a DNS error?

DNS error refers to as the connection to the network or internet access has been abandoned. Usually it the DNS error depicts that it is unable to look up the IP address for the domain you are accessing.

How do you fix a DNS error?

Flushing the DNS cache is the best solution to make a fix to the DNS error. If you are not sure how to do it. Please refer to the steps mentioned in the article.

What is a DNS address error?

DNS refers to the Domain Name System that translates the website address into IP address to connect. The DNS address error might be occurring due to DNS cache. Although flushing it using the command prompt may help. Or it could be the issue arising from your ISP. One possibility is that you’re trying to access an already downed server.

The post DNS server could not be found appeared first on Letohost.

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hunteralbum428 · 4 years ago

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Torrent Files For Mac

There are several computers and several operating systems. From these several operating systems, everyone wants to try the top ones. If you want to know which one is the top one so go ahead search which operating has the most users. After you do, you’ll definitely find that Mac and Windows are the two top ones. In this article, I’ll share download macOS High Sierra ISO, DMG, VMDK via Torrent Image.

Download Torrents For Mac

Torrent Sites For Mac Software

Mac Os Torrents

Torrents For Mac

Torrent Files For Mac

If we take a look at the Mac operating system, it has surpassed 100 million active users. By seeing these crazy amounts of users you can probably have an idea of how much useful and advanced operating system it is. The nice thing is, every year it receives a whole update with a new version of another operating system that will cover up another wave of useful features and apps requested by users.

Speaking of Mac operating system, another new version of macOS is now there. And that is macOS High Sierra. The macOS High Sierra is an enhanced plus more of unique features and options that make it perfectly effective. So let’s see what are macOS High Sierra features and its apps.

Download Torrents For Mac

Using torrents, you can quickly download movies, films and other files to your Mac. A torrent is a file with the file extension.torrent. This article will explain how to. For Mac Search for torrents and play them right in your browser. The fastest, easiest, most enjoyable way to get torrents, period. MacOS High Sierra ISO 10.13.6 (Torrent) – Here is the macOS High Sierra ISO file in Torrent. Click on the link and download it straightly. Once that’s with you, proceed with the installation. No need to take the backup of your files and documents beacuse there’s no risk in it at all. Alexa Rank: 301. Veteran torrent site The Pirate Bay, TPB for short, again leads the. A torrent client is a process, such as BitTorrent or uTorrent, that you are able to read your downloaded torrent, gather the torrent’s files, and start downloading the files onto your computer. If you are searching to download macOS Catalina torrent image, you have come at the right place.

Related: Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 DMG File – Direct Links

macOS High Sierra

macOS High Sierra is the next significant drop of the Mac operating system. It was announced on WWDC of 2017, and the name High Sierra refers to the High Sierra area in California. The macOS High Sierra is the successor of the macOS Sierra. In macOS High Sierra, Apple has replaced most of its features with complete new features in macOS High Sierra. One of the cool things about macOS High Sierra is that it doesn’t take too much place in storage which is very useful. You can install or upgrade on your Mac and download and install macOS High Sierra on your Windows PC also. So let’s see what features this new operating system has.

While there are more features than we can count on, but we’ll name a few such as Apple File System. Apple File System (APFS) replaces HFS plus the default file system in macOS for the first time with High Sierra. More features and updates are also on the line such as Photos, Mails, Safari, Notes, Siri, and Messages.

Now macOS High Sierra has an updated Photos viewer and editor which makes pretty easy for users to view or edit files. As well as, Mail is now more efficient and takes a huge less space than before. Safari has a new “Smart Tracking Prevention” feature that blocks third-party apps and services that track user activities. One more notable things is that Siri is now fast enough to make quick responses and quick actions naturally.

So when an operating system which has this much useful features, you would probably want to experience it. The only way to experience is to install macOS High Sierra on your computer. Now within computer, whether you’ve a Mac or Windows, you can definately install it. But before you need some files which we’ve covered up. While installing High Sierra is our subject, we’ll need to download High Sierra installer files. In addition to the simple and working files, we’re now providing a step further to only one forms but also in Torrent images. In this article, I’ll share download macOS High Sierra ISO, DMG, VMDK Torrent Image. The Torrent images include download macOS High Sierra ISO, macOS High Sierra DMG, macOS High Sierra VMware and VirtualBox. So take a look at below for the downloading of macOS High Sierra Torrent images.

Download macOS High Sierra Torrent Image – Latest Version

Download macOS High Sierra ISO File

An ISO file is an archive file that provides the same and alternative copy of data located on a physical or digital disc, like a CD or DVD. They are particularly used for backing up and instead of physical discs, or for sharing large files through burning to a visible disc. For downloading a torrent file, we need to install a Torrent program like UTorrent, BitTorrent or any other torrent program. Once you’ve installed it, download the file from here and open it with Utorrent and it will start the process. So let’s download macOS High Sierra ISO for VMware & VirtualBox.

macOS High Sierra ISO 10.13.6 (Torrent) – Here is the macOS High Sierra ISO file in Torrent. Click on the link and download it straightly. Once that’s with you, proceed with the installation. No need to take the backup of your files and documents beacuse there’s no risk in it at all. You can also delete the files if the installation didn’t work so would like to free up space.

Download macOS High Sierra DMG File

If you’re wondering what DMG is. It’s a file format which is used to smaller the size of a software or file via compressing it instead of having to use a physical disc. Whether you’d like to install High Sierra on Mac or would like to create a High Sierra bootable USB. Whatever your reason, you can certainly download macOS High Sierra DMG and not only via direct but also via Torrent in this one. Just click in the link and download the macOS High Sierra DMG file which we have provided.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 DMG (Torrent)– When it comes to download, Torrents are way easier to download than other. The reason behind providing this is, to provide you the files without any issues but in your comfort. We hope everyone choose and support us.

Download macOS High Sierra VMware and VirtualBox (VMDK) File

For installing macOS High Sierra, we need to have the appropriate file for the particular reason which would be macOS High Sierra VMware and VirtualBox. There isn’t much difference between installing on VMware and VirtualBox because they both are free open-source platforms that does the same thing. Like both of them can create virtual machine, set it up, and then install macOS or any other operating system on it.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 VMware & VirtualBox (Torrent) – Just click in the link and download High Sierra VMDK in Torrent in your PC then enjoy macOS High on VMware and VirtualBox. You can also download and install any other operating system in your PC. Because when you download VMware or VirtualBox you can download many operating systems in that.

Torrent Sites For Mac Software

For downloading High Sierra via Torrent, we have provided you the links like always which don’t have any issues. Just by one click you can download macOS High Sierra on VMware and VirtualBox.

There are also lots of other downloads and installations which we done before. That are as download macOS Catalina VMware & VirtualBox file, macOS Mojave VMware & VirtualBox, macOS Sierra VMware & VirtualBox and also the installation of macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, and macOS Sierra with its files like DMG, ISO, Torrent on VMware, VirtualBox on Windows 10 which are very interesting. I’ll link so you can navigate through and install it if you want.

This is done by streaming across your home wireless network. Cleanmymac for ipad. Not all iPhone and iPod touch apps are optimized for the iPad screen.Another way to save space is to skip loading music and movies on it and instead. Home Sharing shares the music and movies stored on a PC with an iPad.

If you haven’t still clicked, stop wasting your time. Just click the links which we have provided. If you have any issue while downloading we are always here to help you.

I have AnyConnect 3.0.4235 installed on my Mac (OS X Mountain Lion), and my company uses.xml profile files so that the list of sites to connect to is autopopulated when you run the client. I know where they go on Windows boxes, but have never done this on a Mac. When i type VPN hostname and press 'Connect' button I instantly get this error: 'The vpn connection failed due to unsuccessful domain name resolution.' The question is: Can i somehow tell anyconnect client to use proxy? Cisco anyconnect vpn client mac free download - Cisco AnyConnect VPN Client for Linux, AnyConnect, Cisco Legacy AnyConnect, and many more programs. Follow the instructions below to install the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client for Mac. If you are looking for instructions on installing AnyConnect VPN on a Windows machine, see Installation requires that you have local administrator access. If you need admin rights on a University-owned machine, contact Technology Help.To connect to Cisco AnyConnect follow the instructions in Connect to. Anyconnect vpn for mac.

The overall scope of torrent websites is increasing at a very rapid pace day by day and as a result, torrent websites have unlocked its door for Mac users as well. There are millions of Mac users who are willing to access the most popular torrent sites to get their favorite torrent files exclusively for free. But when it comes to Mac torrent sites, the only thing which is a matter of concern for Mac users is privacy. Due to all the privacy norms set up by Apple for their manufactured devices, it has been made impossible for a virus or any suspicious files to penetrate the security layers of Apple devices. That’s why we recommend Mac users to use these sites to get all torrent files in exactly one place.

But before you use them to get your favorite torrent files, we wanted to let you ensure that they have installed a proper VPN product on your Mac device so that you can escape from being caught or fined by ISP. As we all know that accessing blocked or unblocked torrent sites is an offensive task in most countries due to copyrights violation, that’s why we suggest our users install a VPN on their Mac device so that it can behave as a shield to their identity and will provide Mac users an extra layer of security as well. Feel at a loss which VPN to choose? Maybe you can find the answer in the article – Top 5 Best VPN Browsers Online for PC, Mac, Android & iOS 2019. Now let’s show you the list of the 10 best Mac torrent sites and clients in 2019.

Part 1. 5 Best Mac Torrent Sites in 2019

1) The Pirate Bay

Torrent downloading for Mac users is certainly inseparable from The Pirate Bay which commonly appears first in most people’s brains. The way in which this torrent website delivers the content to users is just magnificent. There are separate sections available on this website which contain a lot of different torrent files. Mac users can easily download their favorite torrent files to get some satisfactory results. The graphical user interface is another outstanding feature of this website which can be ignored for no reason. All you need to do is to enable the VPN on your Mac device and access this website to get a personalized experience in accessing the best torrent files.

Codecs for quicktime mac avi. You can download the install the software on Windows or Mac system, and then convert.avi to QuickTime MOV. You can either drag and drop the AVI video file to the AVI to MOV Video Converter. And, QuickTime MOV will work better on Mac than AVI.So how to convert AVI to QuickTime MOV on Windows or Mac?There are many online Video Converting tools which can convert AVI to MOV. For instance, AVI which is a Windows standard multimedia format will work better on Windows when compared to MOV format. Here are the steps which are usually involved to convert the video files:.

Mega for mac download. The encryption process means we cannot access or reset your password so you MUST remember it (unless you have your Recovery Key backed up) or you will lose access to your stored files.End-to-end user-encrypted MEGA video chat allows for total privacy, and has been available through the browser since 2016. Share folders with your contacts and see their updates in real time. Unlike other cloud storage providers, your data is encrypted and decrypted by your client devices only and never by us.Upload your files from your smartphone or tablet then search, store, download, stream, view, share, rename or delete your files any time, from any device, anywhere. It has been extended to our mobile app, with chat history accessible across multiple devices. MEGA provides user-controlled encrypted cloud storage and chat through standard web browsers, together with dedicated apps for mobile devices.

Tip: Here we recommend you a useful tool called Jihosoft Video Converter you may need when you find the format of your downloaded video not compatible with your media player. Jihosoft Video Converter is very professional in converting video formats between a series of formats, such as P4, M4V, MPEG, MKV, RMVB, TS, VOB, H.264, HD WMV, etc. You can click on it to learn more!

2) EZTV

This Mac torrent website is really a very awesome website which contains millions of different torrent files on its database. Since users are required to login to this website, it is not so popular among Mac users. But as a Mac user, you can easily create your free account to access all the torrent files without any issue. Though the user interface of this website is not pretty much appealing, it can be negotiated if the content availability is the main concern. This torrent website is well known for providing torrent files of the newly released TV series and other TV shows as well.

3) RARBG

RARBG is another very good torrent website for Mac users since it offers a lot of awesome features to its users for free. Like EZTV, this website also requires users to login with the username and password. The presence of a huge database on this website will ensure that you have selected one of the best torrent websites. This website offers a lot of entertaining stuff like torrent files of movies, TV shows, music, and various paid software packages as well. That’s why this website is satisfying all its Mac users with its performance and we hope that the smooth functioning of this torrent website will remain to be the same in the future as well. By the way, there are many alternative sites for RARBG that you can try!

4) 1337X

Another very satisfying option present in this list for all Mac users is 1337X which can complete torrent downloading for Mac users. Inside the trending section of this Mac torrent website, you can access all the latest trending torrent files which are most frequently downloaded by users on a large scale. The content on this website is displayed in the most elegant way and due to this reason, 1337X holds the massive popularity among Mac users. The overall graphical user interface and the presence of a huge database on this site will surely let you feel you have made exactly the right choice. To find more websites similar to 1337X, you can read an article about the best alternatives to 1337X.

5) LimeTorrents

An absolute beauty of this Mac torrent website is providing content for users who are looking for the best source of torrent files for free. On the homepage of LimeTorrents, you will see an input search option box where you can search for the torrent file you are looking for. Moreover, you can easily browse torrent files according to the various sections whose icons are represented at the bottom end of the homepage. This website is also known for getting updated with the latest trends and popularity so that users will get all the related stuff which will satisfy them at the best levels. Though this website lacks a good GUI, still, it is a sure shot choice for every Mac user.

Part 2. 5 Best Torrent Clients for Mac in 2019

Torrent clients are another very good source of getting all the torrent files by requesting to the strangers who are online on that client server. Basically, a torrent client will let all users gather on a specific platform where they can share all the resources they have with each other. That’s why it is recommended to get a good torrent client platform which will surely help you get the torrent file not available on the above-mentioned torrent websites. We have gathered 5 different suggestions about the top Mac torrent clients in 2019 which we are going to mention below.

1) uTorrent (Mac)

uTorrent is undoubtedly the best Mac torrent client present in this list which might help you out in getting your desired torrent file. There are lots of incredible features present in this client, which makes it a perfect choice for all Mac users. You can use the “Add Torrent” feature of this app to help you add or upload the torrent file which you have in your system. However, the regular updates of this app might annoy you a bit, but updating the firmware of this app to the latest version will surely allow you to access the premium user experience for free.

2) qBitTorrent (Mac)

qBitTorrent is another fantastic choice as a Mac torrent client which is developed with an excellent user interface. This Mac torrent application is developed with lots of handy tools, making the searching complexity much lower. Moreover, the qBitTorrent app is having one of the best torrent search engines to increase the search efficiency of different results. The essential features present in this torrent client are pretty much good in our opinion and that’s why we like the overall functioning of it. So, just get this application installed on your Mac device to get your desired quality stuff for free.

3) BitTorrent (Mac)

Mac Os Torrents

The developers of BitTorrent maintain and operate this Mac torrent client by themselves. That’s why you will see a lot of optimistic features for a better searching process to enhance the user experience. However, in this Mac torrent client application, you will get a lot of ads which are totally annoying, but there is no concern about the content quality issue. BitTorrent official client app for Mac is pretty much smaller in file size which will not take extra space in your Mac device storage. Overall, this BitTorrent official client app seems to be more furnished and well optimized in terms of features if compared with the older version of it.

4) Vuze (Mac)

Packed with lots of extraordinary features, this Mac torrent client is another very good choice for Mac users. Users can easily download torrent files from this client application unlimitedly for free. The user interface of this app is also very good, which makes it a complete all-round choice for users. But the ultimate strong feature of this Mac torrent client application is its powerful search engine. The search engine of this app is really very strong and powerful which is capable of fetching the required torrent files very easily from the web server. There is an integrated virus protection pack available with this Mac torrent client which can reduce the risk of virus attacks up to a great extent.

5) Deluge BitTorrent Client (Mac)

Last but not the least, Deluge BitTorrent Client for Mac is another excellent option available for Mac users who have not been used to the functioning and features of the above-mentioned Mac torrent client applications. This Mac torrent client is having most of the rich features which will make the overall torrenting experience pretty much enhanced. The scheduled downloading of different torrent files is another very excellent option present in this Mac torrent client for an easier downloading task.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, we can conclude that there are several Mac torrent sites and clients in 2019 for Mac users to download torrents easier. We have mentioned the best suggestions above in this article and hopefully, we can think that you are taking the best advantage of them. And please leave the name of your favorite torrent site below in the comments section.

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hotelload494 · 4 years ago

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Echo 3 Cyclocomputer Manual

If you've landed on this page, it means that the Amazon Echo setup process is giving you a hard time too. You are not alone. Many people are having issues setting up Amazon Echo and Alexa.

You need the Alexa app or the website to complete the setup process. Although the Echo setup process is quite easy, if you skip some minor steps, you are doomed.

Set Up Amazon Echo and Alexa Properly Step 1. Install the Alexa app and Plug-in Amazon Echo. Install the Alexa app on your Android or iOS device.But, don’t open it yet. The ECHO 3 manages to give that “crisp” casting feel without losing its ability to tell you it’s loading when it’s “GO TIME!” Tim's 'Go-To' Freshwater Sticks Whether you’re spring creeking a 3wt or nymphing the big rigs for steelhead on the 10′ 8wt, this battle-tested series is our cream of the crop.

Many times, the Alexa app is stuck on the white screen and doesn’t let you complete the setup process. Other times, you will see that the ring light is stuck on blue when you actually need the orange light to start the setup process. But don’t worry. We are here to help you.

In this post, we have mentioned some solutions to ease out the Amazon Echo setup process.

Also on Guiding Tech

13 Essential Alexa Skills Every Amazon Echo User Must Know

1. Set Up Amazon Echo and Alexa Properly

Step 1. Install the Alexa app and Plug-in Amazon Echo

Install the Alexa app on your Android or iOS device. But, don’t open it yet. Plug the Amazon Echo device into an electric socket. It will light up and the ring will turn blue for a minute or two. Once the ring turns yellowish orange, launch the Alexa app that you just installed on your phone.

Step 2. Launch the Alexa App and Sign in

When you launch the Alexa app, you'll be asked to sign in using your Amazon account. If you have an Amazon account, use your existing credentials. If, however, you are a new user, create a new Amazon account.

Halo custom edition download. Then choose your Echo device and language on the follow-up screens.By the way, here's a neat guide to Stream and Sync Songs from Multiple Devices

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Step 3. Wait for Orange Light on Echo

After that, you'll be asked to connect to Wi-Fi on the screen that says 'Begin Echo Setup'. Tap the Connect to Wi-Fi button. You will then be taken to the Wait for the orange light ring screen.

If your Amazon Echo device is showing the orange light, well and good. However, if your echo device is stuck in the blue light ring, press the Action button of your Echo device for 5-10 seconds until you get the orange light ring. Then, tap the Continue button on your Alexa app.

Step 4. Manually Connect to Amazon Wi-Fi

You'll then be taken to the Manually connect to Echo screen. This step is very crucial and it's important to follow it carefully.

Here’s what you need to do. Leave the Alexa app and open the Wi-Fi Settings on your phone. Under Wi-Fi connections, you'll see a new Wi-Fi connection with the name Amazon-xxx, where 'x' can be any digit.

Note: It may take up to two minutes to show this new connection name under your Wi-Fi Settings. Kindly have patience.

Then, tap this connection to connect. As soon as you tap the connection, your Echo device will then say her first words that you are connected. But, that’s not even the end of the story.

Once you connect to this Amazon Wi-Fi, you'll get a notification saying Wi-Fi has no Internet access on Android. Tap the notification and select Yes from the pop-up menu. This step is also extremely important. If you don’t tap the notification and press Yes, you will face the Wi-Fi setup issue on Echo.

If, somehow, you missed the Wi-Fi has no Internet access notification and your Echo is now showing the violet light ring, hold the Action button on your Echo device to enter setup mode again.

Then, repeat the steps mentioned above and this time make sure to tap the Wi-Fi has no Internet access notification followed by selecting Yes from the menu. Once you tap Yes, go back to the Alexa app and you will be connected successfully. Tap the Continue button.

Step 5. Connect to Home/Office Wi-Fi

You'll then be asked to select your Wi-Fi network. Tap your Wi-Fi network and enter the password. If you want to you can also save your Wi-Fi password to Amazon. Finally, hit the Connect button.

Your Echo device will then finish the setup process and you'll be notified on the next screen that the setup is complete. Tap the Continue button. That’s all you have to do to set up Echo and Alexa without any issue.

Also Read:How to Setup and Use FTP Server on Android

If you follow the above-mentioned steps, hopefully, Amazon Echo will work perfectly fine for you. If you're still facing issues, follow these fixes.

2. Uninstall Alexa From Your Phone

If you're stuck in the white screen on your Alexa app and even waiting for some time doesn’t remove the white screen, you should try uninstalling the Alexa app from your device. To uninstall Alexa, follow the usual methods to uninstall the app from the iPhone or an Android device.

3. Disable Smart Network or Smart Wi-Fi Switcher

On some devices like Samsung and OnePlus, you need to disable the Smart Network Wi-Fi setting. To do so, follow the steps:

Step 1: If you're stuck on the setup process, leave the Alexa app and open device Settings.

Step 2: Go to the Wi-Fi Settings of your phone. In older Samsung phones, you'll find Smart network switch on this screen itself. Uncheck the option if it's on.

Echo 3 Cyclocomputer Manual Transmission

On the new Samsung devices, tap the three-dot menu at the top-right corner or tap Advanced Settings. Turn off the Smart Network option or Switch to mobile data as it is called now. Go back to the Alexa app and it should be connected. Similarly, look for the Smart Wi-Fi Switcher option in the OnePlus Wi-Fi Settings.

Also on Guiding Tech

Echo 3 Cyclocomputer Manual Transmission

#Amazon Echo='bp-purple>

Click here to see our Amazon Echo articles page

4. Change Date and Time of Your Phone

Many times due to a conflict in the date and time of your phone, Alexa and Echo do not complete the setup process properly. You have to change the date and time settings on your device from Manual to Automatic.

To do so, open the device settings of your phone and navigate to the Date and time settings. Enable the toggle for Automatic date & time. Meanwhile, if you are looking for a calendar app, here's our comparison between Google Calendar and SolCalendar.

5. Update Android System Webview

A normal user will never think of updating the apps if they are facing setup issue on their Echo. However, surprisingly, you have to update an app (if an update exists) to fix this issue. You need to update the Android System Webview from the Play Store.

To do so, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the Play Store app on your device and search for Android System Webview.

Step 2: If you see an update button for Android System Webview, tap it to update the app. Once updated, try setting up Amazon Echo and Alexa again.

6. Disable Ad Guards and VPNs

If your device has ad guards or VPN installed, you need to disable them while setting up Amazon Echo and Alexa. Once disabled, try the setup process mentioned in the first fix. Meanwhile, if you're looking for VPN Android app, check these out.

Also on Guiding Tech

How to Create a Photo Slideshow on Amazon Echo Show

7. Set Up Alexa From the Website

If none of the above-mentioned fixes resolve your Echo problem, try setting up Echo from the website instead of the app. On your PC, open the Alexa website and sign in with your Amazon account.

Interestingly, the site and apps have a similar user interface (UI). Click the Settings option present in the left menu followed by Set up a new device. Then, follow the guided setup and you are good to go.

Echo 3 Cyclocomputer Manual Treadmill

If you don’t have PC, don’t worry. You can use the website on your phone too. Open Chrome on your phone and tap the three-dot icon in the top bar. Then, select the Request desktop site option.

Now, open the Alexa website and follow the instructions to set up a new device. Once you've successfully set up Echo, you can then use the Alexa app normally.

Fix It

We hope you're able to setup Amazon Echo successfully. Once you start using Echo, in case you want to delete voice data from Echo, here's how to do it. If you need any other help related to Amazon Echo, do let us know.

Echo 3 Cyclocomputer Manual Pdf

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read Next3 Easy Steps to Delete Voice Search History on Google Home and EchoAlso See#amazon #Amazon Echo

Did You Know

You can ask Google Home and Amazon Alexa to make to-do lists

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Apple's new Mac Mini M1 raises the bar for budget-friendly desktops---with a few caveats.

Specifications

Brand: Apple

Storage: 512 GB, as tested

CPU: M1

Memory: 8 GB, as tested

Operating System: macOS Big Sur

Ports: 2 USB-A, 2 USB-C, Gigabit Ethernet, 3.5 mm audio

Display (Size, Resolution): 3840x2160 as tested, 4K, 5K, 6K

Pros

Ultrafast M1 Processor (ARM)

Small Footprint

Budget Friendly

Minimalistic Design

Supports Resolutions up to 6K

Native Dual Monitor Support

Thunderbolt 4

Cool Factor

Cons

Factory Speakers are Horrible

No Dual-Boot Support

No External GPU Support

Limited Number of Ports

RAM Cannot Be Upgraded

Buy This Product

Apple Mac Mini M1 other

Shop

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In the business world, there is an old saying: “Good, fast, and cheap. You can only pick two.” While that may be true with most things, the new Mac mini M1 is here to prove that it’s possible to have all three. But how does this tiny tempest stack up against its more portable counterparts? And, can Apple’s budget-class desktop hang with the big guns when it comes to performance?

First Impressions

Like all of Apple’s products, the Mac mini M1 forgoes flashy aesthetics for a more minimalistic look. You won’t find any color options here. The mini M1 comes in a single shade of take-it-or-leave-it silver. It’s the same brushed silver that Apple’s offered on its laptops for years, yet somehow the color still feels fresh.

The rear ports are tucked into a single solid piece of matte black plastic, and a rubberized power button hides just beside the connection for the power cable. Everything rests on a slightly grippy circular plastic base. This base lifts the mini off the desktop just enough to give the computer a floating appearance.

Unfortunately, the corner placement of the power button seems like a case of visual design over utility. We'd prefer to see the power button on the front of the unit. We also found that when pressing the power button, the mini rotated slightly on its base. While it only took a few seconds to right the unit, rotation happened frequently enough to prove irritating.

Despite this tiny bugaboo, it’s hard to deny that the Mac mini M1 is a handsome machine. While its minuscule form factor could easily be hidden behind a monitor, we feel the M1 is really meant to be left on the desktop for passersby to ogle.

Key Features

The Mac mini M1 offers several different customization options. The base model boasts 8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD), and starts at $699.

RAM on the M1 mini can be configured up to 16GB, and storage can be configured up to 2TB. The specs on our demo model included 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, at a slightly higher price of $899.

For a full list of technical specifications, we recommend you visit Apple's Mac mini M1 technical specification documentation.

There’s a First Time for Everything

Underneath the hood of the Mac mini is Apple’s first-generation M1 processor. This processor’s muscular performance differs from previous Apple Intel chips. The primary difference is its ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) architecture, which uses smaller sets of instructions at the processor level to optimize computing speeds. It’s the same chip used in the 2020 MacBook Air and in the 13-inch 2020 MacBook Pro. Apple states that this processor is the first 5-nanometer processing chip in a personal computer.

Additionally, the M1 is the first “system-on-a-chip” (SoC) that has been designed for use specifically with Macs. The SoC combines the 8-Core CPU, the 8-Core GPU, the image processor, SSD controller, 16-Core Neural Engine, unified memory architecture (RAM), and many other components onto a single chip.

In Apple’s previous Intel iterations, I/O, security, and the CPU were all housed separately. By combining these components, the M1 can operate faster and more efficiently. Apple claims image processing performance is up to 7.1 times faster than the i3. Why Apple would choose to compare the M1 to something as old as the i3, rather than the more recent i5 or i7, however, is anyone’s guess.

That being said, there is no doubt that the M1 chip is fast. Windows pop open, and videos over our gigabit connection were smooth and lag-free. After throwing significant amounts of window dragging, application opening, Spotlight searching, and image processing at the M1, it didn’t break a sweat. Even rendering a twenty-minute video in iMovie couldn’t slow the mini down—it tackled the task in less than five minutes.

Unified Memory, But is It Enough?

One of the most interesting, yet double-edged, features of the M1 chip is its new unified memory architecture. This architecture allows the SoC to access RAM with low-latency and high-bandwidth. M1 uses a single cache of RAM that the SoC can access without having to use separate RAM “pools.” This means better overall performance and less power consumption.

Our benchmark testing of RAM proved many of Apple’s claims. Additionally, multiple open applications, several open Safari tabs, and YouTube streaming in 4K did not slow down our demo mini, despite its paltry 8 GB of RAM. It wasn’t until we tried to play 14 simultaneous YouTube videos that we noticed significant beach-balling. Once we closed a few tabs, the performance of the mini returned to normal.

Apple does offer a more robust 16 GB M1 on its website, but we were unable to procure one of these models before this review. Based on our testing though, it seems like 8 GB is plenty of RAM for most normal computing tasks.

The biggest drawback we found here was the lack of user-upgradeable RAM. Limiting the M1 to only 8 or 16 GB may cause power users to understandably balk. 16 GB doesn’t seem like a lot. For previous Intel mini’s, RAM topped out at 64 GB. And for brave DIYers who didn’t mind tinkering, RAM on previous Intel machines could be upgraded by the user.

This isn’t the case with the Mac mini M1. What you select at purchase is what you’re stuck with. While we feel that the upgraded 16 GB is more than enough for most users, some power users may want to consider how the mini might improve over the next several years.

Related: The 8 Biggest Changes in macOS Big Sur

Benchmark Testing the Mac Mini M1

We performed several tests on our demo mini to determine how it ranked among similar systems. We used three software utilities to perform these tests: GeekBench 5, Cinebench R23, and Blackmagicdesign's Disk Speed Test. All three of these utilities are available on Apple's App Store.

GeekBench scores

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When compared to the 1000 score of an i3, which is GeekBench's control, the Mac mini M1 scored 703 points higher overall. In this test, a higher score indicates better performance, and doubling the score indicates a processor that is twice as fast.

CinebenchR23 scores

The next test we ran was with Cinebench R23, to see how our demo mini held up against some of its competitors.

We completed this test twice, and achieved similar performance results. In the Single Core category, only the 2.81 GHz i7 processor outperformed the M1 mini. The margin, however, was a scant 12 points. The M1 overtook the 1.69 GHz i7 processor by a margin of 138 points.

Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Test

Finally, we tested read and write speeds to the 512 GB internal SSD. We let the test run for several cycles before taking this screenshot.

This test's results showed stellar read and write performance across the board when using a 5 GB load.

Download: Geekbench 5 ($9.99)

Download: Disk Speed Test (Free)

Download: Cinebench R23 (Free)

Plenty of Power on Display

The mini supports native resolution up to 4K, and supports Native DisplayPort output over USB-C. DVI, VGA, and Thunderbolt 2 support are available with the purchase of additional adapters. DVI works over HDMI with an adapter as well. The mini also supports high-dynamic range (HDR) output.

The M1 will drive a single 6K display over Thunderbolt at 60Hz, and a single 4K display at 60Hz over HDMI 2.0. This means two-monitor setups don’t need additional adapters, as long as one monitor supports USB-C, and the other supports HDMI. If you have two USB-C monitors, however, you’ll need an adapter for the second monitor to work.

The display attached to our Mac mini M1 is the 2018 4K LG 27UK850-W. It’s connected via USB-C, and allows between 1504×846 and 3840×2160 resolutions. We could use the maximum resolution for our display with our demo M1, though by doing so, text became almost unreadably small. We feel that a resolution of 3008×1692 is the Goldilocks option if you're using this display.

We also tried hooking up a BenQ Zowie 24” RL2455 1080P monitor with the LG, but the difference in display resolution was enough to be distracting. After some deliberation, we chose to stick with the single display, opting to use an iPad Pro and Sidecar for additional screen real estate.

The available display options are decent enough for most users, but if you’re looking for additional external display power you’ll have to look elsewhere. The Mac mini M1 does not support external GPUs.

Some users need the extra oomph an external GPU provides for in-game graphics processing or heavy graphics applications. But let us be clear, while you may play games on the Mac mini M1, this is not a gaming computer. It's also not meant for the type of graphic-intensive work that might need an external GPU.

The mini's internal GPU will handle 4K and 6K output without issue, but if you’re planning on using it for your next Hollywood production or Major League Gaming tournament, you’re going to be disappointed. A machine like this is more suited for a studio apartment than a movie studio and a business lobby rather than a Call of Duty lobby.

Related: The 7 Best Ultrawide Monitors for All Budgets in 2020

Sound Off

The one area that is severely lacking in the M1 Mac mini is sound. The factory speaker system is atrocious, and music sounds like it’s being delivered via rotary telephone. Despite adjusting the volume using the dedicated keyboard shortcuts, we found YouTube videos were always either too loud or too quiet. This condition was easily remedied by connecting a Bluetooth speaker, or a pair of AirPod Pros, but for those users who value onboard sound quality, the Mac mini M1 falls flat.

Unfortunately, poor sound quality means that you’ll need to invest in a set of desktop speakers or headphones if you don’t already have them. This added expense isn’t an issue for most, but for users stretching their budget, added expense may be a problem.

As for the machine itself, we found the Mac mini M1 to operate at a whisper. Even when under heavy processing loads the internal sound from the machine was barely audible.

Short on Ports

Something that negatively sets the Mac mini M1 apart from its Intel predecessors is its lack of available ports. Previous Intel units had four USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and two USB-A ports. Not so with the new M1. With it, Apple decided to upgrade the previous Thunderbolt 3 ports to Thunderbolt 4, but they also reduced the total number of ports by two.

This reduction means two fewer places to plug in peripherals. It also means connecting a USB-C monitor reduces USB-C ports to one. While we haven’t found the decrease to be a problem, some users will need to purchase a separate hub if they would like to connect all of their external devices at the same time. Again, this adds an expense to the total cost of the M1.

For those who haven't made the switch to a Thunderbolt display, an HDMI 2.0 port allows the mini to connect to HDMI monitors.

Related: What is a USB Hub? 3 Reasons Why You Need One

A gigabit ethernet port is included for users who appreciate the speed of hard-wired connections. For us though, the Mac mini performed well over our gigabit Wi-Fi connection without any noticeable slowdowns.

Running a speed test on the unit gave us around 560 Mbps downstream and 41 Mbps upstream via the 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 connection. We tried this test several times, and found the speeds fairly consistent. This connection speed was enough to make website loading snappy and resulted in no lag for on-the-fly 4K video playback.

The final port on the Mac mini M1 is the 3.5 mm audio jack. It’s nothing special, but we appreciate the ability to connect external speakers without sacrificing a precious USB port.

Hang Up Your Boots

Previously, applications like Parallels and Bootcamp gave users the ability to dual-boot Windows alongside macOS installations. With the M1 chip, however, this ability has been removed. Bootcamp no longer works with the M1 mini. At present, Parallels is developing software to port Windows onto the ARM Architecture, but development is still in its infancy. Licensing of Windows software has also become an issue.

We used a pre-release version of Parallels to gain some Windows functionality on our demo mini, but we wouldn’t trust it with important business documentation or critical files. This lack of Windows support means that the Mac mini M1 may not be the right choice for users who depend on dual-booting as a part of their workflows.

If having a Windows machine alongside your macOS installation is important to you, you’ll want to skip the Mac mini M1 until these kinks are fully worked out.

Should I Buy the Mac Mini M1?

Overall, we feel the Mac mini M1 is a phenomenal machine for everyday users who delight in snappy performance, small form-factor, and speedy all-around computing. Some power users will find the Mac mini M1 suits their needs quite well, but for users who need extreme processing capability, we suggest making another choice.

For homebodies who don't mind sacrificing portability in their computer, or for those who prefer an ultraportable device, like an iPad, as their on-the-go tool, the Mac mini M1 makes for a fantastic home setup. For digital nomads, however, we feel the mini won’t compete with the portability of a dedicated laptop.

If you’re looking for a dependable budget machine for your business office, the Mac mini M1 is too good to pass up. And, if you need Windows support, the M1 may still be a good choice, but we recommend you wait a few months until someone figures out how to get Windows working correctly on ARM architecture.

Lastly, If you’re looking for a gaming computer or a video production machine, we say skip the mini altogether. You’ll be much happier with something that is a bit more specialized.

The Final Skinny on the M1 Mini

The Mac mini M1 ticks all the boxes for a great computer. The M1 chip slides through everyday tasks so smoothly, you’ll forget you’re using one of the most powerful machines in Apple’s arsenal.

The mini lies at that rare intersection of good, fast, and (relatively) cheap. While it does have some minor annoyances, they’re not dealbreakers. There’s so much more to love about this computer than there is to loathe.

With the M1, Apple has managed to shoehorn world-class performance into an unexpectedly small package. It’s an awesome value for the right type of user. But saying the Mac mini M1 is awesome is like saying the central coast of California is “pretty.” While the sentiment may be accurate, true appreciation only comes from experiencing it yourself.

The New Apple Mac Mini M1: Sometimes Bigger Isn’t Better published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

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drawingconclusions · 5 years ago

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CONTACT TRACING APPS + ORIGINS OF THE CORONAVIRUS

I'm not fond of returning to political & social commentary in the midst of this crisis, but I'm growing more concerned about some of the responses to the coronavirus. And I see some hateful people becoming more hateful, and the regularly unhinged individuals becoming more unhinged.

Some in Congress have called for an investigation into the U.S. coronavirus response, and if I'm not mistaken, it's spearheaded in part by Adam Schiff, which is quite interesting. Sure there is much we can learn from our response to this crisis, as with any other crisis, but somehow this seems like another partisan attempt to hurt Trump. Someone stated that during November there were no intelligence briefings/meetings held in the corresponding committee in the House of Representatives on account of the impeachment inquiry that Adam Schiff & others were leading. Is that true? This virus has been active in Wuhan China since at least early December 2019, and possibly late November. Instead of wasting time on bogus impeachment proceedings, the Democrats in Congress should have been thinking ahead and recommending the production of supplies we are now lacking. I personally would like to see that investigated. And as for any other briefings about the coronavirus that Congress did eventually receive in early 2020, please state all the subsequent concrete actions, if any, that members of Congress implemented that helped the American people as a result of those meetings. One of the stimulus bills recently passed by Congress includes 10 billion dollars in international development. Can someone please itemize exactly what that entails, especially when there are Americans in such dire need as a result of the coronavirus economic lockdowns?! And who specifically proposed some of these unnecessary add-ons to the bill? Look, I'm not trying to lump all the members of Congress in the same category, as I recognize there are still some good and decent people who represent us, but it's incredibly disconcerting to see some politicians still looking out for their own interests & pushing their warped ideologies when the American people are going through such a difficult time.

And can someone logically explain why we plan to continue to bring in foreign workers to the U.S. this year when there are more than 16 million Americans currently without jobs? You know that I'm not opposed to legal immigration and I don't hate people of different countries. (For crying out loud, I'm an immigrant who became a U.S. citizen.) It's just that there are so many people in need in our own nation. (And is there any way we can have Personal Protective Equipment manufactured by the private sector to help keep costs low and to hire at least some of these furloughed workers?) Those people who are talking about a near endless lockdown obviously haven't seen the images in the news of miles of cars in line at the food banks across the country or heard about the rise in suicide rates. The economy isn't some kind of abstract concept separate from the lives of the people; the economy is the American people. We have to find ways to bring immediate relief to those who are hurting most in our country.

Apple and Google have formed an alliance (unholy or holy, we've yet to see, LOL) to develop an app that will provide contact tracing for those who may potentially cross paths with a Covid-19 infected individual. Each smartphone will have a unique number or identifier that will reportedly be changed every fifteen minutes, and through the bluetooth functionality of your phone you will be notified if you come in contact with a person who has been infected. The good thing is these companies have stated their intent to allow the public to review the coding involved, and I'm sure there are some talented developers who can give that a good look. Listen, I've never created a complicated app and I'm not a certified developer, but I still have a slew of questions. Unless a project or an app has been abandoned, there are usually continual changes to code, and I'm curious how or if users will be notified of significant revisions to privacy or terms of use. Even though the unique identifier for each phone will be changed every fifteen minutes or so, there still has to be a way to recognize a specific phone for an extended period, otherwise the tracking process wouldn't work. How exactly is that done and where will that identification reside - on a user's phone or on the health agency's server? And will law enforcement or intelligence agencies be allowed to have a backdoor into the software or app, as this coding will seem to have the ability to know who you've come in contact with recently? Some have wondered aloud whether cell phone browser IP addresses will be made known to the health agency servers where all this info is relayed to. If an organization has your IP address, they can likely obtain your identity from your cell phone carrier, and we know by now how some of those carriers are all too willing to hand over your personal information.

While most people view the coronavirus as a temporary problem until we find a vaccine, Apple & Google have stated their intentions of going beyond just a coronavirus app to actually build this contact tracing into their mobile phone operating systems in the near future. So this doesn't appear to be a temporary solution to a temporary problem, but instead a new way of life that they're permanently baking into cell phone software that millions of Americans use every day. And Apple, please don't kid consumers by saying a toggle button in the interface will opt us out of contact tracing once it's in the iOS. Wasn't there a previous version of iOS that would collect location data despite the toggle button settings?

I can't say that I'm very confident in giving any tech companies potentially more influence or leverage over the population. Many of these are the same companies who indulge in targeted bias of conservatives on a daily basis, and who seem to have a love affair with China's communist government (Wasn't Google the company that eagerly offered to help the Chinese military with AI and who was willing to help censor the Chinese population in search engines?). Are these really the ones we should trust with this? Is there any organization we would trust with this?

I'm usually loathe to bring social criticism without offering some kind of alternative. And despite the many faulty computer models we've seen from various universities about the coronavirus, it's clear that this pandemic is still a serious matter. I don't have clear-cut solutions to all this. (Maybe restaurants can build temporary plastic or acrylic stalls to better protect their patrons. Maybe large open warehouses can be converted into spaces that will hold specific restaurants or even retail stores on an alternating basis. The large spaces would provide better social distancing measures for customers and would obviously need to be disinfected on a daily basis.) But ID cards for those who have had the coronavirus? (Does that mean we should also ID flu patients or those with AIDS or STDs?) Just two days ago, I saw a news report that 91 people in South Korea who had recovered from the virus had contracted it again. Does that blow all our theories about immunity out of the water? Has the virus mutated again into another strain? It's incredibly suspicious that there are two virology labs in Wuhan where this pandemic began and some of China's own scientists have stated that the virus was accidentally carried from there into the general population. Now I'm not a doctor, and I don't know how the high contagion rate of Covid-19 compares with other coronaviruses in existence. But wouldn't it make sense for the international community to demand that China be completely transparent about what occurred in that research lab and whether or not this virus was bioengineered in any way, instead of trying hit or miss solutions to all this? Even after I wrote the bulk of this, I saw a news headline that China is now limiting the release of any information related to the beginnings of this pandemic. Wow. That's exactly what communist and socialist governments do. They hide the truth and punish anyone who dissents or speaks against those in power. Unfortunately, there are individuals and groups here in America who are embracing this same fascist mentality. Tech companies, news media, the White House Press Association, politicians, and various levels of government are making it a habit of taking note of those who challenge the status quo. Which is one of the reasons why I write. This is America and true Americans won't stand for the morphing of our beloved nation into any kind of communist or socialist state.

Yes, we have to find appropriate ways to address the coronavirus. But in the process are we really willing to lose what America stands for?

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osreviews · 6 years ago

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REVIEW: Chuwi Hi9 Plus - Affordable Android Tablet w. 2K Display & Stylus Support!

The Chuwi Hi9 Plus offers a beautiful display (2K IPS) and solid build quality at a price significantly more affordable than tier-one competitors. Furthermore, it delivers an uniquely well-rounded set of features including 4G LTE capabilities (even allowing phone calls!), near stock Android experience (with a promised update to Android 9 arriving soon), and support for a pressure sensitive stylus pen called the HiPen H3. In short, although raw performance might not beat the latest iPad Pro, for only $200, it’s a good enough alternative at a fraction of the cost. And that in itself is already a pretty amazing feat; the Hi9 Plus is one of the best value tablets on the market.

Find it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IZynnq

Positives

• Brilliant display (one of the sharpest resolutions on ANY tablet at ANY price)

• Solid construction, aluminum body feels solid

• 4GB RAM (highest specs from all of Chuwi’s current tablets)

• Pure Android 8.0 Oreo without any bloatware installed

• Good enough performance in real-world, similar to Snapdragon 600-series (Deca Core Helio X27)

• Support for optional keyboard cover and official stylus pen

Negatives

• Speakers could pack more bass (but it’s a stereo pair, which is good)

• Stylus and keyboard are not bundled with the standard box (although a deluxe version includes them for $50 more)

Design & Build Quality

As aforementioned, the Hi9 Plus offers an impressive construction for an affordable tablet. Similar to Xiaomi’s Redmi phones, the back is made 90% out of metal, leaving only a small plastic strip on the top edge to serve as the antennas to improve reception.

The overall feeling in the hand is solid - significantly better than most competitors using all-plastic at this price point - and surprisingly thin at only 8.1mm. The power button is accentuated in red, and the edges of the tablet are chamfered, giving it an extra shine when reflected by light. Nice!

For those with experience using Chuwi’s tablets, the aesthetics match the Hi9 series. That is, the Hi9 Plus bares strong resemblance to the 8” Hi9 Pro, expect that the “pro” is shrunken down in dimensions (ironically despite the “pro” moniker...the “plus” is actually the flagship for Chuwi at the moment). Bezel sizes are respectable for a tablet, while not invisible, it makes for comfortable gripping using 2 hands without obstructing parts of the screen. Overall, the dimensions are similar to Chuwi’s 10” HiPad, although the Hi9 Plus has a larger display (10.8”), showing improved design considerations.

Both cameras have a resolution of 8 megapixels. There’s no assisted LED flash, but the sensors are made by Samsung, and the quality is good enough for the purposes of document scanning and video calls.

On the back, the Chuwi Hi9 Plus offers stereo speaker for added immersiveness when watching videos.

Although the speakers lack some depth in my opinion, they do get plenty loud, and the tablet retains a standard 3.5mm headphone jack! A rare thing to see these days, especially since the tablet also offers USB-C, in addition to Bluetooth support for wireless headphones and speakers. For a 2019 Android tablet, the I/O selection is honestly pretty good, considering tablets these days no longer include full-sized USB ports or HDMI ports due to their thin dimensions.

Display & Stylus

The 10.8-inch display offers an 6:10 aspect ratio, with a pin-sharp 2K resolution. Text, images, and fine details are clearly legible (even without zooming in), making this an excellent tablet to use for the purposes of entertainment or media consumption. The full lamination means that there’s no gap between the multi-touch enabled glass and the LCD underneath it, reducing glare in outdoor scenarios. The only slight quirk is that the screen isn’t the brightest I’ve seen, although I found it to be perfectly acceptable in terms of visibility under moderate sunlight. Overall, this is one of the best displays you’ll find on any Android tablet at any price, when it comes to sharpness and detail. Competing tablets with this resolution typically sell for hundreds of dollars more.

Aside from the display, another strong selling point for the Hi9 Plus is the stylus support; a feature that is rarely found on tablets under $500. I picked up the HiPen for $20 extra, and my experience with it has been satisfactory thus far. The pen itself is constructed out of a hefty aluminum, and allows it to be magnetized to the edge of the tablet when not in use. Unlike Wacom stylus pens, however, this one does require a battery to be switched every year or so (AAAA size, similar to the Surface Pen). This pen supports 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.

The pen can be used to navigate the UI (in place of using a finger), and the sensitivity has been great, although not 100% as elegant as the much more expensive-Wacom devices. For example, there’s no “hovering” cursor that I could see when using the pen close to the display (like on a S-Pen or Apple Pencil), although recognition (when pressing down) is still very good.

Now, I’ve come across several reviewers claiming that the pressure sensitivity doesn’t work...which is wrong. Either these reviewers were not diligent enough in trying out compatible apps in the Play Store (i.e. “ArtFlow” is one such free option, among other apps, which I downloaded and recognized pressure sensitivity perfectly), or that Chuwi somehow updated these tablets. For example, some of the older reviewers didn’t seem to have the red colored power button (they were black before), so perhaps this is a “updated” edition of the Hi9 Plus. In any case, the pen support is nothing to complain about anymore.

Digging a little deeper into my experiences using ArtFlow, the experience was like using a real pen and paper. Pressing harder on the screen resulted in a thicker/darker line, versus gentle sketches resulted in very light lines. This felt very natural, and combined with good enough palm rejection (not much accidental touches with resting a hand on the screen when drawing), makes this a great digital sketchbook for artists, creatives, and notetakers. Although professional artists will technically find more levels of pressure sensitivity on some Wacom enabled models, for the price, this has already exceeded my expectations on it’s sensitivity and fluidity for casual use.

Performance & Software

Although everything up to this point has read like a premium, flagship tablet, the processing power is more in-line with other middle-of-the-road devices. That’s certainly not a bad thing, especially now that in 2019, middle-tier phones and tablets are honestly good enough for the vast majority of consumers (and with significant cost savings), compared to the old days where performance differences were much more noticeable.

The MediaTek Helio X27 deca-core processor (ten cores, up to 2.6GHz) delivers generally smooth performance in real-world usage, similar to Snapdragon 600-series devices I’ve tried. General navigation is responsive - especially after giving the tablet a few extra seconds to warm up after booting up - and intensive apps (i.e. Asphalt 9 or PUBG) render without issues as well, save for the occasional delay in loading.

In heavier apps, the tablet gets slightly warm near the antenna strip, but never too hot or uncomfortable to hold. Overall, the X27 is a tried and tested by now; although it’s not a replacement for a Snapdragon 800-series chip, it nevertheless performs reliably without thermal throttling.

Also good: 4GB of RAM and a 64GB internal storage are among the higher configurations you’ll find for any Android tablet. RAM in particular is plenty, and allows for comfortable multi-tasking in Chrome (web browsing). I will say that because of the super high display resolution, the processor has to do significantly more work to push around those pixels. As a result, when running the device to it’s limit(i.e. 6 tabs + 5 games and apps in the background), you’ll start to notice some more choppier animations when rapidly scrolling a web page. Not too big of a deal, but it’s a trade-off of having the 2K display (whereas a FHD panel might be a touch less taxing on the CPU and GPU).

General use including watching back YouTube videos, reading the news, checking emails, etc. are all handled effortlessly without any issues. Gmail in particular takes advantage of the larger display, giving me 3 panels of information at a glance - allowing for faster productivity than on a smartphone. Of course, Android Oreo also has native support for split screen multitasking, which works well, and allowed me to run 2 apps side-by-side. Pretty cool!

As touched upon, Chuwi has promised an over-the-air software update to Android 9 for its X27 devices. Although this update is yet to arrive, I have already received one minor security update while using the tablet over the last few days, which is an optimistic sign of things to come (fingers crossed). Software updates have historically been scarce on budget tablets, so if what Chuwi says holds true, it’s yet another differentiating factor to consider.

Battery Life

The 5000mAh battery lasted me around 9 hours of video playback and light web browsing before it reached empty. Although this isn’t as long as what the iPad can achieve, it’s more than sufficient for a full day of heavy use, or a couple days of light use. Again considering the larger display of this model, and the 2K resolution, I find this to be an acceptable metric overall. The USB-C port charges up the tablet in respectable speed, getting me from 0 to 100 in under 3 hours.

Conclusion

As I typed this review, the phrase that I kept repeating was “good enough”. Although this tablet isn’t revolutionary, it can be considered ‘disruptive’, bringing surprisingly good features at a price that’s hard to beat. So is it an iPad killer? Not in the typical sense of outperforming the more established competitor across traditional metrics. Yet, it comes so close to offering the same essential capabilities, that for the vast majority of consumers it can be seen as an affordable replacement possibly worth the switching cost, now more than ever.

In 2019, budget Android tablets are finally getting good. Dangerously good.

4.7/5 Stars, Excellent

YouTube video review:

youtube

#Chuwi #Tablet #Review #Android #Android tablet #Gaming #Stylus #iPad #2 in 1 #Art #Apps #Google

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rankhunger-blog · 6 years ago

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Clean My Android

While using the internet to update apps, downloading, surfing in different sites, etc. some junk files or residual files are automatically downloaded in your mobile. Somehow while doing those activities the performance level of your smartphone declined and very much affected. Using Antivirus software is good but the disadvantage is that it does not give even 99% guarantee. It will use your RAM and storage memory which is also a reason for bad performance. So, now what we can do? 10 Best Android Techniques & Cleaner Apps To Boost Performance | 2019 Clean cache data: That is the easiest and recommended way to clean junks cache data can consume memory around GB which affect your mobile in the level of performance. The size of cache files depends on how much you use a particular app. Like I regularly play High climb 2 so the cache stored around 40 MB while the app was only of 25 MB. The process is very simple- First, open setting > Go to Apps > Delete cache by selecting any of the android apps. In KitKat version, the storage option is easily available. You can clear the cache storage very easily. Just Go to setting> Storage > Clear cache data. By clicking on the apps you can check the cache data as well. There is also an option where if any of the app is not performing or causing any performing issues. You can clear all the data from that app. Suppose you clear the data from your Dictionary app, then it will be clear the complete history, account you log in, etc. Factory data reset This is one of the best methods where your downloaded apps, your contact list, and other data will be removed out. That will clean all the junks and temporary files which will improve the performance and will make it ready like a new phone. Just do this process Go to Setting > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset. The answer is No. You have this two good option to save your data: 1) Use Google Drive where the reset you can download those file from the drive (any contact list, image, video or any file) 2) Use System backup and Restore option where you can backup and restore the file. There is also one option where you can transfer your all data from one phone to a new phone and that is AmiClone. But that feature you can find only in Gionee mobile Phones. Reduce using widgets Widgets are those features in android mobile where you can put the interface in your mobile home page. Like a clock, weather, Alarm tool, etc. If you put a large number of widgets in that page then it may harm the performance and your RAM memory. But we know they are very useful in terms of saving your time to check the clock, weather, play music, etc. But you have to understand its bad consequences. One of my friends, earlier he tries to use many gadgets to create a new look of the homepage. By doing this again and again his phone started hanging which was resulting bad performance of his phone and due to which has to reset his smartphone and that deleted of all of this song, videos, etc. Remove unused appsIndian are very habitual in downloading apps whether those apps are necessary or not. Have you ever think if you have 10 apps on your mobile, how many numbers of apps you regularly use. How many apps in your mobile are like they were opened in the last 3 months ago after that you never used it but that is still in your phone. Those apps use your RAM which can raise issues. Actually, it also depends on the size your RAM has. Some smartphone has RAM size around 1 to 2 GB. Those users should use fewer apps. I Have seen a lot of people who had stored the UC Browser as well as Mini. Why? they also don't have the answer to this question. That we need to understand like our brain cannot store a lot of things in his mind Likewise our smartphone also has some level of capacity. Limited use of Live Themes Live themes was got very famous very Samsung smartphones entered into the Indian market. Those live themes are very attractive and give a better look at our Home Background. But it again depends on the size of your RAM your smartphone has. In the case of the low-cost smartphone, the RAM is very low where more 20 MB app is also not recommended. Due to which these live themes are becoming very harmful in case of these phones. In the case of Large size of RAM, these features can work better to some extent. And if your phone has his own store to download these live themes then you can consider it. But live themes from Play Store can harm to this high-cost mobile phones which has a large size of RAM. Free up your RAM memory time to time This temporary method to improve the work performance of your mobile phone. In the bottom of your smartphone, there are three buttons. Press the left button then a lot of apps will appear which you used earlier. In the bottom, there will be option Clear All. It will clear all those apps and that will clear your RAM to optimize the memory. The apps which may use to clean your memory like Clean Master, CCleaner, etc are also doing the same function. But not in that level where they shoot out a rocket, a kind of fan will be moving fast and like. Please remember to do this time to time because nowadays mobile is in more use where we do our personal work as well as our office work through our smartphone. We open many apps regularly which we also forget. Delete some files At last, the last you can delete those files in terms of songs, videos, images, PDF, etc which are unnecessary or using your storage in large. You can transfer those files in your PC if possible. You have saavn, wynk, etc to listen to music, Youtube to watch videos, etc. These options are very reliable to improve the performance of your smartphone. This option can free the Internal and External storage of your mobile. But in case, your phone is still hanging then you must consider this above option to optimize the performance of your smartphone. Enable To Data Saver Mode Activating the ‘Data Saver’ option in the mobile browser will compress the page, using fewer data and loading pages faster. In this mode, you could be compromised on the image and video quality a bit. Also, data speed matters here. Switch off Autosyncromize You can simply head there to take a look at what apps really need to be auto-synced in the background. You can select the ones you think you don't need auto syncing for and turn off the auto-sync option. Keep the OS version up to date Keeping OS version updated also help to perform android clean and fast. Read the full article

#Android #DataEntry #Memoryclean

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truemedian · 5 years ago

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Dear Apple: don’t let a trackpad turn the iPad into a Mac

Good morning and congratulations on making it through another week. I had been planning on writing about some of the issues I had while writing my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review — specifically my bafflement that Samsung is once again asking reviewers like me to be beta testers. It’s inconceivable that the company didn’t realize there were issues with the camera and also very strange that it didn’t so much as hint at a software update to me until the day before yesterday. I’ll say it again: never buy anything on the hope that future software updates will fix it. Wait. But we covered it pretty well in The Vergecast coming out later today, so please give it a listen. Instead, to the surprise of absolutely nobody given my obsession with how companies are trying to get big-screen computers beyond the UX paradigms of the 1980s and 90s, I’m interested in an iPad rumor about a keyboard. The news is simply that Apple is reportedly releasing an iPad keyboard with a trackpad later this year. It’s a good scoop from The Information. A good piece to read next is about something Jason Snell noticed in the iOS beta released earlier this month: better support for keyboard functions like modifier keys. A third thing to note is that Apple software boss Craig Federighi said, “If you like what you’ve seen us do with iPadOS, stay tuned, we’re going to keep working on it.” If you’re wondering when this might happen, the Apple-o-sphere has all been working on the belief that Apple will be holding a Spring hardware announcement. There are too many rumored products to fit into one event, but a new iPad Pro and a new keyboard for it would definitely make the cut. Given all the recent tech event cancellations due to the coronavirus, however, Apple might be rethinking its plans right now. In any case, I have many thoughts about the iPad — which you might have guessed since I’ve been writing about the iPad’s evolution as a computer so often over the past few years. I would love to speculate on the physical shape and design of the keyboard, but I think that’s better left until later, when we have a better idea of what it might look like. Instead, I just want to point out that the iPad is an OS that is currently hostile to mouse input. I don’t mean that as a criticism, but I do think it’s just stating facts. I know there are people who have enabled the “AssistiveTouch” mouse feature, but what it mainly does is let you emulate your finger taps with a mouse. That means it’s not actually all that helpful with two things that mice excel at: tapping tiny UI buttons and working with text. I’m on record as thinking that Apple’s recent attempts to improve text manipulation like selecting, copying, pasting, and even cursor placement are not very good. And since AssistiveTouch currently only supports acting like a finger, it doesn’t help. I bring this up because I have a radical idea: what if the only thing trackpad support brings to the iPad is better text manipulation? I actually think that is the right move for Apple, at least to start. With the new iPadOS last year, Apple was incredibly ambitious. It added all sorts of new ideas and interaction models to the UI, some of which were confusing. In my original review, I gave Apple credit for finally allowing the iPad to become complicated and I stand by that. But I also believe that it’s not intuitive because its features can’t be progressively learned over time — you basically have to watch or read tutorials, which is incredibly un-Apple-like. I bring all this up because right now the iPad has a lot going on with its overall user interface and I sort of feel that the last thing Apple should do is add yet another variable to the mix. Unless Apple is planning its second major re-think of how we interact with the iPad in two years, it’s just too much of a burden to put on users. Because, as I’ve said before, using a mouse is fundamentally a weird thing to do — it’s actually a level of abstraction beyond just touching the display. It only feels “intuitive” because so many of us learned to use one first, and because “desktop” operating systems do such a good job of progressively teaching you new skills as you use them. They’re consistent and learnable in a way the iPad’s more advanced features simply aren’t. I don’t want Apple to fall back on the crutch of just using desktop OS paradigms to solve the iPad’s user interface intuitiveness problem. The last thing we should want is for the iPad to turn into a Mac. It’s on a different path and it would be a shame to have those ideas tossed out the window just so we can have more traditional windows on the iPad. But I’m not anti-trackpad. I do think it would be a huge help for text selection and it would allow some app developers to create smaller touch targets on their apps. Plus, and this may be anathema to some, the iPad makes a lot of use of right-click style actions now (just long press to see them), and a trackpad could help with that too. If you haven’t done so in awhile, go on and watch Steve Jobs’ seminal iPhone introduction. Pay special attention to how he talks about styluses and fingers. It’s easy to forget now, but the iPhone was a radical reinvention of user interfaces compared to what most people had used. Only a tiny sliver of apps on smartphones were designed to be used with a finger — shout out to SnapperMail, my favorite email app for the Treo and the subject of a wonderful 2003 Walt Mossberg review. None of the smartphone operating systems before the iPhone were optimized for fingers, though. They all required a stylus or physical buttons to get around. The iPhone UI was revolutionary because it just had one button — the home button — and it was designed from the ground-up to be touched. The iPad continued that legacy, just on a big screen. Adding a trackpad to that seems like a good idea, but I dearly hope it doesn’t take away from all the benefits we get from a purely touchscreen interface. We already have the Mac, the iPad doesn’t need to turn into one too.

Coronavirus

┏ Facebook cancels F8 developer conference due to coronavirus concerns. ┏ Plague Inc. pulled from the App Store in China amid coronavirus outbreak. In late January, Plague Inc. saw a resurgence in downloads in China and became the country’s top paid iOS game. In response, Ndemic Creations released a statement reminding players that Plague Inc., while it was designed to be realistic and informative about how diseases spread, is just a game. It’s currently the top paid game in the US App Store. “We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities,” the company said in January. ┏ Tim Cook says Apple is reopening factories as China gets ‘coronavirus under control’. ┏ Health secretary Alex Azar won’t promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable. ┏ Coronavirus merch is somehow worse than I expected.

More from The Verge

┏ Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review: shutter bug. Here’s my review. I hope Samsung bucks the trend of camera software updates usually not improving things. Samsung called this phone the S20 instead of the S11 to indicate that it is the first of a new generation, and that might be too revealing. As impressive as the overall phone is, the camera often acts like a first-gen tech product with first-gen tech problems. ┏ Robots aren’t taking our jobs — they’re becoming our bosses. Important, deep piece from Josh Dzieza. Well written and empathetic. Think of all the tiny moments of downtime you have during the day, the time where you’re just with yourself for a minute. AI tracking of workers is taking that away. An Amazon worker in the Midwest described a bleak vision of the future. “We could have algorithms connected to technology that’s directly on our bodies controlling how we work,” he said. “Right now, the algorithm is telling a manager to yell at us. In the future, the algorithm could be telling a shock collar—” I laughed, and he quickly said he was only partly joking. After all, Amazon has patented tracking wristbands that vibrate to direct workers, and Walmart is testing harnesses that monitor the motions of its warehouse staff ┏ It’s hard to care about other people’s feelings online. I love this essay from Bijan Stephen. Acting with empathy on platforms that reward snark is hard and you often end up looking painfully earnest. But do it anyway. ┏ Vivo’s Apex 2020 concept has breakthrough cameras and an ultra-curved screen. As Sam Byford notes, this phone was supposed to be shown at Mobile World Congress. Hopefully Vivo seeds it to some people to play around with even though it’s never going to get released, because I would love to see the results of some independent tests of a proper optical zoom lens on a phone: The Apex 2020’s telephoto lens, however, has actual moving lens elements that take it from 5x to 7.5x magnification. Vivo says the 16-megapixel module is just 6.2mm thick due to its periscope design, which allows it to fit inside the 8.8mm-thick phone. ┏ Uber tweaks its app to improve those pesky pickups. This is a very smart idea, though it does mean that drivers’ phones will have their microphones turned on. If I were Uber, I would get an independent auditor to go through the code every now and then to verify that the only thing the microphone is doing is listening for the ultrasound. Uber is also developing a new technology that uses ultrasound waves to automatically verify you’re in the right car, no PIN needed. The rider’s phone will send this ultrasonic signal to the driver’s phone to automatically verify the unique PIN. The company has said that technology should be ready to roll before the end of 2019. ┏ Clearview AI’s client list includes 2,200 organizations spanning law enforcement to universities. ┏ Peloton settles lawsuits over songs being used in fitness videos without permission. ┏ AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile will be fined more than $200 million for selling customer locations, per report. Read More Read the full article

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stephmolliex · 7 years ago

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How to use Apple's Keynote on the Mac and iPad to prepare compelling presentations

AppleInsider looks at the little-used extra tools in Keynote that make creating presentations faster, clearer and more powerful. It's regularly claimed that number one best feature about Apple's Keynote slide presentation software is that it is not Microsoft PowerPoint. We wouldn't disagree. PowerPoint is complex when you're making a presentation and doesn't get easier when you're in the audience. Just watch anybody, new or experienced, struggle with finding where PowerPoint hides its Play Slides button and you'll wish they'd used Keynote. There is also the fact that PowerPoint slides somehow always look like they're PowerPoint slides. Keynote does seem different because fewer people use it. If that's you, if you're turning to Keynote to just be a little distinctive, you're in good company. Steve Jobs did exactly the same thing. Subscribe to AppleInsider on YouTube If you also use Keynote because it's free and comes on your Mac and iPad then there's obviously nothing wrong with that either. However, you may be underestimating this software. Keynote is vastly easier to use than PowerPoint and it's not because it has fewer features. Like everything Apple does, Keynote has powerful functions that are kept out of your view until you need them. That's the case both when you're creating a presentation and later when you are actually in front of the audience. Keynote has so many tools that we're dividing this into two articles. This one is about how you make a complex and compelling presentation, then part two will be about how Keynote helps you actually present it to an audience. Making a presentation using Outline View So few presenters even know this exists. Right inside Keynote on the Mac, there is an outlining feature that lets you rapidly bash in all the ideas you've got for your presentation. Write a line or a note, hit Return, write the next one and keep going until it's all out of your head. Then drag the lines around to reorder them. It is a basic outliner but it lets you write headings and then add subtopics. It lets you collapse and expand lines so that you can see all the detail or just headings. What's more, every line you write in this outline is automatically a new slide in the presentation. On the Mac, open Keynote, start a presentation by choosing File, New and then in the View menu select Outline View. It isn't a particularly powerful feature. If you have a complex presentation to make or you're at the stage where really you're still trying to figure out what you want to cover, use something more powerful like OmniOutliner instead. If you do that, then you can write as complex an outline as you want and export it from OmniOutliner in PowerPoint format. Then in Keynote, choose Open, Open and select the PowerPoint-style document. Keynote brings the outline in and you can edit or amend it in the Outline View. This is where you hit the limits of Keynote's outlining: it will certainly display the top and second level of an OmniOutliner outline but that's all. If you've gone further with multiple levels of thoughts and notes, you won't see them in Keynote. Unfortunately you won't see the outline at all in Keynote for iOS as there is no Outline View in that. This is another reason for using an alternative like OmniOutliner, however. You can Share the outline from OmniOutliner into Keynote to start your presentation yet keep the full one viewable in the outlining app. You again have to choose to share it in PowerPoint format, though. While OPML is a standard for all outliners, Keynote's one won't recognize the format. It's still not great that once you've created a detailed outline you can't actually see it in Keynote except the presentation app doesn't just store a list of what you've typed. Instead, it creates full-blown slides for you. On the Mac, go back to the View menu and switch from outline to Navigator. This is the view you're most used to in Keynote: it's where you enter the details of your slides and where you add new ones. Except this time. This time it's done all of that for you by automatically creating one slide for every line in your outline. The slides will have the text from your outline on them, too, so in theory you could now just play the presentation and be done with it. Master slides In practice, though, the slides that are automatically created for you are basic. You're definitely going to want to add more text detail or drag in images but you can also choose to edit the look of your slides. You can always do this: on any Keynote slide you can alter images, or drag in new backgrounds but you're better off spending some time at the beginning. Keynote comes with different themes or templates but you can also take the basic, barebones black-text-on-white style and build it up into your own template. Add gradients, add colors, choose fonts. If you have a company logo that you are required to use on every slide, pop it on a Master Slide. If it's a particularly ugly company logo, put it at bottom left. That's not a Keynote tip, it's a general design one: people tend to look at the bottom left of anything least of all. Basic non-linear presentations What you can be certain about is that people will look at your slides one after another -- unless you choose otherwise. The giant majority of presentations are linear. You start with slide number one and you go on to what feels like slide number a million. There's nothing wrong with this, unless you visibly number each slide. Even then, things could be worse: you could be numbering it as "1 of 9,999" and guarantee that your audience will loathe your breathing guts. Still, making a regular, unnumbered linear presentation is actually the very best you can do because it requires certain things from you. It requires that you really think through what you're planning to say -- and you have to have thought deeply about your audience. Both consumers and industry experts might want to know about Intel's processor roadmap but you still wouldn't make the same presentation to them both. Sometimes, though, you can't be certain who you're going to present to or what their level of interest and expertise is. In that case, you can create a non-linear presentation. If you know that today's presentation is going to be basic and tomorrow's is more detailed, then you can create a simple non-linear one by skipping slides. Write the full, detailed presentation and make sure that each section begins with a good summary screen. Then before you start in front of the audience who wants the basic one, tell Keynote to skip the detail slides. On the Mac, click on the first slide you want to skip and then shift-click on the last one. Choose the Skip Slide menu and Skip Slide. Alternatively, select all of the skippable slides and then right-click and choose Skip Slide from the dropdown menu. From now on, once you press Play to start the slideshow, Keynote will automatically skip those slides. When you're editing the presentation you can see which have been skipped because instead of a full slide-shaped icon in the Navigator's sidebar, you'll get narrow lines. More advanced non-linear presentations If you don't have a clue how much your audience is going to know already or want to know now, well, try to find out. When you simply cannot, though, and are effectively winging it, prepare a true non-linear presentation. This is where you can jump to any topic at any time -- and, at least as importantly, jump back out when you feel that you've said enough. Write the complete presentation and, again, make certain each section begins with a good summary slide. Then go back to the beginning of the presentation and create a menu slide. This is just one that lists every topic in your entirely presentation -- and each topic heading is secretly a link to its related section. Select a heading on the menu screen, then right click and choose Add Link from the menu that pops out. This gives you three options: Slide, Webpage and Mail. Choose Slide and you get six more options. There are some basic ones like Next Slide or Previous Slide and more complex ones like Last Slide Viewed. Choose the last option which is headed Slide and is followed by a number. Choose the number of the slide where that section begins. This is a hidden link so far as your audience is concerned. When you're editing the presentation, you'll see every link marked with an arrow icon but on presentation day there'll be no clue what is or isn't a link. That can be confusing on the day but you're also going to get lost when you're creating the presentation. It's so certain that you'll get slide numbers mixed up that Keynote helps you. When you've entered the number of the slide you want to jump to, click on the button Go to Slide to be certain you've got the right one. Keynote will update these numbers as you add in slides so if you suddenly pop in an extra ten at the start, you don't have to redo this jump numbering. So you could do this as you go, adding menu items and jump links while writing each section. Don't. You'll make fewer mistakes and it will take a lot less time if you do it all at the end -- and you'll save time doing something of the sort at the beginning, too. Jump back Once you've created or at least begun your menu slide, go back to the Master Slides. Select a symbol from the Shapes button such as a circle and when it's on your slide, resize it. Make it small and unobtrusive but also clear and easily clickable or tappable. Then select it, right click and again choose Add Link. If you do this on the Master Slide then every single slide you ever create in this presentation will come with a ready-built button to take you and your audience back to the menu. Viewing the presentation as a whole Whether you go slide by slide or leap all over the place, you do take your audience through a complete show and it can be long. The actual length is up to you but there is also how long the presentation feels and part of that is down to pace and variety. If every slide is full of text then it will seem to drag. To get an idea of how varied your slides are, choose the View menu and Light Table. This is named for the actual tables with lights in that photographers used to use. They could lay out strips of film and, because they were lit from below, would be able to see all of their photographs clearly in order to select the best. Similarly, you can see all of your slides laid out in a grid so you can get a quick visual impression of how the entire presentation looks. If every part is the same, if there's just no variation, you now know and can break things up. Light Table is also a kind of visual outliner: you can drag slides around to re-order them as you need. This works on the iPad too: tap the three-dot ellipses icon at top right and then choose Light Table from the menu. To go back, do the same thing but choose Slide View instead. This is a rare case of the Mac and iOS versions of Keynote being pointlessly different: Slide View on the iPad is what the Mac version calls the Navigator. Breaking up text When you do look at the Light Table view and cringe at how text-heavy your presentation is, you can drag images, audio and video into it. If you must. Images are fine and will always be a boon to a presentation. The problem comes with video and audio. Keynote does let you drag video on to a slide and it even comes with basic video editing tools. In theory, you could drag a radio concert or a major motion picture into Keynote and have it as a slide. In practice, it doesn't matter what you do with your Keynote file if the venue you're presenting hasn't got any loudspeakers. Just as you need to find out all you can about your audience before you start writing your presentation, it will help to learn about the venue too. Ask the staff there to take a photo of the projector and any other equipment: that will show you what connectors there are. It may show you that there is a fantastic sound system just waiting for you. Yet still we avoid video and audio because venues are out of our control and can go wrong. They should all have staff who can work the equipment but you know they don't. And you know that if your presentation depends on the audience watching a video whose audio they can't hear, it's not the venue who'll get the blame. It's not the venue who will have to work to get the audience back on side. So perhaps the most useful thing we can say about how Keynote helps on the day you're presenting is to caution you against video. There is a lot more, though. Keynote on the Mac and the iPad can both help you during your presentation -- just in different ways. Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos. https://goo.gl/eug8fS

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topicprinter · 7 years ago

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Earlier, I shared here a post about a complex process of defining business metrics and promised to tell about the aspects of interaction between the data team and business users in their ongoing activities beyond metric definition. This will help you to better understand a data team’s workflow and allocate their resources to business users.Data team workflowThe resources of a data team are typically very constrained, and the demand in data services is growing exponentially with the business, as well as quantity and complexity of data. The high-level structure of a traditional BI team workload can be outlined as follows:Developing routines that bring data to a data warehouse.Developing routines that reshape data into an analytical data model. * Typically, it’s not very suitable for the analysis in its original form.Supporting the analytical data model. This means accommodating to changes in the backend systems, such as adding new data attributes, removing the retired data attributes, and adjusting to changes in the structure.Defining and developing metrics.Developing data products (reports, visualizations, tools).Creating custom data extracts that can be used to answer specific questions by business users (ad-hoc exports).Working to answer specific questions (ad-hoc analysis).Creating documentation.If the team does not proactively invest time into the analytical data model, it is going to be blown away by the amount of requests for metrics, reports, and extracts from business users. This is a hard-learned lesson. If you don’t have a proper analytical data model, you can expect:Each request to take much more time than it would with clean and well-structured data.Many requests that could be totally irrelevant if data is in the right shape and is accessible to end users.A very steep learning curve for newly hired analysts. They would have to learn the underlying raw data structure and use complex queries to do the most basic things. This results in low productivity and a high degree of frustration for new team members.Inconsistent results over time because underlying data changes while its extraction and transformation are on-demand.At the early stages of data initiatives, solving all tasks coming from business users seems to be a low-hanging fruit.A solid data foundation is what makes the difference between a successful and a failed BI initiative.So, the best recommended proportion is 50/50, and preferably 60/40 (60% of time for modeling and cleaning, and 40% of time for business user requests). When a data model is mature enough, the proportion can be changed to 20/20/60 (20% for developing new data models, 20% for supporting the existing ones, and 60% for work with business users).How the evolution of data warehouses is changing ETLEveryone who interacts with a data team should understand that. This is a great investment that will reduce the pressure on a data team in the future. Learn about the right way to do this in a modern data environment using ELT.As a simple example, some business users need data on a specific subset of customers that has a certain number of properties. On a raw production database model it would require at least joining lots of tables and decoding a few encoded columns that are optimized for transactional database storage.Typically this task will also require groupings and rankings, like what the first purchased or most expensive product is for each customer. That might be a challenge for a person who is not proficient enough with SQL and doesn’t know the production data model well.As a result, data is locked and it takes time and skill to unlock it.The data team needs to transform data in such a way that tables reflect business entities with their myriad of properties at a single place.It’s much easier to complete the request above when you have a “customer” table where all necessary tables are joined, encoded columns are decoded, and all trivial summaries are calculated. The same with metrics: SQL definitions will be very complex on a raw data model and very simple on an analytical data model.So, investment in data modeling is a key point at earlier stages of data initiative. Business users can’t expect immediate turnaround before the ground work is done.Other ways to balance the load on a data team are setting up a self-service environment and selecting lightweight (ad-hoc) deliverables when possible.Self-service cultureThe opportunities for building a self-service environment provided by modern BI tools are constantly increasing, as well as the level of data literacy among business users. The key points to building a successful self-service culture are:Invest in a proper data model. If data is heavily normalized, like in production systems, non-data people can’t make an effective analysis even with great UI tools at their disposal.Use modern BI tools like Statsbot that have rich UI functionality and allow for the picking up of dimensions and measures from a predefined analytical data model and getting results at the speed of light.Increase the level of data literacy among business users. Given the very gentle slope of the SQL learning curve, it’d be great fun with immediate benefits for people to start data hacking themselves.They just need a real data-savvy person behind their back. An hour a week that you can easily dedicate to data training will be one of the most useful hours spent.If your data is modeled well and business users adopt the right tools, they will be able to interact with data directly in the most basic scenarios, reducing the pressure on the data team.Metrics vs ad-hocsDefining a metric is a more complex process than using ad-hoc analysis. A data team has to support metrics, making sure they work well and are updated on time with correct values. This is particularly true in the case when someone makes changes in the underlying data or finds an issue in the data pipeline. Also, a metric is just not the right kind of answer in certain cases, such as:When you measure the impact of a significant one-time change in the business process. It’s enough to measure it in an ad-hoc fashion before and after changes in the business process are made.For example, with a weekly metric it would be 4 weeks before the change is made and 4 weeks after the change is made, and these samples would be different (or not, if the change didn’t take a desired effect). If 8 numbers can be distilled to one number before the change and another number after the change, let it be so.When the size of the data is too small. In this case, you’ll see the statistically insignificant fluctuations of the metric, which will result in reduced transparency and actionability. At a small scale, it’s good to look at worst cases on an individual basis to understand what happened in each particular situation. When the process is scaled, you’re good to build the metric.When the definition is too complex and the numbers are revisited rarely. A good example is financial models. There is a great temptation to automate them, but there are better tools for financial modeling than SQL. You can use Python or a good old spreadsheet.In such situations, ad-hoc analysis is a good way to get a more concise response and reduce the turnaround time. It’s nice to have some repository where you can review and rerun ad-hoc solutions. This can be a ticketing system with links to solutions in the BI tool, a special directory in the BI tool itself, or a git repo.Documenting the analysis and the code in such a way that it can be reproduced by another member of the data analyst team is the best practice here.Proper data capturingIt’s a common thing for a business software to start to generate questions that don’t have an easy answer given the current software design.Imagine, you’re running an online fashion shop with the following process: a delivery man visits a certain number of customers, and every customer has 20 minutes to try the clothes. The order is then finalized and the payment happens using a mobile POS terminal. Delivery men end their day at 6 PM.A business user turned out that the last customers on the route are not visited sometimes, therefore they cancel their orders. She built a hypothesis for what could be behind this and moved them to a data team:Routes are too optimistic. Given the traffic, it’s hard to visit the scheduled number of people within a fixed amount of time.Customers spend more than 20 minutes trying on clothes, so there is not enough time for the last person versus the plan.Everything is good with routes and timing, it’s just that some delivery men come late to the job and go home on time, leaving the last person unattended.To investigate any of these hypotheses, the analyst needs the arrival and departure time for every customer. While the departure time can be tied to the time of terminal transaction, the arrival time is not clear.A data team can get GPS data from terminals, mobile phones, or vehicles of the delivery men, geocode the addresses of the customers, and find out the approximate arrival times. This is possible to do, but it takes a while.On the other hand, if arrival time is captured somehow on the software side, it is much easier. For example, customer coordinates are stored in the database, and when the gps tracker of the delivery man approaches the customer, there is an event fired in the database. There could also be a “checkin” button, which the delivery man has to press every time before ringing a customer’s doorbell. Then, a data team can take these timestamps and provide a quick turnaround on the analytics question.The above use case demonstrates what the business application logic is and how it differs from the data analytics logic.Questions related to business applications: When did the given delivery man arrive at the given customer’s address? Who was late? Can you create a daily email with the list of people that were late?Questions related to data analysis: What is the % of late starts? How late are people on average? What is the concentration of these cases, i.e. are late arrivals mainly caused by a small number of people who consistently abuse the policy, or by many employees occasionally? Does a late arrival cause the last customer to dropout? How many complaints did we get from customers that had their visits delayed due to late starts?Let’s draw a general borderline between business applications and data analytics questions. The former are:“what/when” types of questions (like the arrival time)tasks that are aimed at reducing the amount of manual labortasks that require regular uptime/fault toleranceand the latter are related to:data aggregation (sums, counts, percentages, etc.)finding out the relationship between different thingsAs a result, with concentrating analyst resources on business application questions and tasks, it is much harder to get to actually doing the analysis. The best practice in this case is to try to formulate software requirements in as detailed a way as possible in context of the business processes.You can ask the software engineering department to adjust the software if some important piece of information is missing, and not try to cure it with data wrangling.This is what will make the difference between being data driven and data challenged.ConclusionProper data capturing and modeling, combining metrics and ad-hocs, and building a self-service environment are the key points in balancing the load on a data team and using their resources most productively.You can learn more about the proper data capturing in the following part of this series. It will be more technical but still useful for managers so they can understand the larger picture.You can find the original post here.

#/r/startups #reddit

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infotainmentplus-blog · 7 years ago

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LG G7 ThinQ review: Bright, loud, and smart Update (6/1): The LG G7 is now available! Buy it from the following retailers: Get the LG G7 on Sprint Get the LG G7 on Verizon Get the LG G7 on T-Mobile Get the LG G7 on US Cellular Original (5/14): For the last several years LG has produced some incredible smartphones, but its smartphone portfolio has flown under most consumers’ radars. LG has always played second fiddle to Samsung and doesn’t have the marketing power to compete with Apple. This always meant the big players in the industry overshadowed LG’s products, resulting in unprofitable sales numbers which forced LG to change its smartphone strategy. The LG G7 ThinQ is the first product of that new strategy. Can it garner the attention LG deserves or will it suffer the same fate as previous LG flagships? Let’s find out in our full LG G7 review. Design The easiest way to describe the design of the LG G7 ThinQ is it looks and feels just like a smaller LG V30. I was a big fan of the LG V30’s design. It was arguably one of the best smartphones of 2017 and it’s great to see LG bringing this design over to the G series. The G7 ThinQ is constructed from a fairly standard smartphone formula. The front and back panels are made of glass and metal rails run along the perimeter. The back is slightly curved and the corners are rounded, giving the phone a sleek pebble-like shape which makes it comfortable to hold. There’s no texture to the glass or metal but somehow LG has managed to make the phone not feel slippery. The back glass, however, is very prone to fingerprints, which should be expected. The build quality of the LG G7 ThinQ is fantastic. The phone is solid, sturdy, and its smaller size makes it easier to use in one hand than its bigger brother, the LG V30. The typical ports are all on the bottom, including a single speaker, USB Type-C port, and the highly appreciated 3.5mm headphone jack. One of the biggest design changes is the relocation of the power button. Instead of being integrated into the rear-facing fingerprint sensor, it is now in a more traditional location on the right side. Personally, I’m sad to see this go. It was one of LG’s most iconic design characteristics. However, being able to wake the device without lifting it off a desk is a welcome convenience (even if double tap to wake was already an option). Aside from the relocation of the power button, the fingerprint sensor remains unchanged. It’s accurate, reliable, and reasonably fast, though not the fastest on the market. One of the biggest design changes is the relocation of the power button and the addition of a quick access AI shortcut key. Another major change is the addition of a quick access AI shortcut key. This button sits right below the volume buttons on the left side. It’s in the same position as Samsung’s Bixby button on Galaxy devices but summons the far more useful Google Assistant. Pressing the button launches Google Assistant even if the phone is asleep, which isn’t something you can do with the on-screen Google Assistant shortcut. The button can also be held down like a walkie-talkie for the duration of your voice dictation and released when you’re done talking. You can’t remap the button, at least for now. The idea isn’t completely out the question though — LG could enable it if consumers really want it. Want to keep your phone protected? Check out the best LG G7 cases. Display The LG G7 ThinQ is equipped with a tall and narrow 19.5:9 aspect ratio screen with thin bezels and a notch (yes, we know). The notch houses the earpiece, front-facing camera, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor but does nothing special otherwise. If you're not a fan of the notch, LG's software allows for the areas around it to be turned black, effectively camouflaging it as a normal bezel LG calls the notch area the “New Second Screen” — effectively staking its claim as the originator of the notch idea — but it’s a confusing choice, since it adds no extra functionality like secondary screens on previous LG phones. If you’re not a fan of the notch, LG’s software allows for the areas around it to be turned black, effectively camouflaging it as a normal bezel. The areas around the notch can also be customized with different colors and gradients. This felt like a cheap parlor trick to me and made the notch stand out even more. Fortunately, the notch does not interfere with content like videos or games. Instead of overlapping the content like it does on the iPhone X, the notch on the G7 ThinQ automatically turns into a black bezel and content does not extend beyond this area. Despite the notch, the LG G7 ThinQ’s display is phenomenal. The screen is a 6.1-inch IPS LCD with a crisp and sharp 3,120 x 1,440 resolution. It’s no OLED, but the display is vibrant, colorful and a pleasure to use for consuming media. Colors of the display can be tweaked to your liking through the display settings with RGB and color temperature sliders, as well as a variety of display modes. I found the default settings to be plenty satisfactory though. The brightness boost is especially useful in direct sunlight where screens can be most troublesome to read. At 1,000 nits, the G7 ThinQ's screen is very easy to see. LG calls this display a Super Bright Display. It’s capable of going up to 1,000 nits in brightness because LG added a white subpixel to the standard RGB subpixel arrangement to boost brightness. This can be enabled by tapping the brightness boost toggle next to the brightness slider allowing the screen to go beyond the slider’s maximum brightness. The brightness boost is especially useful in direct sunlight where screens can be most troublesome to read. At 1,000 nits, the G7 ThinQ’s screen is very easy to see. Performance The LG G7 ThinQ comes with the most powerful specifications currently available for a 2018 flagship. It packs a Snapdragon 845 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The LG G7 ThinQ comes with the most powerful specifications currently available for a 2018 flagship. The device performed as expected, with fast and fluid animations, excellent touch response, and quick performance all around when launching applications or playing games. Jumping through multiple applications posed no problems and it can run any game you’ll find in the Play Store with excellent graphics and smooth gameplay. Real world performance certainly lives up to the benchmark numbers and the G7 ThinQ didn’t struggle with any task I threw at it. If you're a big mobile gamer or you stream a lot of content on your device, expect to charge the G7 ThinQ at least once throughout the day. Battery life performance is good but not as impressive as the rest of the phone’s specs. The 3,000mAh battery isn’t small, but many competing flagships in its class have larger cells. Even last year’s G6 had a bigger battery. Regardless, the G7 ThinQ can last a full day but only into the early evening. It’s not going to get you into the late night hours without a recharge unless your usage is kept fairly light. If you’re a big mobile gamer or you stream a lot of content on your device, expect to charge the G7 ThinQ at least once throughout the day. Fortunately, charging can be done rapidly via Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 or through wireless charging, as the LG G7 supports both wireless charging standards. Hardware With the LG G7 ThinQ, LG has continued to put a big emphasis on audio. LG’s signature quad DAC is back again which provides for higher quality sound, less distortion, less noise, and better dynamic range and it’s a feature that owners of high impedance headphones will greatly appreciate. In addition to the quad DAC, LG has implemented DTS:X 3D surround sound or virtual surround sound. This is designed to give you a surround sound experience through stereo speakers (or headphones in the case of the G7 ThinQ). At the moment it’s more of a future proofing feature as the content that you watch or listen to needs to support DTS:X which isn’t readily available just yet. It can still give you a surround sound-like experience with non-DTS :X files by altering the soundstage, it just isn’t as impressive. It doesn't compare to stereo speakers but it's a neat trick and I was impressed by how much louder the speaker gets by just simply placing the phone on my desk. LG’s most significant audio improvement is the G7 ThinQ’s single bottom firing speaker. Single speakers usually aren’t worth talking about, but this one uses the space inside of the phone as a resonance chamber. You can literally feel vibrations from the sound moving through the phone as you listen to music or watch a video and setting the phone in or on a hollow container or any ordinary hard surface will amplify the sound. It doesn’t compare to stereo speakers but it’s a neat trick and I was impressed by how much louder the speaker gets by just simply placing the phone on my desk. The phone also features a microSD slot for extra storage and IP68 dust and water resistance for that added peace of mind should your device get wet. Camera LG has finally upgraded its front-facing camera. The LG G7 ThinQ now has an 8MP front-facing camera, which is great news for selfie lovers. The extra resolution makes a huge difference in detail, sharpness, and provides more room to crop your images. Selfies from the G7 ThinQ look great, with good color reproduction and natural skin tones. LG also added portrait mode into the G7 ThinQ — a first for LG phones. It’s a great addition if you want that artificial background blur for a more professional look, but it isn’t perfect. There were times where it bled into the foreground, blurring out parts of my hair, glasses, or my ears. In most situations, though, the blur was convincing. Portrait mode results on the rear camera felt more consistent, as it did a better job separating complex subjects from the background. This is likely due to two cameras being used to achieve the effect instead of relying on software with the front camera. The wide angle has been reduced to a 107-degree field-of-view from previous generations, but this eliminated barrel distortion on the edges of photos. On the rear, the LG G7 ThinQ utilizes LG’s signature standard and wide angle lens combo. Both sensors are 16 megapixels, meaning there’s no longer a loss in resolution when switching sensors. The main sensor is still the superior lens when it comes to quality. It has a brighter f/1.6 aperture compared to the f/1.9 of the wide angle and also has OIS. The main benefit to the wide angle is, of course, fitting more into the frame — it’s great for landscapes or group selfies. The wide angle has been reduced to a 107-degree field-of-view from previous generations, but this has eliminated barrel distortion on the edges of photos. It’s still a ton of fun to use and the reduction in field-of-view isn’t very noticeable. The LG G7 ThinQ is packed to the gills with camera features. DSLR-like manual controls for both photo and video remain intact, with Cine-log being the only notable feature missing. This looks to be reserved strictly for the V series for the time being, but LG has brought over the AI cam first introduced on the V30S ThinQ. Related Articles What is 5G, and what can we expect from it? You've likely heard the term a lot recently, but what is 5G? Good question. Simply put, 5G networking is the next major evolution of mobile wireless technology. It will empower customers with even faster data connections, … Android smartphones with the best battery life (March 2018) Some people might think that the most important feature in a smartphone is its display size. Others believe it comes down to a phone's processor performance, or the amount of RAM, or how much storage … The AI cam is capable of analyzing the scene and subjects within the scene and automatically providing filters resulting in (hopefully) a better looking image. The camera recognizes what it’s looking at fairly quickly most of the time, but I was never fond of the filters it provided. I often preferred the results from the camera without the use of AI. It’s a neat feature if you want the camera to do most of the leg work processing your images, but if you like having full control from start to finish, you probably won’t find it all too useful. Photos from the main camera are very good with pleasant colors that aren’t overly saturated and crisp details. Dynamic range is well above average, preserving a good amount of detail in the shadows and highlights. In low light situations, the camera maintains plenty of detail and color, keeping noise to a minimum — at least on the main sensor. Results from the wide angle lens tend to be more washed out with excessive noise. Its narrower aperture and lack of OIS means it has to rely on higher ISOs to create a brighter image. If the scene is too dark the camera’s “Super Bright Mode” will kick in to flood in more light. This uses pixel binning like Huawei’s P20 Pro, combining four pixels into one. Photos taken with this mode are lower resolution and the results looked muddy in comparison to a normal low light photo. Software The software experience on the G7 ThinQ will be a familiar one to anyone who’s used an LG smartphone in recent years. LG’s software has made significant strides, with less bloatware, a cleaner interface, and better app design. It’s fairly easy on the eyes, with a muted color scheme throughout the UI elements, fluid animations, and easy-to-read fonts. There are a plethora of options to customize the UI how you want it. By default, the launcher does not have an app drawer, but a traditional app drawer button can be added or a more Pixel-like swipe up gesture can be used. LG’s theme engine allows for further customization with additional wallpapers, icon packs, UI themes, and always-on display clocks. LG's software has made significant strides, with less bloatware, a cleaner interface, and better app design. You also have the floating bar previously introduced in the LG V30 to replace the old hardware-based secondary screen. This gives quick access to selected applications, music controls, contacts, and other quick actions such as taking a selfie. Many of LG’s other software features, like Smart Bulletin, KnockON, and gaming tools, are just like they were in other LG phones, while some of them have received a slight face lift. Smart Settings has been renamed to Context Awareness, though its functions for automating tasks when certain conditions are met remain the same. LG’s software is based on Android 8.0 Oreo instead of the latest 8.1. Given that the 8.1 update is relatively minor it isn’t that big of a deal, but this is a brand new flagship so it would have been nice to have the latest version of Android possible out of the box. LG doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to updates and if you have a carrier version it could be a while before it sees this update. Gallery Specifications LG G7 ThinQ Display 6.1-inch LCD FullVision display 3,120 x 1,440 resolution 1,000-nit brightness 19.5:9 aspect ratio Corning Gorilla Glass 5 SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 2.8GHz, octa-core GPU Adreno 630 RAM 4/6GB Storage 64/128GB MicroSD expansion up to 2TB Cameras Rear Main camera: 16MP sensor, ƒ/1.6 aperture, 71° field-of-view, 1.0µm pixel size Secondary camera: 16MP sensor, ƒ/1.9 aperture, Crystal Clear Lens, 107° field-of-view, 1.0µm pixel size Front 8MP sensor, ƒ/1.9 aperture, 80° field-of-view Audio Boombox Speaker DTS:X 3D Surround Sound Hi-Fi Quad DAC 3.5mm headphone jack Battery 3,000mAh Non-removable Quick Charge 3.0 Qi wireless charging USB Type-C port IP rating IP68 MIL-STD 810G certification Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11ac Bluetooth 5.0 NFC Software Android 8.0 Oreo LG UX with AI Pack 2.0 Dimensions and weight 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9mm 162g Colors new platinum gray, new aurora black, new moroccan blue, raspberry rose Pricing & final thoughts The LG G7 ThinQ is available in the U.S. starting June 1 on all major U.S. carriers with the exception of AT&T. Pre-orders open May 24 for Verizon and May 25 for Sprint. Pricing is still a bit of a mystery, as LG is leaving it up to the carriers — we’re expecting it to cost at least $650. That’s still a good chunk of money, but it’s very competitive compared to Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Apple’s iPhone X. LG has done it again this year. The LG G7 ThinQ is another fantastic smartphone. It doesn’t do anything especially groundbreaking, but there’s a lot to like about this phone. It has a gorgeous super bright display, a great design, an excellent camera with AI, and a dedicated Google Assistant button. The audio experience we’ve come to know and love from LG has gotten even better with DTS:X and the new boombox speaker. Battery life could be better and some may not like the inclusion of a notch, but I didn’t find either one to be a deal breaker. Whether the LG G7 ThinQ will be able to outshine its biggest rivals remains to be seen but it certainly has the firepower to go toe-to-toe with the best smartphones available. LG deserves more attention from consumers and if you haven’t considered an LG device in the past, the LG G7 ThinQ wouldn’t be a bad place to start. So that’s it for our LG G7 review. What do you think of LG’s latest? Let us know down in the comments. , via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2rjNy1Y

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vioncentral-blog · 8 years ago

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Essential Phone

https://www.vionafrica.cf/essential-phone/

Essential Phone

Update: Essential has announced that its "Pure White" color variant is now available, bringing the options to two: black and white. We're still waiting on the third and fourth colors, "Stellar Grey" and "Ocean Depths", but until then, at least there's an option available that doesn't show so many fingerprints.

For a brand with no track record of making smartphones, the Essential Phone is an intriguing first attempt.

It’s going for the long game by offering a phone that, in theory, doesn’t have to be tossed aside, trashed or traded in after just a year of use. Part of that comes from its timeless design that signifies that it belongs in tomorrow as much as it does today. Another fork of that stems from Essential’s plan to bring many modular accessories to the phone, thus expanding its capabilities as the months go by.

Right away, the PH-1, as it’s officially called, makes clear that it isn’t “just another Android smartphone”. But in its efforts to stand out as something essential for today’s innovation-starved audience, the offering here couldn’t be more refreshing – or divisive.

It’s a confident melding of glass and ceramic that seems rather basic in what it’s trying to attempt, but it’s hiding a few tricks up its sleeve. For those with small hands, the amount of screen that Essential has packed into the compact package is astounding.

Speaking of the nearly bezel-free display, it’s one of the phone’s big conversation-sparking features. Its pairing of design and software also rivals Google’s own smartphones. But for something that claims to be “essential” at launch, it presumes a hell of a lot about its audience: that for every desirable feature the PH-1 contains, which there are certainly a few, you hopefully won’t notice that it’s missing many must-have features.

Things like waterproofing, expandable storage, wireless charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack are essential to many, but nowhere to be found here. Oh, and its modular accessories? You’ll just have to trust that the company is committed to bringing more down the line, as its debut 360-degree camera accessory took longer than expected to release.

For all that the Essential Phone does right, it’s rather short on reasons to back up its high $699 price tag (no UK price confirmed at this time) compared to the seriously intimidating competition it put itself up against: the iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Google Pixel 2, just to name a few.

However, thanks to its brilliant, timeless design, plenty of power, and the promise of modular accessories, the Essential Phone is an Android phone that will only get better with time. That is, if you’re patient enough to watch it grow.

Essential Phone price and release date

Available now in the US, coming later this year in UK

Starts at $699, goes up with optional accessory

You can try it in person at Sprint stores starting 9/14

The Essential Phone has debuted in the United States starting at $699 unlocked. If you’re a Sprint customer (or a prospective one) and qualify, you can get an extra $260 off the phone, which puts the price within reach of those who usually can’t afford a high-end unlocked device. Speaking of Sprint, we've heard through The Verge that the long-anticipated smartphone will be available for testing in person at all of the carrier's retail stores starting September 14.

Essential has confirmed that the PH-1 will come to UK later in 2017, though it hasn’t stated a launch price. If we’re going off of conversions alone, that puts it at £535, but given that Essential has backing by major US companies, like Sprint and Amazon, it’s hard to say if the same price applies globally.

Design

The bezels-be-gone design really impresses

A timeless look and feel

High-end build materials give this small phone some heft

The Essential Phone is a feat of engineering in that it somehow manages to fit a 5.7-inch 2,560 x 1,312 display into a chassis that’s not much larger. Stacked up against the Google Pixel XL, the it’s roughly the same size in the hand, but there’s so much more screen here.

Essential has taken bezel reduction to a new level. You’ll find a rather small bezel “chin” on the bottom of the phone, but the screen nearly spills over the top of it, where you’ll find the selfie camera. This feat is all the more impressive because the LCD display wraps around the front-facing camera instead of shoving it to the bottom like Xiaomi Mi Mix. That phone’s “nostril camera”, as Essential’s Andy Rubin calls it, makes for awkward selfies.

Essential opted for a titanium frame, which it claims offers much higher durability (and heft) compared to the oft-used aluminum we see in many smartphones. This means, theoretically, it shouldn’t break or bend under circumstances wherein most phones do. On the phone’s outside, Essential covered it all up in ultra-glossy ceramic, which looks fantastic and feels cool to the touch, but is oh-so inviting to your fingerprints.

Around the phone’s edges, Essential has cleverly implemented a grippy material that doubles as its antenna passthrough. While you won’t find a 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone (Essential provides a USB-C to 3.5mm converter in the box), the usual assortment of volume rocker, power button and USB-C charging port make their appearance here. The tactile buttons are simple to find and have a nice click to them.

The backside of the phone is as flat as the front and is so devoid of any markings that there's not even an Essential logo anywhere on the device. It’s a way of Essential saying “this isn’t our phone, it’s your phone.” On our way up, there’s a fingerprint sensor in an easy-to-reach location, flanked on its top by a dual-lens camera, flash and Essential’s accessory connector ports, the latter of which we’ll touch on below.

Interface and reliability

Stock Android Nougat is perfect for purists

Android Oreo confirmed to arrive by year's end

Whether you’re coming from a previous Android phone or perhaps an iPhone, the learning curve for the Essential Phone is essentially non-existent.

The PH-1 runs a stock version of Android Nougat 7.1.1 and is said to be introducing Android Oreo to its users by the end of 2017. But focusing on the now, stock Android Nougat puts the new company in favorable position for those who enjoy an experience free of bloatware and user interface tweaks. All of that time saved by not having to remove pre-installed apps lets you quickly build up your app arsenal and even load a custom launcher if you please.

Given the Essential Phone’s roots in stock Android, all of its tricks are at your disposal the moment it comes out of the box. Two simultaneous presses of the power button boots into the camera, holding the on-screen home button cues up Google Assistant, and lastly, the phone comes loaded with only the (pardon me) essential apps. Seriously, it comes with just a few handfuls of Google-made apps and that’s it.

Movies, music and gaming

Full Display doesn't impact multimedia, for better or worse

128GB of onboard storage is a good step forward, but lacks microSD support

The omission of a 3.5mm headphone port is always disappointing

When it comes to smartphones, more of something is usually better. That is, unless it’s bezels, but that’s uniquely not much of an issue for the Essential Phone.

Compared to most smartphones its size, the PH-1 packs in more screen and not just that, it hugs the top edge of the screen in such a way that it will either enhance or hurt the immersive experience of games and movies. And the bit of good news and bad news is that it does neither. While most of the apps built into the phone make use of the extended aspect ratio, almost all of the apps we tried from the Google Play Store cut off the top sliver of screen, making the experience fairly traditional looking.

Unlike the LG G6, LG V30, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S8 and more, the Essential Phone contains no options to zoom into an app to make it scale to its aspect ratio. It’s likely this could be fixed in the future, but not without risk of chopping out vital information for many apps. This means that, for now, movies and games will look as they do on traditional displays.

Of course, if you want to listen to what you’re viewing or listening to, you’ll need to connect the USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor, as Essential has lopped off the legacy port that many still consider to be essential, no pun intended. Take this how you will, but in our experience, connecting a dongle is always more of a pain than it is an inspiring sign of forward progress from a technical perspective.

Performance, specs and benchmarks

A lot of power in a small form factor

Doesn't run Google Daydream VR

Not the best value in terms of performance

Something that we can all agree on is that solid performance is an essential component of a good smartphone. Thankfully, the PH-1 has it in spades. Equipped with the Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of RAM, this smartphone is poised to tackle the apps of today and tomorrow in stride.

During our time with the Essential Phone, it was fully able to stand up to the rigors of our usual workload. That is, a mix of gaming during the commute, music listening, e-mail checking and the odd camera opportunity. Despite its small size, we’re pleased that the PH-1 puts up performance that we’re accustomed to only seeing with bigger phones.

That said, what it won’t be able to handle is Google Daydream since the phone doesn’t come with the requisite OLED screen technology and while it almost meets the 2K mark, it falls just short at 2,560 x 1,312.

In terms of benchmark scores, the phone puts up numbers nearly as good in Geekbench 4 as we’ve seen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and other phones with the Snapdragon 835 processor. Sure, the PH-1 doesn’t have 6GB of RAM that some of the others do, but that doesn’t seem to stand it in its way during benchmarks or during normal use, for that matter.

Accessories

This accessory port is one of the most captivating tricks of the Essential Phone that gives it a big advantage over the competition, but it hasn’t taken flight yet. As mentioned earlier, we’ve only just now received a 360-degree camera unit to test out, so we can only assume that those who pre-ordered the phone are just now trying it out, too.

In our experience, the camera performs as advertised and couldn’t be more simple to attach. Once snapped on, it can record in 2K or 4K resolution. The PH-1 powers the accessory, while the data streams over a Wi-Fi connection created between the two devices. At times, the connection feed looks fuzzy, but the recorded footage doesn’t reflect much or any aliasing.

The 360 camera is currently available for $179 through Essential’s online shop, but is it worth it? If you’re dying to get some use with the accessory port, then yes. It performs admirably and so long as you mind the battery pitfall it can cause, then it’s about as cheap as 360-degree cameras get.

Given the slow rollout of its first accessory, we have reservations about the Essential Phone’s accessory port, those two holes aligned with the rear camera array. We’re told that Essential will be frequently introducing new accessories (not mods, likely in a bid to avoid comparison with Motorola’s Moto Mods), but considering the difficulty of following through with such an ambitious promise, only time will tell if Essential’s roadmap for expandable accessories stays a steady path.

Battery life

3,040mAh capacity is respectable, if a bit small

Has no issue lasting all day long

Accessories drain it quickly

For such a small device, the Essential Phone packs in a load of technology. That sentiment extends past its processor, 128GB of onboard storage, boundary-pushing screen and onto its battery, which is a respectable 3,040mAh.

We’ve seen larger batteries in phones of this size, but when you’ve got a nearly bezel-less screen, space for more battery (or anything, for that matter) becomes a commodity. That said, this capacity helps the PH-1 easily reach its day-long target no matter how you like to use the phone. Of course, there are caveats to this.

We’ve heard reports that the 360-degree camera accessory does suck a lot of power from the phone, and in our testing, it really does. Over the course of an hour, using it non-stop tanked the battery from 50% to 0% and in the process, overheated to the point that it needed to be removed.

During our benchmark, the PH-1’s battery drained down to 78% after playing back a 90-minute FHD video file. This discharge is fairly typical amongst many smartphones, and in our time with the phone, it easily withstood the rest of our day’s worth of multimedia demands.

If you’re an infrequent phone user, we found the discharge to be nice and slow. Expect to get two days or maybe more of battery life if you don’t utilize many social media or gaming apps.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take all that long to bring the PH-1 back from the dead. It can be powered up at just 1% charge and it takes ten minutes to bring it up to 15%. Give it another hour and it will raise up to about 85%. An hour and a half brings it to full charge, which isn’t bad at all.

Camera

Impressive f/1.85 aperture gives more light to the night

Mono mode produces evocative results

Software incredibly sluggish to capture and low on features

Essential has directed a lot of energy to showing off what it’s dual-lens array is capable of. Each lens is 13MP, though one is capable of shooting in color as well as black and white, while the other is a dedicated monochrome lens.

We’ve now had more time to try the PH-1 in a variety of settings and while the capabilities of the cameras aren’t as apparent as, say, the Google Pixels or that of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, we’re pretty pleased.

However, if you’re reading about the camera for the PH-1, you’re likely seeing some alarming points, like that it takes too long to boot the camera app and that it’s slow to capture a photo. Unfortunately, both of those are true. Despite the power under the hood, modifying basically any setting causes frustration-inducing stuttering.

Given Essential’s commitment to improving the PH-1 over time, we wouldn’t be surprised to see these issues ironed out soon, but until then, people in need of a good pocket camera are served better elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean this phone can’t take a good photo.

The f/1.85 aperture of the phone’s main lens does a respectable job in low-light, but isn’t perfect. Generally, the photo and video quality of the PH-1’s cameras are stellar, but are prone to blurring due to the sheer amount of time required to snap a single photo.

In our expanded carousel, enjoy some samples that show off what it’s capable of. We’ve also included some photo and video examples shot through the 360-degree camera accessory.

Below, here's a taste of what the 360 Camera can do. We definitely look forward to bringing this along to events.

youtube

The Essential phone offers a lot of promise thanks to its expandable accessory port, stock Android interface and nearly bezel-less screen design. It’s also one of the most powerful compact phones we’ve ever tested, even though it has a 5.7-inch display. It feels smaller and bigger at the same time.

The problem is it doesn’t fulfill every one of Andy Rubin’s promises – not yet at least. His new Essential company may eventually create a long-lasting smartphone with many useful accessories and expand its use cases, where it stands in its early days leaves too many blanks unfilled. It’s a great looking, slick functioning phone, but its steep price and what Essential deems to be essential isn’t much more than the bare necessities.

Who's this for?

For those in need of an elegantly designed Android smartphone, look no further. Essential’s dedication of squeezing so much tech into a smartphone is admirable, as is its simple and clean interface.

If the idea of buying into a smartphone that will evolve by way of its accessory port over time is appealing, this is a solid choice, but not the cheapest one next from the Moto Z2 Force, which has had more time to prove itself on the modular accessories front.

Should I buy it?

The Essential Phone is impressive in many ways. At the same time, it’s a bit of a let down – though most things under this level of hype suffer a similar fate.

Hype aside, the PH-1 seems to have a solid grasp on the bare essentials of what a flagship Android smartphone should be. But other new options, like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG V30 totally outclass it in terms of value and feature set.

If its lack of headphone jack, waterproofing, expandable storage and wireless charging aren’t deal breakers for you, the Essential Phone is a solid choice today that only stands to grow into an even more essential product. But for others, it's hard to recommend outright unless its price falls.

#essential #phone

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anavoliselenu · 8 years ago

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Manwhore chapter 18

Justin instantly caresses that spot, his hand spreading all over my bare back. “I’m going to tan with your big hand on me!” I laugh.

He chuckles and moves it to curl around my neck, then up to my scalp. His phone rings again, and he stands and paces while he talks. I watch a smile flash across his face.

He runs his fingers through the sexy disorder of his hair. “Yeah? Good.”

I grin like a dope, addicted to watching him work, wondering what he’s doing. When I’m with this man, I can never think of anything but all that makes him who he is.

He glances at me with his cell phone to his ear, crooking a finger to call me over. God, he’s so bossy. I frown, but I sit up and try to tie my bikini top, curious as to what’s going on.

I pad over and he hangs up. He whispers, “Got to show you something. Come here.” He hooks a finger into the side string of my bikini bottom and uses it to have me follow. We go to the sitting area on deck where suntan lotion and fruit are set out, along with his laptop and tech gadgets. He pulls open his laptop and types in some passwords.

I sit on his thigh sideways to allow him to type. He logs on to some administrative page, then clicks a button and a window pops open with an image of a street.

“What is that?” I frown and stare closer at the screen.

“Something,” he says in his low voice, “I believe the lady will like. Look at the screen.”

The screen displays several images—a grocery store entrance, a street corner. “End the Violence has been pushing for citizen surveillance,” he explains.

Shock flits through me.

“I know.”

“I funded their movement. The government’s got several satellites up already, with a few more to follow.”

I’m so stunned, one of my hands is covering my open mouth, my obvious disbelief making Justin’s eyes fill with amusement.

“Nothing to say?” he prods.

Forcing my mouth shut, I stare at him wide-eyed: him, an ever-changing mystery. Always surprising me. Teasing me. Annoying me. Seducing me. Enchanting me.

“This just brings me one step closer to that coveted moon you say I want,” he teases me softly when I can’t speak, when I’m still blown away.

He’s peering at me, a smile twisting his lips as he runs his knuckles down my jawline. “You bring out a side in me I thought I didn’t have.” His voice is low and reverent somehow, as are his eyes, knowing and grateful. “I’ve been told that I’m reckless, that I could not be relied upon, that I couldn’t make a difference for others—just for myself. My father looked at me as if I was to blame for everything, and Mother as if I would get myself killed. People look at me like I can get them the moon, but you look at me like I already did. Like all I need to do is exist, and you would be happy,” he murmurs, tracing his thumb down my earlobe as he smiles at me, his eyes happily twinkling. “I like it, Selena.”

“I’m so alive with you,” I whisper, without being able to even think of my words before I whisper them. “I’m so alive with you, you make everything pop for me, everything stand out.”

“Ahh.” He throws his head back and laughs deliciously then scrapes his hand over the stubble of his jaw, his smile both sexy and humorous. “See, that makes me feel good in a whole other way.”

“Because you’re arrogant and nothing’s enough for you, no amount of admiration or respect. I love . . . this. I love this so much, Justin.”

I duck my head, blushing because I thought the word you before the one I actually said, which was this. It popped into my head, so real and unfiltered, I’m blushing as I try to push it down. “I do love this,” I add, focusing on the screen again.

He turns my head around and looks at my lips, rubbing them a little. “Good. My girlfriend wants to change the world, and I want to own it.”

“Why do you insist on me being your girlfriend?” I complain, but when his eyes slide up from my mouth to lock on mine, that typical shyness he brings out in me comes out with a vengeance.

“Why do we want anything?” he asks me, one eyebrow up.

“Because it gives us pleasure, satisfaction, it makes us happy.”

“So when can I call you my girlfriend?” he insists.

He’s so stubborn! I giggle because his question is “when.”

In Justin’s mind, it’s not impossible. He knows it’s happening, he’s actively carving his way to making it happen, and he’s just curious to see how long he has to wait.

I feel a yearning to say, Now! But I can’t. “Let’s talk about it again later,” I propose instead.

He takes my face in one open hand. “Next week.”

Knots, knots, knots in my tummy, my chest, my throat.

“I might need more than a week to come out of the box,” I begin when the flexing in his jaw and the tumult in his eyes tug at my heartstrings. Coupled with my own aching heart, resisting him is killing me. “But . . . will you be waiting?”

“I’m waiting, Selena,” he assures me, his tone steady, as if there’s no doubt that he will wait as long as he needs to. He leans forward and gives me the sweetest, hottest kiss on the corner of my mouth.

I sigh inwardly, a sigh he doesn’t hear, doesn’t even notice.

His attention goes back to the computer as he starts to check out the software, and he works the keyboard with those long, blunt fingers that type, I realize, as fast as mine do—and I type like the wind. I’m sitting in his arms, watching him show me, so safe right now. His scent steals into my nose and I drag it inside, getting wet between my legs, happy in my heart. “I want you again,” I whisper, in his ear.

He lifts a hand to cup my pussy and shift me, starting to caress me. “That was the aim of all this,” he whispers, nuzzling my ear.

I turn around and his nose presses to mine, my breath on his lips as I speak. “I’m really wet,” I admit. “Let me get pretty. I want to look so pretty I give ‘your type of girl’ a whole new meaning.”

When I stand, he tugs me back down as if I’m being silly, chuckling, “Come here.”

“No, seriously!” I laugh, then I say, “I’ll be right back,” and head quickly to the bathroom to get a little pretty. I see my phone messages.

Wynn: Hey we’re worried, call!

Gina: Selena where are you? You ok? We’re worried

I answer them both.

I am physically okay but so absolutely in trouble

I toss the phone aside, and when I come out, Justin is lying back in bed, arms crossed behind his head, the sheets up to his waist, and he’s naked already, his clothes tossed to the side. My stomach knots from the hunger, the fierce desire clawing inside me, begging for release. Begging me for him.

My hands shake from the heat already rushing through my veins as I slowly tug the strap of my bikini and start stripping for him. I prolong the moment, against every demanding throb of my body, every second that I’m not in that bed with him is torture, every pore in me trembling under the dark, tumultuous look in his eyes, eyes that make me feel owned, wanted, and absolutely wanton and sexy.

FRIENDS AND FANTASIES

Gina and Wynn are worried that I blew up at my mother’s house yesterday morning.

After Justin drives me home, I ask Gina to give me half an hour to shower and change. I hop into the shower, daydreaming a little bit as I rub my body and feel how tender I am between my legs. Gina is scowling and clearly concerned when I come out.

“What’s going on? Talk to me,” she goads as we head to meet Wynn that afternoon. “You were with Justin all this time?”

“Yes,” I admit.

“And? Did you break it off? Or did you call Helen? What’s going on? I’ve been deliberating and I don’t think dumping your career for a man is a good move. Especially a man with a reputation. When he breaks your heart, you can’t even say you didn’t see it coming, Selena!”

I tune out a little bit as she keeps going because, at this point, my empty stomach is filling with bile over my own decision—the one I have to make soon.

When I don’t agree with or reject her suggestions, Gina switches gears and suddenly can’t stop talking about how great it is to be single. Does she want to make me feel better because obviously Justin and I are going nowhere? Or is she concerned and thinking I would actually dare go out with Justin publicly and expose myself to the same scrutiny he’s subjected to?

No. She’s in full protective mode, and she wants me to end it, and end it now.

“I plan to live my life eating cake without being judged, painting my nails in whimsical colors, spending my own money my way, and leaving with debt. That’s the way I want to go. It means I took risks,” Gina says.

“Huge risks, Gina,” Wynn says sarcastically. She seems to be arguing the opposite side today as we sit in our usual booth. “Painting your nails and eating cake and spending money—the real risk is getting out there even after asshole Paul broke up with you.

“For a while now the only touch you’ve gotten is from your manicurist. That’s how you and Selena were both getting touched, just to get someone to touch you in any capacity.”

“For your information, Selena and I have been boinking our brains out. See, Selena hardly has any left. She’s in love with a guy who I bet slept with some waitress around here or something. And maybe even a few more. Maybe even one of us!”

“Gina!” I cry.

“Who are you boinking?” Wynn dares.

“My dildo!”

“Woo-hoo.”

She narrows her eyes. “He broke my heart, Wynn! You’re the one who always drops your boys. You both lose steam and you’re gone. I love with my whole heart! He took my heart, all his warm shirts I loved sleeping in, all my trust. Even my coffeemaker walked out that door with him.”

“Gina, Wynn, it’s okay,” I try to placate.

Gina stands. “I thought we didn’t judge each other. I’m going to get a massage—and continue living my ideal life whether you like it or not!”

“Wynn, way harsh,” I chide when Gina walks away.

“I don’t judge, Selena! I was arguing my point that at least I put myself out there and you two don’t.”

“We all do. What’s wrong if sometimes it’s so scary we want to do it in private in case we fuck up? Sometimes we’re drawn out of our shells whether we want to be or not.”

“I’ve never known anything to draw you out of yours. You’ve got your ideas and your safe zone and that’s it.”

“I’m in love, Wynn.”

I sit here, and once the words are out, the feeling—inside me so long—suddenly has a name, and it’s real. And it hurts. All this talk about the guy’s shirts and coffeemakers and I realize I do sleep in his shirt, but I’d do anything to sleep in his arms more than a few times. To have more than one shirt to sleep in. I don’t share a coffeemaker but I’d do anything to wake up another morning with him and have coffee with him while his hair is rumpled.

“I’m in love with Justin,” I say softly.

Wynn is staring at me in complete worry and confusion, her blue eyes wide in shock. A lock of red hair had fallen over her eye a few minutes ago, but suddenly she has to reach out and push it back so she can stare straight at me.

“I’ve fallen completely in love. Spectacularly so. If you want a front seat for the debacle, I’m sure there’ll be blood.”

Wynn sighs, then grabs my hand. “There’s never a right time for you to fall. It’s why they call it falling. It’s an accident. In one second. Just pray that wherever you land, you’re not there alone.”

“Wynn, I didn’t even know I wanted it. That I wanted to be worshipped this way. Even with no makeup and completely bare. I’d never wanted someone to touch me every chance he got. I’d never wanted to make excuses to touch someone else just so I can feel his warmth and how solid he is and know I didn’t imagine him. My life has been inside this box and then he’s solid and there and makes me feel something that is endless . . . I thought I knew what I wanted. Then I met him, and I don’t know anything anymore.”

“You want something else and that’s fine,” Wynn says, like it’s as easy as changing nail color.

“It’s not fine. Do you realize who he is? I’m setting myself up! I want the impossible. Men like him don’t change.”

“I beg to differ! People are always changing, it’s the law of evolution; we change. For the better. To survive.”

“Who thinks it’s for the better?”

“He will. Because being with you means something, it means he gets to be a good guy. You can give him purpose. He can give you safety. A girl who challenges you and brings out the best in you, that’s what a smart man values . . . even if he doesn’t know it until he meets her. And Justin’s a smart one, Selena. Do you think he doesn’t know what ninety-nine percent of the people surrounding him want from him? You’re a good girl, Selena. You can’t cook to save a recipe, but any guy would be lucky to have you.” She pauses. “Does he know?”

I shake my head and softly say, “Not yet.” I’ve got a farmful of critters in my stomach just thinking of telling him, and the biggest of them is called fear. “Like you just said . . . I’m afraid to go out on a limb and then find myself just standing out there alone.”

“Is he seeing other people?” Wynn asks, her expression concerned.

I wait for the waitress to leave a basket of Italian focaccia with a little plate of olive oil on the side before I continue. “I never went in having any expectations of him being exclusive, but . . . I don’t think he is seeing anyone else. He still hangs out with floozies but . . . he and I are having a lot of sex. A lot of sex, Wynn.”

Her eyes brighten. “For a nonmonogamous animal like he is, this is huge! Sex with only you?”

I feel myself blush hotly; all the talk about sex only reminds me of the powerful high of having Justin inside me.

“Don’t be restrained by rules,” she then chides. “Just go with your emotions. All those great romances, they’re not planned, they just happen.”

“That’s the thing—no matter how crazy it sounds, I want to be swept away. I do. I want to believe it could happen to me for once.”

“So?” she dares. “You’re already headed that way. Wouldn’t you rather go with it than fight some war you might not even want to win?”

“It’s not that simple, Wynn.” I fall back in my chair with a weary sigh. “I don’t know how Helen will take it when I let her know I’m not doing this. Edge is on its last breath. Even if Justin could change and want something real with me, I’d be putting my own happiness before how many people’s jobs? It’s killing me.”

“Edge will die anyway.”

“No.” I instinctively deny it with a shake of my head. “This would have injected new life. . . .”

“And you, Selena?” She looks at me as if to her, my well-being is worth so much more than the well-being of the dozens of people working at Edge. She looks at me as if one small card—me—trumps all the rest. “And my friend Selena, what about her?”

ON THE EDGE

The answer to Wynn’s question eludes me . . . but I know by the next morning that there are some things we are capable of, and some we aren’t. There are speeds at which we cannot run. And situations we cannot ever solve. We have limits within ourselves, and I have finally recognized mine. I grew up loving stories, sometimes loving stories more than people. Loving people in the stories, or because of the stories.

But today I love a man more than I love the story—his story.

So I walk into Helen’s office certain that she’s going to fire me. Fire me for real this time. Not only that, but I can’t bear to look anyone in the eye today. Valentine at his desk, looking for the perfect stock images. Victoria isn’t at her desk today, and I’m almost relieved I don’t have her looking at me when I need to come to terms with the fact that I’ve failed. I want to fail.

Helen looks up from her desk, and her eyes are tired behind her glasses. Her hair is a bit messier than normal. I can see the stress all over her and I can feel it around us as I take a seat.

She doesn’t even greet me. I think she knows.

“This article on Justin,” I begin.

“Justin?” she repeats, her expression one of complete and utter bafflement. She pulls off her reading glasses and pinches the bridge of her nose, then exhales. “Selena, I’ve been very patient with you. You asked me for a chance. . . .”

“He’s different than what we thought he’d be.”

“Is he? I don’t think so.” She levels me with a hard glare. “See, I think he’s exactly how we thought he was. And I think just like hundreds of women before you, you’ve fallen. You think that underneath all that rich bad boy there’s a good man and that he’ll change when given the chance to.”

“He doesn’t need to change. The media has used his image to their advantage but he’s not who we think he is, who anyone thinks he is.”

“Oh, and you know this because you’ve . . . what? Slept with him? Had a few cocktails with him? You’ve known him, what? A few weeks, Selena? How is that enough to know a man?”

“You can know a man with one deed. Just one. It isn’t about time.”

“Ah, you’re so deep,” she says sarcastically, then sighs. “The answer is no. You owe me an exposé. Your work has suffered for weeks, I need the material, and I need it on my desk by tomorrow.”

“I can’t write it,” I admit. “I can’t even start. I physically get sick sitting at my computer now.”

“Just write it, Selena. He’s not a one-woman man. He’s got too many opportunities to cheat and be bad, and he can get away with it. He can have a blonde bimbo on the side who doesn’t care if he cheats. Who encourages him to have other women.”

“He’s too smart. He may play with the bimbo but he won’t be happy with one. He needs someone real,” I whisper.

“What he needs is none of our concern—what you need is to do your job. That’s the end of it.”

I’m sitting here trembling. Quit. Quit. Just quit.

“Helen, I thought this exposé would give me a voice to talk about a subject people wanted to hear about, so that later I’d be heard when I talked about other things. This was also about my dad and telling myself we all have the same troubles and ups and downs in our lives, that no one has it better in all respects. I’ve felt underestimated and I wanted to prove I could do something more. I can, I’m sure of it but no, I won’t.

“I met a powerful man and I’ve learned that just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s right. Justin could do a million things with his power. He doesn’t. He uses it to prod others to action, I’ve watched him do it. He’s not the villain here. He gives as good as he gets. He’s used in the same way he uses. That’s what I call a trade. He’s not all Justin, but he’s not all sinner.”

“Good, very good, write all of that. I need it on my desk.”

“I quit,” I breathe.

Helen looks at me, sighing. “You can’t quit, Selena.”

“I just did. Helen, I’m sorry.”

“I’m telling you, you can’t quit.”

“Why?”

“Because Victoria just did.”

“Helen, I’m sorry that—”

“You’ll be sorrier if you don’t go through with it now. Victoria quit. She’s gone to our competition. They’re printing a story about Justin’s girlfriend secretly working to expose him. They’re jumping in before us.”

“WHAT?” I’m frozen.

“So you see, if you quit now, every one of your colleagues will soon be out of a job. Edge will get the last blow needed to finish it once and for all. Do you want to live with this, Selena? At twenty-three, do you want to live with this on your shoulders? I’ve asked one special thing of you. One. To do your job.”

“Helen,” I plead.

“If you ever thought you could back out and it would all be forgotten . . . it won’t. Your boyfriend will know what you’ve been up to by next week. If you thought you could salvage your own image in his eyes by sacrificing Edge . . .” She sighs and turns away. “You thought wrong. Victoria will run with whatever it is she accessed through our systems—surveillance caught her photocopying things from your desk, Selena. You wanted a voice? You have one. I need it in my inbox by Monday to try to match their print schedule. If we want to try to salvage the magazine, we need this piece—and we need it now.”

All I hear, as I leave Edge, as I gather my notes that Victoria may have photocopied and my bag, shut down my computer, and as I take the elevator downstairs, all I hear is my own voice, telling Justin that it wasn’t Interface that I was researching.

It was him.

I find myself in the streets. Walking without direction. How long have I been staring at the word Sin in my contacts? I don’t know. The wind bites into my cheeks. My fingertips are cold around my phone. I’m walking . . . but I’m heading nowhere.

I stare at Sin’s name and realize it’s the last contact I dialed.

It’s barely afternoon—he has a thousand things to do at M4 and even has to fly to New York City, but I press “dial” and lift the receiver to my ear. I don’t even know what I’m going to say. Only that I need to hear his voice right now.

He picks up with his lips sounding close to the receiver, as if he’s with people. “Hey.”

God help me, his voice will never stop doing things to me.

My eyes drift shut as a series of sensations flow through me to the tips of my feet. He is such an experience. Funny that he’s known to be straightforward, a man of few words.

This seems to fascinate the world, and in contrast, the world speaks about him almost too much.

And now, Victoria is going to speak about us.

“Hey,” I hastily whisper, “I know you’re busy. I just wanted to hear your voice.” I stop walking, lean on a lamppost as I feel myself blush beet red, and stare at my feet and the cracks on the sidewalk. “What time do you fly out?”

“Soon as I finish here, two hours at most.”

He waits for a heartbeat, as though waiting for me to explain why I’m calling.

“Something up at work?” he asks.

“Only me, wanting to call you. I’m making it a habit, aren’t I?”

“I’m not complaining,” he husks out in a murmur. “But I’ve got some people waiting.”

“Of course. Go get the world. Better yet, go get the moon!” No time to have this talk now, Selena. Just say goodbye, say goodbye and ask to see him soon. “Let me know when you get back? I was hoping we could talk.”

“Sure.”

“’Bye, Sin,” I whisper.

“’Bye.”

After a full minute of regrouping, I look around, and though I know perfectly where I am, I’m lost.

I’m lost, and I can’t find my way home.

I’m lying in bed, sleepless, when my cell phone buzzes on my nightstand and an unidentified number appears. I see it’s almost midnight, and I almost don’t answer, but I do—and that’s when I hear it.

Justin’s voice, kind of smoky, thick and low, through the background of jet engines. “What . . .” I grumble and shake myself awake. “I thought you were flying?”

There’s pleasure in the low whisper. “I am.”

“Of course,” I groan. “Your plane has a phone. What else? Naked flight attendants?”

“I assure you they’re perfectly dressed.”

“Oh, but I bet you’re not,” I tease.

Surrounded by only dark in my bedroom, his voice is . . . everything.

His voice, his soft laugh.

It gives me such pleasure I can’t stop smiling. “I’m glad I amuse you,” I say softly.

“I’m glad too.”

My turn to laugh.

But this time, Justin doesn’t join in.

“We said a week, right?” Justin asks me.

“A week for . . .” I’m confused for a moment, but then I remember our conversation onboard The Toy, about him . . . and me. And I know exactly what he means. “Oh, that.” A hot flush creeps along my body, spreading down, down, down, all the way to my toes. “Yes, that’s what we said,” I admit.

“How about now?” he surprises me by saying.

Tingles and lightning bolts race through my bloodstream. The sensation covers my body from corner to corner. I try to suppress it; it’s wrong to feel it. But I can’t stop it, I can’t stop what he does to me. “What happened to your legendary patience?”

“How about now, Selena?” he insists.

All my guilt, my insecurities, and my fear are suddenly weighing down on me. It’s really hard to speak as I shake my head in the dark. “I’m a mess, Justin,” I choke out.

“Be my mess, then.”

A truly sad laugh leaves me, and for a moment, I’m afraid it’ll turn into a sob. “Oh god.” I drag in a deep breath and blink the moisture from my eyes. “When can we talk about this in person?”

“When I land in Chicago. Saturday. Come stay over.”

I nod. “God, I need to see you.” I wipe the corners of my eyes. “I need to see you,” I say, then laugh to hide the way my voice is trembling and boy, how I really, desperately want to cry and spill my guts to him. “I really need to see you, Justin.”

“I’ll send you a picture.”

He’s teasing me?

He’s teasing me and I love it and I always have.

“Justin!” Thank god my voice didn’t break just now, because the rest of me really wants to.

I hear his chuckle, low and savoring.

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stephmolliex · 7 years ago

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How to get more speed and features out of Safari on Mac and iOS

Maybe it's just because it comes free on your Mac and iOS devices, but somehow it never seems fashionable to like Safari. Yet this is a remarkably capable app and it has hidden depths. AppleInsider delves into using Safari. Safari doesn't get enough credit as being a fast and capable browser, but that is partly it's own fault. On iOS in particular, Safari gets out of your way so that you just see the website you want. You're meant to forget that you're using a browser at all and unfortunately that means you do tend to miss just how much Safari is doing for you -- and what more it can do too. Browsers are a matter of personal taste, so if you don't like Safari, we're not going to change your mind. Yet, we're going to try and if you use any of them at all, these tips will show you just how much more power there is in this ubiquitous yet somehow also disregarded app. Settings for this website (macOS) Go to any website in Safari on the Mac and when it's loaded, click on the Safari menu, then Settings for this website. A drop-down dialog appears under the website's address bar. It doesn't have many options and they vary a little depending on the site but they are all handy to know. There's one marked Enable content blockers and this is one of macOS's tools for battling the more intrusive of web ads. By default, it's switched on and it's hard to guess why you'd change that but you can. You're more likely to change a setting called Auto-Play. This is the tool that prevents a loud video playing when you first visit a site. By default, this is set to Stop Media with Sound which lets videos play but keeps them silent. Instead, you can say you don't even want the videos to play at all or you can go back to old days and have sound and video blasting out at you. There are also options here for whether a site can use your location, your camera or your microphone. Each one is automatically set to require the site to ask you for permission but again you can apply a blanket allow or deny. That's a blanket permission for this site and this site alone. Similarly, on this same dialog you can choose Use Reader when available and that applies only to this website. Use Reader view (macOS and iOS) Reader or Reader View is when Safari attempts to strip away all of a website's graphics and just display the text of the article you're reading. It's not always effective: you'll find that sometimes text is missing from the article because of how the website has arranged its page. Also, usually you want the graphics. Yet when a site is just so ferociously blinding with ads and popups and videos, being able to dismiss it all and get on with what you want to read is a boon. On the Mac, you could use the same Settings for this website and Safari would remember to switch to Reader view every time you visited. However, just click on the icon to the side of the website's address -- if there is one. The icon you need is a symbol showing four lines representing text but you won't see it on the front or menu pages of a site. You have to go into an article first. When you're there, the icon appears and on the Mac you can click it to switch on Reader mode immediately. On iOS, you tap the same icon and get the same result. What's less commonly known is that this icon comes with more options. On the Mac, click and hold on it to get these extra settings and on iOS, press and hold for a moment. On both platforms, the options you then get are to do with when Safari should automatically switch to Reader mode and when it shouldn't. You can tell it that every single time you visit any page on the current site, Safari should switch on Reader. Or in the same place you can say that you want this to happen for every website ever. Safari remembers this and if you change your mind, you click or tap and hold on that same Reader icon for a moment. Then the options are to automatically switch Reader off. It's not just about reading (macOS) We may not like it when a video we weren't expecting starts playing and we jump out of our seats. Yet the web is at least as much about video as it is text and Safari has ways to make watching better too. As of macOS Sierra, you've been able to use Safari to watch Picture in Picture. It's like being able to tear off a video from a site and drag it somewhere on your screen. So you can keep a news channel running in one corner, for instance. Or if you're watching a YouTube video about using some software, you can have that on screen next to the app. For many websites including Vimeo, you find the video you want and start playing it. When it's begun, there will typically be a Picture in Picture button on the bottom. Click that and your video pops out into this side panel: no website around it, no controls, just the video itself. Unfortunately, not every site plays this nicely and that includes YouTube. For YouTube, you have to fiddle. Find a video, set it running and then right-click in the middle of the image. Ignore the menu that appears and instead right-click again. Seriously. Right-click, then right-click again. The first time you do it you get a menu from YouTube but if you do it again immediately, you get a menu from Safari instead. Choose Enter Picture in Picture from that and you're done. Or nearly. Picture in Picture defaults to appearing in the top right of your display but you can move it -- within limits. You can actually drag it anywhere and while you're dragging, it will continue to play but then when you let go it will snap to the nearest corner. You can resize it. Click on an edge and you can drag to increase the size to about a quarter of your screen or reduce it to a postage stamp. Unfortunately you can't change the size and then restore it to the default unless you close the video and do it again. To close it, move your cursor over the video image and you'll get controls for pausing the video or popping it back into its website. There's no way to rewind or fast-forward and you can't have more than one video playing Picture in Picture. That's not even if you open a second tab or try to play videos from different sites. Plus you do have to keep the original tab open. You can minimize it but the original tab or Safari window is also how you mute the sound of the video alone. Extensions (macOS) Arguably Google Chrome is famous for how you can download extensions that add various extra pieces of functionality for it but certainly Safari isn't. Which is at least partly because there aren't as many available -- and possibly because there is an oddity in how Apple shows you them. On the Mac, choose the Safari menu and then do not choose Safari Extensions. Instead, choose Preferences and click on the Extensions tab. This is where you see what extensions you may already have and it's where you uninstall or update them. There's also a More Extensions button which takes you to Apple's online store of these. That's actually where the menu item Safari Extensions takes you so perhaps it's useful the very first time you look at this. It's just that you don't often go into your extensions so whenever you do, it is ridiculously easy to assume you want to choose the menu item with Extensions in its name. These extensions really all make Safari automatically do something that you could already use it for in some automatic way. There's an iThoughts extension that takes the current website's address and adds it to a mind map in that application. Or probably the most useful example of them all is the 1Password extension. With this installed in Safari, you can tap a keystroke or click an icon and call up this password manager. It will pop passwords into place for you, it will quickly generate new ones, it will show you all your credit card details, or it will fill in forms. The main 1Password app does all of this but the Safari Extension puts it all a keystroke away. It's all about speed Safari is a fast browser. There, we've said it. Chrome and Firefox fans tend to say their browser is quicker and we daresay if we ever find an Internet Explorer user they might claim the same. This is because part of speed is how used you are to the slightly different ways browsers work. Safari is very good at speeding up jobs for you. As well as the Safari Extensions which bring extra tools to your mouse click or keyboard tap, there are the Reader view settings that make reading quicker. Then, though, there are the now almost silly number of ways Safari can get you to the sites you want and remember them afterwards. As with any browser, you can hold down the Command key and tap L to move the cursor up to the address bar. It moves the cursor and it also selects everything there so if you want to type a completely new address, you just start typing and the old one is immediately replaced. If you want to change the existing address, just tap the right or left arrow keys and now the selection is gone and your cursor is at the start or end of the address. Safari will auto-complete the names of sites you've been to before. Once you're there, you can click on the Bookmarks menu and choose Add Bookmark. If you've opened a lot of tabs then right next to that option there is a command to bookmark all of them. It applies only to the ones in the current window so if you also have multiple windows, you have to go to each one first. Bookmarks are so 1990s, though. Click in the Safari address bar and delete the address there. Safari then shows you a Favorites screen which by default includes a section with sites you frequently visit. Pinned tabs If you really visit them frequently, though, you can pin them. This is the same as loading the page but instead of taking up a whole tab in the menubar, you're using a favicon-sized one. To add a site to this collection that's always displayed at the side of every Safari window, start by going to a site you want. When it's loaded, you can click on its favicon to the left of the site name in the address bar and drag it over to the other pinned tabs. Sometimes clicking on that favicon is fiddly, though, so you can instead click and hold on the tab itself. Drag on that and you can slide it over into the pinned tabs and let go. For sheer speed of access, pinned tabs are excellent. However, they have a problem. Safari is now very good at preventing sites from blasting you with sound from auto-playing videos. Plus if you have two dozen tabs open and one of them is playing audio, you can now see which one because Safari puts an icon in that tab. It also gives you the option to right-click on that icon and mute the sound without ever going to that tab. There's no room for that icon in the pinned tabs. So you can still have sound playing and not know where it's coming from. Also, even though you make these pinned tabs by dragging a site's little favicon, what you get in the tab bar is rarely that favicon. It's more common to get just a single letter. If you pin AppleInsider then it will become a little button marked "A." That's fine until you pin Amazon and now you've got two pins with the same letter. For that reason, it's best to severely limit the number of tabs you pin because the time saved using them can be lost in hunting for the right one. There's another reason to limit them, though. Every tab in every browser takes up some resources from your Mac, even if Safari is good at limiting this. You can end up with a site in a pinned tab that is slowing your Mac down. So don't regard pinned tabs as a way of bookmarking, see them instead as where you keep your most urgently and often used sites. Everything's adjustable You could rearrange your pinned tabs to spell out words. Or you could unpin one by right-clicking on choosing from the options that pop up. That's Safari at its very heart: you see only a simple interface but you get many more options by right-clicking or choosing Preferences. The aim is to leave you thinking about the sites you're visiting and that is laudable. It just also means that you often miss the features that make Safari genuinely superb. https://goo.gl/QPaVzJ

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