iOS 13.1.2 is the latest in a line of rapid fire updates, iOS 13.1.1 having come out last Friday and iOS 13.1 having come out just three days before that. The update notes state iOS 13.1.2 fixes a few major bugs, including the flashlight or the camera not working. It also fixes a few issues with Shortcuts and a stalled iCloud progress bar (the iPadOS update released today fixes the same issues)....
At the time, the launch SEEMED momentous. People were shocked/appalled/excited about the headphones and Apple‘s aspirations, but a year later? There’s an overwhelming sense of “meh” around the devices. Much of this, I’m sure, is down to the inherent flaws in the AirPods Max. I’ve written about this extensively in the past, but I’ll sum up the major issues with them again: No proper lossless support No 3.5mm audio cable No power button Simply acceptable battery life Minimal Android support Too expensive...
AirTags, the company’s cheap and cheerful tracking devices, have become the category’s foremost technology, yet their misuse has embroiled the company in scandal. A gamut of reports have linked AirTags to stalking and theft, with one of the most prominent being the story of model Brooke Snader, who had one of the devices slipped into her coat pocket at a bar. While Apple has come under fire for the releasing the product, AirTags operate in a gray area....
It’s about time. We’re not just guessing here. While it’s unclear (read: unlikely) that Apple will create an Android-specific app, it did show off FaceTime working on a Google Pixel 3 via Chrome. I assume this also means you’ll be able to call your Windows friends too. Heck, you can even call that one person you know that uses Linux! Naturally, the experience will be better on Apple devices. Many of its best new features probably won’t be available on Android phones, and it’s unclear if you can start a call from non-Apple devices, but it’s still nice to see FaceTime become a little less exclusive....
It’s somewhat surprising for Apple to add functionality on an external accessory like this, but if there’s any phone it makes sense for, it’s the iPhone 11; it’s probably the biggest leap in iPhone image quality since portrait mode was introduced. The button is able to directly launch the camera app whether the phone is locked or unlocked. One quick press will take a photo once in the app while holding the button will capture a video....
In spite of this progress, a stigma remains. For generations, common wisdom has held that a college degree is the best path to professional success; apprenticeships have been considered a second-class option for less-desirable, blue-collar jobs. As teachers, workers, employers, and students, we must change that narrative and embrace apprenticeships as the path to the new-collar – or specialized skills-based – jobs of the future, such as software engineers, data analysts, and registered nurses, to name a few....
Hundreds of thousands of people who want to change the world in a myriad of ways. Hundreds of thousands of people with a vision and the motivation to work for it. Hundreds of thousands of people who want to reinvent things. Entrepreneurs, so the story goes, are a rare species. According to that story, most people enjoy the comfort of their corporate jobs and their steady salaries too much to even consider taking the leap to entrepreneurship....
ADAS systems are widely available — and are often called semi-autonomous, as they combine automatic vehicle acceleration with braking and steering. The AAA tested three different ADAS-equipped vehicles: a 2020 Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot, a 2021 Subaru Forester with EyeSight, and a Hyundai Santa Fe with Highway Driving Assist. The agency’s engineering team conducted 15 test runs, using a foam hatchback car and a bicycle dummy. The test vehicles performed well in routine scenarios, such as approaching a slowing moving vehicle or bicyclist from behind....
Most meditation courses and programs have the same basic purpose: to help you relax, center and find peace. Those are, of course, all very important, very worthwhile goals. However, if you’re going to put in the often significant time investment to meditate and focus and attempt to tap into your innermost self, then it might be worth getting even more out of the effort than some momentary calm. With the Omvana meditation app, their goal isn’t to get users better at meditation, but to get them better at navigating life....
Owning a plane doesn’t make you a pilot. Running a sports team doesn’t make you an athlete. And having tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator doesn’t make you an artist. Even with the help of those high caliber apps, it takes training and loads of experience to produce a professional-grade ad or product design or even a great social media image. For the rest of us, we can use some help....
The Business of Mobility is an Urban Mobility Company series highlighting some of the most successful new businesses in the mobility sector. Featuring a closer look at the way in which companies stand out, CEOs, Directors, and other c-level executives elaborate on what it takes to turn a great idea into a great company. Frank Oudegeest, Director of Urban Arrow B2B, explains how Urban Arrow is turning cargo bikes into a viable alternative to the delivery van....
Sometimes, you gotta pump the iron, go for a run, or just generally get a goddamn sweat on. When those (quite often) painful moments happen, there’s one thing that makes them a little better: music. Not only does it feel great listening to tunes and exercising, music can actually improve your physical performance. With this in mind, surely the better the music sounds, the better you’ll exercise, right? RIGHT? (Note: the author is not a scientist)....
You won’t find a smoother viewing experience than a 4K screen with 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. Unfortunately, contraptions that fall in this product category will cost you an arm and a leg, so it’s often tough to justify purchasing one (if you’ve got the cash to spare in the first place). You know what’s still an affordable, albeit slightly less luxurious, alternative, though? Dell’s S3219D monitor — and as luck would have it, there’s a succulent deal on it right now....
I’m a fan of tablets. There’s something about their notepad size and large screen that makes me feel like I’m a professional on some sort of futuristic space ship. Despite this, there is a downside in the real world though: what do you use them for? While tablets are nice to have, I’ve never found them to be a must. Phones are more portable, and laptops are more powerful, kinda leaving much of the technology in a weird grey area....
The charger can plug into your regular 12V ‘cigarette lighter’ car power adapter. It has two USB ports, so you can charge two devices simultaneously at 2.1 A total output. The robot can move and rotate its head, and make sounds just like BB-8. That’s pretty cool. And don’t worry, you can easily mute the sound if it’s not your cup of tea. This is a perfect, inexpensive gift if you have any birthdays coming up....
But, despite all the technological advancements, sometimes the simplest ways of navigating the world are still best. Phones can run out of battery, or aren’t suitable to use in certain conditions. Sometimes you just need the information you require on a bit of paper. And the easiest way to achieve that? With a goddamn printer. Oh, look at this — there’s currently a wonderful deal on this HP printer! Yep, you can get the company’s DeskJet 2680 for only $25....
The system, powered by Alibaba’s popular payment app Alipay, is in use in more than 200 cities. People can scan a QR code to get a green, yellow, or red tag. The green tag means you are healthy and can roam around the city unrestricted, yellow means a seven-day quarantine, and red means a 14-day quarantine. [Read: Alibaba’s new AI system can detect coronavirus in seconds with 96% accuracy] The NYT studied the code of the app and found that it sends a person’s location, city name, and an identifying code number to a server that supposedly belongs to authorities....
Launched in 2016, Micius has already produced a number of breakthroughs under its operating team led by Pan Jian-Wei, China’s “Father of Quantum”. The satellite serves as the source of pairs of entangled photons, twinned light particles whose properties remain intertwined no matter how far apart they are. If you manipulate one of the photons, the other will be similarly affected at the very same moment. It is this property that lies in the heart of the most secure forms of quantum cryptography, the entanglement-based quantum key distribution....
Authorities in the eastern city of Hangzhou have proposed combining medical records, physical exam results, and data on lifestyle choices to create a healthcare score for citizens. Officials said the system would be a “firewall to enhance people’s health and immunity,” the Guardian reports. They aim to launch the app by the end of next month. Each of the city’s 10 million residents would be given a colored health badge based on a collation of this data, and a score from 1-100 that will be used to create health rankings....
“Cisco denies reports from India regarding Cisco’s involvement in restricting access to social media websites. Cisco strongly supports free expression and open communication on the Internet, and our policies and practices are well-established in this area. We build our products to comply with global standards and sell our products globally. We do not customize our products in any way to enable censorship.” After months of internet shutdown, starting January, Kashmir authorities started allowing people living in the region access to 2G internet....
