Oak helps the monkey-minded decompress by transforming meditation practices from experiments into habits. It supports you from your first session to your 500th, with mindful, loving-kindness, and sleep meditations as well as unguided sessions and breathing exercises. Individualize your guided meditations by duration, and customize with silence or calming background sounds. Oak tracks your progress and encourages you to continue building a healthy meditation practice. Plus, the app can integrate with the Health app, allowing you to track your meditative minutes over time. App Store: Oak – Free
New Shot on iPhone Video 'The Bucket' Celebrates Chinese New Year
As expected, the latest “Shot on iPhone” video landed Thursday, to celebrate Chinese New Year. Shot on an iPhone XS by filmmaker Jia Zhangke, The Bucket tells the story of a man heading to the city for Chinese New Year, and the bucket his mother gives him for his travels filled with the taste of home.
Xiaomi Showed Off the First Double Folding Smartphone
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi revealed a smartphone with a difference. On Wednesday, Senior Vice President Wang Xiang tweeted a video of Xiaomi President Bin Lin with a double folding smartphone. It is just a short clip, but it is pretty cool. The clip shows a video playing on the phone, and continuing to play as the sides of the device are folded back. The screen appears to take up almost the entire front of the device. There is also a longer video on Weibo. No word from Xiaomi on when it will be available to consumers though.
Alien Blackout Game Launches Today
The terror of Alien is brought to life in Alien Blackout. Try to stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly Xenomorph as it tirelessly hunts you and the crew. Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices. Players must rely on the damaged controls of the space station or risk sacrificing crew members to avoid deadly contact, permanently altering the outcome of the game. Survive seven fear-inducing levels by remotely guiding Amanda Ripley’s crew through increasingly challenging tasks using only the station’s emergency systems. The uncertainty and unpredictability of both the alien and her crew can impose total defeat for Amanda and the entire station. Alien Blackout is a unique fear-inducing horror mobile game experience that will test the inner nerves of both Alien and horror fans alike, where life can end in an instant. App Store: US$4.99
Filemaker wants Everyday to be Casual Friday
Apple subsidiary Filemaker is fed up of hype. Its latest Workplace Innovation film features a firm using Filemaker to try and resolve the issue of lost deliveries. Oh, and a new, casual, office dress-code. I like the idea of cutting away from a lot of the hyperbole that accompanies tech innovation these days, and this clip is rather fun. The less said about the man-bun the better though!
Book Sale: Fossils, Finches, and Fuegians for $1.99
Fossils, Finches, and Fuegians is a narrative account of Charles Darwin’s four year voyage on the Beagle to South America, Australia and the Pacific in the 1830s that combines the adventure and excitement of Alan Moorehead’s famous (and now out of print) account with an expert assessment of the scientific discoveries of that journey. The author is Charles Darwin’s great-grandson. No biography of Darwin has yet done justice to what the scientific research actually was that occupied Darwin during the voyage. Keynes shows exactly how Darwin’s geological researches and his observations on natural history sowed the seeds of his revolutionary theory of evolution, and led to the writing of his great works on The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. Apple Books: US$1.99
Goodnotes 5 is Out for $7.99
GoodNotes 5 is a major update to its predecessor GoodNotes 4. It includes many highly requested features, improvements to existing things and some special surprises.
What’s new in GoodNotes 5:
- New folder system: Create unlimited levels of folders and subfolders
- Text & handwriting search across all documents
- Flexible scrolling directions: Horizontal or vertical scrolling
- Favorites view: Shortcuts to important pages, documents, or folders.
- QuickNotes: The fastest way to start taking notes
- Optionally display documents as lists instead of thumbnails
- Improved ink algorithm: More precise and natural writing experience
And a whole lot more.
'Tidying up With Marie Kondo' - the New Best Thing on Netflix
A Netflix show about tidying up might not be an obvious hit, and yet, I’m hooked. So are millions of others. Marie Kondo, the author of a bestselling book on tidying, travels around America with the intention of “sparking joy” through cleaning up. In each episode, Ms. Kondo helped restore order in people’s lives and reignited family relationships through her KonMari method. Seriously. If readers are anything like me, you will have cupboards filled with old devices, cables, and boxes, along with everything else. This show gives great tips on how to sort it all, and, more importantly, explains why you should.
CES - Scosche BaseLynx Modular Wireless Charging Station Organizes and Charges Your Devices
Scosche’s CES booth was again full of great new devices for managing your devices in both your home and car, and the highlight to us was their new BaseLynx modular wireless charging station. Available modules include a Qi fast-charge dock, an Apple Watch dock, powered end-cap, and a vertical power station which holds three wired devices. The end-cap has a 12V USB-A and 18W USB-C PD outlet, and the power station has that plus a second USB-A port. You can mix-and-match modules to serve your needs – including just using one if you like – and BaseLynx is engineered to prevent over- or under-voltage, surging, and overheating. Pricing has not yet been announced, and BaseLynx is due to be available this coming spring.
CES - Ultrahaptics Uses Ultrasound for Touchless Gesture Control, Haptic Feedback, and 3D Viewing
One of the coolest things I found at CES this year was Ultrahaptics technology, allowing for gesture control and haptic feedback using only ultrasound. Touching nothing, I was able to control and manipulate an on-screen “object”, and even feel it all through the magic of ultrasound waves. They also had a demo using their tech that tracks your face and eyes to project and focus a 3D image without the need for any glasses. I talked a bit about it on the show floor:
LG's CES 2019 Curved OLED Screen Booth Display [Video]
Every year at CES one of my favorite things is to visit the Central Hall to see all the new TV technology. This year LG again won my vote for most impressive display (no pun intended!) with its array of curved OLED screens. Showing a rotating series of nature videos, this array of curved displays was both immersive and astounding. The video doesn’t do it justice, of course, but it’s worth a quick look just to get an idea of what the future looks like. Enjoy!
CES - QDOS Infinity Glass Encases your iPhone in Tempered Glass
At CES Wednesday, QDOS was showing off Infinity Glass, a case unlike any I’ve ever seen: both the front and the back are made entirely of tempered glass, and the two halves fit together with magnets to completely encase your iPhone. The case snaps on quickly and without any alignment required, and the metal edging fits perfectly together around your phone. Once on your iPhone, the seams between the two halves disappear, and everything feels smooth and silky, just as you’d expect from tempered glass. QDOS Infinity Glass cases are priced at $49.99 and are available for all current iPhones.
CES - Hyper's New Wireless AirPods Charging Case
At CES 2019 on Wednesday, Hyper was showing off the new version of their AirPods charging case. Due to be made available imminently, the case completely encompasses your current AirPods charging case, and contains a Lightning connector in the bottom. Simply place your existing AirPods charger inside the Hyper case and lay that down on a Qi pad (or mat, like the one coming in Q2 shown in the picture here) and, boom, your AirPods wirelessly charge. Retail price is said to be just US$20.
CES - Netgear's Nighthawk AX12 Brings Wi-Fi 6 and Enhancements to Wi-Fi 5
Netgear took the opportunity Monday at the CES Pepcom event to show off its latest dual-band router, the Nighthawk AX12. Billed as a 12-stream router, this device includes some significant Wi-Fi enhancements over its predecessors. First, of course, is support for 802.11ax, a.k.a. Wi-Fi 6. This operates over the same 5GHz band as Wi-Fi 5 (a.k.a. 802.11ac), but uses OFDMA signaling to fit more bandwidth into the spectrum. Full utilization will require Wi-Fi 6-compatible clients, and nothing from Apple currently supports that. However, this 5GHz radio also supports Wi-Fi 5, and has a couple of benefits: first, with 8 streams for that antenna your chances of getting connected to the best streams double over even the top-end routers out there. Second, the Nighthawk AX includes the very latest Wi-Fi chipset which now truly supports full, 160MHz connections, delivering real-world speed and range increases to existing Wi-Fi 5 devices. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we expect it to be north of $400. Interested users can sign up to learn more through NETGEAR’s upcoming Premier Beta program.
Apple's Public Billboard at CES: 'What Happens on Your iPhone, Stays on Your iPhone'
I heart this so much. There aren’t enough emojis in the world to describe how much I love Apple’s giant message to CES: “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” It’s on a massive outdoor sign hanging on the side of a ::checks notes:: Marriott…wait, is Apple trolling Marriott, too? Fitting, if so. Whatever, the target is ostensibly Google, Facebook, Amazon, Android, and the myriad of companies whose customers are the product. And that message is being delivered to CES in Las Vegas, a show Apple doesn’t bother to attend. Chris Velazco of Engadget tweeted the first image I could find (below), and Mashable‘s Adam Rosenberg pitched it as, “Apple spent money to publicly troll everyone else’s privacy issues at CES.” Again with the feels, Apple. Thanks for brightening my day.
Apple never shows up at CES, so I can’t say I saw this coming. pic.twitter.com/8jjiBSEu7z
— Chris Velazco (@chrisvelazco) January 4, 2019
Add Four Displays To Your Mac with Targus USB-C Universal Quad HD Docking Station
The beauty of our new USB-C docking station world (don’t say dongles!) is the flexibility and expandability it provides for our Macs. Targus highlights this perfectly with their new USB-C Universal Quad HD Docking Station that they were showing off Sunday at CES Unveiled. In addition to four USB 3.0 ports, an audio in/out port, and a USB-C port with 15W of power, this dock includes four (yes, 4!) HDMI ports, each connectable to a 1080p display. MacOS sees each of these connected displays individually, meaning you could just as easily have four separate screens for your day-trading delights as you could build a multi-screen video “wall” and spread your image across all four of them simultaneously. At US$275 this is a no-brainer if you need those kind of display options. A unit supporting four 4K screens will be out later this year, due to be priced at US$375.
Speck's GrabTab Offers Wireless-Charging-Friendly One-Handed iPhone Grip
Speck was showing off GrabTab, their latest iPhone accessory, at CES Unveiled in Las Vegas on Sunday. Think of GrabTab as serving the same function as a PopSocket — allowing you to get a better one-handed grip on your iPhone — but GrabTab collapses much flatter to allow for better Qi charging, car mounting, and travel in and out of pockets. For US$9.95 this is a no-brainer. Buy one, stick it on the back of your iPhone, and you’re good to go. Bonus: you can slide it open to use as an iPhone stand for watching all of your favorite videos, too.
Nahimic Brings Enhanced 3D Audio To Your Mac’s Movies and Music
Nahimic, long-time makers of enhanced audio for video games, on Sunday launched Nahimic for Mac. Built to enhance music and movies, Nahimic brings real-time processing of your Mac’s audio from any app. They demoed it with movies and music and the results were impressive. Their 3D Sound truly made a noticeable difference out of MacBook Pro speakers at CES Unveiled, a very noisy environment. Tests on our own back at the hotel confirmed what we heard earlier: this sounds fantastic, there’s no noticeable latency, and the app performs well. A free trial is available and one-year subscription will set you back just US$35.
Maeve: An Apple Music Web Player With Customizable Themes
A few unofficial Apple Music web players popped up during the second half of 2018. Now, there is a new one in town for 2019. On Wednesday, Reddit user tatians posted that they had created Maeve. It is one of the slickest Apple Music web players I’ve seen, offering really good search functionality. Users simply log in to access their library on the web. Maeve also offers customizable themes. GitHub users can contribute to the project’s development.
New Trailer Reveals Stranger Things 3 will Air on Netflix on July 4th
In the early hours of January 1st, 2019, Netflix dropped the latest trailer and date announcement for series 3 of Stranger Things. It features Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and a host of clues hidden in some code. It also reveals that the setting for the latest series will be summer 1985 and that Stranger Things 3 will land on July 4th, 2019.
Former Apple Engineer Unveils Project Erasmus
Project Erasmus is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. Created by former Apple engineer Bob Burrough, it’s a UI concept where elements on the screen are lit by the environment. For example, software toggles and menu bars develop drop shadows and highlights based on light sources in the room. He does this by attaching an Olloclip wide angle lens to capture the light, then the software renders that light as a scene. This is real-time rendering and it makes elements on the screen appear as physical objects.
Netflix Releases Black Mirror Bandersnatch Trailer
Netflix has released the trailer for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and it’s as dystopian as ever. The movie will apparently be 90 minutes and fans think it will somehow be a Choose Your Own Adventure experience. The trailer description doesn’t say much:
In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge. Welcome back.
It stars Fionn Whitehead of Dunkirk.
Test Your Knowledge With Quiz Pursuit Trivia App
With millions of unique quiz questions and thousands of topics, QuizPursuit is one of the best trivia games out there. With this fun and engaging quiz game, you can enhance your knowledge, while having a fun trivia game experience. And with the Levels feature you can boast to your friends about your expertise in your chosen topics of interest. Play this quiz game by yourself or invite and challenge friends for a fun round of trivia. No matter what your topic of interest is, we’ve got you covered. Choose from thousands of interesting topics, including sports, entertainment, science, and general trivia. The more questions that you answer on a particular topic, the higher the levels you reach. What’s more is that you win nuggets to advance through levels. You can use these nuggets to wager with your friends in challenges. You can double your wagered nuggets by winning the challenges. App Store: Free
Macaulay Culkin is Home Alone with the Google Assistant
Macaulay Culkin recreated scenes from the classic Christmas movie Home Alone in Google’s latest advert. Reprising his role as Kevin McCallister, the clip showed Mr. Culkin adding aftershave to a shopping list, setting reminders, and fighting intruders with the help of the Google Assistant.