SEPTEMBER 2017
DIGITAL EDITION
CONTENTS WorldMags.net
SEPTEMBER 2017
COVER STORY
OULU FINLAND: 5G LIVES HERE PCMag’s Mobile Lead Analyst Sascha Segan traveled north to investigate.
FEATURE STORY HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS REVOLUTIONIZING THE MHEALTH INDUSTRY Our portable devices may soon play an integral role in keeping us healthy.
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WorldMags.net WHAT’S NEW NOW BLACK HAT 2017: THE BEST (AND SCARIEST) HACKS What the annual hacker conference had up its sleeve.
QUEENSLAND GETS THE WORLD’S LONGEST ‘ELECTRIC HIGHWAY’ INTEL’S GEMINI LAKE CHIPS OFFER 15 PERCENT PERFORMANCE BOOST They also bring 4MB of cache and a 4-wide pipeline.
FAST FORWARD: SUPERCOMPUTING WITH INTEL’S BRIAN CONNORS TOP GEAR What we loved most this month.
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WorldMags.net REVIEWS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Google Jamboard Motorola Moto Z2 Force Edition Lego Boost Creative Toolbox Five Top Robot Vacuums Google Jamboard
HARDWARE Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (2017) Asus ROG Zephyrus Epson PowerLite 1781W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector
SOFTWARE & APPS Asus ROG Zephyrus
Five Top Mac Antivirus Protection Packages
Atlassian HipChat
Atlassian HipChat Tekken 7 (for PC)
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WorldMags.net OPINIONS DAN COSTA First Word
READER INPUT EVAN DASHEVSKY I Owe an Apology to Bluetooth Speakers Everywhere
SASCHA SEGAN
The company could easily convince people it is cool to have this next-gen Apple ID... the iChip.
Huawei’s Irrelevant Success
DOUG NEWCOMB Stop With the Fancy Names for Self-Driving-Car Tech
JOHN C. DVORAK Last Word
TIPS & HOW TOS HOW TO DO A REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH FROM YOUR PHONE HOW TO LISTEN TO MUSIC ON YOUR AMAZON ECHO HOW TO SECURE YOUR KID’S IPHONE
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FIRST WORD WorldMags.net DAN COSTA
hen the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launched in the fall of 2016, it did so to wide acclaim. The Note series had been one of the most popular ever, offering a larger form factor that was an unexpected hit across the world. And it had a stylus that actually worked. After we tested the Note 7 in the PCMag Labs, we declared it “undoubtedly one of the best phablets available.� The Note 7 was a hit. Samsung sold more than 2.5 million units. And then Note 7s started exploding.
W Galaxy Note: The World’s Most-Loved Phone
5HSRUWV FDPH LQ VORZO\ DW ÂżUVW $ 1RWH FDXJKW ÂżUH LQ VRPHRQHÂśV SRFNHW 7KHQ WKHUH ZDV D SKRWR RI LW RQ ÂżUH LQ WKH FDE RI D WUXFN 4XLFNO\ ZKDW started out as anecdotal became a trend. Within two months, Samsung had to recall all 2.5 million Note 7 devices. Most estimates put the cost of the recall at $5.3 billion, and the Note 7 became the biggest failed product launch in history. And that GLGQÂśW WDNH LQWR DFFRXQW IRU WKH GDPDJH WR 6DPVXQJÂśV EUDQG LQ JHQHUDO DQG WKH 1RWH OLQH LQ particular. For months, anyone who boarded a plane was verbally instructed that the Samsung Note 7 was banned from both the main cabin and checked baggage. Samsung is too big to fail. But if I was sure of one thing when all this happened, it was that the Note brand was dead. The phones exploded! How do you come back from that?
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@dancosta
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Well, just this week, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 8. Not only did the Note series return, but at $950, the Note 8 is one of the most H[SHQVLYH SKRQHV RQ WKH PDUNHW ,W¶V WRR HDUO\ WR predict how well it will sell, but short of another FDWDVWURSKLF EDWWHU\ EXJ 6DPVXQJ¶V 1RWH VHHPV poised to make a complete comeback. 7KLV LV GLI¿FXOW WR H[SODLQ 7R EH VXUH 6DPVXQJ has spent a ton of money on PR. The company has gone to great lengths to ensure that its PDQXIDFWXULQJ DQG 4$ SURFHVVHV SUHYHQW DQRWKHU debacle like this one from happening again. It has also pushed the reliable and solid Galaxy S8 and S8+ into millions of hands without incident. But a FRPHEDFN OLNH WKDW RI WKH 1RWH¶V LVQ¶W MXVW DERXW PR; brands have died for less reason. No, the Samsung Note is back for a more important reason: It is the most loved phone in the ZRUOG %HOLHYH PH ,¶P DV VXUSULVHG DV \RX DUH Part of my conclusion is anecdotal—for the past \HDU ,¶YH EHHQ ¿HOGLQJ TXHVWLRQV IURP FXUUHQW Note users asking when a new model would be available. I would remind them about the Note 7 H[SORVLRQ SUREOHP EXW WKH\ GLGQ¶W FDUH 7KHQ WKHUH¶V GDWD IURP WKH 1RWH UHFDOO :KHQ carriers pulled the Note 7, new activations stopped instantly—but according to research from Apteligent, people continued to use their Note 7s at the same rate. They knew their phones might explode, and they kept using them anyway. Perhaps more important, very few of us love our current phones anymore. Sure, lots of iPhone fans are still out there, but the appetite for whatever WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net Being different can counterbalance some catastrophic failures. This is a lesson that the entire tech industry should learn.
new model is launching in a few weeks is muted. /LNHZLVH 6DPVXQJ¶V PRUH PDLQVWUHDP *DOD[\ 6 has millions of users, but most of them would be willing to jump ship if some other Android vendor gave them a reason to. Andy Rubin launched the (VVHQWLDO 3KRQH VSHFL¿FDOO\ WR WDS WKLV VHQVH RI SHUVLVWHQW GLVVDWLVIDFWLRQ ZLWK WKH VWDWXV TXR The truth is, the Note is different from other phones. It is bigger and broader, more phablet WKDQ SKRQH ,W¶V EXLOW IRU FRQVXPLQJ PHGLD PRUH than for making calls. And what the stylus lacks in mainstream appeal, it more than makes up for in passionate fans. No other phone offers this particular mix of form and function. That mix evidently makes for some extraordinarily loyal customers. Being different can counterbalance some catastrophic failures. This is a lesson that the entire tech industry should learn. $V DGYDQFHG DV WKH *DOD[\ 1RWH LV LW¶V VWLOO D * device. What will these devices and services look OLNH LQ D * ZRUOG" 7R ¿QG RXW 3&0DJ VHQW 0RELOH Lead Analyst Sascha Segan to one of the few places on earth that has functional 5G networks: Oulu, )LQODQG 7KH FLW\ LV ¿OOHG ZLWK HQJLQHHUV technologists, and entrepreneurs who are building systems that will soon overtake the world. And just like the Note 8, that future will defy expectations.
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READER INPUT WorldMags.net
YOUR COMMENTS
SpaceX City: The Ultimate Startup Evan Dashevsky’s speculative story on the privatization of space sparked some thoughtful reader speculation too.
A big issue that everyone ignores is the criminal justice system a colony needs. Using U.S. crime statistics as a guide, and we actually have pretty low crime rates despite what politicians claim during election campaigns, once you get to about 2,000 colonists, rapes become statistically inevitable, and once you get to about 10,000 colonists, murders become statistically inevitable. Whose laws apply? What kind of criminal justice system would a colony have to determine guilt? What would be the penalties, given that oxygen is limited and valuable? These things need to be determined early on, or mayhem will result. —Vigilabo_Vigilum When the colony is young and small, it will probably only be necessary to have a basic set of laws that are already commonly agreed upon by all countries (don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t open the airlock and kill everyone, and so on). As the colony grows, it will start to feel the need to have increasingly complex laws. These laws will not be the same as those in any country on Earth, but will be home grown, using Earth laws as legal precedent. Why? Because in the U.S., you don’t need a law WKDW VSHFL¿FDOO\ VWDWHV XQGHU ZKDW FRQGLWLRQV LW¶V appropriate to blow an external airlock and potentially kill people if doing so might save other people. What happens when someone blows an DLUORFN WR SXW RXW D GDQJHURXV ¿UH WKDW ZRXOG have killed three people (one of them being his WorldMags.net
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wife) but knowingly kills four other people by doing so? Would the person be prosecuted for killing 4 people to save his wife (and, incidentally, two others)? What LI KH VDYHG WKRVH WKUHH RQH KLV ZLIH EXW NLOOHG ÂżYH SHRSOH" SHRSOH" " :KHQ does it become wrong... All that aside, even if we wanted Mars to be an enthralled colony of Earth, there is no practical way [for] Earth’s governments [to enforce] their laws on another planet, short of application of military force‌ Instead, best just to allow them to be their own state from the start. Write an initial Mars Constitution with basic freedoms guaranteed, that also states “when the colony hits 10,000 people ... it automatically gains independence from Earth, and is considered a separate sovereign nation.â€? —gopher652003
$ VHFXULW\ WLS IURP )HDWXUHV (GLWRU (ULF *ULI¿WK +DYH \RX HYHU WULHG WR FRQQHFW WR public Wi-Fi and seen multiple network names that are similar but not the same— (ULFV&RIIHH+DXV YHUVXV (ULNV&RIIHH+DXV IRU H[DPSOH" 7KLV LV D WULHG DQG WUXH PDQ in-the-middle attack used by hackers—dubbed Wi-Phishing—that tries to trick you into logging into the wrong network to get to your info. Most people don’t take the time to check and jump on the strongest open signal they see. But you should always check that you pick the legitimate network.
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NEWS STORY
Black Hat 2017: The Best (and Scariest) Hacks
Photo Credit: Black Hat USA 2017
BY MAX EDDY
he Black Hat conference is a chance for researchers, hackers, and anyone close to the world of security to gather and learn from one another. It’s a week of sessions, training, and — inevitably — some poor decision making in the greater Las Vegas area.
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,Q LWV WK \HDU %ODFN +DW EHJDQ RQ D UHÀHFWLYH QRWH $OH[ 6WDPRV WKH &62 RI )DFHERRN ORRNHG EDFN RQ KLV HDUO\ GD\V DW WKH FRQIHUHQFH )RU KLP LW was a place to be accepted, and to learn from the community. He challenged WKDW VDPH FRPPXQLW\ WR EH PRUH HPSDWKHWLF DQG WR SUHSDUH IRU WKH QH[W generation of hackers by welcoming more diversity. WorldMags.net
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The Black Hat sessions have always been the place to see VXUSULVLQJ²DQG VRPHWLPHV KRUULI\LQJ²H[DPSOHV RI VHFXULW\ UHVHDUFK 7KLV \HDU ZH VDZ KRZ WR IRRO $SSOH Pay’s web interface and how to topple a hoverboard using ultrasound, and we learned how vulnerable wind farms could be to a cyber attack. $QRWKHU UHPDUNDEOH WDON ORRNHG DW DWWDFNLQJ LQGXVWULDO LQIUDVWUXFWXUH $IWHU WZR VXFFHVVIXO DWWDFNV DJDLQVW WKH Ukrainian power grid last year, securing critical infrastructure like power plants and factories is a major issue. This time, we saw how bubbles — yes, regular bubbles — can be used as a malicious payload to destroy H[SHQVLYH FULWLFDO SXPSV Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of this year’s VKRZ ZDV LQ WKH ¿HOG RI FU\SWRDQDO\VLV 8VLQJ sophisticated techniques, a team was able to create the ¿UVW 6+$ KDVK FROOLVLRQ $IWHU \HDUV %ODFN +DW LV VWLOO WKH SUHPLHU VWDJH IRU KDFNHUV %XW WKH IXWXUH LV XQFHUWDLQ 1DWLRQ VWDWH F\EHU attacks have gone from being a rarity to a regular occurrence, and the stakes are bigger than ever before. How we’ll deal with that still isn’t clear; perhaps Black Hat 2018 will have the answers. Until then, check out VRPH RI WKH PRUH H\H FDWFKLQJ PRPHQWV IURP WKLV \HDU¶V conference.
ULTRASONIC GUN ATTACKS DRONES, HOVERBOARDS Devices use sensors to understand the world around them, but some of these sensors are subject to tampering. 2QH UHVHDUFK WHDP VKRZHG KRZ WKH\ FRXOG XVH ultrasound to cause drones to wobble, hoverboards to topple, and VR systems to spin uncontrollably. The attack is limited now, but the applications could be far reaching. WorldMags.net
This year, we saw how to fool Apple Pay’s web interface and how to topple a hoverboard using ultrasound.
Photo Credit: Black Hat USA 2017
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ARE BUBBLES THE FUTURE OF HACKING? 3UREDEO\ QRW EXW 0DULQD .URWR¿O GHPRQVWUDWHG KRZ DWWDFNLQJ WKH YDOYH V\VWHP in a water pump could be used to create bubbles that reduced the water pump’s HI¿FLHQF\ DQG ZLWK WLPH FDXVH SK\VLFDO GDPDJH UHVXOWLQJ LQ WKH SXPS¶V IDLOXUH :LWK KHU SUHVHQWDWLRQ .URWR¿O VRXJKW WR GHPRQVWUDWH WKDW LQVHFXUH GHYLFHV such as valves, could attack secure devices, such as pumps, through novel PHDQV $IWHU DOO WKHUH¶V QR DQWLYLUXV IRU EXEEOHV BUG BOUNTIES AND BEER 5HFHQW \HDUV KDYH VHHQ WKH H[SDQVLRQ RI EXJ ERXQW\ SURJUDPV ZKHUH companies pay researchers, penetration testers, and hackers a cash bounty for reporting bugs. Researcher James Kettle told the crowd at his session how he assembled a method to test 50,000 websites simultaneously. He had some misadventures along the way but earned over $30,000 in the process. He said his boss initially insisted on spending any money earned in the automated endeavor on beer, but in light of Kettle’s success, they opted to donate the majority to charity and spend only a little bit on beer. ATTACKING WIND FARMS 5HVHDUFKHU -DVRQ 6WDJJV OHG D FRPSUHKHQVLYH VHFXULW\ DVVHVVPHQW RI ZLQG IDUPV ZKLFK OHG KLV WHDP XS VHYHUDO IRRW VSLQQLQJ SRZHU SODQWV 1RW RQO\ was physical security weak (sometimes just a padlock)—digital security was even weaker. His team developed several attacks that could hold wind farms UDQVRP DQG HYHQ FDXVH SK\VLFDO GDPDJH 7KLQN 6WX[QHW EXW IRU PDVVLYH whirling blades of death. WorldMags.net
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PWNIE EXPRESS ON GUARD /DVW \HDU 3ZQLH ([SUHVV EURXJKW LWV QHWZRUN monitoring equipment and discovered a massive evil DFFHVV SRLQW DWWDFN WKDW ZDV FRQ¿JXUHG WR LPLWDWH D network friendly to passing devices and invite them to connect. This year, Pwnie worked with Black Hat’s network security team but didn’t detect anything as large as last year’s attack — at least, nothing that wasn’t SDUW RI D WUDLQLQJ H[HUFLVH LQ D %ODFN +DW VHVVLRQ 7KLV Pwn Pro sensor was one of several placed throughout the conference to monitor network activity.
Last year, Pwnie Express brought its networkmonitoring equipment and discovered a massive evil access point attack.
DON’T TRUST YOUR PRINTER Network printers have long been viewed by researchers as prime targets. They’re ubiquitous, connected to the internet, and often lack basic security. But Jens Müller showed that it’s what inside that counts. By using the SURWRFROV XVHG E\ QHDUO\ HYHU\ SULQWHU WR FRQYHUW ¿OHV into printed material, he was able to perform a number RI DWWDFNV +H FRXOG H[WUDFW SUHYLRXV SULQW MREV DQG HYHQ RYHUOD\ WH[W RU LPDJHV RQ GRFXPHQWV 7KH DWWDFNV KH RXWOLQHG ZLOO H[LVW XQWLO VRPHRQH ¿QDOO\ JHWV ULG RI WKHVH GHFDGHV ROG SURWRFROV
Jens Müller showed how easy it is to hack into network printers.i ne ni
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SUPER COLLIDER Hash functions are everywhere, but nearly invisible. They’re used to verify FRQWUDFWV GLJLWDOO\ VLJQ VRIWZDUH DQG HYHQ VHFXUH SDVVZRUGV $ KDVK IXQFWLRQ OLNH 6+$ FRQYHUWV ¿OHV WR D VWULQJ RI QXPEHUV DQG OHWWHUV DQG QR WZR DUH supposed to be the same. But researcher Elie Bursztein and his team devised a ZD\ ZKHUH WZR GLIIHUHQW ¿OHV HQG XS ZLWK WKH VDPH KDVK 7KLV LV FDOOHG D FROOLVLRQ DQG LW PHDQV 6+$ LV DV GHDG DV D GRRUQDLO HACKING A TESLA (AGAIN) In 2016, a trio of researchers showed how they were able to take control of a 7HVOD 0RGHO 6 7KLV \HDU WKH UHVHDUFKHUV IURP 7HQFHQW .HHQ/DE UHWXUQHG WR walk through their attack step by step. But it wasn’t all recap: They also H[DPLQHG 7HVOD¶V PLWLJDWLRQ RI WKHLU LQLWLDO DWWDFN DQG SUHVHQWHG WKHLU QHZ DWWDFNV 7KH WHDP VKRZHG RII D SDLU RI FDUV ÀDVKLQJ LWV OLJKWV DQG RSHQLQJ LWV doors in time to music. HACKING APPLE PAY ON THE WEB :KHQ LW ¿UVW ODXQFKHG , ZURWH H[WHQVLYHO\ DERXW $SSOH 3D\ SUDLVLQJ LWV WRNHQL]DWLRQ RI FUHGLW FDUG GDWD DQG KRZ $SSOH ZDVQ¶W DEOH WR WUDFN \RXU purchases. But Timur Yunusov wasn’t convinced. He discovered it was possible WR VQDJ FUHGHQWLDOV DQG SHUIRUP D UHSOD\ DWWDFN XVLQJ $SSOH 3D\ RQ WKH ZHE Better keep an eye on those credit card bills. CONTROLLING INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS FROM AFAR $ WULR RI UHVHDUFKHUV UHSUHVHQWLQJ D WHDP IURP 3ROLWHFQLFR GL 0LODQR DQG 7UHQG 0LFUR SUHVHQWHG WKHLU ¿QGLQJV RQ WKH VHFXULW\ RI URERWV²QRW \RXU IULHQGO\ Roombas but the hardworking and powerful industrial robots found in factories. They found several critical weaknesses that could allow an attacker to seize control of a robot, introduce defects into manufacturing processes, and even potentially harm human operators. More troubling is the discovery that there are many thousands of industrial robots connected to the internet.
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NEWS STORY
Queensland Gets the World’s Longest ‘Electric Highway’ BY JESSICA HALL
f ever there was a place to get range anxiety, it’s Australia, with its thousands of miles of uninterrupted desert. Who would even think of driving a battery-electric vehicle there? (Not many; Queensland hosts only about 700 electric vehicles.) But now some Australian travelers can say goodbye to range anxiety, starting in 2018. The state government of Queensland has announced that it’s going to install a network of 18 charging stations along a highway stretching more than 2,000 miles. It runs along the east coast of Queensland from Cairns to Coolangatta and then turns west to 7RRZRRPED 7KH ³ZRUOG¶V ORQJHVW´ DSSHOODWLRQ KDV WR EH D ELW TXDOL¿HG LW¶V WKH world’s longest electric-vehicle highway in a single state, stretching some 1,260-plus miles (2,000 km).
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The government didn’t state how long it will take vehicles to charge at the stations. In the U.S., we tend to associate fast charging almost exclusively with Tesla and its Superchargers, but there are different fastcharging solutions in other parts of the world, often generically referred to as DCQC (Direct Current Quick Charge). These stations can theoretically match Tesla for charge speed, assuming compatible vehicle hardware is installed, though the charge time and the average distance between each station (assuming the stations are themselves equidistant) works out to about 70 miles each. That’s technically within the range of the 2017 Nissan Leaf, though I wouldn’t recommend taking a 1,200-mile trip in one. But fast charging isn’t the only trick Queensland is taking from Tesla’s book. The stations will be available for the public to use at no charge, at least during the initial phase. WorldMags.net
The planned charging station route. (Image by The Guardian.)
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The sticker price of this enormous coast-to-coast investment? $3 million. This is practically chump change in terms of infrastructure; installing a similar length of regular asphalt highway would run upward of a million dollars per mile, but Queensland doesn’t have to put in the entire road—just the charging stations. Queensland’s Minister of Environment, Steven Miles, says it’s all about getting more people using electric cars. “This project is ambitious, but we want as many people as possible on board the electric vehicle revolution, as part of our transition to a low-emissions future,” Miles said in a statement. The Australian government has also announced that the energy provided to the charging stations will be itself either generated by renewable power or purchased by using carbon offsets.
As for what automakers think, Audi Australia managing director Paul Sansom told the Guardian that EV drivers QHHG WR KDYH FRQ¿GHQFH WKH\¶OO EH DEOH WR ¿QG D FKDUJLQJ station when they need it, even when driving in an unfamiliar area. “This is the current expectation around frequency of petrol stations, and it’s, rightly, what consumers will demand as often become more prevalent,” Sansom said.
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The sticker price of this enormous coast-to-coast investment? $3 million, practically chump change in terms of infrastructure.
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NEWS STORY
Intel’s Gemini Lake Chips Offer 15 Percent Performance Boost BY MATTHEW HUMPHRIES
f you go out and buy a low-end, entry-level laptop or desktop PC today, chances are it’ll have an Intel Apollo Lake processor inside carrying the Celeron or Pentium branding. These are the just-good-enough cheap processors that allow for light workloads, web browsing, and long battery life.
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The chip generation that follows Apollo Lake is called Gemini Lake, and details about what to expect from these new chips is starting to leak, including a block diagram revealing quite a bit of detail. WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net CHIP SPECS This diagram (courtesy of CNXSoftware) reveals quite a bit of detail on Intel’s Gemini Lake processors.
The good news is, the 14nm Gemini Lake chips look to offer a 10- to 15-percent performance boost over the Apollo Lake chips shipping today. They also include 4MB of cache (double Apollo Lake) for up to four cores, and a 4-wide pipeline (they can decode four instructions per cycle, Apollo Lake is 3-wide). Combined, this accounts for the performance gains. These chips also support 2400MHz DDR4 RAM, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2a, eDP 1.4, eMMC 5.1, an embedded wireless controller, USB 3.0, PCIe, and SATA 3 interfaces. As for graphics, just like Apollo Lake, the new chips will include a Gen9LP GPU which have 18 execution units, meaning HD Graphics 505. Intel is expected to launch Gemini Lake Celeron and Pentium processors before the end of 2017. Bargain hunters, that means any remaining Apollo Lakeequipped devices could be discounted.
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FAST FORWARD
Fast Forward: Supercomputing With Lenovo’s Brian Connors BY DAN COSTA
Fast Forward is a series of conversations with tech leaders hosted by Dan Costa, PCMag’s Editor-in-Chief. Costa’s guest for this episode was Lenovo’s VP of Strategic technology and Future Platforms, Brian Connors, who talks about what next in AI, HPC, and the data-driven business. (The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.) Dan Costa: We should probably start by talking about where we are. SAP Sapphire Now is actually a huge show here in Orlando. Why don’t you explain a little bit about what’s going on? WorldMags.net
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Brian Connors: This is my third event here in Orlando.
It’s what I would consider the premier show of business, business leaders, business process, enterprise business. Two years ago, at the keynote, you could stand in the back and watch. Today, it was like 10 people deep... plus it was being watched by everybody via streams. I think there [were] 30,000 people here today. For us as a datacenter group, we’re a strategic partner of SAP and a platinum partner here at the show. Just a little bit of history here: IBM x86 business came over to Lenovo in October of 2014. I was part of that transition. Prior to that, Lenovo acquired the notebook and PC business from IBM, back in 2005. ThinkPad, as you may know, is part of Lenovo. It hit 25 years in existence this year and it’s still a premier product. Lenovo has done an incredible job, number one in the PC industry. It’s actually one of the best success stories in the PC industry. Everybody worried about that transition. Everybody wondered what was going to happen. But the ThinkPad brand continued and the products just kept getting better. I was a young engineer working for the executive in Japan [who] was in charge of [the ThinkPad line]. It was a very interesting time. TFTs came into existence, and the technologies really changed people’s lives. Back in 2014, Lenovo made two acquisitions— one of Motorola, the Motorola phone, handset, mobile phones, and so on. They also bought the data center group from IBM. We really have three core businesses: the PC and clients, which is our core base business, we have mobile phones, and we have the data center. Within the data center, we have storage, we have networking, we have servers, but we also have solutions. WorldMags.net
Everybody wondered what was going to happen. But the ThinkPad brand continued and the products just kept getting better.
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:H KDYH K\SHU FRQYHUVLRQ D ORW RI VRIWZDUH GH¿QHG We believe we are open, and we’re really working to disrupt the status quo. We have nothing to lose. We’re FRPLQJ LQ ORRNLQJ DW UHDOO\ VRIWZDUH GH¿QHG DQG KRZ ZH move things forward, leveraging the capability that we have. This show is critical as part of our solutions. Back in 2010, we worked closely with SAP to develop HANA. We had a small development team that still sits inside of Waldorf, Germany. They worked on it, obviously 6$3œV FRGH EXW ZH ZHUH D SDUWQHU VLQFH WKHQ 7KH ¿UVW [HANA] appliance delivered in 2011. We ship well over 7,500 appliances now. Let’s explain a little bit about what HANA is and how it works. What made it different?
HANA is an in-memory database. You basically bring all your data in-memory and do analytics on it in-memory, as opposed to going off the disk. That’s the simple view of it. SAP is building software solutions. Lenovo is providing a lot of the backend hardware to run and power all those solutions.
Infrastructure, yes. In our relationship with SAP, we look at it as a partner and a customer in a strategic alliance. As a customer, SAP is a big customer of ours. They run their HANA enterprise clouds and their I.T. clouds on our platforms. They say that publicly, they run it. In addition, we run SAP. By the way, they also use our ThinkPads and everything else. We run SAP. We’ve got one of the largest instances in China, in Asia3DFL¿F DOO RI $VLD 3DFL¿F
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You basically bring all your data inmemory and do analytics on it in-memory, as opposed to going off the disk.
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Last year at Sapphire, we won an award for customer innovation. Bringing multiple companies together created a lot of IP challenges from different disparate systems. One of them was in our cost forecasting and our vendor management. Working with SAP, we invented some new technology. Lenovo was not on HANA at the time, but we moved over to HANA on our platforms, development forecasting. Where is that tornado going to land? What’s the threat and the need for emergency response vehicles in this area versus in other areas so that you can optimize it?
When you look at the span of what HPC is doing, safety [is] a good example. We call it a racing arm of Lenovo, where we can advanced technologies. You look at Formula One. ABS brakes came from Formula One. The little push-button start came from racing. Airbags came from racing. All that stuff was modeled and simulated using high-performance computer systems. It has been democratized. It’s not just big companies.
Not just big companies, because the cost to compute is down. You’ll see more and more cloud-based. You’ll see more and more of the Googles, and the Amazons, and the IBMs providing compute clouds for HPC. Just go run a batch, and go run your workload. Could you talk a little bit about the differences between purely cloud-based solutions and then having your own system in-house?
In HPC, it’s like a tool. Financial service is a good example, too. They run their grid, their credit risk analysis stuff. They want to keep that themselves. It’s like the laboratory. It’s like the old calculator. “I own it, it’s mine.” That’s a big challenge. WorldMags.net
You’ll see more and more of the Googles, and the Amazons, and the IBMs providing compute clouds for HPC.
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They’re afraid anybody else is going to get access to it.
Typically they like to run what’s called bare metal. They don’t want any software in the middle that’s going to slow things down and virtualize it. They want to run right to the metal. More and more, virtualization—the shared usage model to run temporary jobs and the cost of it to go do simulations and modeling—is democratized for people to use it much more broadly. You’ll start to see it in research and the dev-op area, looking at how you can use the technology and the algorithms to go do things. AI is a key example. As GPUs get faster and faster, and you have the learning needed from a lot of data and building learning models, more and more of this will be cloud-based. One of the things I’ve heard here at the conference is that SAP’s building machine-learning and AI into their entire line, often in very small ways. It’s not like, ‘This is our AI product and it’s going to solve all these problems.’ It’s, ‘This is our HR management product, and this specific task can be made better with machine learning, so we’re going to deploy it there.’
Leonardo, SAP Leonardo, is their platform. If you think about the different areas that SAP software is with Success Factors, with Ariba, with Hybris, and you look at that entire landscape. The more you can automate, the more you can VSHHG XS UHVXOWV DQG EHQH¿W \RXUVHOI 7KH PRUH \RX DXWRPDWH WKH PRUH \RX FDQ learn, and the more you can predict. Predictive analytics is a full-circle element going forward. SAP is started in analytics. This is in their wheelhouse, to go operate this way, and automate the best they can. Having those services available to be able to take advantage of those insights and then acting on those, but more importantly learning as a result, [SAP] will build very, very strong successful models. One of the things we’ve talked about a lot on the show is that the downside of AI and of automation is that there could be job loss. There are a lot of processes that used to be done by human beings that are now going to be done much faster and much better by algorithms. Is that a problem, or is it not? WorldMags.net
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I think it’s evolution. That could be said about any technology through history. I come from Buffalo, a steel-mill city. When I was growing up, it was all steel mills. Lower-cost manufacturing moved it all out. Thank goodness. Bad at the time, but it’s reinvented. There’s a lot of cities along the Rust Belt, Cleveland and other cities as well, that did the same thing. You basically reinvent and become stronger and better... When all the outsourcing work occurred in the ¿QDQFH LQGXVWU\ DQG HYHQ WHFK ZULWLQJ DQG HYHU\WKLQJ WKDW DOO NLQG RI ZHQW² No, not tech writing! Please, not tech writing! Although it is happening.
It is happening. It kind of moved, but people reinvented themselves. Automation of those big batch areas are occurring as we speak. More importantly, it is going to help companies lower their costs but improve their results going forward. I think it’s just evolution. People will continue to move. The nature of employment is definitely shifting, but we also have to keep our eyes on the fact that overall quality of life is going up. Our healthcare outcomes are better, our businesses are more efficient. We’re living in a better world day by day, in part because of these technologies.
Absolutely. I think this has changed everyone’s lives, this is kind of an obvious thing. The smartphone is sometimes a pain in the butt, because you’re always looking at it, and you’re kind of addicted to it. But some of the new applications with SAP saved about $50 million in actual transition costs that we would have had to pay to the mother companies. More importantly, we are taking cost calculations that were in the 11-hour timeframe down to six minutes. We’re taking forecasting—we ship over 100 million things a year, so we’re a big company from a transactional base—from days to hours. Very, very successful. [Lenovo] won the innovation award last year at this summit, and it’s how we use and partner with SAP. See a video of the full interview and many more at pcmag.com/podcasts/fastforward.
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WHAT’S NEW NOW WorldMags.net TOP GEAR
What We Love Most This Month BY STEPHANIE MLOT
DELOREAN DR-7 FLYING CAR Roads? Where DeLorean Aerospace is going, it doesn’t need roads. Founded in 2012 by Paul DeLorean, the firm has its sights set on a real-life flying car—it’s building a two-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) personal air transport vehicle. Details are scant, though: A short paragraph describes a zero-emission modern electric power system paired with a lightweight-yet-stable platform, and another touches on “unique technologies” for improved safety and functionality. Standing at 19.5 feet long, with a wingspan of 18.5 feet, the hybrid car-plane will feature a rechargeable electric power system for traveling up to 120 miles and boast a top speed of 240 mph. No word yet on when DeLorean Aerospace expects to launch its flying car or how much it will cost. www.deloreanaerospace.com WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net MIT RF-SLEEP Researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a way to remotely observe sleep stages without the need to apply sensors. The device is mounted on a nearby wall and uses an AI algorithm to analyze and translate radio signals around the user into sleep stages: light, deep, and rapid eye movement (REM). “Our vision is developing health sensors that will disappear into the background and capture physiological signals and important health metrics, without asking the user to change her behavior in any way,” study lead Dina Katabi said in a statement. To automatically eliminate irrelevant information, the team incorporated a proprietary deep-neural-network-based AI algorithm. www.sleep.csail.mit.edu
XENEX LIGHTSTRIKE GERM-ZAPPING ROBOT Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)—viruses contracted while receiving medical treatment— are major, yet preventable, threats to safety, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This unassuming bot follows the environmental services staff of Saint Peter’s University Hospital, who clean the room first. The LightStrike then emits waves of ultraviolet (UV) light to destroy any remaining bugs. Using a highintensity UV light to penetrate the cell walls of microorganisms (including mold, fungus, and spores), the android fuses their DNA and renders them unable to reproduce or mutate. These Wi-Fiand cellular-enabled machines are already killing bugs in more than 400 hospitals across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. www.xenex.com
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Evan Dashevsk
WorldMags.net COMMENTARY I Owe an Apology to Bluetooth Speakers Everywhere ecently I received a portable Bluetooth speaker as a birthday gift. It’s not the most high-end model, but it also doesn’t scrape the bottom of the sketchy, no-brand, SRWHQWLDO ¿UH KD]DUG EDUUHO %XW LW WXUQHG RXW WR be a fantastic gift because 1) it wasn’t something I would ever purchase for myself, and 2) it managed to completely reinvent the way I interact with my phone.
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I was previously an avowed Bluetooth speaker skeptic, but after actually living with one for a time, I have to admit I was wrong to doubt them. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I owe Bluetooth speakers everywhere a big, fat apology. My speaker denialism was strange in that I fancy myself a techno-optimist who believes that in the grand scheme of things, technology improves the human condition. Still, despite my faith in the march of innovation, I never gave portable Bluetooth speakers a chance; my view of them wavered between benign disinterest and proactive loathing.
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Evan Dashevsky, a features editor for PC Magazine, has been writing about tech since 2010 for such publications as PC World, TechHive, ExtremeTech, and Digital Times.
Evan Dashevsk
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Part of this skepticism has to do with my early interactions with Bluetooth. When the technology ÂżUVW EHJDQ PDNLQJ LWV ZD\ LQWR P\ JDGJHWV , found that it caused far more problems than it solved. I was more than willing to contend with my keyboard and mouse being physically tethered to my computer as long as I didn’t have to worry about maintaining a charge and deal with constant re-pairing. But perhaps my biggest gripe with these external speakers was that I couldn’t really fathom why they were necessary. My phone already has speakers, and I have ears—why would I need to purchase an additional accessory to get in the middle? I use my phone’s speakers all the time. Not only do I often talk to people in “hands-freeâ€? mode, but I couldn’t imagine doing chores around the house without a podcast, Spotify, or streaming radio playing in the background. The internet provides the soundtrack to my home. But phones VLPSO\ FDQÂśW FXW LW DV IXOO Ă€HGJHG VSHDNHUV QRW even my fantastic Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge (the Cadillac of 2016’s Android devices). As an avid phone-blaster, I resigned myself to a life of tinny, not-quite-loud-enough sonics. This loss in audio quality seemed a small price to pay for having access to a near-unlimited buffet of content. But there doesn’t have to be a tradeoff. With my new Bluetooth speaker, I am able to KHDUÂŤ PRUH 7KHUHÂśV D VWUDQJH LQĂ€X[ RI EDVV WKDW I never thought available in an audio stream. 1RZ , FDQ ÂżOO DQ HQWLUH URRP ZLWK WKH VRXQGV RI the internet and add a soundtrack to my yardwork. WorldMags.net
@haldash
Evan Dashevsk
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, VWLOO ¿QG OLWWOH XVHIXOQHVV LQ WUXO\ SRUWDEOH clippable speakers, like the JBL Clip 2, which encourages users to become living, walking speakers out in public spaces (in fact, I’m annoyed by those who blast their music while on the street). But when it comes to experiencing audio in one’s home, an external Bluetooth speaker is the most necessary accessory in the mobile age.
It is incumbent upon all people—particularly journalists—to reevaluate their ideas from time to time. And when confronted with new information, it may be necessary to not only change one’s mind but to admit when one is wrong. So I must admit that I was wrong about external Bluetooth speakers. For the record, I still think that pricey smartwatches are completely pointless. evan_dashevsky@pcmag.com
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My phone has speakers, and I have ears—why would I need to purchase an additional accessory to get in the middle?
Sascha Sega
WorldMags.net COMMENTARY Huawei’s Irrelevant Success o hear the analysts say it, Huawei is going great guns. Canalys says the Chinese phone company is coming close to becoming the world’s number-two smartphone maker, surpassing Apple. Strategy Analytics says Huawei’s tablet division grew 42 percent this quarter. And IDC has Huawei at the head of three powerful Chinese phone makers, numbers three WR ¿YH ZRUOGZLGH +XDZHL 2SSR DQG ;LDRPL
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But for U.S. consumers and people interested in the U.S. market, none of this matters. All three companies have nearly zero market share here. If they keep growing as fast as they are now, we could soon be heading back to the trends of the mid-2000s, when the U.S. market looked nothing like the global cellular handset market. During the early smartphone years, between 2003 and 2008, Nokia dominated much of the world, but didn’t sell many phones in the U.S. That “oddity� faded with the global dominance of Samsung, Apple, and LG, which were successful here and abroad. But the global smartphone world is splitting again, because Huawei is, in many ways, the new Nokia. Like Nokia, Huawei is a dominant infrastructure provider, and the company has established a strong role in many global carriers by offering handset deals bundled with its base stations. WorldMags.net
Sascha Segan is the lead mobile analyst for PC Magazine. His commentary has also appeared on Fox News, CNBC, CNN, and various radio stations and newspapers around the world.
Sascha Sega
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A political quirk stopped that from happening here. Back in 2012, Congress called Huawei’s products a “security threatâ€? because of the company’s nebulous ties to the Chinese army, and it effectively banned Huawei’s infrastructure division from selling here. That caused the handset arm to back out for a while, too. Huawei’s problem in the U.S. is special. But the political suspicion it’s fallen under doesn’t seem to apply to other Chinese phone-makers, so it GRHVQÂśW H[SODLQ 2SSR RU ;LDRPLÂśV WRWDO IDLOXUHV here. ZTE has also had political problems here, but continues to succeed in sales. U.S. carriers and phone buyers don’t have an DQWL &KLQD ELDV 2XU QXPEHUV WR SKRQH makers — ZTE, Alcatel, and Lenovo-owned Motorola — are all Chinese. They totaled up to 21 SHUFHQW RI RXU PDUNHW DW WKH HQG RI according to Counterpoint Research. The SUREOHP +XDZHL 2SSR DQG ;LDRPL H[SHULHQFH here isn’t about their origins. It’s about how they choose to do business. THE NOKIA PROBLEM Those companies’ failures are examples of what I call the Nokia Problem; an unwillingness to deal with our unique market dynamics. Nokia was a successful voice-phone maker in the U.S. in the late 1990s, but it plummeted in market share in the early 2000s (long before it collapsed in the rest of the world) because it didn’t want to play along with unique U.S. technologies and carrier sales strategies.
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@saschasegan
Sascha Sega
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Technology issues are less important than they used to be. If Huawei wanted to produce CDMA phones for Sprint’s network, it could do so in a heartbeat. The real problem is business practices. Chinese companies that succeed here are those devolve a lot of decisionmaking to local U.S. organizations they trust. That’s the big difference between Huawei and ZTE, for instance. ZTE’s U.S. division is HPSRZHUHG DQG UHODWLYHO\ LQGHSHQGHQW ZLWK VWHDG\ ORFDO &(2 /L[LQ Cheng calling a lot of shots. Huawei’s U.S. operation has seen a lot of staff turnover and has had relatively little autonomy. Selling phones in the U.S. is still mostly down to carrier and retailer relationships; 85 to 90 percent of phones here are still sold through carriers, and many of the rest are sold through Amazon. To get into a U.S. carrier’s lineup, companies need to go through long, grueling, H[SHQVLYH FHUWLÂżFDWLRQ SURFHVVHV 7KH\ RIWHQ VHW XS RIÂżFHV QHDU HDFK carrier’s headquarters. ZTE and Alcatel have spent years building these relationships. Huawei has not. New vendors with products similar to those of existing vendors will get H[WUD VFUXWLQ\ ,I ;LDRPL FRPHV LQ ZLWK DQ DIIRUGDEOH SKDEOHW D FDUULHU will say, “Why should we look at this when ZTE, with whom we’ve worked for years, has a very similar phablet that’s easier for us to VRXUFH"´ ;LDRPL GRHVQÂśW ZDQW WKH KDVVOH The global smartphone market has expanded a lot in the past 10 years. Billions of people outside the U.S. are buying smartphones, so these companies don’t need the U.S. market to survive. But it’s worth understanding these dynamics so you can take a lot of these reports with a grain of salt. Just because a company is successful “globallyâ€? doesn’t mean it will be successful in the U.S. It may not even want to be. sascha_segan@pcmag.com
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Doug Newcom
WorldMags.net COMMENTARY Stop With the Fancy Names for Self-DrivingCar Tech ot everyone understands the differences between semi-autonomous and fully autonomous cars, much less the various levels of self-driving technology. As a result, consumers may wrongly assume that a car can take over the controls, a dangerous miscalculation, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Thatcham Research Center warned in a recent whitepaper.
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This has already caused at least one death with Tesla’s Autopilot feature, and Thatcham CEO Peter Shaw tells Wired that “autonomous ambiguity could result in a short-term increase in crashes.” While most experts agree that fully self-driving cars are still years away, there’s such intense competition among automakers and others developing autonomous technology that it’s led to an overstating of the abilities of self-driving systems. Luxury car companies in particular are locked in a race to see who can add the latest semi-autonomous features to their high-end vehicles—and have had to walk back claims on the technology that could be misinterpreted by consumers. WorldMags.net
Car tech expert Doug Newcomb has written for Popular Mechanics, Road & Track, and other publications, and is the author of Car Audio for Dummies.
Doug Newcom
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For example, Mercedes-Benz had to deny a claim by one its executives that its semi-autonomous Drive Pilot system would protect a car’s occupants over pedestrians in a “trolley problemâ€? VFHQDULR $QG $XGL FDXJKW Ă€DN IRU RYHUSOD\LQJ WKH FDSDELOLWLHV RI WKH $, WUDIÂżF MDP SLORW IHDWXUH RQ LWV QHZ Ă€DJVKLS $ VHGDQ
To help clarify the difference between semi and fully autonomous vehicles, ABI proposes a twostage categorization of the technology—assisted or automated—and suggests government UHJXODWRUV DGRSW WKLV VLPSOH FODVVLÂżFDWLRQ V\VWHP I’ll go a step further and recommend that automakers not only get onboard with ABI’s twotiered description, but also use standardized terms to codify semi-autonomous driver assist systems as not to further confuse consumers. EITHER ASSISTED OR AUTOMATED ABI advises that the term “assistedâ€? be used for anything short of full autonomy, and that “automatedâ€? only be applied to a car that can fully drive itself, including avoiding all types of crashes and having back-up systems that make it failsafe. Of course, every car now on the road now and for years to come will fall under the “assistedâ€? designation. But even that’s too broad, especially given that automakers use a wide array of terms to describe often identical driver-assist systems. Distronic Plus is the name Mercedes uses for its adaptive cruise control system, which can come to a full VWRS DQG WKHQ UHVXPH 7KH RIÂżFLDO $XGL QDPH IRU the same technology is “adaptive cruise control WorldMags.net
@dougnewcomb
Doug Newcom
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with stop & go,� while the BMW term is Active &UXLVH &RQWURO ZLWK 7UDI¿F -DP $VVLVWDQW
More recent semi-autonomous systems— 0HUFHGHV 'ULYH 3LORW $XGL $, WUDIÂżF MDP SLORW Volvo’s Pilot Assist II—have similar nonconforming nomenclature, except for the use of the word “pilot.â€? Another instance in which proprietary driver-assist terminology is confusing for consumers is Honda and Acura’s Road Departure Mitigation, which does the same thing as other automakers’ lane-keeping assist systems. While driver assists have been shown to save lives—and ABI says in its report that it “strongly supportsâ€? autonomy technology for this reason—I agree with the organization that automakers and others need to keep descriptions of self-driving technology simple for safety’s sake. doug_newcomb@pcmag.com
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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Google Jamboard $4,999.00 L L L m m
Google’s Competitor For the Microsoft Surface Hub f you thought the Microsoft Surface Hub was too expensive or too reliant on the Universal Windows 10 application ecosystem, then Google has a new product with you in mind. The Google Jamboard is a 55-inch cloudbased digital whiteboard designed for business users.
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A little background: The Surface Hub, Jamboard, and similar cloud-based collaboration kiosks are not meant to serve as personal devices. Instead, businesses are intended to place these devices in conference rooms or communal areas. The tools are meant to combine business collaboration and video conferencing software with a digital whiteboard to enable local and remote personnel to work together during meetings. Neither the Surface Hub nor the Jamboard comes with much local storage, as users are not expected to save documents on the device but rather in the cloud. WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
The Jamboard combines Google G Suite software with a large-format touchscreen monitor. It’s built on a custom version of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system (OS). Google users log into a Jamboard session, or a “Jam,â€? as Google calls it, via the Jamboard itself or on companion Android and iOS apps. While standing at the Jamboard kiosk, users can draw or write on the ZKLWHERDUG ZLWK D SDVVLYH VW\OXV RU ZLWK WKHLU ÂżQJHUV Unlike the Surface Hub, which requires you to use Microsoft’s proprietary stylus if you’re not using your ÂżQJHU -DPERDUG XVHUV FDQ XVH DQ\ VW\OXV RU DQ\ VRIW REMHFW LQFOXGLQJ ÂżQJHUV WR PDNH PDUNV RQ WKH VFUHHQ As with the Surface Hub, anyone can walk up to the Jamboard, click on the screen, and start a Jam session. Session initiators can invite anyone with a G Suite or Gmail account to participate in the Jam. Users with Jamboard companion apps on their smartphones can view a working Jam session on the Jamboard even when they’re working elsewhere. They can also add stickies and markings, access Google Drive, or participate in the Jam via a Google Hangout link. Tablet-based app users have full remote access to all features available on a Jamboard without having to go through a Hangout link. Users who don’t have the Jamboard app can still attend the session via a web link but can participate only in passive (or viewonly) mode.
Google Jamboard
PROS Much more affordable than the Microsoft Surface Hub. 4K screen. Access to whiteboard content via Android and iOS apps. CONS Can’t work on two different apps at once in-person. Doesn’t feature intelligent webcam functionality, as does the Surface Hub. Can’t incorporate additional apps. Multiple failed video and broadcast attempts.
Though the Google Jamboard is an Microsoft Surface Hub competitor, it lacks some of the more advanced Surface Hub features.
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WorldMags.net
PRICING AND HARDWARE As previously mentioned, the Jamboard costs roughly $4,999. With that, you’ll receive two styluses, an eraser, and a wall mount. Unfortunately, your investment in a Jamboard will surpass the initial cost. Management and support fees total $300 per year for those who buy the kiosk before September 30, then they’ll increase to $600 per year. If you would like the Jamboard on a rolling stand, then that’s an extra $1,119 before September 30 or $1,349 after. A G Suite plan is also required (Business plans cost $10 per user per month). The Jamboard features a 55-inch, 4K monitor, and a wide angle 1080P webcam that refreshes at 60 Hertz. Along the rear and right-hand side of the monitor, you’ll ¿QG D VROLG DUUD\ RI SRUWV LQFOXGLQJ +'0, 86% Type C, USB 3.0, a Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format audio connector, and an Ethernet input. The Jamboard comes with two passive styluses and a whiteboard eraser that wipes content from the screen and literally cleans the monitor’s glass (do not use liquid to clean the monitor). On the left-hand side of the GHYLFH \RXœOO ¿QG D SRZHU EXWWRQ D VRXUFH LQSXW DQG volume buttons. WorldMags.net
The Jamboard comes with two passive styluses and one eraser—or you can just use your finger.
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The Jamboard will be distributed by BenQ’s network of resellers. Included with your $4,999 payment will be the device, the styluses, the eraser, and a wall mounting. The Jamboard is powered by an Nvidia Jetson TX1 embedded computer. The Surface Hub is a more expensive device. The 55-inch, full HD model costs DQG WKH LQFK . PRGHO FRVWV %RWK 6XUIDFH +XE PRGHOV feature a 100-point, multi-touch, projective capacitance; an optically bonded VHQVRU DQG D +] UHIUHVK UDWH 7KLV DOORZV ERWK DFFXUDWH ¿QJHU LQSXW DQG stylus tracking. The Hub’s screen can read up to three pen inputs and up to 100 ¿QJHU LQSXWV DW RQFH On a Surface Hub, you’ll need to use the stylus to select between different brush effects (pencil, paintbrush, spray paint), but on a Jamboard you can use any of WKRVH HIIHFWV ZLWK MXVW \RXU ¿QJHU WKDQNV WR LWV LPPHGLDWH UHVSRQVH SRLQW touch panel. You can use a bundled stylus, too, and Google includes a nice one capable of 1-millimeter accuracy. The Jamboard acknowledges its inputs across ¿YH GLIIHUHQW SDLQWEUXVK DQG SHQFLO VW\OHV WKDW \RX FDQ WRJJOH EHWZHHQ RQ screen. Although the Jamboard doesn’t feature an intricate webcam design, its 4K monitor and 60fps refresh rate dramatically outshine the more entry-level Surface Hub’s HD, 30fps performance. Still, the Surface Hub features two wideDQJOH GHJUHH ¿HOG RI YLHZ +' FDPHUDV WKDW SURGXFH D S SLFWXUH DW 30fps, along with a four-element microphone array. It also has passive infrared presence and ambient light sensors along the side of the screen, which can power the unit up and down based on light or wake it up when someone enters the room; the Jamboard can’t do this. The software uses gaze detection to switch between the Hub’s built-in cameras depending on where the speaker’s face is—the Jamboard can’t do this either.
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net
DEVICE USAGE AND FUNCTIONALITY Jams consist of whiteboard slides, called Frames, that are ideal for Google Slide presentation creation. You FDQ FUHDWH DQ LQ¿QLWH QXPEHU RI VOLGHV DQG VHQG WKHP WR participants during or after your session. Within the Jamboard’s control panel, you’re given access to different pencil and paintbrush inputs that can produce inks in basic, predominant colors. The Control panel also gives users access to a web browser, a limited version of Google Images, a wipe button, a lasso that can be used to encircle screen content (which can then be turned it into objects), a disappearing ink tool that lets you draw content that won’t be saved for more than a few seconds, a sticky pad, emojis, and a camera. In the Emoji tab, you’re also given access to pre-drawn elements such as a laptop and smartphone, which you can tap on and add to the whiteboard to aid your Frame creation. You can invite remote participants via a link or by VHQGLQJ WKHP D VSHFL¿F FRGH IRU \RXU -DP 6HVVLRQ RU you can turn the Jam Session into a Google Hangout. :LWK WKH VPDUWSKRQH DSS SDUWLFLSDQWV FDQ ÀLQJ 'ULYH content, photos, and sticky notes to the session remotely, but they can’t make markings on the whiteboard itself or stream video, which is a bummer. WorldMags.net
Its 4K monitor and 60fps refresh rate dramatically outshine the more entrylevel Surface Hub’s HD, 30fps performance.
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MOBILITY With the smartphone app, Jam Session participants can fling Drive content, photos, and sticky notes to the session remotely.
Tablet users have full Jamboard access, including video presenting. Remote participants can view any slide from within either mobile app, regardless of the slide in which the presenter is working. A green indicator lets remote participants locate the presenter during Jams. One of the main complaints we had when testing the Surface Hub was its FRPSOH[ VHWXS DQG FRQ¿JXUDWLRQ SURFHVV 'RZQORDGLQJ DSSV VDYLQJ FRQWHQW DQG RQERDUGLQJ UHPRWH SDUWLFLSDQWV SURYHG GLI¿FXOW DQG DW WLPHV GRZQULJKW confounding. Users simply hopping onto a Surface Hub session and then attempting to save any content that’s created or edited during that session will need to email it to themselves if they want to save it. If they log into their 0LFURVRIW 2I¿FH DFFRXQWV DQG SXOO XS FRQWHQW WKDW ZD\ WKHQ WKH\ FDQ VDYH it back to the cloud once they’re done collaborating. That’s important, because after a brief period of inactivity or once you choose to close the Surface Hub session, the Hub automatically wipes any locally stored data. So either save it or lose it. This wipe functionality is Microsoft’s way of securing sensitive data and making sure the next user doesn’t access material that the previous user forgot to wipe. Google isn’t concerned about this issue, and in fact, seems to have designed the Jamboard to make most of these issues simpler. To wipe data from a Jamboard, you’ve got to physically wipe or delete your session. Anyone included in your Jam session can receive a Google Drive link to the content created within the session. Jamboard users will also love being able to slide back and forth from Frame to Frame. To save one particular Frame, you can add it to your Drive as a 31* ¿OH RU VDYH WKH HQWLUH VHVVLRQ E\ FRQYHUWLQJ HYHU\WKLQJ WR D 3') ¿OH Frames can also be dragged and dropped to the front and back of Jams or deleted entirely. WorldMags.net
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Adding participants to a Jam Session is as easy as clicking on their names or typing in their email addresses. Unfortunately, as with the Surface Hub, Google doesn’t easily open Jams up to consumers. That means it will be impossible to send collaboration requests to anyone outside of your G Suite license or people with normal Gmail addresses. Microsoft enables Skype for Business users to join Surface Hub meetings, but it’s a complicated process that requires your Hub administrator to open settings on the back end of your Skype for Business server. There is no limit to the number or type of person who can passively view a Jam. Anyone who your company has registered as a G Suite user and who has access to the companion app can jump in and participate in Jams. Unfortunately, only 16 people can make remote inputs. That’s still a step up from the Surface Hub, which allows inputs only for local or Miracast users. Up to 50 different people can participate in a Jam via Google Hangouts, meaning they’ll be able to speak and be heard during the session rather than just viewing it passively through a browser. Their video feeds will appear when they are actively speaking during a session. Within a Jam, you can access Chrome and Google images, which makes it easy for users to pull in third-party content. This is optimal for marking and taking notes on web content that you haven’t already pulled into your Drive. But unlike the Surface Hub, which allows for three separate apps to run simultaneously, the Jamboard’s top active app will be the only app you can mark up and make edits on. For example, if someone pulls up a webpage while I’m working on the other side of the Jamboard via the whiteboard, I won’t be able to continue drawing on the whiteboard until my colleague is done working on the webpage. Remote users will still be able to access other Frames and other elements of the Jam session, but local users won’t. Webpages can be viewed on only half of the Jamboard’s screen, so don’t expect to pull up a YouTube video and play gorgeous 4K movies in full-screen mode. Additionally, when you access Google ,PDJHV WKURXJK WKH -DPERDUG DSS \RXÂśOO ÂżQG LW GRHVQÂśW SXOO LQ HYHU\ LPDJH \RX might normally get when searching via your Google web browser. We asked Google what the difference was between the Jamboard’s search and what’s used on the web, and the company said there’s “no special algorithm for what appearsâ€? or how much appears, but that it’s a “representation of the most popular images on Googleâ€? (whatever that means). WorldMags.net
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The Jamboard features a revolutionary whiteboarding feature called “The Handwriting Brush,” which utilizes shape recognition software to “clean up” messy handwriting and drawing. Essentially, the Brush turns your illegible cursive into perfectly shaped block text. The conversion is instant, accurate, and gorgeous. This is fantastic for turning brainstorm text into legible lists that can be shared with absentee colleagues. It’s one of the most enjoyable aspects of the Jamboard’s design.
A FEW MAJOR ISSUES At the time we reviewed it, no additional apps could be used on the Jamboard, whereas the Microsoft Surface Hub is open to any and all Universal Windows 10 apps. While testing the Hub, we were able to run Microsoft Power BI, Maps, and a wide assortment of apps alongside the whiteboard. We even played Crossy Road just for fun. This gave the Surface Hub the functionality of a giant, cloud-based tablet. The Jamboard is meant only to serve as a whiteboard, and the limited tools and features found on the Jamboard are installed for the sole purpose of helping users create Frames. WorldMags.net
NOTES Sticky notes can be added to the whiteboard to leave messages for colleagues who weren’t able to attend a Jam Session.
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Unfortunately, even some of these limited tools are still works in progress. We received multiple error messages when trying to connect the Jamboard to Google Hangouts, which left us with no way to conduct video chats from the Jamboard. When we reported the issue to Google, the company told us this was D NQRZQ EXJ DQG WKDW LWœV ZRUNLQJ RQ D ¿[ :H ZHQW WR *RRJOH KHDGTXDUWHUV WR test the functionality on a working Jamboard, but even there, we went through VHYHUDO IDLOHG DWWHPSWV EHIRUH ZH ZHUH ¿QDOO\ DEOH WR FRQGXFW D *RRJOH Hangouts video chat. We also asked to test the Jamboard’s broadcast feature, which allows users on different Jamboards to collaborate on a single virtual whiteboard. But several attempts to broadcast from Jamboard to Jamboard failed. On one occasion, the code we created to synchronize sessions didn’t work, and on several subsequent occasions, the markings made on one Jamboard didn’t appear on the other. Finally, though, the broadcast worked, and the two Jamboards were properly synchronized. 'XULQJ RXU WHVWLQJ ZH GLG ¿QG D QXPEHU RI DQQR\LQJ NLQNV WKDW Google must remedy as it continues to update the software. For example, although there’s little to no latency between when your stylus touches the screen and when marks appear, there are tons of VXSHUÀXRXV LQSXWV²HVSHFLDOO\ ZKHQ \RXœUH XVLQJ WKH HUDVHU ZKHQ your hands rests against the screen while drawing, or when you’re touching an object to shrink or expand it. If the Jamboard reads \RXU ¿QJHUWLSV DV PDUNLQJV LQVWHDG RI D SLQFK WKHQ \RXœOO ZLQG XS drawing on your object. $OVR ZH IRXQG D VLJQL¿FDQW DPRXQW RI GHOD\ EHWZHHQ ZKHQ markings are made on the Jamboard and when they appear on the Jamboard’s mobile apps. This is a backbreaker for large remote meetings, which are typically chaotic and often interrupted even when basic technology is used. If markups aren’t being read immediately, or if users need to re-open the app to see new markings (which we needed to do on several occasions), then the meetings will become more confusing, more delayed, and much less enjoyable. This wasn’t a continual issue; at times, the markings appeared instantly. But the issue occurred on multiple occasions. WorldMags.net
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The Jamboard’s control panel appears on the right- or left-hand side of the screen, depending on your preference. If you’re using the web on the right-hand side of the Jamboard and you accidentally click the arrow button to send the control panel to the left-hand side of the Jamboard, then you’ll lose the webpage entirely. This is an upsetting oversight that Google can probably remedy in later software updates. But it’s a bear to deal with now, especially for users who accidentally click the arrow while using the Jamboard during important client meetings. Content sent to the Jamboard is also delivered as an “objectâ€? rather than as a OLYLQJ ÂżOH 7KLV PHDQV WKDW *RRJOH 'RFV ZKLFK DUH ³ÀXQJ´ WR WKH -DPERDUG DUHQÂśW VHQW DV FORXG EDVHG ÂżOHV WKDW XSGDWH ZLWKLQ WKH 'ULYH DQG RQ UHPRWH devices when changes are made on the Jamboard screen. Conversely, any :LQGRZV EDVHG GRFXPHQWV RSHQHG RQ WKH 6XUIDFH +XE HLWKHU WKURXJK 2IÂżFH RU YLD 0LUDFDVW FDQ EH HGLWHG DV D ORFDO DQG YLUWXDO ÂżOH The Jamboard won’t allow for multiple input sources, whereas the Surface Hub lets you cast content from your Windows device onto the Hub, where users will be able to run your app alongside two additional local apps. With Jamboard, you’re essentially taking over the screen whenever you switch from source to source (similar to how you would change a source on your television). This is great for pre-built demos but limits the value of the whiteboard app, which you won’t be able to access when using an external source.
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THE BOTTOM LINE (WITH SOME HEDGING) $W ÂżUVW JODQFH WKH *RRJOH -DPERDUG VHHPV OLNH D GUDPDWLFDOO\ PRUH DIIRUGDEOH easier-to-use, stripped-down version of the Microsoft Surface Hub. Companies VXFK DV 1HWĂ€L[ DQG 6SRWLI\ KDYH DOUHDG\ XVHG WKH -DPERDUG WR FROODERUDWH internally. Like Microsoft, Google wants developers to begin creating apps for the Jamboard, which will deliver more interesting and unique Jamboard use cases. But currently, no additional apps can be used on the Jamboard’s OS. Because of this limitation, the Jamboard serves a very strict and narrow function: to make your whiteboard meetings more collaborative in digital environments. Companies that rely on G Suite to create and distribute content will absolutely love the ability to pull Drive content into a whiteboard session and subsequently save whiteboard sessions back to the Drive. But, without being able to actually HGLW DQG VDYH 'ULYH ÂżOHV RQ WKH VFUHHQ WKH -DPERDUG GRHVQÂśW VHUYH PXFK RI D purpose to anyone who isn’t using the Frames created outside of the Jam Session. Here’s where we hedge: The Google Jamboard’s “limitationsâ€? may actually SLTXH WKH LQWHUHVW RI FRPSDQLHV WKDW ÂżQG WKH 6XUIDFH +XE WR EH WRR FRPSOLFDWHG Using the Surface Hub to its full extent requires a lot of learning and a solid understanding of Windows. Conversely, anyone who has ever used a tablet or smartphone can hop into a Jam Session and begin creating immediately, and ZLOO OLNHO\ KDYH WKH V\VWHP PDVWHUHG ZLWKLQ D IHZ KRXUV %XW *RRJOH PXVW Âż[ WKH Jamboard’s connectivity issues, and it must beef up the custom OS to ease usability. Having made that point, for a business that needs a way to make whiteboard meetings more interesting and isn’t interested in more advanced use cases, the Google Jamboard delivers a streamlined and fun experience that teams will enjoy. JUAN MARTINEZ
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Moto Z2 Force Has Lots of Power, Plus Mods oto Mods are here to stay. The Motorola Moto Z2 Force ($756 as tested) is a powerful phone in its own right, but its true potential is unleashed when you snap a Moto Mod accessory onto the back, which can add functionality ranging from extended battery life to 360-degree image and video capture. That said, buying multiple Mods can get costly, and on its own, the Z2 Force doesn’t offer anything particularly special. For the complete package out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy S8 offers the best you can get when it comes to design, hardware, and features, and remains our Editors’ Choice.
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Motorola Moto Z2 Force Edition $720.00 L L L l m
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DESIGN AND PHYSICAL FEATURES Available in black, gold, and gray (the latter is exclusive to T-Mobile), the Z2 Force sticks to the same design formula as the Z2 Play released earlier this year. It shares the all-metal build, protruding rear camera, and magnetic attachment points for Moto Mods on the back. Although support for Moto Mods is what makes the phone unique, it also forces it to use a design that looks a bit dated when placed next to the gorgeous, bezel-free Galaxy S8.
Measuring in at 6.13 by 2.99 by 0.24 inches (HWD) and 5.04 ounces, the Z2 Force is slimmer and lighter than last year’s Z Force Droid (6.14 by 2.98 by 0.27, 5.74 ounces). Of course, we’re talking about only fractions of an inch here, so your hand isn’t likely to notice much of a difference. Compared with the tall and narrow Galaxy S8 (5.86 by 2.68 by 0.31 inches, 5.47 ounces), the Z2 Force is not as easy to use with one hand, especially when you’re using a hefty Moto Mod. On the right side (shown below) are volume buttons and a ridged power button. The top has a SIM/microSD FDUG VORW WKDW ZRUNHG ¿QH ZLWK D *% FDUG 7KH ERWWRP KDV D 86% & FKDUJLQJ SRUW /LNH LWV SUHGHFHVVRU the Z2 Force lacks a headphone jack; you’ll have to use WKH LQFOXGHG GRQJOH RU %OXHWRRWK KHDGSKRQHV
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Motorola Moto Z2 Force Edition
PROS Useful modular design. Fast performance. Long battery life. Sharp display. Solid dualsensor camera. CONS Easy-toscratch plastic display cover. Weak speaker. No waterproofing or headphone jack. Some carrier bloatware.
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7KH ERWWRP EH]HO LV KRPH WR D ÂżQJHUSULQW VHQVRU 8VLQJ 0RWR $FWLRQV \RX FDQ HQDEOH 2QH %XWWRQ 1DYLJDWLRQ which allows you to use swipe gestures on the ÂżQJHUSULQW VHQVRU LQ SODFH RI RQVFUHHQ QDYLJDWLRQ buttons. Other Actions include chopping the phone with \RXU KDQG OLJKWO\ WZLFH WR WXUQ RQ WKH Ă€DVKOLJKW DQG twisting your wrist to activate the camera. Motorola’s custom voice commands are also built in, so you can say “show meâ€? as an activation phrase to access information about your calendar, the weather, and various apps. It ZRUNV ÂżQH EXW LW GRHVQÂśW GLIIHUHQWLDWH LWVHOI IURP ZKDW Google Assistant already offers.
DURABILITY AND DISPLAY The Z2 Force is covered in a water-repellent coating that can withstand rain and splashes, but it isn’t fully waterproof, as are the Galaxy S8 and many other ÀDJVKLSV RQ WKH PDUNHW 7KH SKRQHœV LQFK 6XSHU $02/(' GLVSOD\ LV FRYHUHG ZLWK VKDWWHU UHVLVWDQW plastic. It withstood several drops on the hard UXEEHUL]HG ÀRRU LQ 3& /DEV DV ZHOO DV VRPH GURSV RQ D wooden deck outdoors without cracking, though the plastic coating picked up scratches quite easily. WorldMags.net
DISPLAY The Moto Z2 Force Edition has a 5.5-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display that easily surpasses 1080p displays.
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The display features 2,560-by-1,440 resolution that works out to 534 pixels per inch (ppi). It’s just about as sharp as the Galaxy S8’s screen (570ppi), and easily VXUSDVVHV S GLVSOD\V OLNH \RX ¿QG RQ WKH 2QH3OXV SSL %HFDXVH LW¶V $02/(' \RX JHW GHQVH LQN\ EODFNV DQG ULFK VDWXUDWHG FRORUV DORQJ ZLWK excellent viewing angles. The screen doesn’t get quite as bright as the Galaxy S8, but it’s still easily visible outdoors. In direct sunlight, however, the plastic layer LV D ELW UHÀHFWLYH DQG KLJKOLJKWV WKH VFUDWFKHV Under Display Settings, you can choose between Standard or Vibrant modes to change the color saturation. One interesting option lets you reduce blur when the device is in VR mode, possibly hinting at a future Moto Mod. Other display features include One-Handed mode, which shrinks the screen down to one corner to make it easier to reach across with your thumb, and Split Screen mode, which lets you run two apps side by side. Active Display shows \RX WKH GDWH WLPH DQG QRWL¿FDWLRQV DQG JLYHV \RX DFFHVV WR PHGLD FRQWUROV DXWRPDWLFDOO\ ZKHQ \RX SLFN XS WKH SKRQH $QG 1LJKW 'LVSOD\ DGMXVWV WKH screen’s color temperature at night to reduce the blue light that is said to impact your sleep. MOTO MODS Moto Mods, the collection of modular back panels developed by Motorola and third parties, are evolving. There are now nearly a dozen Mods to choose from, including the Moto TurboPower Pack battery ($79.99), the Insta-Share Projector ($299.99), and the Hasselblad True Zoom Camera ($299.99). The new Moto 360 Camera ($299.99) lets you capture photographs and 4K video from all angles.
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Moto Mods are the most intuitive modular phone accessory platform we’ve seen to date. They snap right onto the back of the Z2 Force magnetically, and the phone instantly recognizes which one it is and reacts accordingly. Most of them aren’t cheap, however, so keep that in mind before buying in.
NETWORK PERFORMANCE AND CONNECTIVITY The Moto Z2 Force Edition is available on all major U.S. carriers, with a GSM unlocked version for AT&T and T-Mobile, a Sprint model, and a Verizon model. The 9HUL]RQ SKRQH ZH WHVWHG VXSSRUWV /7( EDQGV /7/812/13/17/20/25/26/28/66. We recorded excellent network performance in midtown Manhattan, with a top VSHHG RI 0ESV GRZQ DQG 0ESV XS %HFDXVH WKH phone has a Snapdragon 835 processor, it’ll support JLJDELW /7( RQFH LW VWDUWV UROOLQJ RXW The phone also supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and *+] 1)& DQG %OXHWRRWK $FFRUGLQJ WR 0RWRUROD LW ZLOO XVH %OXHWRRWK DIWHU WKH $QGURLG 2 XSGDWH Call quality is great. Transmissions have a clear, natural tone and noise cancellation is excellent. As with the Z2 Play and G5 Plus, the earpiece doubles as a speaker. It’s very loud for phone calls but rather tinny for everything else. If you’re concerned about audio quality, remember WKH -%/ 6RXQG%RRVW 0RWR 0RG LV DYDLODEOH IRU PROCESSOR AND BATTERY The Moto Z2 Force is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor clocked at 2.35GHz, the VDPH DV \RX¶OO ¿QG LQ PRVW FXUUHQW ÀDJVKLS SKRQHV ,W scored 167,568 on the AnTuTu benchmark, which is a measure of overall system performance. That’s actually a bit faster than the Galaxy S8 (158,266) because of a lighter UI layer. WorldMags.net
Because the phone has a Snapdragon 835 processor, it’ll support gigabit LTE once it starts rolling out.
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:LWK *% RI 5$0 DQG D PLQLPDO VNLQ PXOWLWDVNLQJ LV D breeze, and you won’t notice any slowdown or stuttering when switching between apps. Demanding games like GTA: San Andreas also run without issue. %DWWHU\ OLIH LV HTXDOO\ VWURQJ 7KH SKRQH FORFNHG hours, 57 minutes in our battery rundown test, in which ZH VWUHDP IXOO VFUHHQ YLGHR RYHU /7( DW PD[LPXP brightness. That’s longer than the Galaxy S8 (5 hours, PLQXWHV WKH /* * KRXUV PLQXWHV DQG WKH HTC U11 (7 hours, 1 minute). If you need even more juice, you can snap on the Moto TurboPower Pack Mod to add a 3,490mAh battery that should more than double your usage time. The phone also supports proprietary fast charging, and we were able to charge it to full in a little over an hour. CAMERA Dual-sensor cameras are all the rage these days, and ¿WWLQJO\ WKH = )RUFH KDV WZR PHJDSL[HO UHDU VHQVRUV 2QH LV D UHJXODU 5*% VHQVRU DQG WKH RWKHU LV monochrome, similar to the setup on the Honor 8. This FRPELQDWLRQ OHWV \RX FRQWURO GHSWK RI ¿HOG WR FUHDWH D bokeh effect that blurs out the background while highlighting the foreground, or to shoot in true blackand-white without resorting to desaturating color information the way single-sensor phones do.
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Multitasking is a breeze, and you won’t notice any slowdown or stuttering when switching between apps.
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Overall, the Z2 Force stacks up quite nicely against the Galaxy S8, which we consider to be the best camera phone on the market. Test shots taken outdoors and in good lighting were excellent, with plenty of detail and minimal noise. The main difference appears in color reproduction—the S8 has darker, more saturated greens, while colors on the Z2 Force skew a bit more yellow. Since both phones offer manual controls, these are things you can tweak by adjusting the ISO and white balance settings. The real test comes in lower lighting. In a head-to-head comparison outdoors on a cloudy day and indoors, the S8 narrowly edges out the Z2 Force in terms of detail and color accuracy. The S8 also focused and snapped pictures faster and with less lag between shots. Video recording showed the biggest differences. With both phones recording 4K video at 30fps, the S8 was PRUH VWDEOH EHQH¿WWLQJ IURP RSWLFDO LPDJH stabilization. The Z2 Force was noticeably jittery when panning around, though video quality was still quite strong overall. The Moto’s 5-megapixel front-facing camera takes good shots. Its resolution isn’t as high as the 8-megapixel WorldMags.net
The Z2 Force was noticeably jittery when panning around, but video quality was still strong overall.
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sensor on the S8, but quality is comparable overall. And once again, don’t forget about the Moto Mods. The aforementioned Moto 360 Camera and Hasselblad True Zoom add advanced imaging functionality you simply can’t expect out of a phone itself. SOFTWARE 7KH = )RUFH FRPHV UXQQLQJ $QGURLG 1RXJDW DQG 0RWRUROD KDV FRQ¿UPHG it will receive an update to Android O in the future. The company has applied a custom UI layer, but aside from Moto Mod support and the core Moto features mentioned earlier (Moto Actions, Moto Display, and Moto Voice), this is a relatively pure Android experience. %ORDWZDUH LV DQRWKHU PDWWHU 9HUL]RQ KDV SUHORDGHG D GR]HQ RI LWV RZQ DSSV RQWR WKH SKRQH 2XW RI *% RI LQWHUQDO VWRUDJH \RX¶UH OHIW ZLWK *% available for use. That’s plenty for apps and photos, but if you’re planning to record a lot of 4K video, you might want to add a microSD card. CONCLUSIONS In many ways the Moto Z2 Force Edition matches the Galaxy S8 feature for feature while adding support for truly useful add-on accessories. If you’re sold on the Moto Mod idea, the Z2 Force Edition is the most powerful phone with ZKLFK \RX FDQ XVH WKHP %XW WKH SULFH RI 0RWR 0RGV FDQ DGG XS TXLFNO\ DQG you’re already dropping over $700 on the phone itself. If you simply want the best device you can get out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy S8 offers a slightly more polished experience all around. And if you want to save some money, the OnePlus 5 gets you the same powerful hardware and a dual-sensor camera with optical zoom for nearly half the price. AJAY KUMAR
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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Lego’s New Kit Teaches Young Kids About Code For kids who are a bit too young to handle Lego’s venerable MindStorms robotics kits, look no further than its Boost Creative Toolbox ($159.99). Designed to introduce EDITORS’ CHOICE children ages 7 to 12 to coding and robotics, the Boost kit provides building blocks with sensors, motors, and app-based coding to help them build a variety of robotic toys that can respond to stimuli. It’s a simple, fun, and relatively affordable approach that teaches the principles of programming, making it worthy of our Editors’ Choice. WorldMags.net
Lego Boost Creative Toolbox $159.95 L L L l h
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WHAT’S IN THE BOX? The kit uses a free downloadable app (for Android and iOS devices) that contains the building instructions and FRGLQJ FRPPDQGV IRU ¿YH FUHDWLRQV ,Q WKH ER[ DUH WKH three main Boost bricks—the Bluetooth-connected Move Hub, a combination color-and-distance sensor, and an interactive motor. You also get 843 additional Lego pieces and a Playmat that’s calibrated to the app and helps kids understand how code commands relate to the robot actions they drive.
The Move Hub, the main controller for the kit, is a battery-powered Lego brick with a tilt sensor and connections for the motor and color-and-distance sensor. The Hub communicates with the smartphone or tablet on which you’ve downloaded the Boost app, and lets you determine the behavior of the creations you build—all programming is done within the app (unlike with Mindstorms and its Intelligent Brick, which you can program directly).
Lego Boost Creative Toolbox
PROS Easy, fun access to coding and robotics for young kids. Compatible with other Lego products. Lower price than competitors with similar ambitions. CONS Lots of pieces to keep track of. Some projects may be overwhelming for kids on the younger end of the recommended age range.
7KH NLW DQG DSS SURYLGH LQVWUXFWLRQV IRU EXLOGLQJ ¿YH different robot projects, including a cute robot named Vernie; Frankie the Cat; the Guitar 4000; the M.T.R.4 (which stands for multi-tooled rover), a vehicle that can pick up and carry little Lego objects; and the Autobuilder, which puts together little Lego creations for you. Each robot has unique abilities and unlockable extra features.
The Boost kit’s free app takes you step by step through building five robots. But you will need to reuse most of the included bricks in your last project to build the next one. WorldMags.net
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The Lego pieces all come packed in numbered plastic EDJV 7KDWœOO KHOS IRU \RXU ¿UVW EXLOG EXW ZKHQ \RXœUH ready to try a different project, you’ll need to reuse pieces—and thus break down what you’ve already built, which might be hard for some kids (or parents!).
Once kids have gotten used to working with the Boost components, they can try the Creative Canvas feature. It gives basic instructions to build two base models upon which you can invent your own Lego robots. One is a walking base, for building animals or other creatures; the other is a driving base that lets you create vehicles. BUILDING BOOST BOTS When you open the app, you see a cute movie of a family with two kids who are using their Boost robots to arrange a surprise for dad. Then you get to the interface. First you’re instructed to add batteries to the Move Hub, then connect it (via Bluetooth) to the app. The PDLQ VFUHHQ SLFWXUHV WKH ¿YH PDLQ SURMHFWV DV ZHOO DV D beginner project, an easily built small vehicle that introduces you to the Boost concept. When you click on a project’s image, you’re taken through a step-by-step guide to building it. You’re shown each of the pieces you need as you go and how WKH\ ¿W WRJHWKHU ,WœV FOHDU DQG HDV\ WR IROORZ %XW WKHUHœV no indication of what the robotic pieces do or how they do it. There’s no text or audio instruction, just visual, as is usual with Lego kits. You don’t need words—just about anyone should be able to follow the app’s directions, which is good—but it feels like a bit of a missed learning opportunity. Also, I missed the interactivity that the Sony Koov’s app offers, in which you can drag the images to turn them and look at them from different angles, and you are shown animations of WKH SLHFHV ¿WWLQJ WRJHWKHU %HLQJ /HJRV WKH SLHFHV DUH VWXUG\ DQG ZHOO EXLOW DQG WKH\ ¿W WRJHWKHU HDVLO\ WorldMags.net
Once kids have gotten used to working with the Boost components, they can try the Creative Canvas feature.
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After building the beginner project, I tackled Frankie the Cat. It’s an intricate project that requires focus; I made a few mistakes—despite the clear directions—and had to reverse a bit to correct them. Fortunately, that’s easy to do; you can use the slider at the bottom of the app screen to zip through the instructions or go step by step back and forth. You build in stages, and the app encourages you to try some of the cat bot’s features in between, which was a fun EUHDN²¿UVW \RX JHW KLP WR PRYH E\ SHWWLQJ KLP WKHQ WR ³GULQN´ IURP D ERWWOH DQG ¿QDOO\ WR FHOHEUDWH KLV ELUWKGD\ ZLWK D ³FDNH ´ Once Frankie was built, I found I had unlocked additional ways to play with him—including building a harmonica that his color sensors let him play. Kids will want to try all of them. CODING THE BOT Once you have a completed robot, you connect it to your mobile device by pressing the green button on top of the Move Hub. Then comes the coding. The Boost kit doesn’t use an established code language—instead, it uses small icons as blocks of code, with visual indications as to the actions they’ll inspire in the robot. The app shows you how to drag these coding elements to the center of the screen and click them together. One you have a string of code, you press the Start code block, and the robot executes your commands.
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Some code icons show arrows pointing in straight lines or making circlesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the robot will move in those ways. Others inspire more intricate moves. Still others include an hourglass icon that pauses the action, various musical sounds, andâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;oh joyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a variety of fart noises. (All the audio effects come from your mobile device, not the robot, so make sure the volumeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up.) If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not sure what a code block does, just add it to \RXU VWULQJ DQG ÂżQG RXW <RXÂśUH DOVR VKRZQ KRZ WR create multiple code strings, so your robot can perform several kinds of actions at once. I had fun experimenting with different combinations and seeing how the catbot responded. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smart that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much to do with each robot, since, as mentioned earlier, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need to break apart whichever one youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve built in order to build the next one. I strongly recommend organizing the pieces in VRPH ZD\ WRR ,W FDQ WDNH ORQJHU WR ÂżQG WKH WLQ\ EOXH square or orange rod than it takes to do the actual construction. (For me, arranging by size was a help.) CONCLUSIONS The Lego Boost Creative Toolbox is an impressive and fun way to teach kids that coding isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an end in itself, but a tool to make cool projects. Parental assistance might be needed, but it is designed to be very accessible for the recommended ages. If your kids have tried other Legos kits before, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll probably to be able to manage these projects. Just be careful to keep track of the tinier pieces, and your kids (and you) will enjoy many hours of Lego and programming fun. CAROL MANGIS
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Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also shown how to create multiple code strings, so your robot can perform several kinds of actions at once.
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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Five Top Robot Vacuums acuums have come a long way. You no longer have to suffer the indignity of dragging around an unwieldy plastic hose connected to a clumsy, wheeled canister the size of a Galapagos tortoise. In fact, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even need to get off of the couch. Though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a relatively new product category, numerous good robot vacuums are available to help you dispose of GXVW SHW KDLU DQG RWKHU GHEULV LQ \RXU KRPH²ZLWKRXW \RX OLIWLQJ D ¿QJHU Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve rounded up our highest-rated robot vacuums, and provided a few SRLQWHUV WR KHOS \RX ¿QG MXVW WKH ERW \RX¶UH ORRNLQJ IRU
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8QOLNH WUDGLWLRQDO FDQLVWHU RU VWLFN PRGHOV URERW YDFXXPV DUH DXWRQRPRXV DQG (for the most part) intelligent. The vacuums weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve tested are equipped with lasers, motherboards, sensors, and Wi-Fi, and they can navigate around your home without the need for assistance. With a few exceptions, you barely have to interact with them at all. WorldMags.net
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0RVW URERW YDFXXPV FRPH ZLWK FKDUJLQJ GRFNV DQG FDQ HYHQ FKDUJH WKHPVHOYHV -XVW SLFN D URERW DFFHVVLEOH VSRW IRU WKH GRFN DQG WKH ERW ZLOO UHWXUQ RQ LWV RZQ EHIRUH LW UXQV RXW RI MXLFH $QG LW ZLOO VLW WKHUH XQWLO LW KDV HQRXJK HQHUJ\ WR JR EDFN RXW DQG FRQWLQXH WR EXVW GXVW <RX FDQ DOVR VHW VFKHGXOHV IRU PRVW ERWV WR ZDNH XS DQG VWDUW D FOHDQLQJ MRE VR LW FDQ WDNH SODFH ZKLOH \RX¶UH RXW RI WKH house. That means you can potentially avoid all physical interaction until the YDFXXP QHHGV WR EH HPSWLHG²\RX VWLOO FDQ¶W WDNH WKDW VWHS RXW RI WKH HTXDWLRQ $OVR XQOLNH PDQ\ WUDGLWLRQDO YDFXXPV DOO RI WKH URERWV LQFOXGHG KHUH GRQ¶W XVH EDJV WR KROG WKH GXVW KDLU DQG RWKHU GHEULV WKH\ VXFN XS ,QVWHDG WKH\ XVH DQ HDV\ WR UHPRYH GXVW ELQ \RX FDQ VLPSO\ HMHFW DQG HPSW\ LQWR WKH QHDUHVW JDUEDJH FDQ $QG PDQ\ FRPH HTXLSSHG ZLWK +(3$ ¿OWHUV WKDW SUHYHQW DOOHUJHQV from spreading through the air. $OVR ZRUWK QRWLQJ )ORRU FOHDQLQJ URERWV VXFK DV WKH L5RERW %UDDYD -HW specialize in mopping and sweeping. They arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eligible for this list, because WKH\ GRQ¶W YDFXXP XS GLUW DQG GHEULV EXW WKH\ ZLOO JHW \RXU KDUGZRRG Ã&#x20AC;RRUV QLFH DQG VKLQ\ 6RPH YDFXXPV OLNH WKH %REVZHHS 3HW+DLU 3OXV DQG %REL 3HW come with mop attachments, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not as effective overall. CONVENIENCE VS. COST $ URERW YDFXXP LV XVXDOO\ KLJKHU LQ SULFH WKDQ D WUDGLWLRQDO YDFXXP WKRXJK QRW DOZD\V WKH '\VRQ &LQHWLF $QLPDO $OOHUJ\ XSULJKW YDFXXP FRVWV IRU H[DPSOH 7KH PRGHOV ZH¶YH UHYLHZHG KHUH UDQJH IURP WR 7KDW¶V D SUHWW\ VL]DEOH LQYHVWPHQW HYHQ RQ WKH ORZ HQG /HW¶V FRQVLGHU MXVW ZKDW \RX JHW for the price.
AN APP FOR THAT When we test robot vacuums, we check out how easy it is to set up, program, and control them.
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8QOHVV \RX UHDOO\ ORYH WR YDFXXP WKH WDVN LWVHOI LV SUHWW\ mundane. Depending on the size of your house, a robot vacuum can save you anywhere from minutes to hours RI \RXU WLPH HYHU\ ZHHN E\ WDNLQJ FDUH RI D SUHWW\ WKDQNOHVV FKRUH 7KDW DORQH LV UHDVRQ HQRXJK IRU VRPH SHRSOH WR FRQVLGHU RQH $OVR \RX PLJKW KDYH D SHW ZKR¶G HQMR\ ULGLQJ RQ LW
In addition, robot vacuums have reached the point ZKHUH WKH\¶UH EDVLFDOO\ MXVW DV HIIHFWLYH DQG SRZHUIXO DV regular vacuums. The robots rounded up here use ¿OWHUV VLGH EUXVKHV DQG VSLQQLQJ EUXVKHV WKDW ZLOO GR MXVW DV JRRG D MRE RI FOHDQLQJ \RXU KRPH DV WKHLU XSULJKW equivalents. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also fairly compact, so they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t WDNH XS PXFK VSDFH LQ \RXU VWRUDJH FORVHW $QG WKH\¶UH able to travel underneath most couches and tables, so \RX GRQ¶W KDYH WR UHDUUDQJH IXUQLWXUH (YHQ LI \RX GR the more advanced robots on this list use memory EDQNV WR QRWH ZKHUH IXUQLWXUH LV SODFHG VR DV QRW WR bump into anything on a future pass. $OVR ZRUWK PHQWLRQLQJ &RQQHFWHG URERW YDFXXPV DUH PXFK PRUH DIIRUGDEOH QRZ )RU LQVWDQFH L5RERW¶V HQWU\ OHYHO 5RRPED VXSSRUWV :L )L DQG FRVWV MXVW XQGHU :KDW DUH WKH EHQH¿WV RI FRQQHFWLYLW\" Most Wi-Fi vacuums can be programmed and controlled remotely using your smartphone. Some can HYHQ EH DFWLYDWHG ZLWK $PD]RQ $OH[D RU *RRJOH $VVLVWDQW YRLFH FRPPDQGV 3UHPLXP FRQQHFWHG ERWV VXFK DV WKH 5RRPED DQG '\VRQ (\H FDQ JHQHUDWH VWDWLVWLFV DQG PDSV RI WKH areas theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve cleaned. Meanwhile, the Samsung 3RZHUERW 5 FDQ HDVLO\ LQWHJUDWH LQWR H[LVWLQJ routines with other smart home devices if you have a 6PDUW7KLQJV +XE 6R ZKLOH FRQQHFWHG ERWV DUH JHQHUDOO\ SULFLHU WKH\ GR FRPH ZLWK VRPH QLFH SHUNV WorldMags.net
A robot vacuum can save you anywhere from minutes to hours of your time every week by taking care of a pretty thankless chore.
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HOW WE TEST ROBOVACS :H WHVW URERW YDFXXPV LQ 3& /DEV DQG LQ RXU DFWXDO KRPHV ZLWK WKH IROORZLQJ FDWHJRULHV LQ PLQG EDWWHU\ OLIH QDYLJDWLRQ VHWXS VXFWLRQ DQG²ZKHQ WKH\ VXSSRUW %OXHWRRWK RU :L )L²WKH DSS H[SHULHQFH &KDQFHV DUH \RX GRQ¶W ZDQW WR EDE\VLW \RXU YDFXXP 7KDW PHDQV \RX¶UH ORRNLQJ IRU D URERW WKDW FDQ WUDYHUVH GLIIHUHQW Ã&#x20AC;RRU W\SHV DQG PDQHXYHU DURXQG IXUQLWXUH ZLWKRXW QHHGLQJ KHOS 7KLV LV HVSHFLDOO\ WUXH IRU WKRVH ZLWK GDUN Ã&#x20AC;RRULQJ DV LQIUDUHG VHQVRUV PLJKW FRQIXVH D EODFN FDUSHW ZLWK D OHGJH DQG UHIXVH WR SDVV RYHU LW :H WHVW YDFXXPV RQ KDUGZRRG WLOH DQG GDUNO\ FRORUHG rugs to see how well they manage the transitions across various surfaces. %DWWHU\ OLIH LV DOVR DQ LPSRUWDQW IDFWRU WR FRQVLGHU EDVHG RQ WKH VL]H RI \RXU KRPH ,Q JHQHUDO PRVW URERW YDFXXPV FDQ UXQ IRU DW OHDVW WR PLQXWHV ZKLFK VKRXOG EH HQRXJK WR WDFNOH PDQ\ DSDUWPHQWV DQG VLQJOH Ã&#x20AC;RRU KRPHV ,I \RX KDYH D ELJJHU OLYLQJ DUHD \RX¶OO ZDQW WR ORRN IRU VRPHWKLQJ LQ WKH PLQXWH range so it can hit every room in the house before requiring a recharge. To test this, we charge the battery to full, start a cleaning cycle, and time how long the URERW UXQV EHIRUH LW QHHGV WR EH GRFNHG $QG LI D URERW LV FODLPHG WR DXWRPDWLFDOO\ GRFN ZH FKHFN WR VHH ZKHWKHU LW FDQ HDVLO\ ¿QG LWV ZD\ KRPH Most robot vacuums are reliable when it comes to getting rid of standard household detritus, so you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really have to worry about whether theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be DEOH WR VXFN XS OLQW GLUW DQG KDLU 6LQFH ZH WHVW DOO WKH URERW YDFXXPV LQ WKH VDPH KRPH HQYLURQPHQW ZH FKHFN KRZ IXOO GXVWELQV JHW DQG ZKHWKHU REYLRXV GHEULV OLNH IRRG SDUWLFOHV DQG YLVLEOH GXVW EXQQLHV DUH SLFNHG XS :H DOVR QRWH ZKHWKHU WKH URERW XVHV D UDQGRP RU PHWKRGLFDO FOHDQLQJ SDWWHUQ 5DQGRP FOHDQHUV RIWHQ UXQ DFURVV WKH VDPH VSDFH PXOWLSOH WLPHV EXW WDNH D ORQJHU WLPH WR JHW HYHU\WKLQJ 0HWKRGLFDO FOHDQHUV GRQ¶W WDNH DV ORQJ EXW PD\ RQO\ SDVV through a room once unless programmed otherwise. Finally, we test how easy it is to set up, program, and control the robot. Some UHTXLUH RQO\ DQ LQLWLDO EDWWHU\ FKDUJH ZKLOH RWKHUV DVN \RX WR LQVWDOO VLGH EUXVKHV DQG EDWWHULHV )RU FRQQHFWHG ERWV DSS GHVLJQ DQG UHOLDEOH %OXHWRRWK RU :L )L FRQQHFWLYLW\ DUH PDMRU IDFWRUV WKDW LPSDFW \RXU H[SHULHQFH
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Eufy RoboVac 11 $219.99
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EDITORS’ CHOICE
L l l l m Battery Life: 100 Minutes PROS: Affordable. Quiet. Remote for easy control and programming. Large dustbin. Comes with spare parts. Good for low-profile furniture. CONS: Long charging time. Navigation requires occasional intervention. Round shape not ideal for tight corners. BOTTOM LINE: If you hate cleaning and are on a budget, the Eufy RoboVac 11 is the best nofrills robot vacuum for the price.
iRobot Roomba 960 $699.00 EDITORS’ CHOICE
L l l l m Battery Life: 70 Minutes PROS: Good navigation capabilities. Handles different floor types well. Relatively quiet. Works with smartphone app and voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Shows map of cleaned areas. CONS: Occasionally gets stuck under low furniture. Can’t steer using phone app. BOTTOM LINE: The iRobot Roomba 960 isn’t cheap, but thanks to a mix of premium features and performance, it’s the best high-end robot vacuum for the price.
iRobot Roomba 690 $324.99 L l l l m Battery Life: 70 Minutes PROS: Relatively affordable. Controllable via phone app. Compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands. Powerful suction. CONS: Navigation issues with dark flooring and docking in testing. BOTTOM LINE: iRobot’s Roomba 690 vacuum offers lots of functionality for the price, including control via smartphone and support for voice commands through popular smart home devices. WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net Neato Botvac Connected $499.00 L l l l m Battery Life: 120 Minutes PROS: Wi-Fi-enabled. Well-designed app. Powerful suction. CONS: Pricey. Quirky setup process. BOTTOM LINE: The Neato Botvac Connected is a bit expensive, but if you’re looking for a robotic vacuum you can control with your smartphone, it’s the one to buy.
Dyson 360 Eye $999.99 L l l h m Battery Life: 70 Minutes PROS: Powerful cleaning abilities. Accurate navigation thanks to 360-degree camera. Can be controlled by multiple phones. Scheduled cleaning through app. CONS: Very expensive. Can’t clean under low furniture or in tight corners. Battery life could be longer. BOTTOM LINE: The Dyson 360 Eye is the one of the best robot vacuums you can buy thanks to its impressive cleaning and navigation abilities, but you can find similarly equipped alternatives for less money.
VICTORIA SONG
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MacBook Pro Gets Updated Processor, Price Drop The 2017 update of the 13-inch MacBook Pro isn’t a groundbreaking refresh, but it does come with two very important new features: a reduced price and new processor options from EDITORS’ CHOICE Intel’s latest seventh-generation Core i5 and Core i7 series. The exterior design remains identical to the previous version, but more performance for less cash easily makes up for the laptop’s relative dearth of USB ports and the lack of a Touch Bar compared with the more expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro. Add in vastly improved battery life and better performance benchmark results than many of its Windows competitors, and the result is that this already-excellent ultraportable notebook now earns our Editors’ Choice award as the best Mac laptop. WorldMags.net
Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (2017) $1,299.00 L L L l m
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THIN AND LIGHT, WITH A SHALLOW KEYBOARD The 13-inch MacBook Pro is extremely thin for a fullfeatured laptop, measuring 0.59 by 11.97 by 8.36 inches (HWD) and weighing 3.02 pounds. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually thinner than Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original and now somewhat dated ultraportable, the 13-inch MacBook Air. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not quite as thin as the MacBook (0.52 inches), the New Razer Blade Stealth (0.51 inches) or the 0.41-inch-thin HP Spectre 13, which HP bills as the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thinnest laptop. This version of the MacBook Pro is almost imperceptibly heavier than last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model, which weighs 2.99 pounds.
Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (2017)
PROS Excellent battery life. Thin and light. Crisp Retina display. Price drop from last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model. CONS Connectivity limited to two USB-C ports. Small 128GB hard drive.
SLIM BUILD The 13-inch MacBook Pro is extremely thin for a full-featured laptop, measuring 0.59 by 11.97 by 8.36 inches (HWD) and weighing 3.02 pounds.
Its aesthetics, however, remain identical to the previous version. Available in either silver or the space-gray of our test unit, this is a gorgeous machine amid an evergrowing crop of well-designed ultrabooks. Long-time Mac users may lament that the Apple logo is no longer EDFNOLW EXW WKH ORJRÂśV QHZ VKLQ\ VLOYHU ÂżQLVK ZLOO DVVXUH everyone in front of you that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re using an Apple product. Whichever color you choose, it will pervade the entire chassis and lid, which are both made of aluminum. The only departures are the keyboard and screen bezel (both black), and the glass trackpad, which takes on a slightly lighter hue compared with the body. WorldMags.net
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7KH EDFNOLW NH\ERDUG KDV EXWWHUĂ&#x20AC;\ VZLWFKHV DQG extremely shallow key travel, which requires a bit of acclimation if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re upgrading from an older Mac. $SSOH FODLPV WKDW LWV EXWWHUĂ&#x20AC;\ PHFKDQLVP LV PRUH VWDEOH than conventional laptop keyboard switches, which resemble a pair of scissors. The sound of the keys vaguely resembles the electronic clicks you hear from an iOS keyboard. The typing sensation is similar, too: it requires just a little more pressure than what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d use to type on a touchscreen. We eventually found the typing experience tolerableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not necessarily enjoyableâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; but if you learned to type on a smartphone instead of a PC, the keyboard will likely meet with your instant approval. SHORT ON CONNECTIVITY This MacBook Pro offers very few ports. It has just two USB Type-C/Thunderbolt 3 connectors on the left edge, and a single audio jack on the right edge. (The 13-inch Touch Bar model, which starts at $1,799, includes two USB-C ports on each side.) Having only two ports is an inconvenience, but remember that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to need to buy an adapter or USB hub for most of your older peripherals that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t support USB-C anyway (think mice, keyboards, hard drives, and even your iPhone). You can buy Apple-branded adapters such as the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter ($69) or opt for all-in-one adapters and desktop docks. Some, like the Satechi Aluminum Type-C Pro Hub Adapter ($99), are offered in colors that match the MacBook Pro. The lack of a Touch Bar, however, isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily a bad thing. This model is $500 cheaper than the MacBook Pro with the bar, which makes it more likely to appeal to budget-conscious college students. While the Touch Bar is innovative and convenient for certain creative ZRUNĂ&#x20AC;RZV PRVW RWKHU EX\HUV ZLOO ÂżQG LW WR EH D OX[XU\ instead of a need-to-have productivity feature. WorldMags.net
If you learned to type on a smartphone instead of a PC, the keyboard will likely meet with your instant approval.
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Thanks to their upward-facing design, the MacBook Proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speakers sound robust for such a thin laptop and are more versatile than those designed to bounce sound RII RI D GHVN RU RWKHU Ă&#x20AC;DW VXUIDFH $V ZLWK WKH SUHYLRXV PRGHO WKH 0DF%RRN 3UR FDQ ÂżOO D PHGLXP VL]H URRP with distortion-free music. The 2,560-by-1,600resolution Retina display is equally impressive. The 500nit screen is brighter than the Dell XPS 13 Touch and HP Spectre 13, and people who work with images will appreciate that this MacBook offers support for the P3 color gamut.
The screenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downsides are its slightly inferior resolution compared with the 4K display available on the New Razer Blade Stealth, and the fact that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s available only in a glossy versionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no matte option to reduce glare, which was a problem for our review unit in the brightly lit PC Labs. Above the screen is a forward-facing 720p FaceTime HD camera, better than the 480p camera youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get on the MacBook. Wireless connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
As with the previous model, the MacBook Pro can fill a medium-size room with distortion-free music.
Our test unit is loaded with macOS Sierra, but macOS High Sierra, an iterative update, will be available for free once Apple rolls it out this fall. The MacBook Pro comes with 90 days of free technical support and a one-year limited warranty.
OPEN BOOK The updated Apple MacBook Pro is a thin and stylish ultraportable with a very large trackpad that has enough space to be used as a drawing surface.
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<RX ZRQÂśW ÂżQG D ORW RI VWRUDJH ZLWK WKH EDVH FRQÂżJXUDWLRQ ZKLFK FRPHV ZLWK D 128GB SSD. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s half the capacity of the base model MacBook, which also starts at $1,299. Drive options are plentiful, however: they include 256GB for $200, 512GB for $400, or 1TB for $800. All are SSDs, which explains why the price doubles along with capacity. BETTER PROCESSOR, EXCELLENT BATTERY LIFE Other than this MacBook Proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $200 price drop, a seventh-generation 2.4GHz Kaby Lake Intel Core i5 processor with an upgraded integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 GPU are the only major improvements. Our MacBook is stacked with 8GB of RAM; various upgrades in processor and memory are available at the time of purchase, as well as the aforementioned storage options. While we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t run our full suite of Windows-based tests on this system, the new components resulted in markedly better performance in our multimedia WHVWV WKDQ WKH SUHYLRXV 0DF%RRN 3UR ,W WRRN OHVV WLPH WR FRQYHUW D YLGHR ÂżOH LQ Handbrake (one minute and 51 seconds vs. 2:10), manipulate an image in Photoshop (3:46 vs. 4:23), and achieved a higher score on the Cinebench 3D benchmark (376 vs. 306). The MacBook Proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scores on the Handbrake and Cinebench tests were also better than many of the competing ultraportables weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve tested recently, including the Core i7-powered New Razer Blade Stealth, the Dell XPS 13 Touch, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop. Gaming performance, however, was somewhat worse than the previousgeneration MacBook Pro, despite the upgraded GPU. Our review unit failed to break the 30 frames per second required for smooth gaming in our Heaven test at medium graphics quality. Scores on the similar Valley test were a bit better, but as with any ultraportable without a discrete graphics card, you shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect smooth gaming at maximum screen resolution and graphics quality settings. On the other hand, if you intend to play casual games at moderate quality as a study break, for example, the MacBook Pro is a better choice than much of its Windows competition, which posts even lower frame rates on the Heaven and Valley tests. It even does better than the New Razer Blade Stealth, although that laptop is compatible with Razerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Core external graphics card enclosure for more serious gaming. WorldMags.net
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SHALLOW KEY TRAVEL The backlit keyboard on the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch model has butterfly switches and extremely shallow key travel, which requires a bit of acclimation if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re upgrading from an older Mac.
Battery life is excellent, even by the power-sipping standards that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come to expect from Mac laptops. The MacBook Pro lasted 16 hours and 26 minutes on our battery rundown test, nearly an hour longer than the current-generation MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Proâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and a staggering 4.5 hours longer than the previous 13-inch MacBook Pro. The only laptop weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve tested recently to post a better battery rundown score is the Microsoft Surface Laptop, which came in at 16 hours and 44 minutes. THIS IS THE MACBOOK YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE LOOKING FOR ,I \RX¶UH ZLOOLQJ WR VSHQG PRUH WKDQ WKH EDVH SULFH \RX FDQ RXW¿W WKH MacBook Pro with a 256GB SSD for an additional $200, making its spec sheet QHDUO\ LGHQWLFDO WR WKDW RI WKH 7RXFK %DU YHUVLRQ²WKH RQO\ VLJQL¿FDQW differences being a faster processor clock speed and a second set of USB-C ports RQ WKH 7RXFK %DU PRGHO )RU YLGHRJUDSKHUV ZKR FDQ LPSURYH WKHLU ZRUNÃ&#x20AC;RZ with the Touch Bar or need extra ports to plug in external hard drives, spending WKH H[WUD FDVK IRU WKDW PRGHO PD\ EH SUXGHQW 7RXFK VFUHHQ D¿FLRQDGRV ZKR DUH OS-agnostic will also want to consider several Windows alternatives that offer full touch screens, and in the case of the New Razer Blade Stealth, a 4K display. But for macOS devotees who want a relatively affordable and very stylish ultraportable with a long-lasting battery and a processor that wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be outdated for several years, this MacBook Pro is the best laptop you can buy. TOM BRANT
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Asus ROG Zephyrus (GX501VI) $2,699 L L L l m
A New Benchmark for Gaming Laptops From Asus Aside from a few exceptions that focus on raw power, gaming laptops have trimmed down in weight and size over the years. Tech such as Nvidiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pascal graphics architecture has brought more power to trimmer systemsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and now, another initiative is moving the bar again. EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE 7KH $VXV 52* =HSK\UXV *; 9, LV RQH RI WKH ¿UVW ODSWRSV EXLOW with Nvidiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Max-Q design, an approach that enables high-end graphics cards VXFK DV WKH *7; WR ¿W LQWR WKLQ ODSWRSV YLD D SLQSRLQWHG SHUIRUPDQFH FDS and thermal solutions. Some gaming notebooks, including the Alienware 17 R4 and Razer Blade Pro, are much larger, to accommodate the card, but the 15-inch Zephyrus is just 0.66 inches thick. The Zephyrusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance shows that 0D[ 4 ODSWRSV FDQ GHOLYHU OHYHOV RI SUR¿FLHQF\ QHDU WKDW RI ELJJHU PDFKLQHV earning it an Editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choice for high-end gaming laptops. WorldMags.net
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PEAK EFFICIENCY The design and size of the Zephyrus is the story here, given the power inside. Its thinness is good for any notebook, and it’s the thinnest laptop bearing a GTX 1080. (It’s also 14.9 inches wide and 10.3 inches deep and weighs 4.9 pounds.) For comparison with another high-end 15.6-inch gaming laptop, the Alienware 15 R3 includes a GTX 1070 but weighs 7.8 pounds and is an inch thick. Putting aside the components for a moment, the Zephyrus is a nicely built laptop with a sleek look—a design style I’d been hoping to see more of from Asus, given some of its more garish offerings. The body is all black, edged in metal, with a brushed aluminum lid. The copper trim looks nice and is used in a more restrained fashion than in some previous ROG laptops.
It should be noted that Razer has set the benchmark for thin gaming laptops for several years via its own cooling technology and attractive design, as seen in the sleek Blade and the Blade Pro. To house a GTX 1080, though, the Pro is a 17-inch, 7.77-pound system, and its fans get louder than the Zephyrus’ under load. Even then, Razer is ahead of the competition, as the GTX 1080-equipped Alienware 17 R4 is much bigger and heavier at 1.18 inches thick and 9.77 pounds. A design as slim as the Zephyrus’ with that much power is not solely the work of clever Asus engineers (though they were part of the collaboration) but is also a result of the entirely new Max-Q initiative pushed by Nvidia.
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Asus ROG Zephyrus (GX501VI)
PROS Super-thin GTX 1080 laptop. Tasteful design with innovative, quiet thermal solutions. 120Hz G-Sync display. Plenty of ports, including USB-C with Thunderbolt 3. Topend performance. CONS Short battery life. 1080p-screen resolution. Bottom panel isn’t sturdy when venting. Skinny right-aligned touchpad.
STRONG AND SLENDER The laptop’s balance of performance and design is made possible by Nvidia’s Max-Q approach.
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The renowned graphics company revealed this design approach, a method for getting the most powerful cards in its current architecture into increasingly thin laptops, at Computex earlier this year. Asus will not be the only EHQHÂżFLDU\ RI 0D[ 4 DV DOO PDMRU PDQXIDFWXUHUV ZLOO want to get in on the action thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s changing the image and portability of gaming laptops, but the Zephyrus is WKH ÂżUVW WR FRPH WKURXJK RXU ODE The GTX 1080 in this laptop is physically the same as those in non-Max-Q versions, but factory software puts a cap on its performance to lower power consumption, which limits the heat and sound it generates. This in WXUQ DOORZV LW WR ÂżW LQWR D VPDOOHU FKDVVLV ZLWKRXW overheating or inconsistently throttling, problems that traditionally led gaming laptops to be built into big, bulky bodies that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t travel well. On paper, a nonMax-Q GTX 1080 delivers 150W of graphics power, with a base block speed of 1,556MHz. The Max-Q version offers 90W to 110W of power, with a base clock speed between 1,101MHz and 1,290MHz. How much the cardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance is limited by these factors is obviously the important question, covered in a separate section below. The innovation is not all in the preset software limits but also in the physical ventilation. Max-Q is all about HIÂżFLHQF\²¿QGLQJ WKH VZHHW VSRW RI PD[LPXP performance just under the heat thresholdâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and Asus worked closely with Nvidia to design the Zephyrus to do just that. The interior fans are thinner, so there are more of them pushing more air with each spin than you ZRXOG W\SLFDOO\ ÂżQG LQ D JDPLQJ ODSWRS $QG WKH\ÂśUH made from a liquid-crystal polymer to withstand the extra speed, which would warp standard fans.
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Asus will not be the only beneficiary of Max-Q, as all major manufacturers will want to get in on the action.
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One of the main ventilation tweaks is visible from the exterior: When the laptopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lid is open, the bottom panel lifts away from the frame about a quarter of an inch. Air is sucked in through this bottom gap and perforations above the keyboard, cooling the components before being pushed out through the side vents; red LEDs shine out of either side for dramatic effect. This is pretty novel, EXW LW PDNHV WKH ERWWRP SDQHO IHHO Ă&#x20AC;LPV\ ,WÂśV RQO\ SODVWLF WR EHJLQ ZLWK EXW when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifted away from the base and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re holding it from the bottom, it Ă&#x20AC;H[HV LQ DQG LWÂśV QRW FOHDU KRZ UHVLOLHQW WKH KLQJHV DUH , GRQÂśW KDYH FRQFHUQV about the gap being damaged when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resting on a surface, since the feet support the body, and it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give me any problems or show signs of wear. But it feels like a vulnerable area on an expensive machine. ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOT ALL ABOUT MAX-Q Beyond the Max-Q design, the Zephyrus includes some other nice features. Its 1080p display doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look especially sharp or vibrant, but it features a 120Hz G-Sync display. G-Sync synchronizes the screenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refresh rate to the speed at which the GPU renders visuals, limiting screen tearing like V-Sync but without VXIIHULQJ IURP 9 6\QFÂśV ODWHQF\ 7KH VFUHHQ KDV D PDWWH ÂżQLVK ZKLFK PDNHV glare practically nonexistent, though it somewhat dulls the picture. The 1080p resolution is understandable for performance (bumping up to QHD or 4K lowers frame rates, since many more pixels are being pushed), but with such a powerful graphics card and at this price, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bit disappointing to not get at least a QHD screen. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve noted that the Alienware 15 R3 missed an opportunity in similar fashion, and it includes only a GTX 1070, so thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even more power available in the Zephyrus that could have displayed those resolutions. That said, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s likely that a more demanding screen wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve thrown off the delicate Max-Q balance, and Asus had to make a call between the two. 120HZ G-SYNC DISPLAY G-Sync synchronizes the screenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refresh rate to the speed at which the GPU renders visuals.
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The Zephyrusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; keyboard is pushed down right to the bottom edge of the deck, which several of my colleagues thought was odd. This is a necessity, though, as the area above the keyboard is entirely dedicated to cooling, both on top with the air holes and beneath with fans and ventilation. As long as youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not using the laptop on the very edge of a desk, your wrists can rest on the surface beneath rather than on the keyboard deck like usualâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it just takes some getting used to. Asus must be aware that this might be uncomfortable for some, as a rubber wrist rest is included. The keys arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mechanical (a noteworthy and nearly unique feature of the Blade Pro), but they are RGB backlit, and they feel responsive and nice to type on. The keyboard location also requires a compromise from the touchpad: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smaller and placed to the right of the keys. The Blade Pro has the touchpad in the same location, but because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a 17-inch laptop, the pointer has the room to be full size. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a huge issue, but the skinnier touchpad is slightly irritatingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s less room to pan, and its position on the right will frustrate lefties. Still, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responsive, has two dedicated left- and right-click buttons just beneath, and offers a button that makes an LED number pad appear on the touch surface, which is a very cool solution to the lack of space for a physical one. The Zephyrusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; speakers werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t noticeably strong in testing, but the quality is solid at high volumes. Voices werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recessed, which I hear sometimes in WKLQQHU ODSWRSV DQG LWÂśV ORXG HQRXJK WR ÂżOO D VPDOO URRP Despite its slim form, the Zephyrus has plenty of SRUWV ,WV OHIW Ă&#x20AC;DQN KROGV WZR 86% SRUWV DQ HDMI port, and a headset jack. On the right is a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 and two more USB 3.0 ports for a well-rounded selection. The remaining connectivity features are 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2, with no Ethernet.
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For storage, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a single 512GB NVMe PCIe solid-state drive. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a ton of storage, but it is fast, and adding more SSD storage is pricey. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often get more than that with portable systemsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Blade starts with 256GB and the Blade Pro with 512GB. The Origin EVO15-S is one of the exceptions here, a compact GTX 1060-bearing 15.6-inch laptop that houses a 512GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive, while the Alienware 15 R3 is close with a 512GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Asus supports the laptop with a one-year warranty. PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT In addition to the Max-Q GTX 1080, our test unit included a speedy 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor and 16GB of memory. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top-notch hardware for any system, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all the more impressive when you remember this oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s size. On our general productivity and multimedia benchmark tests, the Zephyrus scored extremely well. The Alienware 15 is slightly faster on the PCMark test, but the Zephyrus is quicker on the Photoshop test, and they scored very similarly on the other multimedia tests. The Blade Proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PCMark score is lower, but its demanding 4K screen plays a part in that, and the media tests are close, with an edge to Asusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; system. These direct comparisons show some minor differences, but in the end, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear the Zephyrus is one of the fastest laptops outside of workstations for multitasking, crunching data, encoding video, and other tasks. 3D and gaming performance is the main area of interest, not just because thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WKH SULPDU\ IRFXV RI WKH =HSK\UXV EXW DOVR EHFDXVH IRU WKH ÂżUVW WLPH LW demonstrates what a Max-Q version of a card is capable of. The Zephyrus scored 27,728 points on 3DMark Cloud Gate and 7,730 points on Fire Strike Extreme, both very high results. The Alienware 17 R4 and the Blade Pro are good points of comparison for GTX 1080 laptops: The R4 scored 29,487 points on CloudGate and 9,328 on Fire Strike, while the Blade scored 24,757 and 8,140, respectively. The R4 led the way, and its uninhibited GTX 1080 scored a couple thousand more points on both tests. But the Zephyrusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Max-Q 1080 wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too far behind the Blade Pro, and in fact it outperformed the Blade Pro on CloudGate. The Heaven and Valley gaming tests told similar stories, but all three laptops averaged 100 frames per second (fps) or more on each at ultrasettings and 1080p. We can see that Max-Q restricts the GTX 1080â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance to a degree, but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still getting excellent power out of the card in a much smaller bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;its WorldMags.net
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numbers are extremely close to a standard GTX 1070. The Alienware 15 R3’s results show that pretty clearly, particularly on Heaven and Valley, which are both within 4fps of the Zephyrus’ results. The difference is, while both are 15.6inch laptops, the Zephyrus weighs about 3 pounds less and is nearly half an inch thinner. The Zephyrus’ GTX 1080 may perform more like a GTX 1070, but Max-Q is enabling much greater performance in this size tier. The Origin EVO15-S is very similar in size and weight, but only packs a GTX 1060, which topped out at 67fps and 70fps on Heaven and Valley, which drives the difference home. With this power, you won’t dip below 60fps (ideal for a solid gaming experience in this class) on virtually any title with the Max-Q GTX 1080, especially since the Zephyrus can’t go beyond full HD resolution, it’s fully capable of VR, and you get a G-Sync panel. You might feel like you’re not truly getting a GTX 1080, but the performance is somewhere between that and a GTX 1070, which is a pretty reasonable compromise when you look at the size of other GTX 1080 laptops. The Zephyrus also ran quietly after long sessions, which is an area Nvidia took into account when tweaking the graphics card. The same can’t be said for the Blade laptops, as I’ve consistently noted loud fans in the Blade and Blade Pro when gaming. Between the performance and noise levels, I feel FRQ¿GHQW VD\LQJ 1YLGLD¶V 0D[ 4 WHFKQRORJ\ LV WKH UHDO GHDO Unfortunately, there’s one black mark for the Zephyrus—battery life. Gaming laptops are notorious for short life off the charger, but that trend has been slowly reversing, outside of the biggest, most power-hungry laptops. The Zephyrus behaves much more like those systems than portable alternatives like Razer’s: It lasted only 2 hours and 31 minutes on our rundown test. The Alienware 15 R3 ran for 5:33 and the Razer Blade for 10:36. The Alienware 17 R4 and the Origin EVO15-S aren’t much better, at 3:30 and 3:28, but the Zephyrus’ battery life is at the back of the pack. The larger Blade Pro has room for a bigger battery, but with a demanding 4K IGZO display, it lasted for 3:48. WorldMags.net
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Gaming away from an outlet for long stretches of time isn’t too common, but it’s hardly an option on the Zephyrus, which is a shame because of its portability. You can easily tote this laptop on a trip to play games at your destination, and it will weigh your bag down much less than its contemporaries will, but it’s just not useful for long stretches on the road in between.
SETTING THE BAR 7KH $VXV 52* =HSK\UXV LV DQ H[FHOOHQW ¿UVW representation of what’s possible with the Max-Q design. The partnership between Nvidia and Asus has yielded a new high watermark for performance in a thin 15.6-inch laptop, even though there are a couple caveats. The Zephyrus’ design is aesthetically tasteful. It weighs less than 5 pounds, costs less than several GTX 1080 laptops, and can play games on maximum settings comfortably above 60fps like a high-end gaming laptop should. We’ve seen some of what’s on the way with Max-Q, but I’m intrigued to see what other manufacturers will do and whether the Zephyrus’ bottom-panel vent innovation remains a thermal solution, given its pros and cons. Max-Q looks likely to stay around, and for demonstrating the performance and design possible with the approach, the Asus ROG Zephyrus is an Editors’ Choice high-end gaming laptop. MATTHEW BUZZI
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The Asus ROG Zephyrus is an excellent first representation of what’s possible with the Max-Q design.
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A Powerhouse Portable Data Projector The Epson PowerLite 1781W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector is a powerhouse as a portable data projector, providing solid brightness and resolution in a thin and light frame. In our EDITORS’ CHOICE testing, it showed very good data image quality, as well as great video image quality for a data projector. The projector delivers higher brightness and a longer lamp life than the Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector while retaining its stellar image quality, so it’s our new Editors’ choice ultra-light WXGA data projector. WorldMags.net
Epson PowerLite 1781W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector $699.99 L L L l m
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DESIGN AND FEATURES The all-black projector measures a thin 2 by 11.5 by 8.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 4 pounds. It’s similar in form to the Epson 1761W as well as the Casio Slim XJ-A247, which has nearly identical dimensions but is heavier at 5 pounds. The 1781W has a rated brightness of 3,200 lumens (up from the 2,600 lumens in the Epson 1761W) and has a native WXGA (1,280 by 800) resolution, compatible with widescreen laptops with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Its light engine employs the 3LCD technology that Epson helped develop.
Epson PowerLite 1781W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector
PROS Slim and ultralight. Long lamp life for an LCD projector. Very good data and video image quality. Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity. CONS Can’t project 3D content. Soft sound system.
There’s a zoom wheel behind the lens, as well as a focus control that uses forward and back arrows, with which I was able to get a sharp image. Beside the focus control are a four-way controller with a central Enter button, an on-off button, Home, Menu, and several other buttons. You can also access these and other functions with the included remote control. The projector comes with a soft carrying case, including several pouches and a messenger strap. You get all the ports that count for using a portable data projector: VGA, HDMI, RCA video, audio in; a type B USB port for USB Plug and Play, and a type A USB port for running a computer-free presentation off a USB thumb drive. It has a built-in LAN module for connecting to a wireless network, and it can connect ZLUHOHVVO\ YLD 1)& QHDU ¿HOG FRPPXQLFDWLRQ RYHU D peer-to-peer connection with compatible Android devices.
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PORTS APLENTY Connectivity is available in many flavors with this portable data projector.
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DATA TESTING I tested the 1781W from around 7 feet away, where the LPDJH ¿OOHG RXU WHVW VFUHHQ DERXW LQFKHV GLDJRQDO The image stood up well, without notable degradation, to ambient light when I introduced it.
Data image quality, as tested using the DisplayMate suite, was very good for a business projector. In our text testing, black text on white was easily readable at 7.5 points, and white text on black at 9 points. Colors were bright and well saturated. Color balance was good, with just a trace of red in some dark gray swatches. VIDEO, AUDIO, BULB LIFE Video quality was above average for a data projector. It’s even good enough to show full-length movies with. The projector did very well in capturing detail in dark scenes, but I noted a modest loss of detail in some very bright scenes. As an LCD-based projector, the 1781W is immune to the distracting rainbow effect frequently seen when you’re using DLP projectors. But like most LCD projectors, it can’t project 3D content. Audio from the 1-watt speaker is of modest volume, adequate for use in a small classroom, and sound quality is reasonably good.
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Data image quality, as tested using the DisplayMate suite, was very good for a business projector.
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The 1781W has a lamp life of up to 7,000 hours in Eco mode and 4,000 hours in normal mode. That’s good for a data projector and better than the 4,000 hours for both Eco and normal mode of the Epson 1761W. Still, it’s well short of the lamp life of the Casio XJ-A247, whose hybrid LED–laser light engine’s bulb can last up to 20,000 hours: essentially, the lifetime of the projector. But the 1781W offers better data and video image quality (the latter free from the rainbow artifacts seen in the Casio’s video) at a much lower price. CONCLUSIONS The Epson 1781W is a well rounded thin-and-light projector, with good brightness and resolution, very good data and video image quality, and a wide range of connectivity choices. One of its few shortfalls is that as an LCD-based projector, it cannot project 3D content, ZKLFK \RX FDQ ¿QG LQ PDQ\ SRUWDEOH :;*$ GDWD projectors, such as the ViewSonic PJD6544w. But that matters only if you need to project in 3D. For its winning combination of features and performance at a reasonable price, the Epson PowerLite 1781W Wireless WXGA 3LCD Projector is our latest Editors’ Choice ultra-light WXGA data projector. TONY HOFFMAN
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One of the 1781W’s few shortfalls is that as an LCD-based projector, it cannot project 3D content.
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Five Top Mac Antivirus Protection Products ave you ever thought about why the people who write viruses, spyware, ransomware, and other malicious software do it? The answer is simple—for money. Trojans steal personal data to sell. Bot herders rent out their victims to spammers. Ransomware goes for the jugular; JLYH XV \RXU PRQH\ RU \RXU ¿OHV DUH WRDVW 0RUH FRPSXWHUV XVH :LQGRZV WKDQ macOS, but there’s no reason for these malware entrepreneurs to ignore the macOS market. There are even some types of attack—phishing in particular— that are completely OS-independent. Like it or not, in this dangerous world \RX QHHG DQWLYLUXV SURWHFWLRQ RQ \RXU 0DFV²QRW MXVW RQ \RXU :LQGRZV ER[HV
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$V ZLWK :LQGRZV DQWLYLUXV WRROV WKH PRVW FRPPRQ SULFH LV MXVW XQGHU SHU \HDU IRU D VLQJOH OLFHQVH %XW $YLUD )UHH $QWLYLUXV IRU 0DF DQG 6RSKRV +RPH IRU 0DF DUH WRWDOO\ IUHH IRU SHUVRQDO XVH $W WKH KLJK HQG \RX SD\ SHU \HDU IRU D WKUHH OLFHQVH VXEVFULSWLRQ WR ,QWHJR 0DF ,QWHUQHW 6HFXULW\ ; MALWARE PROTECTION LAB CERTIFICATIONS :KHQ \RX JR WR VHOHFW D QHZ ZDVKHU UHIULJHUDWRU RU RWKHU DSSOLDQFH FKDQFHV DUH JRRG \RX UHVHDUFK LW ¿UVW 8VHU UHYLHZV FDQ EH KHOSIXO DV ORQJ DV \RX GLVFDUG the very best and very worst of them. But actual test results performed by an independent lab give you more reliable information. Two large labs include macOS antivirus products in their testing, and every one of the products in this URXQGXS UHFHLYHG FHUWL¿FDWLRQ IURP DW OHDVW RQH RI WKHP The researchers at AV-Test Institute report on four different tests whose results IHHG LQWR SURGXFW FHUWL¿FDWLRQ 1DWXUDOO\ WKH ¿UVW WHVW LQYROYHV GHWHFWLQJ DQG eliminating macOS malware. Of the products in this roundup, scores range IURP SHUFHQW WR SHUFHQW $QRWKHU WHVW FKDOOHQJHV WKH DQWLYLUXV WRROV ZLWK ORZHU ULVN 38$V RU SRWHQWLDOO\ XQZDQWHG DSSOLFDWLRQV 0RVW DFKLHYHG WKH WRS VFRUH RYHU SHUFHQW WKRXJK D FRXSOH UDWHG RQO\ RYHU SHUFHQW 0RVW DOVR HDUQHG WKH WRS VFRUH LQ D WHVW XVLQJ :LQGRZV PDOZDUH WKLV WHVW GLGQ¶W DIIHFW FHUWL¿FDWLRQ In the macOS malware test by AV-Comparatives, every tested product scored a SHUIHFW SHUFHQW 7KLV ODE WRR LQFOXGHG D WHVW XVLQJ PDOZDUH DLPHG DW :LQGRZV <HV WKHVH VDPSOHV FDQ¶W DIIHFW D FRPSXWHU UXQQLQJ PDF26 EXW WKH\ FRXOG FRQFHLYDEO\ HVFDSH WR :LQGRZV PDFKLQHV RQ WKH QHWZRUN 6FRUHV LQ WKH :LQGRZV PDOZDUH WHVW UDQJHG IURP SHUFHQW WR SHUFHQW ZKLFK LV TXLWH D UDQJH +HUH WRR HYHU\ WHVWHG SURGXFW UHFHLYHG FHUWL¿FDWLRQ
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Results in these tests have a much smaller point spread WKDQ LQ WHVWV RI :LQGRZV DQWLYLUXV XWLOLWLHV ,W¶V JRRG WKDW HYHU\ SURGXFW UHFHLYHG DW OHDVW RQH FHUWL¿FDWLRQ IRU 0DF SURWHFWLRQ DQG HYHQ EHWWHU WKDW VRPH UHFHLYHG WZR FHUWL¿FDWLRQV HANDS-ON PHISHING PROTECTION TESTING :KHQ , WHVW PDOZDUH SURWHFWLRQ RQ :LQGRZV , XVH OLYH malware inside an isolated virtual machine. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve coded a number of analysis tools over the years to help with this kind of testing. Little of that testing regimen carries RYHU WR WKH 0DF
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Phishing, however, isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t platformspecific, as mentioned earlier, and neither is my antiphishing test.
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, ODXQFK HDFK 85/ VLPXOWDQHRXVO\ LQ ¿YH EURZVHUV 2QH LV 6DIDUL RQ WKH 0DF SURWHFWHG E\ WKH 0DF DQWLYLUXV WKDW¶V XQGHU WHVW DQG DQRWKHU LV D EURZVHU SURWHFWHG E\ 1RUWRQ RQ :LQGRZV 7KH RWKHU WKUHH XVH WKH SURWHFWLRQ EXLOW LQWR &KURPH )LUHIR[ DQG ,QWHUQHW ([SORUHU 'LVFDUGLQJ DQ\ WKDW GRQ¶W ¿W WKH SKLVKLQJ SUR¿OH DQG DQ\ WKDW GRQ¶W ORDG FRUUHFWO\ LQ DOO ¿YH EURZVHUV , UHSRUW the productâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success as the difference between its detection rate and that of the other four test systems. 9HU\ IHZ SURGXFWV :LQGRZV RU PDF26 FDQ EHDW 1RUWRQ LQ WKLV WHVW 2I WKH products in this roundup, only Bitdefender did better, although Kaspersky did come close. RANSOMWARE PROTECTION 7KH VFRXUJH RI UDQVRPZDUH LV RQ WKH ULVH :KLOH UDQVRPZDUH DWWDFNV DUH PRUH FRPPRQ RQ :LQGRZV GHYLFHV 0DFV KDYH VXIIHUHG DV ZHOO 2I FRXUVH DQ\ antivirus utility should handle ransomware just as it handles spyware, Trojans, YLUXVHV DQG RWKHU PDOZDUH W\SHV %XW VLQFH WKH FRQVHTXHQFHV RI PLVVLQJ D ransomware attack are so great, some security products add components with the sole purpose of preventing ransomware attacks. ,¶YH REVHUYHG D ZLGH YDULHW\ RI UDQVRPZDUH SURWHFWLRQ WHFKQLTXHV RQ :LQGRZV These include blocking unauthorized access to user documents, detecting UDQVRPZDUH EDVHG RQ LWV DFWLYLW\ DQG UHFRYHULQJ HQFU\SWHG ¿OHV IURP EDFNXS 2I WKH SURGXFWV OLVWHG KHUH RQO\ %LWGHIHQGHU RIIHUV D UDQVRPZDUH VSHFL¿F FRPSRQHQW $V ZLWK LWV :LQGRZV HGLWLRQ WKH 6DIH )LOHV IHDWXUH SUHYHQWV DOO XQDXWKRUL]HG DFFHVV WR \RXU GRFXPHQWV 2Q D 0DF LW DOVR SURWHFWV \RXU 7LPH 0DFKLQH EDFNXSV SPYWARE PROTECTION Any kind of malware problem is unpleasant, but spyware may be the most XQQHUYLQJ ,PDJLQH VRPH FUHHSHU VHFUHWO\ SHHNLQJ DW \RX WKURXJK \RXU 0DF¶V webcam! Other types of spying include logging keystrokes to capture your passwords, sending Trojans to steal your personal data, and watching your RQOLQH DFWLYLWLHV WR EXLOG D SUR¿OH $V ZLWK UDQVRPZDUH SURWHFWLRQ ,¶YH REVHUYHG PRUH IHDWXUHV VSHFL¿FDOO\ GHYRWHG WR VS\ZDUH SURWHFWLRQ RQ :LQGRZV EDVHG VHFXULW\ SURGXFWV WKDQ RQ WKH 0DF EXW D IHZ SURGXFWV LQ WKLV FROOHFWLRQ GR SD\ special attention to spyware. WorldMags.net
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LQVWDOOLQJ D 0DF 931 :KLOH DQWLYLUXV SURGXFWV SURWHFW \RX \RXU GHYLFHV DQG \RXU GDWD ORFDOO\ D 931 H[WHQGV that protection to your online activities, protecting both your security and your privacy. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac $24.00 (one PC, one-year plan) EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE
L l l l h PROS: Protects files and backups from ransomware. Top ratings from two independent testing labs. Excellent score in our antiphishing test. No-hassle Autopilot mode. TrafficLight browser extension marks dangerous links in search results. CONS: TrafficLight currently doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work under the specific Safari/Google combination. . BOTTOM LINE: Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac gets top marks from the independent labs and in our own handson testing. With its handy Autopilot mode, you can set it, forget it, and have confidence that your Apple computer is protected against malware.
Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac $39.99 EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE
L l l l h PROS: Excellent scores from two independent testing labs. Excellent score in our antiphishing test. Full parental control system. Network protection. Privacy protection. Useful bonus tools. CONS: Poor score in our Windows malware detection test. Parental content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. BOTTOM LINE: Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac excels in independent lab tests, and it goes far beyond mere antivirus, offering protection against network attacks, parental control, privacy protection, and many other useful features.
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Sophos Home (for Mac) Free L l l l m
PROS: Certified by two independent labs. Detected all Windows malware in hands-on test. Very good phishing protection. Remote management. Simple parental control. Free. CONS: Content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. BOTTOM LINE: Sophos Home keeps configuration to a minimum and scores well in independent lab tests and our own hands-on tests. It’s excellent at protecting your Macs from malware, for free.
Symantec Norton Security Deluxe (for Mac) $39.99 (one year plan) L l l l m PROS: Certified by one independent testing lab. Fast scan. Firewall blocks exploit attacks. CONS: Expensive. So-so scores against phishing sites and Windows malware. Firewall’s application control generates tons of pop-ups. BOTTOM LINE: Symantec’s Norton Security Deluxe delivers excellent Mac antivirus protection with a powerful firewall, and you can use your licenses to protect your Android, iOS, and Windows devices, too.
Avira Free Antivirus for Mac Free L l l h m PROS: Certified by AV-Comparatives, with top scores. Full scan ran quickly in our testing. Cleaned most Windows malware in hands-on tests. Free. CONS: Protection against malicious and fraudulent URLs requires separate download. Poor score in antiphishing test. BOTTOM LINE: Avira Free Antivirus for Mac costs nothing, and one lab certifies its macOS protection. But it’s not the best free Mac antivirus we’ve tested. WorldMags.net PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION
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Low-Price Team Messaging With Excellent Features In the team messaging app space, two names dominate: Slack and Atlassian HipChat. Both of these online collaboration services facilitate communication by giving people EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE ways to talk to one another that make sense in the modern world. They let you instant message with individuals or groups in real time or asynchronously. When text alone doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cut it, you can jump on a video call or show your screen to your colleagues. If a WHDPPDWH QHHGV D ÂżOH \RX FDQ VHQG LW E\ GUDJJLQJ LW into your messaging space. Slack and HipChat share all these features and more, but HipChatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s starting price is a quarter of what Slack charges. Both are PCMag Editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choices, but HipChat is the better option for teams on a budget. WorldMags.net
Atlassian HipChat Free plus additional price tiers L L L l h
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PRICING AND PLANS HipChatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget friendliness starts with a free option. Free HipChat accounts have no limits on the number of people you can invite to chat or the number of integrations you can create. At the free tier of service, \RX JHW JURXS PHVVDJLQJ LQVWDQW PHVVDJLQJ ÂżOH sharing capabilities, and the ability to add guests who have restricted access to your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s account. Search history is capped at 25,000 messages, and the storage ceiling is 5GB. With a free account, you miss out on video calls and screen sharing.
HipChat Plus is the next tier of service, and it includes everything in the free version plus video calls and screen sharing. It costs $2 per user per month. HipChat Plus also includes unlimited storage and messages. You can try it for free for 30 days. Atlassian also offers a self-hosted version of HipChat called HipChat Data Center. This option is for enterprises that need added security for team messaging. The price depends on the number of users. For example, for a team of only 10 people (which would be unusual, seeing as HipChat Data Center is really for very large organizations), it costs just $10 per year. For a team of 500, Atlassian charges $16,000 per year. For 5,000 people, you can expect to pay $120,000 per year.
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Atlassian HipChat
PROS Excellent value. Robust free tier of service. Option to self-host. Video chat and screen sharing supported. Wide range of integrations possible. Open API. CONS Not ideal for teams working across many time zones. No image or PDF markup tools.
GET A ROOM HipChatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic setup involves creating different Rooms, in which people can have conversations about specific topics on an ongoing basis.
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For its non-enterprise plans, Slack costs a lot more than HipChat; however, the two servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; free plans are roughly comparable, though HipChat has the edge. With Slackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free tier of service, you also get unlimited members and plenty of core features, but your account search history is limited to 10,000 messages, rather than 25,000. Storage gets capped at 5GB, which matches HipChat. With Slack Free, however, you can integrate only 10 services, compared with HipChatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unlimited integrations. HipChat clearly has fewer limitations and offers more at the free level.
6ODFNÂśV ÂżUVW WLHU RI SDLG VHUYLFH FDOOHG 6ODFN 6WDQGDUG costs $8 per person per month, or the equivalent of $6.67 per person per month, when paid annually. The WZR ELJJHVW EHQHÂżWV RI 6ODFN 6WDQGDUG RYHU 6ODFN )UHH are unlimited search history and unlimited integrations. Eight bucks per person per month is a hefty price considering HipChat gives you one of those two things (unlimited integrations) for free. Slack also has an option called Slack Plus, which adds priority support, single sign-on options, and a few other goodies for $15 per user per month. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the most expensive perperson team messaging app price Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen. Several other team messaging apps cost less than Slack but more than HipChat, driving home the point that HipChat offers excellent value. Glip by RingCentral, for instance, costs $5 per person per month for a Basic account and $10 per person per month for Pro. Newcomer to the team messaging space Twist costs just as much as Glip Basic for its Twist Unlimited account, $5 per user per month. Flock charges a little less, at $3 per person per month for its Pro plan. Zoho Cliq is the only other app that costs as little as HipChat, meeting its $2 per person per month price. WorldMags.net
Other team messaging apps cost less than Slack but more than HipChat, driving home the point that HipChat offers excellent value.
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6RPH RUJDQL]DWLRQV PD\ ¿QG WKDW WKH\ GRQ¶W KDYH WR SD\ DQ\WKLQJ DW DOO IRU D team messaging app, because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already included in some other service they XVH 0LFURVRIW 2I¿FH XVHUV IRU H[DPSOH JHW 0LFURVRIW 7HDPV IRU QR H[WUD charge. Alternatively, a business social network, such as Workplace by Facebook, has text, audio, and video chat already built into it as well. Pricing for Workplace VWDUWV DW SHU DFWLYH XVHU SHU PRQWK IRU WKH ¿UVW SHRSOH $IWHU WKDW LQLWLDO threshold, the per-person price decreases as the number of users increases. $WODVVLDQ DOVR RIIHUV D PRUH FRPSUHKHQVLYH FROODERUDWLRQ WRRO &RQÃ&#x20AC;XHQFH which lets teams manage the creation, organization, and discussion of work but GRHVQ¶W KDYH IXOO EORZQ SURMHFW PDQDJHPHQW WRROV 7KH SULFH IRU &RQÃ&#x20AC;XHQFH varies greatly depending on the number of users. For example, 15 users costs $50 per month, while 50 users costs $200 per month. INTERFACE AND FEATURES The basic setup of HipChat involves creating different Rooms in which people FDQ KDYH FRQYHUVDWLRQV DERXW VSHFL¿F WRSLFV RQ DQ RQJRLQJ EDVLV 5RRPV FDQ EH for departments, projects, or other themes. You can do just about whatever you want with them. As with any team messaging app or instant messaging app, you can see when other people are signed in and online, and they in turn can set their statuses to indicate their whereabouts. As a user, you can read discussions, DGG \RXU WZR FHQWV XSORDG ¿OHV WR GLVFXVV XVH WKH # V\PERO EHIRUH DQRWKHU XVHU¶V QDPH WR Ã&#x20AC;DJ WKDW SHUVRQ DQG PRUH
ANOTHER HIPCHAT PLUS Video chat is a fairly standard feature in team messaging apps, but not all of them have screen sharing or whiteboarding.
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The interface is simple, if a little boringâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not as slick as Slackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. On the left is a list of Rooms. Below the list are people on your team with colored dots indicating whether they are online and available (green), idle (yellow), or busy (red). As with most chat apps, you can set a custom status like â&#x20AC;&#x153;out to lunchâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;in a meeting.â&#x20AC;? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all standard, but wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it be nice to get the same at-a-glance information when a colleague is on vacation or taking parental leave? HipChat isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so sophisticated as that, although Twist is. When you mark \RXUVHOI DV RQ KROLGD\ \RXU 7ZLVW SURÂżOH picture switches over to a palm tree and beach scene.
The center of a HipChat screen is where conversation takes place. Along the right are a few icons that, when clicked, show people online (a repeat of the right side, but more easily visible if you KDYH D ORQJ OLVW RI 5RRPV ÂżOHV XSORDGHG WR WKLV particular Room, links added to the Room, and a list of Room actions. From the Room actions, an administrator can change the Guest Access list, and any Room member can invite others to join. HipChat also offers screen sharing and video chat, but only for paid accounts. Video chat is a fairly standard feature in team messaging apps, but not all of them have screen sharing or whiteboarding. Flock, Twist, and Microsoft Teams donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, for example. When you invite people to join your HipChat account, you can designate them as administrators. Administrators have visibility into all Rooms, even if they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t invited to participate in them, and they have other typical admin-level controls, too. WorldMags.net
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COMPANY CULTURE HipChat, like Slack, includes emoji. A shortlist of them pops up when you click a smiley face next to the chat DSSÂśV WH[W ÂżHOG DQG D ZKROH SDJH RI WKHP RSHQV ZKHQ you select More. On the new page with additional emoji, you can click on any one to copy it to your pasteboard, and below each is a text command you can type to get it to appear without copying and pasting. HipChat lets you upload custom emoji, too.
When used in practice, online team communication tools often capture the sense of humor and levity of your colleagues. So even if emoji (or animated gifs) are not your thing, you may end up embracing them. Employees and teammates typically want a dedicated Room or space to blow off steam, talk about television, and joke around with one another. HipChat starts off every account with a Watercooler Room for just this reason. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s useful to know that, in practice, these tools donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t usually house exclusively professional and businesslike conversations. Additionally, a communication tool needs to be part of the company culture to be successful. If employees and team collaborators donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enjoy using it, they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MISSING? $V WHDP FKDW DSSV PDWXUH VRPH DUH PRUH DGHSW WKDQ RWKHUV DW VROYLQJ VSHFLÂżF problems. For example, a common complaint for teams separated by many time zones is the chaos and confusion of a stream-style messaging system. If Person A posts a question at the beginning of her day and Person B doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see it until she wakes up nine hours later, a whole lot of other talk may have gotten in the ZD\ RI WKH LQLWLDO TXHVWLRQ PDNLQJ LW GLIÂżFXOW IRU 3HUVRQ % WR IROORZ XS RU IRU Person A to follow along. Twist solves the problem of teams separated by time by creating different threads within a discussion area. The solution looks a whole lot like email, which some people may not like, but you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t deny that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orderly. Slack has attempted a similar solution: Its threads are more like offshoots of primary conversations, however, and are less successful in their implementation than Twistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are. HipChat doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any kind of threading.
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$QRWKHU IHDWXUH PLVVLQJ IURP +LS&KDW LV WKH DELOLW\ WR VHW NH\ZRUG QRWLÂżFDWLRQV that send you an alert whenever someone uses those terms in any public Channel, even when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not a member of it. To my knowledge, Slack is the only chat app with this feature. +LS&KDW KDQGOHV XSORDGHG ÂżOHV ZLWK HDVH EXW LWÂśV QRW VR HDV\ WR H[SUHVV DQ LGHD about an uploaded visual when you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t draw on it. Glip by RingCentral includes tools to mark up images and PDFs so that you can better explain your FRPPHQWV RQ ÂżOHV +LS&KDW GRHVQÂśW KDYH WKLV NLQG RI WRRO APPS AND EXTRAS You can use HipChat in your browser as well as via its many apps. HipChat works with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 10 or later and has native apps for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Atlassian makes APIs for HipChat available so that when you have the resources, you can build the tools and integrations you need. Those less savvy at programming can always turn to Zapier for other integrations; HipChat is in its network. Zapier is like IFTTT for business toolsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;IFTTT stands for â&#x20AC;&#x153;if this, then that,â&#x20AC;? and using that basic formula, you can connect any two tools that are in its network. For example, with Zapier, you can create an integration that says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;If a task is created in Asana, then send a copy of it to HipChat.â&#x20AC;? You create these commands with very simple toolsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;no coding experience needed. A STELLAR VALUE For its budget-friendly pricing and wonderful ability to work with other business tools, Atlassian HipChat is an Editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choice for team communication. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much less expensive than Slack and offers a comparable experience, although Slackâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is also an Editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Choiceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;looks slicker and offers a few features, such as NH\ZRUG QRWLÂżFDWLRQV DQG WKUHDGV WKDW HipChat doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have. JILL DUFFY
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Tekken Evolves Into a Really Good Game I have an ever-morphing relationship with the Tekken franchise. I logged a ridiculous QXPEHU RI KRXUV RQ WKH ¿UVW WKUHH 3OD\6WDWLRQ HQWULHV GHVSLWH QRW UHDOO\ GLJJLQJ WKH MXJJOH EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE EDVHG DWWDFN VWULQJV DQG ODFN RI Ã&#x20AC;DVK\ VXSHU powered moves. Tekken was new then, however, so its freshness and ludicrous Mishima father-son drama SLTXHG P\ FXULRVLW\ DQG DOORZHG PH WR HQGXUH WKH JDPH¶V VLJQL¿FDQW Ã&#x20AC;DZV , UHWXUQHG WR WKH IUDQFKLVH \HDUV ODWHU ZLWK 7HNNHQ 7DJ 7RXUQDPHQW D JDPH , OHJLWLPDWHO\ OLNHG EH\RQG WKH KLJKO\ HQMR\DEOH SDWULFLGDO HOHPHQWV 6L[ \HDUV DIWHU WKDW HQWHUWDLQLQJ LQVWDOOPHQW FRPHV 7HNNHQ WKH ¿UVW JDPH LQ WKH VHULHV WR DSSHDU RQ 3& ,W¶V UHDOO\ UHDOO\ JRRG ,Q IDFW LW¶V RQH RI P\ IDYRULWH 3& JDPHV RI WorldMags.net
Tekken 7 (for PC) $49.99 L L L l h
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SINS OF THE FATHER(S) Tekken 7, like the main-line Tekken games that came before it, is a tale of fathers and sons attempting to murder one another to purge the Mishima clan from the Devil Geneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a magical DNA bit that transforms certain people into hellspawn. This latestversion is touted as the conclusion of the Mishima drama. Tekken ¶V VLQJOH SOD\HU VWRU\ PRGH UHYHDOV VHFUHWV DQG OHDYHV FOLIIKDQJHUV WKXV VLPXOWDQHRXVO\ DQVZHULQJ ORQJ standing questions and prompting the fan base to ask QHZ RQHV 7KH EHVW SDUW LV WKDW 6WUHHW )LJKWHU¶V $NXPD LV RI¿FLDOO\ SDUW RI 7HNNHQ¶V ORUH SOD\LQJ D VXUSULVLQJ UROH LQ WKH 0LVKLPD IDPLO\ EHHI 7KH VWRU\ PRGH LVQ¶W DV ORQJ ZLQGHG DV WKH &LQHPDWLF 6WRU\ 0RGH RI 6WUHHW )LJKWHU 9 QRU LV LW H[DFWO\ WKH &LWL]HQ .DQH RI YLGHR JDPH VWRU\WHOOLQJ WKRXJK WR EH IDLU ZKDW LV" 7KH VWRU\ XQIROGV IURP WKH SHUVSHFWLYH RI D MRXUQDOLVW ZKR¶V investigating the Mishima chaos and the related wars it sparks. The investigative DQJOH LV D QLFH SORW KRRN EXW WKH VWRU\ LVQ¶W SDUWLFXODUO\ HQWKUDOOLQJ FAMILIAR FIGHTING )RUWXQDWHO\ 7HNNHQ ¶V H[FHOOHQW combat more than makes up for the taleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative shortcomings. Like its predecessors, Tekken LV D ¿JKWLQJ JDPH WKDW features simple limbmapped controls, massive character-move sets, and ORW RI MXJJOHV WKDW OHW \RX NHHS D FRPER Ã&#x20AC;RZLQJ VKRXOG \RX LQSXW WKH FRUUHFW PRYH DW the right moment. WorldMags.net
Tekken 7 (for PC)
PROS Incredibly tense fighting action. Large roster. Gorgeous graphics. Strong netcode. Each character has a lengthy move set. Fun charactercustomization options. CONS No tutorial. Some polygonal jank revealed during slowmotion sequences.
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7HNNHQ LV DQ LQFUHGLEO\ WHQVH JDPH RI MDEV IHLQWV DQG VLGHVWHSV EHFDXVH DQ\ KLW PD\ OHDG WR D ORQJ FRPER VWLQJ )DFWRU LQ FKDUDFWHUV ZLWK PRYH VHWV WKDW HPXODWH UHDO PDUWLDO DUWV LQWHUDFWLYH VWDJHV WKDW OHW \RX NQRFN SHRSOH WKURXJK Ã&#x20AC;RRUV DQG ZDOOV DQG WHUUL¿F VORZGRZQ HIIHFWV WKDW KDSSHQ ZKHQ ERWK ¿JKWHUV¶ KHDOWK EDUV DUH LQ WKH UHG DQG WKH\ SHUIRUP FORVH TXDUWHU PHOHH DWWDFNV DQG \RX KDYH D ¿JKWLQJ JDPH WKDW¶V HVVHQWLDOO\ DQ LQWHUDFWLYH PDUWLDO DUWV Ã&#x20AC;LFN $QG WKH JDPH UXQV MXVW DV VPRRWKO\ RQOLQH DV LW GRHV RIÃ&#x20AC;LQH ,Q P\ PDQ\ KRXUV SOD\LQJ 7HNNHQ , H[SHULHQFHG ]HUR RQOLQH ODJ FRESH COMBAT New to the series are the Rage Art and Rage Drive mechanics. You can activate RQH RI WKH WZR PRYHV ZKHQ \RXU FKDUDFWHU¶V KHDOWK EDU LV QHDUO\ GHSOHWHG EXW WKH\ RSHUDWH LQ GLIIHUHQW IDVKLRQV 5DJH $UW LV D Ã&#x20AC;DVK\ KLJKO\ FLQHPDWLF VXSHU attack that deals big damage instead of the normal Rage Mode power increase \RX UHFHLYH ZKHQ \RX¶UH LQ D FULWLFDO VWDWH $ 5DJH $UW FDQ DUPRU WKURXJK DQ LQFRPLQJ DWWDFN EXW VKRXOG \RXU RSSRQHQW EORFN LW \RX¶UH OHIW RSHQ IRU D KXJH counterattack. 5DJH 'ULYH DOVR FRQVXPHV 5DJH 0RGH SRZHU EXW LW JLYHV \RX DQ HQKDQFHG DUPRUOHVV YHUVLRQ RI RQH RI \RXU H[LVWLQJ PRYHV 7KLQN RI LW DV 7HNNHQ ¶V YHUVLRQ RI 6WUHHW )LJKWHU 9¶V (; PRYHV $ ELJ DGYDQWDJH LV WKDW 5DJH 'ULYHV DUH VDIH RQ EORFN VR \RX ZRQ¶W HDW D ¿VW VKRXOG DQ RSSRQHQW EORFN WKH PRYH 7KHVH PRYHV DGG D VXUSULVLQJ DPRXQW RI VWUDWHJ\ WR WKH PDWFKHV¶ FORVLQJ PRPHQWV
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3RZHU &UXVK DWWDFNV DUH QHZ WR 7HNNHQ WRR EXW XQOLNH 5DJH $UW DQG 5DJH 'ULYH PRYHV WKH\ DUHQ¶W GHSHQGHQW RQ 5DJH 0RGH 7KHVH DWWDFNV ZKLFK \RX FDQ DFWLYDWH DW DQ\ WLPH SRZHU WKURXJK LQFRPLQJ EORZV 7KDW VDLG WKH\ GRQ¶W KDYH 5DJH $UW DQG 5DJH 'ULYH¶V LQYLQFLELOLW\ IUDPHV VR \RXU FKDUDFWHU WDNHV GDPDJH ZKHQ DQ RSSRQHQW DWWDFN ODQGV LQ DQ H[FKDQJH 6WLOO 3RZHU &UXVK PRYHV DUH YHU\ KDQG\ ZKHQ \RX GHVSHUDWHO\ QHHG WR RSHQ XS DQ RSSRQHQW IRU D FRPER to turn the tide. PRACTICE, CUSTOMIZATION, AND SPECS 7HNNHQ LQFOXGHV IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH D SUDFWLFH PRGH 7KHUH \RX FDQ H[SORUH WKH FKDUDFWHUV¶ PRYHV ZKLFK FDQ QXPEHU FORVH WR ,¶YH EHHQ SOD\LQJ WKH JDPH IRU months, but I still dip into the practice mode to discover QHZ /XFN\ &KORH PRYHV WR DGG WR P\ DUVHQDO 8QIRUWXQDWHO\ 7HNNHQ GRHVQ¶W GR PXFK WR WHDFK \RX KRZ WR SOD\ WKH JDPH ZKLFK LV D GLVDSSRLQWPHQW )LJKWLQJ JDPHV KDYH QRWRULRXV OHDUQLQJ FXUYHV VR LW wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been a feather in Tekken 7â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cap if it had LQFOXGHG D WXWRULDO DV UREXVW DV 6NXOOJLUOV QG (QFRUH¶V LQ GHSWK SOD\ JXLGH <RX FDQ FXVWRPL]H DQ\ RI WKH SOXV ¿JKWHUV ZLWK WKH JHDU WKDW \RX HDUQ LQ 7HNNHQ ¶V 7UHDVXUH %R[ PRGH $V \RX FRQTXHU WKH PDQ\ FKDOOHQJHV LW WRVVHV \RXU ZD\ \RX ZLQ WRSV ERWWRPV DQG DFFHVVRULHV WKDW OHW \RXU IDYRULWH ¿JKWHU RU SOD\HU EDGJH ORRN DV VHULRXV FRRO RU VLOO\ DV \RX¶G OLNH²SURYLGHG WKDW \RX¶YH DPDVVHG HQRXJK )LJKW 0RQH\ WR SXUFKDVH WKHP <RX FDQ DOVR use that cash to unlock important stills and clips of LPSRUWDQW PRPHQWV IURP WKURXJKRXW 7HNNHQ¶V KLVWRU\ )RUWXQDWHO\ 7HNNHQ WKURZV ORWV RI FDVK \RXU ZD\ VR \RX VKRXOG KDYH D VL]HDEOH VWDVK DW KDQG DIWHU \RX¶YH FRPSOHWHG D IHZ SOD\ VHVVLRQV
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Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been playing the game for months, but I still dip into the practice mode to discover new Lucky Chloe moves.
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0\ JDPLQJ GHVNWRS SRZHUHG E\ :LQGRZV DQG D 1YLGLD *H)RUFH *7; *38 UDQ 7HNNHQ DW D VLON\ VWHDG\ IUDPHV SHU VHFRQG LQ WHVWLQJ 7KH LQ JDPH PRGHOV ORRN JRRG DQG PRYH ZHOO EXW D ELW RI SRO\JRQDO FROOLVLRQ MDQN LV H[SRVHG ZKHQ WKH VORZ PRWLRQ PRGH NLFNV LQ DW WKH HQG RI WLJKW PDWFKHV $V D 6WHDP JDPH 7HNNHQ VXSSRUWV 6WHDP $FKLHYHPHQWV 6WHDP &ORXG 6DYHV DQG 6WHDP 7UDGLQJ &DUGV THE KING OF THE IRON FIST 6LPSO\ SXW 7HNNHQ LV P\ IDYRULWH ¿JKWLQJ JDPH RI DQG RQH RI P\ RYHUDOO IDYRULWH JDPHV RI WKH \HDU Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a plump package stuffed with combat goodness and D YDULHW\ RI FKDUDFWHUV WKDW ZLOO DSSHDO WR PDQ\ SOD\ VW\OHV , ZLVK WKH JDPH KDG D WXWRULDO GHVLJQHG WR HDVH QHZFRPHUV LQWR WKH IROG EXW LW¶V KDUG WR ¿QG VLJQL¿FDQW IDXOW LQ VXFK D VWHOODU SURGXFW 7HNNHQ LV DQ H[TXLVLWH ¿JKWHU WKDW KDV HQRXJK PHDW WR SOHDVH YHWHUDQV DQG fresh faces alike. JEFFREY L. WILSON
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My gaming desktop, powered by Windows 10 and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 GPU, ran Tekken 7 at a silky, steady 60 fps.
COVERWorldMags.net STORY
BY SASCHA SEGAN
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he sun never sets on the 5G network in Oulu. Well, maybe it dips below the horizon just a bit. But at midnight on a Tuesday morning in June, it looks like 4:00 in the afternoon, and the local pub is full of engineers attending a big European 5G conference.
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7KH SXE LVQ¶W DOZD\V WKDW IXOO RQ D 7XHVGD\ WKH ORFDO EDUÃ&#x20AC;LHV WHOO PH %XW 2XOX D city of about 200,000 up near the Arctic Circle, is always full of engineers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a perfect example of something America needs more of: a city whose major industrial employer crashed but which then reinvented itself. Out of the crumbling hulk of Nokia has come what may be the northernmost startup scene LQ WKH ZRUOG ZLWK GR]HQV RI VPDOOHU FRPSDQLHV QRZ ¿OOLQJ XS 1RNLD¶V ROG RI¿FHV at the edge of town. If anywhere is 5G Town, Oulu is. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home to not just one but three 5G test networks, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where Nokia (still) is building its 5G base stations. It was 4G Town, too, and probably 2G Town before that, and then, back in the 1970s, 5DGLR 7RZQ ,I \RX ZDQW WR ¿JXUH RXW ZKDW SHRSOH DUH JRLQJ WR EH GRLQJ ZLWK the multi-billion-dollar next-gen networks weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll start seeing in the U.S. in 2018 DQG \RX¶OO SUREDEO\ ¿QG D ZLGHU YDULHW\ RI SHRSOH WKLQNLQJ DERXW LW LQ Oulu than almost anywhere else. Certainly more than anywhere else with SHRSOH 'H¿QLWHO\ PRUH WKDQ DQ\ZKHUH HOVH LQ WKH $UFWLF I came to Oulu looking for 5G because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re about to have a great wave of 5G crashing on our shores. U.S. carriers led the world in 4G LTE, which enabled widespread streaming media and social image networks. Now theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re poised to do the same with 5G. Verizon and AT&T will launch pre-standard 5G networks used for home Internet later this year, followed by T-Mobile with a purely mobile network in 2019. 5G TOWN Oulu, Finland is a farnorth city with about 200,000 inhabitants and a vibrant startup scene. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading the way toward our next mobile evolution.
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You could argue that we saw Spotify and mobile 1HWĂ&#x20AC;L[ FRPLQJ ZKHQ ZH PRYHG IURP * WR * LQ 2010-2012. Those services were the obvious uses, enabled by faster download speeds. Analysts back in 2010 ginned up enthusiasm for FaceTime over 4G, too. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see Snapchat coming, though: No one predicted the popularity of a social network that leans on the faster upload speeds of 4G to dump ephemeral stories full of images onto the internet.
5G, like 4G, is going to be faster. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll also be just plain moreâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a grab bag of options for fast consumer connections, low-power machine-to-machine technologies, and everything connected to everything. Even within the most talked-about applications of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still not sure what will actually work, or what will actually change the world. Something probably will. They may have been talking about it that weekend in Oulu. So I listened. HOW TO REBUILD A TECH CITY Oulu seems to have placed a lot of weight on 5G. The city didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do too well during the 4G era. About a third of the workforce in Oulu is in tech, according to Pekka Soini of government funding agency Tekes, and I spotted a curious collection of recognizable names on the quick ride from the small airport to downtown: Polar, the health-tracker company; Mediatek, the second-biggest maker of mobile-phone processors; and ARM, which has 100 people in town and develops the basic software for almost every mobile processor in the world. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a slew of companies you may not have heard of that are hived LQWR D VHULHV RI ROG 1RNLD RIÂżFHV UHGHYHORSHG LQWR VWDUWXS SDUNV 7KHUH \RXÂśOO ÂżQG +DOWLDQ ZKLFK PDNHV KDUGZDUH IRU .LFNVWDUWHU GUHDPHUV ,QGRRU$WODV which builds maps of Smithsonian museums based on little wobbles in the (DUWKÂśV PDJQHWLF ÂżHOG <RWD 'HYLFHV WKH LOO VWDUUHG 5XVVLDQ PRELOH SKRQH maker; and, down the road, Bittium, which makes military-grade phones that can resist Russian intrusion.
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Seven years ago, most of these companies werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t there: It was all Nokia as far as the eye could see. Even now, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what a lot of wireless-industry watchers think of Oulu. When I asked T-Mobile U.S. CEO Neville Ray about Oulu, he replied, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that where Nokia makes the base stations?â&#x20AC;? And heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right. But a IXQQ\ WKLQJ KDSSHQHG ZKHQ 1RNLD GRZQVL]HG ÂżYH years ago, in the wake of its iPhone-induced, Microsoft-accelerated smartphone collapse. All those ex-Nokia engineers didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave town. They stayed. They built startups. And then they hired more people.
The startup scene in Oulu didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen all on its own. Finland has an intense level of public-private funding, with public money seeding venture funds that can then spread WKHLU ZLQJV SULYDWHO\ 7KDWÂśV ZKDW KDSSHQHG ZLWK %XWWHUĂ&#x20AC;\ Ventures, a major local VC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The city of Oulu, they wanted to create a venture capital fund ... [and] there was a little bit of European Union money,â&#x20AC;? founder Juho Risku said. With public money backing %XWWHUĂ&#x20AC;\ 5LVNX FRXOG LQWURGXFH DQ ÂłDV\PPHWULF PRGHO´ WR attract private investors, making sure that the private LQYHVWRUV JHW SDLG EDFN ÂżUVW :KLOH WKDW NLQG RI LQFHQWLYH might not be needed in Silicon Valley, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helped the more nervous Finns get more deeply into startups. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People in Finland have been a bit risk averse, traditionally, EXW WKDW KDV FKDQJHG D ORW LQ WKH SDVW ÂżYH \HDUV ´ 5LVNX VDLG Tekes, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Finnish funding agency for innovation,â&#x20AC;? pitches in money. The local university and its university hospital also play a big role. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a public university, remember. Over a weekend in Oulu, hacker teams from around the world pitched their ideas for prizes at the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5GFWD hackathon, with the winner coming all the way from New Delhi to show off his image-based indoor navigation solution. WorldMags.net
OULUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STARTUP SCENE Just a few of the innovative new companies to be found in Oulu.
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SO WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S 5G FOR? Over and over again during my weekend in Oulu, I kept asking companies: What are you going to use 5G for?
At the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market square on one bright morning, I strapped on a Samsung Gear VR headset to watch a GHJUHH OLYH IHHG EHDPHG RYHU WKH FLW\ FDQDO DW *ESV ,W ZDV OLNH WHOHSRUWDWLRQ $QG DV , ORRNHG DW various businesses and buildings, little pop-ups showed sales specials, temperature, or the number of people walking over the bridge.
The morning demoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point was not to show what you could do with 5G as much as to show that you could do it.
SEEING THINGS PCMagâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lead Analyst, Mobile, Sascha Segan tries a VR demo in Oulu.
7KDWÂśV MXVW 95 Âł-XVW ´ ULJKW" ,WÂśV FUD]\ VFLHQFH ÂżFWLRQ living, and at this point itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just â&#x20AC;&#x153;just.â&#x20AC;? The morning demoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point was not to show what you could do with 5G as much as to show that you could do itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not in a lab but downtown in a busy, chaotic environment full of 4G and Wi-Fi and other unexpected invisible obstacles. The test shows a big part of what makes Oulu special: the public â&#x20AC;&#x153;5G test network,â&#x20AC;? which anyone with a dollar, a dream, and the email address of the right person at the local university can sign up to use. WorldMags.net
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7KRVH GUHDPHUV LQFOXGHG +HQGULN 6FKQHLGHU DQG 1LLQD 6RUPXQQHQ WZR Finnish students who hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even known each other before the hackathon started. Their idea was to virtualize caring for babies stuck in incubators, who often canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be touched and who suffer for it. The babies are already covered in sensors and monitors. The idea, which the two call Therecare, is to give parents a cylindrical pillow and a pair of AR glasses. The pillow would be about the size and weight of a baby, be internally warmed to the babyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body temperature, and maybe even have a â&#x20AC;&#x153;heartbeat,â&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;breathe,â&#x20AC;? thanks to vibrating motors. Put on glasses, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see the kid you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t touch. Maybe your voice would even be transmitted into the incubator. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With air, we are projecting your own child into your arms,â&#x20AC;? Schneider said poetically. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do this with 4G, because the bandwidth isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reliable enough right now. The themes of â&#x20AC;&#x153;VR for healthâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;VR for educationâ&#x20AC;? kept coming up over and RYHU DJDLQ LQ 2XOX $W 2XOX 8QLYHUVLW\ +RVSLWDO ZKLFK KDV D WHVW ODE ZLWK PRFNXSV RI KRVSLWDO URRPV IRU WHFKQRORJ\ ÂżUPV WR WU\ RXW WKHLU VROXWLRQV -XVVL Auvinen, head of Peili Vision, put another Gear VR on my face. This one put me in a virtual world where I tried to shoot at targets with my eyes. This is, amazingly, stroke rehabilitation: Auvinenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s software checks to see whether DQ\WKLQJ LV QHXURORJLFDOO\ PLVVLQJ IURP \RXU ÂżHOG RI YLVLRQ DQG SURYLGHV updates to your doctors.
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With 5G, VR rehab could come home, or it could go to people in rural areas who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have access to a lot of available doctors. 5G headsets would have connectivity embedded, making them push-button rather than needing FRQÂżJXUDWLRQ DQG :L )L VHWXS DQG EURDGEDQG â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done this in face-to-face therapy now, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting in September to do this remotely. In virtual reality, when you go a few steps forward, you need low latency,â&#x20AC;? Auvinen said. (And before you start sniping about coverage, T-Mobile is on it: The company KDV SURSRVHG WKH ÂżUVW UXUDO * QHWZRUN LQ WKH 8 6 RQ LWV QHZ 0K] spectrum. Think 2019 or 2020 for that one.) They also print electronics in Oulu, which may come in handy when you need, say, a million connected bandages. At VTT, a government research center in town, I heard about â&#x20AC;&#x153;smart bandagesâ&#x20AC;? and printed antennas. Apparently, right QRZ ZH FDQ SULQW VPDOO Ă&#x20AC;H[LEOH EDWWHULHV WKDW DODV DUHQÂśW UHFKDUJHDEOH %XW combine them with low-power networks, printed sensors, and printed antennas, and you have a patch that you can slap on a wrist or a wound to monitor how your healing is goingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and that you can throw out afterwards. 0D\EH \RX QHHG VRPHWKLQJ PRUH IULYRORXV +RZ DERXW *DPHĂ&#x20AC;L[ D PRELOH game streaming/rental service? Game streaming isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a new ideaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;plenty of people do it on the desktopâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but the 5G concept here is that current mobile networks arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t low-latency enough for it to work properly, and the streaming WUDIÂżF FDQ RYHUZKHOP FXUUHQW QHWZRUNV BENDABLE Flexible chips are being developed in Oulu; they could be used in wearables or bandages.
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“Bandwidth and latency are the big barriers,” Glyn )DXONQHU IURP WKH *DPHÀL[ WHDP WROG PH ³:H DOVR needed our own dedicated router to handle all the WUDI¿F ´
One of the guys on that team was a part-time furniture mover, so there’s that. NEW MANUFACTURING WON’T SAVE OLD JOBS 5G will create new industries. It’ll create new opportunities. It’ll probably create new jobs. But they won’t look like the old ones, as I saw at Oulu’s biggest tech factory.
5G is going to require billions of dollars of new equipment, and that’s being made in Oulu, too.
5G is going to require billions of dollars of new equipment, and that’s being made in Oulu, too. But the GH¿QLWLRQ RI ³PDQXIDFWXULQJ MRE´ LV JRLQJ WR EH GLIIHUHQW in the 5G era. You see that in Nokia’s shiny factory, where it’s putting together new 5G base stations that look more like Scandinavian-design panel lights than the giant white blocks you see stuck to the sides of buildings right now.
STILL HERE Nokia maintains a plant in Oulu that manufactures high-end telecom network equipment— and employs mostly robots to do so.
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1RNLD LV VWLOO WKH ELJJHVW VLQJOH SULYDWH HPSOR\HU LQ 2XOX ZLWK SHRSOH PDNLQJ EDVH VWDWLRQV DQG ZRUNLQJ RQ * %XW ZDON RQWR WKH IDFWRU\ Ă&#x20AC;RRU DQG youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll wonder where all the people are. :KHQ , VDZ 6DPVXQJÂśV *DOD[\ 6 SURGXFWLRQ OLQH LQ *XPL .RUHD , WKRXJKW LW was the most advanced Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ever seen. In a Chinese factory, you still see long rows of workers screwing things inâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the old assembly-line model. In Gumi, PRVW RI WKH FRPSRQHQWV DUH EHLQJ SODFHG E\ URERWV +XPDQV GR RQO\ WKH PRVW delicate, pressure-sensitive tasks, snapping things together so they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t break. +XPDQV DOVR QHHG WR WHVW WKH SKRQHV PDNLQJ VXUH WKDW WKH\ ZRUN LQ ZD\V humans appreciate. At Nokia in Oulu, even thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost all robots. The humans feed the machines, big reels of tape and chips and stacks of circuit boards, and the robots take it from there: swiveling arms pop boards together, screw in screws, DQG HYHQ UXQ WKH YHULÂżFDWLRQ WHVWV Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the tradeoff, factory head Erja Sankari said as we watched two robot arms swiftly fold and pack cardboard boxes. If you want to build your gadgets in Finlandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or in the U.S., for that matterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have to focus on quality and automation to keep up with lower-cost countries. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We can now manufacture [cellular base stations] with robots. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to do any hand work. We can place all the components with placement machines, DOO FRQQHFWRUV DUH SUHVV ÂżW DQG ZH RQO\ KDYH RQH VFUHZ W\SH ´ 6DQNDUL explained to me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With this newest platform product we just ramped up, we are competitive with Eastern Europe to manufacture these products, which in history wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the case.â&#x20AC;? 5G is just going to accelerate this trend. At a keynote at the EuCNC conference in downtown Oulu, Nokia Bell Labs fellow Peter Vetter explained how the VXSHU ORZ ODWHQF\ RI * DOORZV IRU DXWR UHFRQÂżJXULQJ KLJK SUHFLVLRQ IDFWRULHV You need one-millisecond latency for a robot arm to place a component in a 1mm space, Vetter said. Although factories are wired together now, making WKHP ZLUHOHVV OHWV WKHP UHFRQÂżJXUH HDVLO\ $ IDFWRU\ FRXOG PDNH D GLIIHUHQW product every week, swiveling and rolling devices around to constantly rebuild its assembly line. WorldMags.net
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;With 5G technology you can do this over a wireless QHWZRUN DQG WKHQ \RX KDYH PRUH Ă&#x20AC;H[LELOLW\ RYHU \RXU IDFWRU\ Ă&#x20AC;RRU ´ 9HWWHU H[SODLQHG Sankari talked about the â&#x20AC;&#x153;dark factoryâ&#x20AC;? of the future, where you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even need people walking around supplying raw materials to the robots. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are picking the material and creating the setup. Robots can do that,â&#x20AC;? she said. That means future American factory workers arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t going to be putting in screws or even welding. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be monitoring and managing the robots. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also been hearing a lot about autonomous cars and trucks enabled by low-latency 5G connections. At the 5G conference, Matti Latva-Aho from the University of Oulu said Rolls Royce was looking at putting a fully autonomous cargo ship on the seas by the end of 2019. That means we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need truck drivers, or sailors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you look at the hierarchy of human needs, what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to do is to reduce the time in the lower layersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;transportation and whatnot â&#x20AC;&#x201D;to create more time in those upper human needs; the ability to learn, spending time on aesthetics, helping others to learn, spending time with family,â&#x20AC;? Vetter said. WorldMags.net
Sankari talked about the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dark factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the future, where you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even need people supplying raw materials to the robots.
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Of course, he made that statement in Scandinavia, a place notorious for public support, public health care, and public funding. Take the truck-driver jobs out of )LQODQG DQG WKH VRFLHW\ WKHUH PLJKW ÂżQG VRPH ZD\ WR support people. Take the industrial jobs out of Ohio, and apparently what we get are heroin and opiate epidemics.
STAYING SMART Ouluâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a nice place to live. A beautiful stream with little waterfalls runs right through downtown. It has a Nepalese restaurant and the Air Guitar World Championships. Marilyn Manson is playing there this summer, because, you know, Finland is metal. The local FXLVLQH LV IRFXVHG RQ ÂżVK DQG IUHVK JUHHQV DQG PD\EH D little too much reindeer. It has â&#x20AC;&#x153;bicycle highways.â&#x20AC;? The teenagers loitering outside the mall look really harmless. But Oulu could have failed in the wake of the Nokia evaporation. The town managed to pull off its reinvention into 5G-ville by staying smart. Oulu has been a factory town and a manufacturing town, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem like a screws-and-bolts type of placeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or rather, if LW ZDV LW ZHQW EDFN WR VFKRRO DQG ÂżJXUHG RXW KRZ WR build medical devices. 0\ Ă&#x20AC;LJKW WR +HOVLQNL ZDV GHOD\HG WKUHH KRXUV LQ ZKDWÂśV QRZDGD\V SDU IRU WKH FRXUVH DW -). ,QWHUQDWLRQDO Airport, during a â&#x20AC;&#x153;summer of hellâ&#x20AC;? for New York city infrastructure; our main train station is crumbling so badly that it has to be partially shut down for repairs. The city, state, and federal governments pass the buck; the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;infrastructure weekâ&#x20AC;? went by without any proposals; and the governor is more interested in FXWWLQJ ULEERQV RQ QHZ EULGJHV WKDQ RQ Âż[LQJ ZKDWÂśV breaking. This in a country where our infrastructure was once world-class and where public support for science and technology led to the creation of the internet. WorldMags.net
The local cuisine is focused on fish and fresh greens and maybe a little too much reindeer.
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Ouluâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public-private partnerships show itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to unravel technology from politics, or at least from society. Through ventures such as Tekes and %XWWHUĂ&#x20AC;\ 2XOX VKRZV WKDW LWÂśV ORRNLQJ IRUZDUG QRW EDFN²PDNLQJ WKLQJV greater, not great the way they once were. Ouluans could have stamped their feet and demanded that someone make Nokia great again, but that is impossible. Instead, they made new things, but with the help of a public university, a public technology research center, and a public venture fund. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually very similar to the model the U.S. used in the V DQG V ZKHQ XQLYHUVLWLHV DQG UHVHDUFK FRUSRUDWLRQV VXFK DV 5$1' worked with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;military-industrial complexâ&#x20AC;? to build computers and put men on the moon. Could Finlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model be duplicated in the U.S.? Maybe, if we focus on being smart and acknowledge that we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring back old jobs, only create new ones. There are places in the U.S. weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting to see that happenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in Pittsburgh, for instance, where health tech and autonomous car development may show a future for when the shale gas dries up. Universities and hospitals can help lead the way. The 5G world is coming. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a world of startups, robots, software, and services. Our cities can join it or be left behind. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no stopping it. Oulu sees that.
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WorldMags.net The Phones To Fight Russian Hacking The history of independent Finland has been one of fending off, pacifying, and generally trying to avoid being absorbed into Russia, its giant neighbor to the east. With Russian hacking constantly in the news right now, it might help to ÂżQG VRPH SKRQHV GHVLJQHG ZLWK DQ DZDUHQHVV RI WKDW VSHFLÂżF WKUHDW :H IRXQG Bittium in Oulu: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a secure mobile-phone company whose bosses seem to be very, very aware of the bearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s claws and fangs. Finlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history with its neighbor Russia is long, complex, and tense. Russia owned the place for about a century, and the country has had a nervous and rather cold peace with the big bear next door. The magazine Foreign Policy said Finland has been â&#x20AC;&#x153;able to fend off Putinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information war,â&#x20AC;? possibly because in the back of their minds, Finns are always about to be conquered by Russia. Bittium used to be called Elektrobit, shedding the name in 2015 after it shed the automotive-related parts of its business. Back in its Elektrobit days, the company made the Terrestar Genus, an extremely ballsy hybrid satellite/mobile phone that suffered from being associated with a failing satellite provider. Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making a range of hyper-secured â&#x20AC;&#x153;tough mobileâ&#x20AC;? phones, both in mobile and satellite versions, one of which even turns into a police body camera when you snap it into a holster. And theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pretty sure the Russians canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hack them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are prepared against hacking wherever it comes,â&#x20AC;? Jari Sankala, Bittiumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s VHQLRU 93 RI GHIHQVH DQG VHFXULW\ VDLG +H DGGHG WKDW %LWWLXP HYHQ KDV ZD\V WR repel man-in-the-middle attacks such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stingrayâ&#x20AC;? fake towers and the QRWRULRXV 66 QHWZRUN Ă&#x20AC;DZ Âł'RLQJ EDVHEDQG ÂżUHZDOO ZH FDQ GHIHQG DJDLQVW QHWZRUN RULJLQDWHG DWWDFNV ´ Sankala said. , WULHG RXW WKUHH RI %LWWLXPÂśV SKRQHV EULHĂ&#x20AC;\ 7KH 7RXJK 0RELOH LV D W\SLFDO midrange, Qualcomm-powered slab, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ruggedized to military specs, and you can reboot it into a super-secure mode that runs only approved applications. The other phones were hybrid cellular/satellite models, with big antennas you can screw on the top. The phones are extra-loud, and they work when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re covered in nearly freezing mud. WorldMags.net
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Bittiumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security extends to manufacturing. The company makes its phones in Finland, using some of the infrastructure Nokia left behind after its 2012 collapse. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of the total security thinking,â&#x20AC;? Sankala said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Part of the device security is the place where it is manufactured, so no one can put anything inside. No one can trick anything when you control the whole production line.â&#x20AC;? The Department of Defense currently has LG, Samsung, Apple, and older BlackBerry products on its â&#x20AC;&#x153;approved products listâ&#x20AC;? for multifunction mobile devices. Bittium LVQÂśW RQ WKH OLVW %XW LWV SKRQHV DUH VRPH RI WKH ÂżUVW RQHV working on FirstNet, the public-safety-only network that AT&T is setting up on exclusive spectrum. FirstNet, which is supposed to unify all of the chaotic networks that police and emergency responders use throughout the U.S., is either four or 15 years late, depending on KRZ \RX GHÂżQH ÂłODWH ´ DOWKRXJK $7 7ÂśV DQQRXQFHPHQW in late March reinvigorated hope that it will actually happen.
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Its phones are some of the first to work on FirstNet, the public-safetyonly network AT&T is setting up on exclusive spectrum.
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On FirstNet, Bittiumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major competitors are Motorola Solutions (which isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the part of Motorola now owned by Lenovo but an independent American company) and California-based rugged-phone maker Sonim.
$QG 6DQNDOD VDLG %LWWLXPÂśV SKRQHV DUHQÂśW 'R' FHUWLÂżHG â&#x20AC;&#x153;under our own nameâ&#x20AC;? but also that the company does white-label products. And its promotional videos for PLVVLRQ FULWLFDO EDWWOHÂżHOG V\VWHPV WKDW XVH UHVHUYHG NATO frequencies are pretty American. With 450 people at its headquarters, Bittium is one of WKH ELJJHU WHFK ÂżUPV LQ 2XOX :KHQ 1RNLD IHOO DSDUW around 2012, Oulu reinvented itself as a hub of tech startups, with dozens of small to mid-size tech companies now calling the city of 250,000 home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;During the Microsoft era of Nokia, there were so many unemployed engineers. That was a very good time to hire people,â&#x20AC;? Sankala said, smiling.
Haltian Saves Kickstarter Hardware +DUGZDUH LV KDUG .LFNVWDUWHU DQG ,QGLHJRJR DUH littered with big-ticket consumer hardware failures: the PLOOLRQ 3LUDWH ' SULQWHU WKH PLOOLRQ 0\,'.H\ DQG WKH PLOOLRQ =DQR GURQH IRU example. Other kinds of crowdfunded projects fail, but hardware projects tend to fail big. .LFNVWDUWHU UHFRJQL]HV WKH SUREOHP 2YHU WKH \HDUV LWœV WLJKWHQHG LWV UHTXLUHPHQWV IRU KDUGZDUH SURMHFWV ¿QDOO\ DQQRXQFLQJ D QHZ ³.LFNVWDUWHU +DUGZDUH 6WXGLR´ ODVW month that will launch in September and will help creators actually, successfully make devices. WorldMags.net
Hardware is hard. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are littered with big-ticket consumer hardware failures.
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$ UHSRUW FRPPLVVLRQHG E\ .LFNVWDUWHU VD\V WKDW DERXW SHUFHQW RI DOO .LFNVWDUWHU SURMHFWV IDLO 7KH SUREOHP ZLWK FRQVXPHU KDUGZDUH DV D analysis I did pointed out, is that hardware projects are often very big-ticket. Compared with, say, a $20,000 theater performance, more people get burned, worse, when a million-dollar printer project melts down. The story is often the same: Entrepreneur has a great idea, entrepreneurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great idea gets way too much money, entrepreneur doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to manufacture the product to meet the sudden demand. Misery ensues. :D\ XS LQ WKH )LQQLVK VXE $UFWLF ZH IRXQG DQRWKHU VROXWLRQ +DOWLDQ DQ 85-person company mostly made of ex-Nokia engineers, has been quietly FKXUQLQJ RXW .LFNVWDUWHU DQG ,QGLHJRJR VXFFHVVHV ERWK IRU LWVHOI DQG IRU RWKHUV 7KH 2XUD5LQJ ZHDUDEOH RQ .LFNVWDUWHU DQG 4XLHW2Q KHDGSKRQHV are two of the most notable. The company, like the city of Oulu itself, is a bit of a recycled industry. Oulu was D PDMRU 5 ' FHQWHU IRU 1RNLD LQ LWV PRELOH SKRQH JORU\ GD\V DQG +DOWLDQÂśV original 5-person team was in Nokiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;emerging projectsâ&#x20AC;? department, building tablets and wearables that would never make it to market. When Nokia FROODSVHG LQ +DOWLDQÂśV QRZ &(2 3DVL /HLSDOD OHYHUDJHG KLV NQRZOHGJH RI 1RNLDÂśV VXSSOLHUV WR VWDUW D FRQWUDFW PDQXIDFWXUHU 1RZ +DOWLDQ KDV DQ DLU\ VXLWH RI RIÂżFHV LQ D EXVWOLQJ WHFKQRORJ\ LQFXEDWRU EXLOGLQJ WKDW XVHG WR KRXVH 1RNLD RIÂżFHV WorldMags.net
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eighty percent of our products are our clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ideas. We provide design services, and they own the IP,â&#x20AC;? /HLSDOD VDLG $OWKRXJK +DOWLDQ XVXDOO\ JHWV KLUHG EHIRUH the crowdfunding starts, it can also step in when .LFNVWDUWHG FRPSDQLHV UHDOL]H WKH\ÂśUH LQ RYHU WKHLU heads. Âł,Q PRVW FDVHV WKH VWDUWXSV LQ .LFNVWDUWHU GR QRW KDYH the understanding what development of a commercial product requires, and without the right partners, try to do too much. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the key reasons [for the] high percentage of failed projects,â&#x20AC;? Leipala said. Take Omata, a â&#x20AC;&#x153;mechanical biking computerâ&#x20AC;? with a Shinola-like retro look. It netted $229,904 on Indiegogo. Though Omata was also started by an exNokia crew, â&#x20AC;&#x153;They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a clue how to make it,â&#x20AC;? Leipala said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We designed the motors and then had Seiko from Japan manufacture it.â&#x20AC;?
Access to trusted manufacturing partners is one of +DOWLDQÂśV ELJ DGYDQWDJHV 7KH &KLQHVH PDQXIDFWXULQJ ecosystem is rife with IP theft: Look at the 2015 hoverboard fad to see how quickly one companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idea got copied, permuted, and watered down. WorldMags.net
Though Omata was also started by an ex-Nokia crew, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a clue how to make it,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Leipala said.
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Since there are still electronics factories in Finland— DQRWKHU OHJDF\ RI WKDW 1RNLD FROODSVH²+DOWLDQ FDQ make prototypes in Finland and then take them to factories in Eastern Europe or “Asia” (Leipala’s word) that aren’t likely to steal customers’ intellectual property.
“We don’t take any products to China in the early phase, for ... some reasons,” Leipala said. Some Oulu companies make an even bigger deal about manufacturing in Finland. Bittium, which makes secure smartphones, says that making its phones in Finland helps it avoid government surveillance in other countries during the manufacturing process. +DOWLDQ¶V SURMHFWV GR KDYH D WKHPH 7KH\¶UH DOO HOHJDQWO\ designed, by and large, with rounded edges and simple interfaces. Remember Nokia’s physical designs in the era of the Nokia N9, with simple, bold shapes made of colorful polycarbonate? Well, the heritage shows. Now, the company is moving into “camera and imaging products,” according to Leipala, and is even developing a video game for a client. “There’s a good demand for a highly skilled, specialized engineering team,” Leipala said.
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Look at the 2015 hoverboard fad to see how quickly one company’s idea got copied, permuted, and watered down.
FEATURE STORY WorldMags.net
HOW ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE IS REVOLUTIONIZING
THE MHEALTH
INDUSTRY BY BEN DICKSON
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AI can have a huge impact in making healthcare more accessible, especially in underdeveloped countries.
WorldMags.net Based in London, Your.MD has partnered with both Samsung Health and the U.K.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Health Service (NHS).
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Smart selfcare can also help reduce the losses incurred by millions of yearly missed appointments.
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How to Do a Reverse Image Search From Your Phone BY ERIC GRIFFITH
PDJH VHDUFK LV WKH DELOLW\ WR VHDUFK RQ D WHUP DQG ¿QG LPDJHV UHODWHG WR what you typed. Most search engines offer it, and it’s great. But what if you KDYH DQ LPDJH DQG ZDQW WR NQRZ LWV RULJLQ RU ¿QG VLPLODU SKRWRV" 7KDW¶V called a reverse image search.
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Google’s reverse image search is a breeze on a desktop computer: Go to images. google.com, click the camera icon, and either paste in the URL for an image you’ve seen online, upload an image from your hard drive, or drag an image from another window. What about when you’re on a mobile device and want to do a reverse-image ORRNXS" 7KHUH DUH RSWLRQV WorldMags.net
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WITH GOOGLE Google built a reverse-image search function into phones and tablets, albeit on a very limited basis.
First, you cannot do a traditional reverse-image search with the standard Google app or via images.google.com on PRELOH EURZVHUV VXFK DV 6DIDUL RU &KURPH 7KH FDPHUD icon doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t show up in the search bar, so thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no way to upload an image for a reverse search on mobile. But the Chrome browser app for iOS and Android supports a reverse-image search workaround: When you KDYH WKH LPDJH \RX ZDQW WR VHDUFK KROG \RXU ¿QJHU RQ LW until a pop-up menu appears; pick â&#x20AC;&#x153;Search Google For 7KLV ,PDJH´ DW WKH ERWWRP 1RWH 7KLV ZLOO QRW ZRUN LQ WKH Google app or other browsers (not even in Safari). ,I IRU VRPH UHDVRQ WKLV GRHVQ¶W ZRUN \RX FDQ DOVR VHOHFW 2SHQ ,PDJH 7KHQ FRS\ WKH 85/ JR EDFN WR LPDJHV google.com, and paste in the URL. With either method, the results of a reverse-image search then appear, with lots of options to narrow your query, VXFK DV ¿QGLQJ DQLPDWHG *,)V RU FOLS DUW HTXLYDOHQWV RU looking by the color scheme used in the original image. WITH BING 7KDW RWKHU ELJ VHDUFK HQJLQH %LQJ IURP 0LFURVRIW DOVR GRHV UHYHUVH LPDJH VHDUFKHV 7KHUH LV D FDPHUD LFRQ QH[W WR WKH VHDUFK ER[ DW WKH WRS RI ZZZ ELQJ FRP LPDJHV When you click it on the desktop, it asks for an image URL or for you to upload an image, just as Google does on the desktop. When you click it on any mobile browser, it will tell you to ³6QDS RU XSORDG D SLF WR VHDUFK IRU VLPLODU LPDJHV ´ alongside a warning that Microsoft may use your pics to improve its services. WorldMags.net
Google built a reverseimage search function into phones and tablets, albeit on a very limited basis.
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7KLV LV ZKHUH WKLQJV GLIIHU IURP *RRJOH²EHFDXVH %LQJ VXSSRUWV UHYHUVH LPDJH search of your personal images directly. When you tap that camera icon, you get the option to take a photo, upload from your camera roll, or upload from a WKLUG SDUW\ VHUYLFH VXFK DV 'URSER[ RU *RRJOH 'ULYH 3LFN RQH DQG LW XSORDGV and shows results. Oddly, on Safari for iOS, this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work in landscape mode. Or if you search in portrait and then turn it to landscape to look at your results, they disappear. Just a bug to be aware of as you reverse search. 6DGO\ WKH %LQJ DSS L26 DQG $QGURLG HYHQ RQ LWV ,PDJH WDE GRHVQ¶W IDFLOLWDWH any kind of reverse image search whatsoever. REVERSE SEARCH YOUR IMAGES ON MOBILE ,I \RX KDYH LPDJHV RQ \RXU PRELOH GHYLFH WKDW \RX ZDQW WR UHYHUVH VHDUFK²VD\ you want to identify a plant or a breed of dog you took a snapshot of on your SKRQH²ZKDW GR \RX GR" 7KH REYLRXV ZRUNDURXQG LV XSORDG WKH LPDJH WR WKH LQWHUQHW LQ VRPH ZD\ ¿QG WKH LPDJH ZKLOH XVLQJ &KURPH RQ \RXU VPDUWSKRQH and perform the steps above to reverse search. But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of hassle. ,QVWHDG JR WR &75/4 RUJ ,W ZLOO DOVR FRPH XS RQ WRS RI D *RRJOH VHDUFK IRU ³UHYHUVH LPDJH VHDUFK ´ SRVVLEO\ EHFDXVH LW XVHV *RRJOH IRU VHDUFK UHVXOWV &OLFN 8SORDG ,PDJH DQG \RX¶OO JHW WKH FKRLFH QRW RQO\ WR XSORDG SLFV IURP \RXU 3KRWR /LEUDU\ EXW DOVR WR WDNH D QHZ SLFWXUH RU XSORDG IURP L&ORXG 'ULYH *RRJOH 'ULYH 'URSER[ 2QH'ULYH RU DQ\ RWKHU VHUYLFH \RX KDYH UXQQLQJ WKDW stores images on your smartphone.
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Once your image is uploaded, you need to click Show Matches (or upload another image). Finally, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have results from Google to match, as best it can, the image you XSORDGHG IURP \RXU L3KRQH RU $QGURLG EDVHG VPDUWSKRQH RI FKRLFH APPS FOR REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH ,I \RX SUHIHU WR XVH DSSV LQVWHDG RI D EURZVHU WU\ D UHYHUVH LPDJH VHDUFK WRRO that you can keep on your smartphone at all times. Veracity
(Free for iOS) *UDEELQJ LPDJHV IURP WKH 3KRWR /LEUDU\ RU VWRUDJH RSWLRQV LV D EUHH]H RU FXW DQG SDVWH IURP WKH FOLSERDUG 9HUDFLW\ VD\V LW ZLOO ¿QG WKH VRXUFH LPDJH RQ WKH web even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been changed. Remove ads from the interface with a $2.99 inapp purchase. Search by Image
(Free for Android) You can manipulate an image all you want before uploading via this app to get UHVXOWV IURP *RRJOH 7LQH\H DQG <DQGH[ WKH ODWWHU WZR EHLQJ PRUH WKLUG SDUW\ search services, rated among the best for reverse image search with Google and Bing). Reversee
(Free for iOS) 7KLV DSS VHQGV \RXU SLFV GLUHFWO\ LQWR WKH *RRJOH ,PDJHV GDWDEDVH WR VHDUFK IRU VLPLODU LPDJHV ,I \RX XSJUDGH WR WKH SUR YHUVLRQ IRU \RX JHW UHVXOWV IURP %LQJ DQG <DQGH[ DV ZHOO Search by Image Extension
($0.99 for iOS) 7KLV RQH LVQ¶W DQ DSS \RX JR LQWR EXW UDWKHU DQ DSS WKDW DGGV DQ H[WHQVLRQ WR RWKHU DSSV ,W ZLOO SXW DQ H[WHQVLRQ EXWWRQV LQVLGH 3KRWRV DQG )DFHERRN DQG other apps, so along with Copy or Send to iCloud, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have an option to 6HDUFK ,PDJH 5HVXOWV DSSHDU LQ \RXU PRELOH EURZVHU DQG FRPH IURP *RRJOH 7LQH\H DQG <DQGH[ WorldMags.net PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION
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How to Listen to Music on Your Amazon Echo
BY LANCE WHITNEY
he Amazon Echo offers solid sound quality. For music-listening options, you can access your own library, stream tunes via Amazon Music, or listen to music and radio stations from third-party providers. Amazon Prime subscribes can snag more than 2 million tunes from Amazon Music for free or upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited for tens of millions of songs. You can also wirelessly stream music to your Alexa device from your mobile phone, tablet, or computer. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how to get started.
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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ALEXA, LISTEN TO IHEARTRADIOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; When you purchase an Amazon Echo or other Alexa-powered device, you have access to music services including Amazon Music, Spotify Premium, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. 7R ¿QG PXVLF WR SOD\ WKURXJK \RXU (FKR RSHQ WKH $OH[D PRELOH DSS ZKLFK youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve already downloaded and used to set up your device). Tap on the KDPEXUJHU LFRQ WKH WKUHH KRUL]RQWDO OLQHV DQG VHOHFW ³0XVLF 9LGHR %RRNV ´ Tap on the music service you wish to access. ,I WKLV LV WKH ¿UVW WLPH \RX¶UH WU\LQJ WR DFFHVV D VHUYLFH WKURXJK $OH[D WKH DSS DVNV \RX WR OLQN \RXU $PD]RQ DFFRXQW ZLWK WKH PXVLF VHUYLFH²LQ WKLV FDVH iHeartRadio. /RJ LQWR \RXU DFFRXQW WR OLQN LW WR WKH $OH[D DSS 7KHQ UHWXUQ WR WKH DSS You can then drill down to the various types of music or stations offered by the VHUYLFH WR VHH ZKDW¶V DYDLODEOH ,I \RX ¿QG D SLHFH RI PXVLF SRGFDVW RU UDGLR station that you want to hear through your Alexa device, tap to play it through \RXU GHYLFH RU DVN $OH[D WR SOD\ LW ³$OH[D SOD\ L+HDUW5DGLR´ STREAM FROM YOUR PHONE VIA BLUETOOTH 3RVLWLRQ \RXUVHOI DQG \RXU PRELOH GHYLFH QHDU \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH DQG VD\ ³$OH[D SDLU ´ <RXU $OH[D GHYLFH JRHV LQWR SDLULQJ PRGH 2Q \RXU PRELOH GHYLFH RSHQ WKH %OXHWRRWK VHWWLQJV VFUHHQ :DLW IRU \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH WR VKRZ XS LQ WKH OLVW of devices with which to pair. After it appears, tap on the name of your Alexa device.
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Your mobile phone or tablet should then pair with and connect to your Alexa device. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see your Alexa device listed as connected. Alexa also announces the connection with your phone or tablet. You can also connect via the Alexa app. Tap the hamburger icon and select Settings. Tap on the name of your Alexa device. 7DS RQ %OXHWRRWK Tap on Pair a New Device. 2SHQ %OXHWRRWK RQ \RXU SKRQH RU WDEOHW :DLW IRU \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH WR DSSHDU and then tap on it to pair it with your phone or tablet. Now you can open the Music app or any other audio app on your mobile device DQG WDS D WXQH D SRGFDVW DQ DXGLR ERRN RU DQRWKHU DXGLR LWHP WR SOD\ <RX should hear it through your Alexa device. You can then control the volume, the FXUUHQW WUDFN DQG RWKHU DXGLR LWHPV E\ XVLQJ \RXU PRELOH GHYLFH RU E\ WDONLQJ to Alexa. 7R GLVFRQQHFW \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH IURP \RXU PRELOH GHYLFH VD\ ³$OH[D GLVFRQQHFW IURP >QDPH RI GHYLFH@ ´ $OH[D UHVSRQGV ³1RZ GLVFRQQHFWHG IURP >QDPH RI GHYLFH@ ´ 7R UHFRQQHFW VD\ ³$OH[D FRQQHFW WR >QDPH RI GHYLFH@ ´ $OH[D UHVSRQGV ³6HDUFKLQJ 1RZ FRQQHFWHG WR >QDPH RI GHYLFH@ ´ $PD]RQ RXWOLQHV ZKLFK (FKR GHYLFHV VXSSRUW %OXHWRRWK PXVLF DQG PHGLD streaming here. STREAM FROM A COMPUTER 2ND\ QRZ \RX ZDQW WR VWUHDP PXVLF IURP \RXU FRPSXWHU WR \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH /HW¶V XVH D :LQGRZV FRPSXWHU DV DQ H[DPSOH 2SHQ \RXU EURZVHU DQG VXUI WR \RXU $PD]RQ $OH[D SDJH 6LJQ LQ ZLWK \RXU $PD]RQ DFFRXQW DQG FOLFN RQ Settings. &OLFN RQ WKH QDPH RI \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH 6HOHFW %OXHWRRWK DQG FOLFN RQ 3DLU D 1HZ 'HYLFH WorldMags.net
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1RZ RSHQ WKH :LQGRZV 6HWWLQJV VFUHHQ &OLFN RQ Devices.
&OLFN RQ %OXHWRRWK RWKHU GHYLFHV LI LW¶V QRW DOUHDG\ VHOHFWHG &OLFN RQ $GG %OXHWRRWK RU RWKHU GHYLFH :DLW IRU \RXU $OH[D GHYLFH WR SRS XS DQG EH SDLUHG &OLFN RQ the name of the device to connect it to your PC. You should then see your Alexa device listed as connected, as Alexa also announces the connection. Now you can play music from iTunes, Windows Media Player, or any other audio program and hear the sound piped through your Alexa device. UPLOAD YOUR MUSIC TO AMAZON MUSIC If you have tunes stored in iTunes, Windows, or elsewhere, you can upload your own albums to Amazon Music and listen to them through your Echo or other Amazon device. A Prime subscription provides free access to 2 million $PD]RQ 0XVLF VRQJV SOXV D QXPEHU RI RWKHU EHQH¿WV If 2 million is not enough, you can jump up to 10 million songs with Amazon Music Unlimited. Prime members can upgrade for $7.99 a month or $79 per year for a family plan across multiple devices, or $3.99 a month for one person on a single Alexa device.
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A Prime subscription provides free access to 2 million Amazon Music songs, plus other benefits.
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To upload your own music, download and install the Amazon Music app on your computer if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t DOUHDG\ KDYH LW 2SHQ LW DQG FOLFN ³0\ 0XVLF ´ &OLFN RQ WKH EXWWRQ WR ³8SORDG 6HOHFW 0XVLF ´
$ ZLQGRZ SRSV XS WR DVN LI \RX ZDQW WR XSORDG VSHFL¿F VRQJV RU LQ EXON /HW¶V WU\ RQH DOEXP VR FOLFN WKH EXWWRQ WR ³6HOHFW IROGHU ´ From the music library on your computer, drill down DQG VHOHFW WKH DOEXP \RX ZDQW WR XSORDG &OLFN 2. The album is then uploaded to Amazon Music. $IWHU WKH DOEXP KDV VXFFHVVIXOO\ XSORDGHG FOLFN 2. <RX FDQ QRZ DVN $OH[D WR SOD\ RQH RI WKH DOEXPV \RX just uploaded, and you should hear it on your Alexa GHYLFH %\ GHIDXOW \RX FDQ RQO\ XSORDG VRQJV WR \RXU $PD]RQ 0XVLF OLEUDU\ %XW LI \RX VKHOO RXW a year to upgrade your Amazon Music storage plan, you FDQ LPSRUW XS WR VRQJV WR \RXU OLEUDU\
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If you shell out $24.99 a year to upgrade your Amazon Music storage plan, you can import up to 250,000 songs.
TIPS & HOW TOS WorldMags.net HOW TO
How to Secure Your Kid’s iPhone BY ERIC GRIFFITH
P
arental controls are a real boon for those looking to protect kids from online scariness—or to take control over how kids use the internet and their devices, from the home PC to tablets and smartphones.
You can install third-party parental control apps, which will handle your family’s full suite of desktop and mobile devices. But what if you’re not into paying extra? There are tools across the various operating systems to make it easier, but they can be hard to implement in a techno-blended family of Macs, Androids, iPhones, and Windows PCs. WorldMags.net
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%XW LI \RXÂśUH DQ $SSOH IDPLO\ \RX PD\ ÂżQG WKHUH DUH ZD\V WR PDNH WKLQJ VDIHU without any add-ons. Apple built a lot of tools and features into iOS that can help a beleaguered parental unit get through the day with fewer worries. Nothing beats a frank, face-to-face talk with kids about what is good for them online and what isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. But when that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how you can lock down their iPhones for your peace of mind. This article assumes that youâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as the parent or guardianâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;have full access to your kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; iOS devices, enough so that you can physically access them and set up limitations on what the phone can or cannot do. Instructions are for iOS 10+. PASSCODE CONUNDRUMS 7KH ÂżUVW DFWLRQ \RX JHQHUDOO\ VKRXOG SHUIRUP ZKHQ \RXU NLG JHWV WKHLU RZQ L26 based device is create an Apple ID just for them. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier than sharing yours; the trick is to restrict them from doing too much (thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the next section). Then to secure the iOS devices at the most basic level, give the device a passcode. Older iOS devices used 4-digit passcodes, like the personal LGHQWLÂżFDWLRQ QXPEHU 3,1 \RX XVH DW WKH $70 PDFKLQH $V RI L26 WKH default changed to a six-digit passcode, which is literally 100 times harder to crack, though you can still stick with four digits. There are even stronger optionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a custom numeric code, or a custom alphanumeric code with a combination of letters and numbers and even special characters (but not emoji).
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Now, don’t get crazy. While longer is stronger, it’s not always better. Especially in this case, because both you and your child must remember the passcode. Long and wicked complicated is okay if the kid’s a polymath with eidetic memory, not so much for those who can’t remember to take a shower in the morning or put on pants (that goes for parents as well). The balance to strike is a passcode easy for you both to remember but impossible for others to guess. It also should be a code that is easy to type in, because they’ll have to do it every time they access the iOS device if Touch ID is turned off or if the phone is rebooted or locked for 48+ hours. Then you’ll need to enter your passcode even if Touch ID is activated.
The ultimate option for super-strong access rights is to turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) on the Apple ID associated with the device. This can get a little tricky if you share the Apple ID among multiple people (your kid can’t log in until you get a special code that’s sent to your iPhone or iPad, for example). If you use Family Sharing, where everyone gets an Apple ID, 2FA isn’t even an option for kids under 13—probably because Apple is afraid they couldn’t handle the extra log-in. If everyone in the family forgets the passcode and can’t get access, the only recourse is to erase the iPhone and restore it from a backup or set it up as a new device. Try to avoid that. SET SOME RESTRICTIONS On the kid’s iPhone, go to Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions. Set up a Restrictions passcode (it’s different from the sign-in passcode—it can only be 4 digits) so that only you can bypass the restrictions you’re about to set. WorldMags.net
The first action you should perform when your kid gets an iOS-based device is create an Apple ID just for them.
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Don’t forget it—again, if you can’t remember the passcode but have to change something, the only way to go back is to erase the iPhone and set it up as a new device. If you restore it from a backup made after you set up the restrictions, you just restore the code you can’t remember. (That said, erasing the iPhone is also how a kid can get by your pre-set restrictions. It’s not a foolproof scheme.) Next, restrict use of individual apps (blocking use of Safari, Camera, Siri, FaceTime, iTunes Store, making in-app purchases, and more); content type (for movies, TV shows, books, apps, passwords, even by rating); and settings changes (so they can’t change mail, calendars, cellular data use, or even the phone’s volume); and take control of privacy settings. This can literally hide things from the iPhone home screen—restrict Safari and they won’t even see its icon. You can even prevent the deletion of apps—which is handy and necessary to have when you’ve got third-party parental controls installed.
Preventing app installation and app/in-app purchases is of paramount importance not only for kid safety but also for the parental pocketbook. Unauthorized purchases can happen in iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store and can get crazy expensive, especially inside games. The good news: It’s as easy as toggling them off in the Restrictions. When you fear your smart-aleck progeny can get around your purchasing restrictions, the ultimate trick is to take out a method of paying for apps in Settings > iTunes & App Store > select your Apple ID > View Apple ID > Payment Information. Select None as your payment option. But it’s easier to just force them to ask before purchases go through via Family Sharing. WorldMags.net
Unauthorized purchases can happen in iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store and can get crazy expensive.
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FAMILY SHARING FOR SECURITY When you do have a family of macOS and iOS users (and even iCloud users on Windows), the Family Sharing option makes it easy to share things between up to six users—each user gets their own account, but all the books, music, TV shows, and apps purchased on one account get shared with all the rest, as do things such as calendar entries and family photos. Setup is simple: Go to Settings > [Your Name at top] > Set Up Family Sharing > Get Started. (On a Mac, go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Set Up Family.) One person in the family must be designated “family organizer.” I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest it be a parent or guardian. That person agrees to be the conduit for all purchases, in that their credit card gets used for all the buying. New items appear on each family member’s iPhone in the Purchased tab of apps such as iTunes, iBooks, and App Store—pick the tab, then pick collection under that family member’s name. You can hide your individually purchased books and music, but that option can be set up only from a Mac using iTunes or iBooks on the desktop. To hide apps from others in your Family Sharing, use the App Store app, go into Updates > Purchased > My Purchases, swipe left on a purchased app listing and tap Hide. To unhide it, go back to iTunes on the desktop. You can’t hide any purchases from the family organizer, who sees all, hears all, knows all.
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For music, note the above options cover only individually purchased music in iTunes; if you subscribe to Apple Music and wish to share it, that requires an $SSOH 0XVLF IDPLO\ PHPEHUVKLS IRU ²DQG WR VKDUH \RX QHHG )DPLO\ 6KDULQJ 7KHUH LV D GD\ IUHH WULDO DYDLODEOH Family Sharing also features an option for sharing your location with family members. That means if you launch the Find My Friends appâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;accessible on iOS devices and on the desktop via iCloud.comâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you can see where the kids (and the parents) are in real time. (Apple says it stores the location data only for several hours before deleting it). If a child in your Family Sharing plan loses their phone, the device will appear in the Find My iPhone appâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;turn on the Send Last Location option to make sure the phone, assuming itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online, sends that info just before the battery dies. Family members can not only choose which other members to share a location with but can also turn this feature on or off as desired by going into Settings > [Your Name at top] > iCloud > Share My Location. The exception is a kid whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone you set upâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you just have to set up Find My Friends on the kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iPhone ¿UVW WKHQ JR LQWR 6HWWLQJV ! *HQHUDO ! 5HVWULFWLRQV ! (QDEOH 5HVWULFWLRQV HQWHU the passcode, tap Share My Location, then tap Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Allow Changes. If you have a kid who turns it off because you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t restrict, you can probably VWLOO FKHFN WR VHH LI WKH L3KRQH LV RIÃ&#x20AC;LQH RU RQOLQH²RU SXW LW LQ /RVW 0RGH²XVLQJ Find My iPhone.
LOST PHONE If someone in your Family Sharing plan loses their phone, it will appear in the Find My iPhone appâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;turn on the Send Last Location option to make sure the phone, assuming itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online, sends that info just before the battery dies.
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By the way, if you have a child in your Family Sharing who’s listed as being under age 13, they’re almost impossible to take out. The options: Wait for them to turn 13, call Apple, transfer the kid to another family share, or disband the entire Family Sharing you’ve set up to make a new one, sans that child.
WORRYING ABOUT PRIVACY If you were really, truly worried about your kids’ privacy, you probably wouldn’t let them online at all, let alone give their access over entirely to one corporate conglomerate for all your device needs. Regardless, here are some things you can do on your children’s iOS devices to—in theory—give Big Brother a little less oversight. The downside to any of these options is they limit how much oversight you, the parent, can have over your kids. Parental controls tend to be about negating kids’ privacy, after all, except the parents are the Big Brothers in that case.
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If you were truly worried about your kids’ privacy, you probably wouldn’t let them online at all.
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Siri Can Hear You: Turn off Siri’s active listening—the feature that makes it
more like Amazon’s Echo devices, always eavesdropping for activation words so it can audibly interact. While there is no evidence that anyone is doing anything nefarious—like listening and recording everything within earshot, whether you say “Hey Siri” or not—you can turn it off rather than take the chance. Toggle it at Settings > Siri > Allow “Hey Siri.” Siri can still be activated by holding down the Home button; that can also be deactivated entirely on the same screen. Location, Location, Location: Location awareness, however, is one of those
things that gets a little overdone by the various apps you use. It makes sense for apps like Waze or Google Maps to know your location, maybe even social media for check-ins, but do cable channel apps or image-editor apps, among others, really need to know? Probably not. Does Uber need to know your location when \RX¶UH QRW ORRNLQJ IRU D ULGH" 'H¿QLWHO\ QRW Go into Settings > Privacy > Location Services and specify which apps get to know where your kids are, and whether it’s a constant, or just when the app is in use. If an app is actively using location when you’re not in the app—say Google Maps is still feeding you directions—a blue bar on the top of the screen should appear to say “Google Maps is Actively Using Your Location.” Limit any app that abuses its location-using time. Go deeper (Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations) to clear a kid’s recorded location history—or check on the kid’s most frequently visited spots, which they could have been hiding from you by not sharing their location in Find My Friends. You can turn off Location Services entirely, but as noted, even on a kid’s phone that’s cutting off his or her cute button-nose to spite their freckled faces. Browser History: This is the classic privacy issue all users of any age should
know: Clear your browser history to prevent snoops from knowing where you went. For the built-in Safari browser, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Then again, don’t share that with your kids if you want to check it yourself to see what they’ve surfed. (For that, click Advanced on the same page for a list of sites visited.) WorldMags.net
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When you’re in the Safari settings for your kid’s iPhone, change the search engine to DuckDuckGo (the only one that doesn’t track them), turn on Block Pop-ups and Do Not Track, and block any cookies not from the current website being visited. You may also want to download an ad-blocker app such as 1Blocker or Crystal Adblock from the App Store; this is where you activate the blocker.
Whack the Widgets: These little info dumps offered
by select apps can throw all sorts of information up on the screen—info that other people can access without even unlocking the phone. Apple calls it Today’s View. On that screen (swipe the home screen right to access), scroll to the bottom, click Edit, and tap the minus button in a red circle to prevent select widgets from showing on the lock screen. Or you can kill Today’s View entirely by going to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode and scrolling down to “Allow Access When Locked.” There, you can turn off Today’s View and other items that should require full unlocking, like Siri, Wallet, and even the ability to reply to Messages.
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When you’re in the Safari settings for your kid’s iPhone, change the search engine to DuckDuckGo.
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Nix the Notifications: /RRNLQJ DW QRWLÂżFDWLRQV RQ DQ
iPhone lock screen is second natureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not only for you and your brood, but also the people looking over your VKRXOGHU *R LQWR 6HWWLQJV ! 1RWLÂżFDWLRQV RQ \RXU NLGÂśV phone and on an app-by-app basis, you can specify ZKHWKHU DQ\ QRWLÂżFDWLRQV DUH GLVSOD\HG RQ WKH ORFN VFUHHQ LQ WKH 1RWLÂżFDWLRQ FHQWHU RU DW DOO Get a VPN: To learn about virtual private networks,
read â&#x20AC;&#x153;Privacy 101: Why You Need a VPNâ&#x20AC;? at PCMag. com. Realize that you and your kids need a VPN service not only on your PCs but also on your smartphones, to stay secure. Yes, this is third-party software that will cost you moneyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but this is important. Every single one of our Best VPN Services supports iOS. Pick one, pay for it, set it up on multiple PCs and tablets and phones, and just luxuriate in all that protection. Forego FingerPrint: 7KH 7RXFK ,' ÂżQJHUSULQW VFDQQHU
is super convenient, for sureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve set up ÂżQJHUSULQW DFFHVV RQ D NLGÂśV SKRQH PDNH VXUH \RX WKH parent or guardian, also have a print or two stored on the device to unlock it.
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Realize that you and your kids need a VPN service not only on your PCs but also on your smartphones.
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That said: U.S. courts have stated that law enforcement can force anyone to XQORFN SKRQHV XVLQJ ¿QJHUSULQWV DQG NLGV KDYH IHZHU ULJKWV WKDQ DGXOWV ²EXW they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t force access if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only a passcode. Other rules may also be stipulated by your school system. How you feel about the law may inform your parental approach, but if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want kids incriminating themselves before the lawyers can be called, consider turning off Touch ID. Do it at Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Phone Unlock. NUKE IT If you do forget the passcodes (for sign-in or to access Restrictions) and thus have to erase the iPhone or iPad to get back full access, you have two options. 7KH ¿UVW UHTXLUHV D FRPSXWHU ZLWK L7XQHV RQ LW HYHQ LI \RX¶YH QHYHU SHUIRUPHG an old-school iTunes sync before. Connect it to the Windows or Mac PC, open iTunes, and do a force restartâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;simultaneously press and hold the Sleep/Wake on the side and Home buttons until you pass the Apple logoâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t release until you see the recovery mode screen. Choose the Restore option on the PC screen, and iTunes will download and reinstall iOS. The second, easier option is to use iCloudâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but this works only when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve set XS )LQG 0\ L3KRQH RQ WKH SKRQH /RJ LQWR L&ORXG FRP ¿QG VLJQ LQ ZLWK WKH $SSOH ,' XVHG RQ WKH SKRQH ¿QG WKH ULJKW L'HYLFH DQG QXNH LW UHPRWHO\ 7KH phone will have to be on a Wi-Fi or cellular network for this to work, but at least itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one remote-control option in the arsenal. (Consider this the nuclear option for a remote child who you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to work within your parental restrictions.) 7KH ¿QDO QXNH LV ZKHQ WKH NLG¶V L3KRQH LV ORVW RU VWROHQ $VVXPLQJ \RX¶YH implemented the bare minimum of securityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a good passcodeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you can set up WKH (UDVH 'DWD IHDWXUH <RX¶OO ¿QG LW LQ 6HWWLQJV ! 7RXFK ,' 3DVVFRGH DW WKH bottom. With a single toggle, you ensure that if someone wants the data on the phone, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d best know the passcode, because after 10 failed attempts, the SKRQH¶V FRQWHQW JHWV REOLWHUDWHG²DOO WKH GDWD JRQH 7KDW PD\ EH WKH ¿QDO JRDO of many thieves anyway, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nice to have in place if someone with more nefarious, personal reasons gets hold of it. Thankfully, you were smart enough to make a backup of the kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iPhone before that, so restoring it when you get a shiny new phone should be easy.
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JOHN C. DVORAK
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ince 2016, the U.K. has required pet owners to microchip their dogs within HLJKW ZHHNV RU IDFH D Â&#x2026; ¿QH $ VPDOO 5),' FKLS LV LPSODQWHG MXVW EHORZ WKH SXS¶V VNLQ VR LI D ORVW GRJ LV IRXQG ZDQGHULQJ LW FDQ EH HDVLO\ reunited with its owner.
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7KH OLWWOH GHYLFH FRXOG HYHQWXDOO\ FRQWDLQ \RXU FUHGLW FDUGV GULYHU¶V OLFHQVH SDVVSRUW PD\EH HYHQ \RXU PHGLFDO UHFRUGV :KDW LV QHYHU GLVFXVVHG LV WKH SRVVLELOLW\ RI EHLQJ PXJJHG DQG KDYLQJ WKH GHYLFH IRUFLEO\ UHPRYHG IURP \RXU KDQG DQG XVHG WR EX\ D ORW RI VWXII EHIRUH LW¶V UHSRUWHG PLVVLQJ DQG GLVDEOHG ,W¶V D JUXHVRPH SURVSHFW $QG ZKDW DERXW PDOIXQFWLRQLQJ GHYLFHV WKDW LQMXUH WKRVH ZKR KDYH WKHP LQMHFWHG"
@ THErealDVORAK
, DP QRW VXUH KRZ VPDOO WKHVH GHYLFHV FDQ JHW EXW LI DQ\RQH FDQ SRSXODUL]H VRPHWKLQJ OLNH WKLV LW¶V $SSOH 7KH FRPSDQ\ FRXOG HDVLO\ FRQYLQFH SHRSOH LW LV FRRO WR KDYH WKLV QH[W JHQ $SSOH ,' RU DV ZH FDOOHG LW RQ WKH ³1R $JHQGD´ SRGFDVW WKH L&KLS $SSOH¶V QH[W ELJ LQ VWRUH HYHQW FRXOG EH D PLFURFKLSSLQJ JDWKHULQJ 8VH RQH WR XQORFN WKH L3KRQH RU DQ\ RWKHU $SSOH SURGXFW \RX RZQ 1R PRUH IXPEOLQJ IRU \RXU SKRQH WR XVH $SSOH 3D\ $PD]LQJ ULJKW" , WKLQN ,¶OO SDVV
john_dvorak@pcmag.com
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