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Want to get a jump-start on your New Year's resolutions? Or maybe you want to help a friend or family member do so? What about just providing them with more incentive to stay active? Or, you know, they could already have an activity tracker that is getting a bit long in the tooth. Now's a good time to jump on the Fitbit bandwagon as there are deals for different models all over the web.I've been wearing Fitbits for almost 4 years now, so I am a bit partial toward the brand. I love the social aspect, I love gamifying activities by just trying to surpass my own performance each time, and I love using it to entice myself to move a little bit more than I would have each day. I've already reviewed the Blaze and Charge 2 if you want to check those out for a more informed opinion, and my Flex 2 review should be out next week.Back to the deals now. You'll find a lot of them on Fitbit's own store, but the better discounts are on Amazon.
Want a cheap tablet to keep around the house, let the kids play with, maybe browse some sites on, play a few non-resource intense games, and generally use sporadically for small tasks? Amazon's Fire tablet should definitely be on top of your list. It comes in a couple of variants: the Fire Tablet 7 is the cheapest with a 7" 1024x600 display and a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor with 8 or 16GB of storage, whereas the Fire HD 8 has an 8" 1280x800 display and keeps the same processor but ups the storage to 16 or 32GB. There's also a Kids Edition of the Fire Tablet 7 that comes with a kid-proof case to protect it from damage.All of these tablets are on sale on Amazon now, making their prices even more seductive if you ask me. The Fire Tablet 7 is down $16.66 in all of its iterations, whereas the Fire HD 8 is shedding more of its price at $30 less. The Kids Edition is down $25. Here's the rundown:
Games are a little more complicated to review than apps. Maybe the story and premise are intriguing and engulfing, but the controls are horrible. Or maybe the graphics are gorgeous, but the gameplay is terribly bad. What rating do you give? You might err toward an average rating, but wouldn't it be better if there was an easy way to specify which aspects were good and which were disappointing, for the benefit of the devs as well as other users?
If I was going to spend about $600 on a phone, I wouldn't put it down on a Sony device. Don't get me wrong, I love the company, but I don't think its prices for the past year or so have been realistic and I would fear the huge loss in resale value. But that's just me. If you like Sony, this deal should be right up your alley.The unlocked Sony Xperia XZ with a US warranty is down to $580-$600 on Amazon. When it was first released, the XZ was priced at $699.99, but we saw its price drop to $649.99 in October. Now it's down another $50-$70, depending on color:
Few LG devices are lucky enough to get an official bootloader unlock method, so it's always worthy of a mention when a new phone gets supported on LG's bootloader unlock tool. We've seen the G4 and G5 for the EU open market, the V10 for Europe except France, and this is the first time a device from North America makes it onto the list.
One thing we're all thankful for as geeks is the multitude of deals on phones, gadgets, accessories, and general nerdy stuff. And we're even more thankful when said deal is on a piece of technology that benefits all the other pieces of technology in our possession, like the router.If you want to upgrade your router setup at home, you can grab an ASUS OnHub or TP-Link router from Amazon today for a significantly discounted price. Both are 38% off, which brings their price down about $75. The ASUS goes from $199.99 to $123.99 and the TP-Link goes from $199.99 to $124.89. This is the best deal we've seen on both routers; previously, the ASUS was down to $130 once and the TP-Link never went lower than $179.87.For this discounted price, you get a dual-band AC1900 router, an impressive antenna array for optimal performance, and compatibility with Google's On app which lets you prioritize devices, set up guest access, and manage the different aspects of your OnHub experience. Even better, these routers will work with Google Wifi's mesh network so they will stay relevant if you decide to move to a multi-router Google Wifi setup.Shipping is free on Amazon, but you may need to be a little patient as deliveries might take a bit more time now that the holidays are in full swing. Purchase links can be found at the source below.Source: ASUS OnHub, TP-Link OnHub
Amazon's Echo success took me a little by surprise. It seemed like we went overnight from questioning the idea of a voice assistant in a speaker to almost everyone owning an Echo and companies rushing to add Alexa support for their services and products. Part of what seemed like a quick success is due to the Echo Dot, the smaller cheaper version that you can sprinkle around the house in places where you don't care about excellent sound quality.The second generation Echo Dot builds on that. Unlike the first one, you can order it directly from Amazon without having to use another Echo. It also has better voice recognition and it's cheaper at $49.99. At that price, it isn't hard to imagine grabbing one for the kitchen, a couple of rooms, and maybe even the hallway, especially because thanks to Echo Spatial Perception (ESP), different Echo devices will work together to only answer from the one nearest to the voice issuing the command.I've had one Echo Dot for more than a month now and I've been able to test it out through different scenarios. The short answer is that I'm impressed and I think it's easily the cheapest way to get into voice-controlled assistance. But before I get on with this review, I feel like I should point out a couple of things. One, I don't have a Google Home device yet (I'm getting one soon), so I can't compare the two just yet. Two, I don't have several Echo devices, so I couldn't test the ESP or see how they work together in a multi-room setup. Three, I'm using the Echo Dot in Lebanon, but it's only available officially in the US, UK, and Germany, so a couple of features didn't work as expected. They're pretty minor, though.And four, yes, I know this is an always-listening device and there are lots of privacy concerns about this kind of technology. I don't have an answer or excuse for that. I guess you either decide the convenience is more important to you than the small risk of potential misuse, or you don't. That's your choice and I'm not about to try to convince you of my point of view.
Saving and sharing video clips should be one of the rudimentary features of any connected camera system, so I'm surprised Nest didn't have that option until now. But now it does and it works in two ways. You can create an "instaclip" of any recorded event in your Nest timeline, but you can also tap and hold on the icon to make a custom clip with your chosen start and end times. After the clip is generated, you'll have the choice of either saving it locally to your device or sharing it with your contacts.That's one of the two major features added with the latest Nest app update. The second is Android TV support to allow you to view your Nest Cam feeds from the TV without having to pull up your phone. There are a few other small changes and additions that you can read about in the changelog below.
The first and last time I attempted to solve a crossword was on a 12-hour flight from Amman to Chicago where I just couldn't sleep or do anything else. I love word and math games, but for some reason, crosswords never really hit the right spot for me, so I just gloss over them when I come across one. But I know a lot of people who absolutely dig crosswords. And for them, the New York Times is the epitome of puzzles.
For more than a year, I have been using Enpass to save my passwords and other personal information, and absolutely loving it. I know there are alternatives, but for more reasons than I can count, Enpass is the best for me. If you're an Enpass user as well, there's probably one piece of the puzzle that you've been missing: Chromebook support. The existing Enpass Chrome extension only works if you are on a desktop computer with the Enpass app installed, so it's of no use on Chrome OS. But ever since Google announced Android apps would be able to run on Chrome OS, the Enpass dev has been hard at work making his app compatible with the platform. And now it's here.
CyanogenMod 14.1 nightlies have been rolling out for more than a week now and bringing Android 7.1 to several devices including Nexuses and other phones and tablets that don't have the official update yet and likely won't for many more months.
It's always a happy day when one of Google Play's entities rolls out to new countries because it means more users will be able to benefit from the entertainment options that were available to others before them. But it's especially a happier day when one of said countries is Lebanon, because I live there and because we're usually one of the last countries to get anything from Google.
Most of my Todoist tasks are pharmacy orders that don't have a due date but that I attend to whenever suppliers call or drop by. However, I also use the service to stay on top of urgent orders and patient questions that I need to address as well as to manage my personal to-dos. The latter are the tasks that end up getting rescheduled day after day until I'm either bored and I remove the due date or I'm so sick of seeing them pop up that I decide to get them done.
There are tiles with more detailed information for each measured metric, better information density on the screen, an option to customize the tile order, a new bottom row to quickly jump to the challenges, friends, and account tabs, a FAB to manually log anything in the app, a new account page, and an option in the settings to revert between the new and old dashboard.
The Pixel smartphones' new partition system and boot images have been a hot mess for developers and tinkerers who like to push their devices beyond the specs written on the shipping box. But even though this has slowed down the release of custom recoveries and other mods, it hasn't completely stopped our beloved enterprising developers who probably thought of the whole situation as a nice challenge instead of an unsurmountable obstacle.
Ever since Google+'s web interface was revamped, one function has been absent from the new redesign: image drag-and-drop. This meant that you had to click on the image picker, browse through a file system, then choose the image you want to insert into a new post or a comment. It's especially counter-productive when you're already flipping through your images and you think you've found one that you want to share on G+.
Of the several launch partners announced for Google's Daydream VR platform, a few caught the spotlight because of their cinematic promise. So far, we've had YouTube VR launch with limited content and Google Play Movies & TV just hint at upcoming Daydream support, but we were still waiting for the more exciting services: Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and Jaunt. One of these has added support today and it's Hulu.
Another week, another couple of apps you can grab for next to free from the Play Store and this time we're talking about edjing PRO and Rayman Jungle Run.
WhatsApp video calls started showing up for some users last month, but you either had them enabled on your device or you had to use root to trigger them. Otherwise, you couldn't do anything but wait until the feature went official. And now is the time.
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- It didn't take long for Music Unlimited to reach the UK. It's now available to Amazon users across the pond in the same plan structure: £9.99/month for non Prime users, £7.99/month (£79/year) for Prime subscribers, and £3.99/month for the Echo-only plan. The family plan is still said to be coming soon.
Confused about all the paid Amazon subscriptions? Well, join the club. The way I understand it, there's Amazon Prime that gives you plenty of perks and its little brother, Prime Video, that only lets you access movies and TV series. But you can also get more reading and audiobook material through Kindle Unlimited and now you'll be able to add Music Unlimited to the list.Whereas Amazon Prime members already had access to Prime Music with a selection of more than 2 million songs, Music Unlimited opens up the catalogue to tens of millions of songs and curated playlists. The monthly subscription costs $9.99 for regular users, but Prime members will be able to take that down to $7.99/month or $79/year. And if you just want to play music on one Echo device (Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Tap), you can choose to only pay $3.99/month.Music Unlimited subscribers will benefit from dozens of smart new Alexa commands like playing a song based on some lyrics that you know, playing music adapted to your taste but for a specific mood, and so on. Amazon has also worked to offer curated playlists, a song of the day, Side-by-Sides for song commentary, and more. And the Android app has been updated to add a "Home" tab with trending and popular music and recommendations by Amazon's Music editors.Music Unlimited seems to only be available in the US currently, but it's said to be coming to the UK, Germany, and Austria later this year. A family plan for up to 6 members will roll out this year too and it'll cost $14.99/month or $149/year.