#yes I still have an iPhone 8 plus which works great even though it was two years old when I bought it

[noxcaelestia]

Tumblr is sooooo disrespectful to my phone omggg

The battery drain, the lag…aaaaaaa

[kishillaa]

SSM21 Day 24: Fairytale

"I really don't think I should go, Ino." Sakura, sprawling on her bed, before her was her revision book she more often than not study at when she's not busy running around the hospital for her seemingly never ending shift.

Ino is sitting on the chair of her study, wearing a camisole and short pants. Her baby blue eyes are thick with pleading emotion, "You don't have to be there long. Just until you have to go for your shift. You know I need you there. And plus, you have to go out once in a while. Till when are you planning to only stay indoor during your free time, which is rarely I might add."

"This isn't a fairytale for me to be leisurely go around and enjoy parties, Ino. I would really like the comfort of our home. My room." She said, gesturing to her room.

Ino crossed her hands over her chest and look pointedly at her bestfriend, "This isn't about a fairytale or not. You've gotta get out of this confined place once in a while. What comfort are you looking for over your books?"

Sakura push her book away a little and turn around to look at her bestfriend slash housemate. She and Ino has been bestfriends since kindergarten, while she pursue her study in medical school, Ino went on to take a major on psychology, and when she finished her study, she decided that modelling is her thing.

She's tried to be at every of her show for support but lately, she noticed that Ino has something up her sleeve. After her show that Sakura attend, she will introduce a fine young man and ditch her with him.

Sakura sighs, it might be a huge coincident that there's always a guy to introduce. Tonight though, she really couldn't go. She has a midnight shift, which started at 11. Ino's show starts at 8 and end around midnight. She has to prepare to work at least an hour prior so she could be there on time.

Mentally do the math, she thought maybe she can go home early, 9 something or 10 maybe. So she heaves another defeated sigh as Ino squeals, running towards her wardrobe to retrieve a dress for Sakura to wear.

3 hours later, Sakura found herself seated on a fancy chair facing the stage for a fashion show. It was a party like fashion show, where the show will be held during a formal dinner party.

Ino was flawless and beautiful as always, walking on the stage, styling her modelling dress and poses for pictures.

"That was great, Ino!" She exclaimed as her bestfriend approached her, "I don't understand why you were so nervous. You were perfect earlier, like you always did."

Ino giggles as she spoke, "Thanks, Sakura. But Mikoto Uchiha is my idol. To modelling her own collection she designed herself is an honor, and I was afraid I messed it up. You know how I am when I got nervous."

Sakura put her hand on Ino's shoulder in reassuring manner, "You worried for nothing, then."

Ino beamed at her, "You're the best! Anyway, I met this guy before I came here. His name is Sai and he asked if I want a drink. Do you mind if I–" She pause to smile sheepishly at her pink haired bestfriend.

Sakura rolls her eyes. Well, at least she isn't trying to hook her up with someone, "Alright, I need to head home soon, anyway."

Ino scoffs and shakes her pointing finger in Sakura's face, "Live up a little, will you? It's still early, why don't you court a few beautiful men here before you go back to that dreaded real life of yours. I'll suggest you live this great and amazing fairytale just for a moment." Ino walks away with one hand raises up for a goodbye.

Sakura lets out a snort at her bestfriend. "Fairytale my ass." She murmurs and glances at her wrist watch which she didn't often wear because of her job and decide that she'll kill a little of her time here before make her way home.

As she put the elegant cup on the tip of her mouth, her eyes caught a sight of a man, looking rather ravishingly good, standing, leaning against the wall, away from other people. His eyes train upon his iPhone, and as if sensing her eyeing him from afar, he lifts up his head and their eyes met.

Sakura feels like her breath stuck in her throat as she stares at that man's eyes himself, so devilishly handsome. She almost satisfy as his eyes moves to roam over her body – thank Ino for styling her in this pretty long dress that hug her body perfectly – and grateful that he looks up at her with a look that only meant he's interested.

Without further ado, Sakura place the glass in her hold on the table, rise herself up her seat and slowly, walk over his direction.

As she reaches him, she stopped a few steps away. Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Want a company?" And to that, ladies and gentlemen, Sakura hope the ground swallow her whole. What a lame thing to say for a good looking guy.

She almost stunt when the devil himself look amused before he nodded, "Sure."

Sakura grins up at him and move to stand beside him, leaning together against the wall as she cross her hands over her chest, "This kind of thing aren't really my forte." She told.

"That makes the two of us." She heard him mutters.

She looks at him, "Why come here then?"

"Mikoto is my mother."

Sakura's eyes almost bulged from its socket, "Mikoto? Like Mikoto Uchiha, the one hosting this party and designed those dresses?"

The guy, the handsome handsome guy lift up one eyebrow, "Yes. In fact, I wonder why you didn't recognise me yet."

Sakura chuckles lightly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Uchiha. But I don't know anything about you, or your mother, or your family. I heard my bestfriend talked about it, but never really care to know more. I came because she was one of your mother's model."

From her peripheral view, she saw him nodded, "I'm Sasuke, by the way." He said, as if detest the way she addressed him as Mr. Uchiha.

Sakura turns her body to face him, and pull out her hand, "Sakura. Sakura Haruno."

Her smiles, wide, bright and beautiful display before him and Sasuke couldn't help but hold her delicate hand in his, firmly shake it once, "It's a pleasure meeting you, Sasuke–kun." She was hesitant, as she add the honorific.

"The pleasure is all mine, Sakura."

Her name that roll out of his mouth molded through his tongue makes Sakura's heart skip a beat. Never has she ever heard her name sounded so sinfully good.

They didn't spoke after that, watching over people dancing through the ball room with the slow dance song. "You know," Sasuke heard Sakura spoke, gaining his attention to look over her, "I don't usually do this, but let's dance."

She thought he's going to decline her right away, but didn't startle when his hand is offered before her. Smiling up at him, Sakura slid her hand over his. He grips it with such gentleness and he leads them to the dance floor.

As they dance follow the tune of the song, he spoke. "You're not bad."

Sakura lets out a shy giggle and murmurs her thanks before she responded, "I was a cheerleader back in high school."

"I see."

"How about you? Do you do any sport?"

"I was in football team."

"That makes sense. What do you do now?"

He has the amused smile on his face that makes Sakura tilted her head to the side, "What?"

"You really don't know me."

"Should I?"

There is a light rise and fall of his shoulder, "I guess you don't really have to. My father own a law firm. I worked under him?"

"A lawyer then?"

A nod, "How about you?"

"Guess." She said, cheekily grins at him.

He do a once over at Sakura before he said, "A model."

That makes her snort, "Thank you for finding me that appealing. But no, I am not."

"A hint?"

"That will be too easy."

"Alright, I'll guess randomly. A teacher?"

A head shake from Sakura.

"Another lawyer?"

She chuckles, "I was interested in that when I was in school, but I found it too intense."

"A no then. I really think you'd make a nice model."

"I'm not really interested in those. I'm a residence in Konoha Hospital."

A surprise raised eyebrow, "A doctor. Surgeon?"

"Right." Sakura turn the hand that's over his neck to look at her watch. She sighs when it shows its a little over 10.

"In fact, I need to go now. My shift starts in an hour."

"Really?" That was definitely a disappointment in his tone.

Sakura let our a giggle and poke her finger on his chest, "I have a day off two days from now. Around seven in the evening at The Yakiniku?"

Sasuke lift an eyebrow teasingly, "Is it a date?"

"It's definitely a date. I need to go now. See you in two days." She pat a hand on his chest, and walk away.

That man, that beautiful, handsome and angelic face man, is probably the closest fairytale she has ever indulged herself in.

[nyerus]

🌸 Updates and FAQs for Watching the TGCF Donghua! 🌸

✴️First, check out my detailed guide HERE if you want to know how to subscribe to YouTube or Bilibili!

Please read through these if you have any questions first before sending in an ask, as it's probably answered here (or the previous guide)!!! If you don't see it here, or still have confusions afterwards, then feel free to send in an ask or DM me!

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✨Important Notes/Updates✨

Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch for free! No region locks, and you don’t even need to make an account. Free watchers will be one week behind paid members. But this is a legal and free way to support the donghua if you’re unable to pay! (This actually means that you’ll be able to see the episodes faster and for free on Bilibili than you would on YouTube, because YouTube has a two week delay instead of just one week.)

Funimation is broadcasting TGCF in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. These are some of the regions which are blocked by YouTube, so this is an available alternative for those who don’t want to go through Bilibili. They have also stated they will launch in Mexico and Brazil this winter.

ALL broadcasts are in Chinese with hard-coded/embedded English and Chinese subs. (I.e., they come with the broadcast itself, on top of the image. Nothing to toggle on/off, they are automatically there.) They are the exact same across all the platforms.

Please support official releases so that we can get more seasons, and high quality! This is still niche content, believe it or not!

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✨Frequntly Asked Questions✨

🔹GENERAL FAQs:🔹

1.) "Where is the best place to watch?"

I still reccomend Bilibili's native website/app over all other streaming platforms. This is due to some key points:

Bilibili's website/app gets the episode the very second they drop. There is no delay whatsoever. YouTube and Funimation have been delayed the last two weeks. It's unknown if this is just a hiccup or what, but if watching new episodes ASAP is important to you, going through Bilibili ensures you will not have to worry about any uncertainty.

Price breakdowns: Bilibili's website/app 3-month membership is $10-11 USD. Their YouTube channel's "MBBM Lv2" membership varies by region, but in many places is similar or just a tad more. In the US, the MBBM Lv2 membership and Funimation membership is the same price ($5.99 per month, or $17.97 for 3 months). So you can actually save some cash by going through Bilibili directly.

In the end, this is largely up to personal choice and comfort. Some people may find it difficult to navigate Bilibili's website even with guides and google translate's auto-translate feature. In this case, YouTube or Funimation are fine alternatives. If you also have an existing Funimation sub or plan to use it to watch other shows, then that's perfectly valid too. Similar with the MBBM lv2 sub on YouTube, especially if you want to use it to see other shows (e.g. Legend of Exorcism which is only English-subbed on YouTube).

2.) "Where do I watch for free?"

On Bilibili's website, you can watch episodes for free! You will be one episode behind paid members, but it's a legal way to support the donghua. You don't even need to create an account!

3.) "What episode will be airing when/where?"

Check out the table below for the differences in airing times. Time is 11AM China Time.*

NOTE: Funimation is technically supposed to be the same as Bilibili members/YouTube MBBM Lv2, but the last few episodes have been delayed so I have no clue.... *Additionally, YouTube's episodes have been delayed by a little bit, but they've aired the same day.

4.) "How can I support the donghua?"

Free, on YouTube: Subscribe to Bilibili's YouTube Channel, give likes to TGCF videos/clips, and leave nice comments!

Free, on Bilibili: Everyone can follow the official TGCF account and page, plus leave likes on videos. All this following stuff requires you to have passed the Bilibili quiz to unlock levels: If you are lv2+, you can leave comments and give coins to offical TGCF videos. (Log in daily to get 1 coin/day if you're lv1+!) If you are lv4+, leave a good 5-star review!

Paid: Buy subscriptions to watch the donghua! Also, merchhhhh~

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🔸YOUTUBE-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "What's the difference between Bilibili's YouTube Channel's MBBM Lv1 and Lv2 memberships?"

MBBM Lv2 allows you to watch the episodes on the same day as Bilibili's website broadcast.

MBBM Lv1 has new episodes delayed by one week, meaning you will be one episode behind the others. There actually is zero point in subscribing to MBBM Lv1 (unless you want to watch other subbed donghua) because you can watch the same content on Bilibili for absolutely free, since Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch TGCF one episode behind paid members.

You can also watch two episodes behind on YouTube.

2.) "If I have YouTube Premium/Red, do I still need a membership on Bilibili's YouTube page?"

Yes. YouTube premium is completely separate from the channel-specific memberships.

3.) "Are episodes simulcast on YouTube?"

While originally stated as being simulcast, there actually seems to be a bit of a delay on YouTube as of now. It's unclear if this will change with future episodes.

4.) "Do I need a VPN?"

If you are from one of the restricted countries, then yes, you'll need to use a VPN. You can still pay for the subscription as normal, and then use a VPN to watch the donghua. It will not affect payment.

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🔹BILIBILI-RELATED FAQs:🔹

1.) "Do I need to take that 100-question quiz to sign up for Bilibili or the membership?!"

No, it's totally optional! You do not need it to either watch the free episodes or to buy a membership. It's only if you want to comment and stuff. It might make you think you gotta do it, or enter a code, but it's actually not needed. Check out THIS post for more info!!! (However, you may still want to do it in order to level up and eventually leave a nice review for the donghua!)

2.) "I'm only able to watch 6min on Bilibili's website when I watch from my phone. Do I need the app?"

You do not need the app. Switch your browser to Desktop Mode in order to watch the video in full.

Be sure to download a browser like Google Chrome, Firefox, etc that supports this mode if your native browser doesn't allow for it.

3.) "Can I get the app on iPhone/iOS?"

This depends on if you are in a country where the app is not region locked in the app store. If you're able to download it that way, great! If not, try using a VPN and setting your region to mainland China. It may work. APKs are not useable on iPhones, so unless you know how to sideload apps onto your device, you may be stuck with the app store only.

Do note that you might be unable to pay for a Bilibili membership through the app, depending on version, but you can always simply pay through the website and then use the app as normal. It will apply account-wide on all devices.

4.) "Why are there two versions of the app?"

One seems to be the international version, which is more basic and lets you pay via GooglePay/ApplePay. The other one seems to be made for mainland China, and allows you to even buy merchandise through it (Chinese address/bank acc required). Mostly, both have to be downloaded via APK on Android. But some iOS users have reported different versions of the app being available for them through the app store (namely the int'l ver, and some have said they can use a VPN to get the mainland one).

5.) "Is there any benefit to having the app over just using the website?"

Not really, no. With the app you can buy very cute hualian themed skins for your profile, though (if you have the mainland version of the app). Plus you can save videos for offline viewing.

6.) "Do I need to enter my area code for Bilibili when signing up/in?"

NO, you do not enter your area code in the phone number field. Select your country from the drop-down list and it will automatically consider your area code. (E.g. if you're in America, select 美国 and enter in your number like 5557779999.)

7.) "I didn't get to set a password when signing up, so how do I log into my Bilibili account after being logged out?"

Use the same phone number you did to sign up. Instead of a password, you'll enter in a one-time key that is sent to your phone via text message. (NOTE: some people have reported not receiving these messages, which may vary by phone carrier!)

As mentioned above, don't include your area code when filling out your number.

Also, if you are signed in on the app on your phone, you can scan the QR code on the log-in page through the app.

8.) "How do I turn off the barrage comments filling up the video I'm watching?"

Select the little button that reads "弹" under the video:

(Website vs App)

9.) Is the Bilibili subscription auto-renewing?

No, the 1-month (¥25), 3-month (¥68), 1-year (¥168) subscriptions will not automatically renew. They are a one-time payment only!

Notice that the renewing payments all say "连续" in front of them, which means "continuing" or "successive" types of subscriptions. They are also cheaper than the one-time payment. (E.g. the renewing 3-month sub is ¥45 instead of ¥68.) Moreover, the renewing types are not even available to purchase with PayPal, afaik. You need Alipay or WeChat Pay, etc.

10.) "Can I use the app/membership to read the manhua too?"

Unfortunately, not quite! Your Bilibili account is universal, but you'll need to download the manhua app seperately and topping up M-coins to pay for the manhua. (One-time purchases, either by volume or by chapter as per your choice.)

11.) "What resolutions are available?"

You can watch up to 480p as a free member. Paid members can watch at 1080p and high-bit-rate 1080p. It's possible to chromecast it to TV, too. (I haven't tried it, but others have!)

12.) "Can I watch across multiple devices?"

Yes, you can!

13.) "Do I need a VPN?"

No, Bilibili is not region-locked. However, some particular countries may have Chinese apps blocked.... :(

14.) "I want to leave a comment/review. How do I level up on Bilibili?"

Log in daily, watch at least one video per day, give coins (attained by logging in) to your fave videos, etc! It will definitely take a while haha.

15.) "Will I be able to watch other donghua like MDZS or SVSSS with my membership on Bilibili?"

No, those two donghuas are produced by TenCent, not Bilibili. You will need either a TenCent/WeTV account, or you can watch them on their YouTube channel (free).

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🔸FUNIMATION-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "Is Funimation's broadcast a simulcast?"

It is supposed to be, according to their initial announcements. They seem to be having some technical difficulties, but those may be resolved soon. I suggest keeping an eye on their twitter for updates if you are interested in watching through them!

2.) "Do I have to pay extra on my Funimation sub to watch TGCF?"

No, afaik, the regular $5.99 sub covers TGCF too.

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I hope this helps out people further, so we can all have an easy time watching the donghua! And please do support it legally! 🙏

If you still need help, feel free to send in an ask!

[augustwash1]

Latest iPhone Phones Continue Getting Significantly Better

Users more than likely are in agreement with me personally that iPhone X design was among the very best, and that is exactly why Apple decided to keep the identical look for their next set of exclusive cell phones. Introduced a year ago, it's the very first Apple cellphone to take out the main button. In the other, I held its own brand-new successor, the Iphone Xs. My eyes squeezed shut, I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each phone above, feeling the curves, glass springs, dual lens camera bumps, and radar vents. I realized that I couldn't tell the difference between the two phones. This is not a criticism. It is just a simple fact of S version years, in which Apple locks at the iPhone design and concentrates, rather, on upgrading key internal parts. Therefore, the biggest changes to the 5.8-inches Iphone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max, each of which I analyzed, can be seen in functionality (thanks to this new A12 Bionic CPU), photographs and movies, (new digital cameras and a new ISP endorsed by the A12), along with functionality (iOS12, the last version of which came pre-applied in my test units). The outcome is a pair of fantastic, tasteful, and high-performing devices that will please iPhone enthusiasts and receive over a few glances out of Android smartphones. It still has the exact rigid surgical steel frame wrapped into a brand new glass material which Apple stated was devised to be scratch resistant and heavy duty. I gave the phones a couple half-hearted drops on a thin-pile rug but wasn't prepared to let them slide away . So far I have discovered just one very nice scrape on your iPhone Xs Max. So let us consider them scratch-resistant, however still not scratch-proof. The bigger iPhone Xs Max shares all the iPhone X's substance and layout attributes, but does this in a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch human anatomy. In 208 grams, it is substantially thicker than the Iphone Xs. The Xs Max is really a hair shorter (0.04 inches) and thinner (0.02 inches), however, it's also a couple of grams bulkier when compared to the Iphone 8 Plus, the big-screen telephone that from a space the Iphone Xs Max most looks like. Button positioning power/sleep, quantity controllers, ring/silent switch -- will be exactly the same. However, there is one minor chassis difference. At the bottom edge of the telephones sits the lightning connector. It's book-ended by means of a pair of drilled holes that accommodate one half of their stereo speaker program and among the telephone's microphones. There was six openings on either side. Now the ideal side includes six slotsbut the left, that just houses a microphone, has just three. This small change was done, in part, to adapt the new inner antenna configuration which includes 4x4 MIMO and License Assisted accessibility, which utilizes unlicensed 5 GHz range to provide 1 Gbps chip over LTE. Apple updated the water and also dust-resistance rating to IP 68, which translates to the handsets residing in 2 meters of water for up to half an hour. I did not get to go swimming with all the iPhone Xs or Xs Max, but didn't run the latter phone below normal water, juice and milk. Afterward, as advocated, I rinsed and dried off the smart phone. I was careful not to plug it back into a lighting cable (that is a no-no after a dowsing) but didn't put it on a wireless charging foundation at which it had no problem accepting a fee. Apple, incidentally, said it put some effort in making the wireless charging platform (basically the hidden coils within the phone) more forgiving. This is great news, since I have, on more than 1 occasion, woken up to find that my iPhone X did not charge because I placed it a modest off-axis about the charging base. I have never ran into that issue with the iPhone Xs or Xs Max. The Iphone Xs and iPhone Xs Max body frames are somewhat rigid and solid-feeling, but torqueable, particularly the bigger telephone, which actually creates a tiny clicking sound once I attempt to twist it. Apparently, I've just had those iPhones for a week, but based on a calendar year's experience with the original iPhone X (granted, mostly in a thin instance ), I consider this design framework tough and ready for the long run. Even now as Samsung follows Apple to the dense black cutout at the peak of this iPhone Xs and Xs Max, Apple shows no traces of going backwards in the multi-option technology, which neither grew nor slipped in the most recent iPhones. Just like the original TrueDepth Module, that one is still packed with all the exact components (none of that, as much as I can tell, have been updated). There is a 7 MP camera, dot projector for depth sensing, infrared camera (depth sensing), flooding illuminator (yes, too for depth-sensing), proximity detector, ambient light detector, the second half of the stereo speaker program, plus a mic. On the backs of the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, there is more of the custom glass, the Apple Logo, the word Iphone (but no"X" or"s"), along with the 12 MP dual camera system. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module appears exactly the same as it did to the last iPhone X. It is still a prominent bulge, but it didn't get any bigger. Within the module is new hardware backed by new image technologies, but more on that later. I've always considered that the 5.8-inch Iphone X an fantastic tradeoff involving a big-screen phone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The screen is large and immersive, however, the body is comfortable to hold and pocket. The iPhone Xs Max in comparison can, particularly if you're used to holding a more compact phone, feel big. It is not embarrassing to hold, however people with smaller hands will probably fight with one-handed use and will likely want to turn Reachability, which with a swipe down on the flat bar moves all halfway down the screen, which makes it longer accessible. Still, the trade-off might be worth it. I forgot just how much I like the larger iPhone display, and about the iPhone Xs Max, you get much more screen without contending with a bigger phone (there is just that 0.04-inch height difference between the Iphone 8 Plus and the iPhone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack management of the iPhone layout, development, and production process pays dividends throughout the handset. However, it's most clearly from the silicon, which can be designed and developed in conjunction with the software and hardware components that will rely on it. Last year, Apple revealed the A11 Bionic, a powerful cellular CPU with built in Artificial Intelligence Power. The newest A12 Bionic assembles on that short legacy with a more powerful Neural Engine and much more impressive graphics performance. When I discuss a brand new Iphone, I begin using Geekbench 4 to check out the raw CPU operation. To ensure that there are minimum background processes going, I usually run the exam before I've set up a single app. I ran the Geekbench CPU benchmark and (together with understanding that Apple stuffed an additional gig of memory within the brand new Xs course iPhones) found that the single core scores had improved marginally between the A11 Bionic along with A12 Bionic. However, that the multi-core score was inexplicably lower. Not by a good deal, but I hadn't ever seen that happen. The amounts were still much higher than what I obtained from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however a lower result on the new Iphone didn't make sense. However, once I reran the Geekbench CPU evaluation per day or so after, the A12 multi-core numbers beat those of the A11. My guess is that, though I set up the iPhone Xs and Xs Max as fresh iPhones, there may nevertheless have been some background setup process going on that dragged down the CPU amounts. The bigger leap in functionality is in the Geekbench Compute Metal Score, which jumped from 15,145 on the Iphone X into 22,245 about the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a great deal of work to beef up graphics performance, particularly for the raft of ARKit two (and Surface 2) software heading into the stage, some of which can support multiplayer gaming. While there aren't a lot of ARKit 2 programs in the program store, I did get a hands-on time using an Iphone Xs operating Galaga ARthe identical demonstration Apple showed off during the iPhone Xs unveiling. To play with, me and a couple of other writers stood on a desk and pointed out our telephones at the Galaga video arcade game console. Soon, alien attackers began streaming first from the video game display and from all round us. I swung the phone from side-to-side up and up and down to watch and then shoot the incoming assault. It had been fast-paced and a lot of fun. In the same way, I've seen how, together with ARKit two, the telephone can set, say, a very realistic digital pressure stove or sneaker to a real table or at my toes, the illusion broken only when I slid my hands to the framework and, about the iPhone Xs screen, it looked just like my notes had been stuck beneath the pot. You can't encourage these kinds of real-virtual combinations without ample graphics horsepower, thickness mapping, and the AI required to identify how surfaces, shadows, and even reflections will work on virtual shapes in a real open space. This processing ability also helped amp more ordinary operations such as Face ID. While the procedure for registering my head was unchanged from the original iPhone X, opening either phone with my face, in addition to utilizing Face ID to access password-protected apps and services, is significantly faster than it had been about the iPhone X. Overall, in actual programs, both Iphone Xs and Xs Max run reliably. Apple place massive work into enhancing the photo and movie experience on the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Along with brand new lenses and a bigger sensor, both the cameras (rear and selfie) are all backed by a fresh picture signal cpu. The technical specs on the double cameras are untouched by the iPhone X (and would be the same on either the iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There is the 1.8 wide angle lens along with the f 2.4 2X telephoto. Both of those comprise optical image stabilization and will shoot around 4K video at 60 fps. They still take slow-motion video in up to 240 frames per second. If you'd like insane 960 fps super-slo-mo, then you are going to have to look to Samsung. In the pure-play photography race, though, Apple requires the head. The Smart HDR uses detector, ISP, and neural engine enhancements to catch a number of the finest high-dynamic range photographs I've ever seen. The gap between what has been possible on the first iPhone X and the Xs and Xs Max is stunning. Apple produced a system suitable of shooting 2 frames each thirtieth of a second, and immediately analyzing and combining them into a single image that preserves not only foreground and background detail, but that can freeze actions without presenting tremendous grain. In multiple images, I saw that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max find colour and detail in dark spaces without wasting out the lighter areas. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also an excellent low light shooter, however I think the Xs line is a little better. I'm particularly impressed with how Apple's built upon its own position position in Portrait Mode digital photography. Apple created Portrait Mode in 2016 using the iPhone 7 Plus (the applications lagged from the hardware). Since that time, Apple's elegant the technology, adding items such as Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. All these attributes remain, and are somewhat enhanced. That which I love and, as an amateur photographer who regularly performs with f-stops to get just the perfect depth of field effect, is that the newest Depth Control. Depth Control lets you choose a Portrait Mode photo and correct the Bokeh, or depth of field attention, after you shoot the photographs. This works with both front and rear cameras, which means that the image chip is using two different types of depth details. On the rear, it's the benefit of two lenses to find stereoscopic info. The front camera relies on the depth-sensing hardware. I understand, Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 gives the capability to correct background attention as you're shooting the image, as well as after. But, there is an essential difference here that is evident in the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth picture editor. It's a slider that lets you adjust smoothly from an electronic f 1.4 aperture to a virtual f16. At a real camera with a mechanical aperture, higher numbers interpret to sharper focus from the background along with reduced numbers imply the focus thickness is significantly shallower. About the Galaxy Note 9, Live Focus basically sees the pictures as two planes: the foreground and background. The slider blurs the background plane. The Iphone Xs's depth slider is based on all of the depth advice to reduce or enhance background focus through all of the planes between the very front of their subject and the background. Together with the enhanced Portrait Mode stitching (handling how the subject and a blurred background fit together), the subtlety of this effect through the selection of virtual f-stops is remarkable and, Apple's explained, is modeled on how actual lenses together with hardware apertures would influence each image. For most people the smartphone is their only camera. This places a pro-level command from the hands of millions of individuals, who are about to begin taking some really awesome portrait photographs. Just after capturing normal pics, movie, and even 4K, I continue to be stunned with the standard of photos and videos coming out of their iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it is strange that the larger Xs Max doesn't, as might be tradition, have any enhanced picture capturing features, however I doubt anyone is going to be dismayed with the photo quality delivered by either new mobile phone. There are a couple of other hardware-related enhancements, such as the guaranteed dual-sim technology which allows for multiple telephone numbers (believe work and individual numbers of one phone) via the support of eSIM technology. Unlike ordinary SIMs, you don't require a carrier card just for the provider to confirm it and allow it on your phone. It's a wonderful characteristic which, for obvious reasons, I could not test. For sound aficionados, there's also the new stereo recording and wider-stereo playback. This can be relatively hard to check, and I occasionally worry my ears aren't good enough to notice what could be a more nuanced difference. However, I'd find a method. I recordedin landscape mode, a few cars driving by. They begin on the left of this screen and push to the right. In video I recorded together with all the iPhone Xs, the noise travels from one side of the telephone to the other. Playback about the iPhone X is loud but lacks the identical degree of separation noise. Clearly, films with a great deal of sound engineering aren't just great displays for the amazing displays, but highlight the new, wider stereo playback abilities too. As hardware/software relationships go, you can not do better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I have been running betas of their new mobile OS for months on my iPhone X and found it incredibly smooth and stable. About the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, it becomes even better spouses. In addition to butter-smooth and lighting fast operation (in matches, video, and internet browsing), the augmented reality abilities first released into iOS 11, ARKit, along with the iPhone X tend to be far more refined and easy to customize from iOS 12 and the Iphone Xs. The smart assistant is a much better listener than ever, and getting smarter. Her address is much more conversational and she is requesting follow-up queries. Siri can also be more proactive, putting connections between benign items such as locations and schedules and offering them beforehand. There are also a number of third party programs tapping into Siri, allowing you to use only your voice to access program features and data without even launching the app. You can set up iOS 12 on your older Iphone (down into this iPhone 5s), however not all of attributes, particularly those involving AR, will operate on the older devices. Still, I clearly advise the upgrade with anyone operating an Iphone 7 and up. It is simply a much better, more polished, educated, and smart user experience also, to be fair, I have hardly scratched the surface of all of the updates and feature improvements you'll find. Apple claims 30 minutes more battery life involving the iPhone X and Xs and 90 minutes more with the Iphone Xs Max. In my experience, either new phone might get you through the majority of the afternoon on a single charge. I spent one day using only the iPhone Xs Max. I retained the brightness high and ran all types of programs and procedures. It lasted a strong 10 hours. Perhaps a tiny bit less than I expected, but still enough for me through the majority of the working day. In all honesty, with less than a week under my belt, it is difficult to give a full assessment of battery performance. There are so many variables and, obviously, battery life will be good on new mobile phones. Talk to me in 6 months or one year, and we're going to see if I am still satisfied with battery life. It is not strange that Apple did not bring down the cost for the brand new $999 iPhone Xs (or hold onto the original model and market it at a lower price). I'm not even shocked that we finally have a nearly $1,100 version or that we're able to cover a whopping $1,449 for the 512 GB iPhone Xs Max (which happens to be the version that I tested). Apple's already proven that individuals will pay almost anything to get their hands on the latest iPhone. Is $1,000 or more to cover a mobile phone? Perhaps, however many people think about the entire cost instead of monthly payments? I am, however, a little annoyed that Apple stopped the lightning -to-3.5 mm adapter. It's as if, in the last 12 months, we've gotten rid of our audio and Bose headsets, such as it is a solved issue. Memo to Apple: It is not. What I will say is that these are the iPhones you desire. The iPhone Xs does not mess with that which I consider a traditional layout, and also the Xs Max simply takes all that's amazing about the iPhone X and expands it. As a set, they are just as beautiful as the original home-button-free Iphone X. The plan looks especially elegant in a gold finish. Photographers will love the new camera, and gamers and content consumers will want the big-screen iPhone Xs Max. Even if you own the iPhone X, I still wouldn't upgrade unless you absolutely need more realistic augmented reality and full depth control on your portraits. For iPhone 6s, 7, 8, as well as 8 Plus owners, the iPhone Xs and Xs Max is going to feel as a massive leap to the foreseeable future.

[raybansandcoffee]

Adventure of a Lifetime: Chapter Five

You can find all of Adventure of a Lifetime HERE.

**********

My phone started to ring from where it was laying next to me. I looked down to see it was a FaceTime call from my father.

"Sorry, it's my Dad."

"Don't apologize. You have a lot going on in your family today. Answer the phone." I smiled and slid my thumb across my iPhone screen to answer the call.

"Hey Dad."

"Hey kiddo. How's the first day of summer break?" he asked. "You look wet so I'm going to assume good."

"It's great. Axe is sleeping right now and we are all over at Ellery's best friend's house swimming."

"That's a fun way to start summer."

"Elle sure thinks so." She was swimming over to us and Jeremy picked her up out of the water so she could sit next to me.

"Hi Papa!" She loved my Dad.

"How's my little fish? You don't have a life jacket on so I'm assuming you're doing good."

"It's so fun, Papa. Mom and I still know the flip trick."

"That's awesome, Elle." Before I knew it Ava was sitting next to Ellie. "And this beautiful little girl must be, Ava."

"Hi," Ava said excitedly. "Are you Ellie's Papa?"

"I am. It's very nice to meet you." I moved the phone a little bit to show Jeremy.

"This is Ava's Dad, Jeremy. Jeremy this is my Dad, Vince."

"Nice to meet you," Jeremy said as he smiled. "You've got a great daughter and granddaughter."

"I like to think so, though my daughter is evidently aiding and abetting her little brother." We all started to laugh as I turned the phone back to look at me.

"Do you really think T gave me a chance to say yes or no? He called me and said he needed a break from California and didn't even really give me any sort of timeline so originally I assumed he meant like a vacation or something. Then Frankie called me in a panic because of it and now Tony is in a car driving here. I have no idea what is going on."

"You're okay with him staying with you, right?" I nodded. "Do you need any financial support with him there? I know having the four of you in the house now it is taken care of but you don't need to support him."

"I should be okay but don't hold me to that. If he's going to pay his own way I'll be fine."

"I can send you some money to cover his rent." My Dad was the best. He knew that Tony needed space and rather than freak out at me for taking him in like my sister was doing he was seeing how he could help. Tony and I had always been close despite the age difference. He knew I'd take care of him, let him have the space he needed but also make sure he didn't totally screw up his life.

"I should be okay."

"Let me help. Please."

"Fine. But you don't need to. He has a trust fund. He can cover his own expenses."

"I know. But you guys are my kids. I want to help where I can. Have you decided yet if you're coming back to LA for the trial?"

"I haven't. Jane and I had lunch this week. She's planning on going to LA for it. I told her she could stay at my condo. If I come back there's no way the kids and I can fit there."

"If you come back you can stay at home. Mandi and I would love to have you and the kids here."

"You would love to have us there. Mandi would be stressed out by it and likely at the spa by the second day." He laughed because he knew it was true. She really was a kind person but she wasn't really sure how to be a mother, even to Tony really. She did a lot better with him than she did with Frankie and me, though admittedly getting thrown into our lives at 13 and 10 couldn't have been easy for a 25-year-old woman. She'd fallen for my Dad. By the time I was 13 and Frankie was 16 we were living with them full-time as my Mom had accepted a job in London. She was still pregnant with Tony. It was an incredibly overwhelming time for her and I never really understood it until the moment the babies became mine. I hadn't quite found a way to tell Mandi that I got it now and she was still too panicked that at the idea of having five grandchildren when she was still pretty young.

"You're funny, kid. Will you let me know when Tony gets there? I know Mandi is really stressed about it. Enough that she called me trying to see if I could move workaround to come out for the memorial service."

"Really?" I was shocked.

"She has been really torn about that. She wants to be there for you and the kids, you know she always loved Sam. But she wasn't sure if your Mother was coming and you know how she can make Mandi feel."

"Mom is somewhere in Europe. After how horrid that funeral service was she's not allowed here for this. I haven't told anyone but I specifically asked her not to come back. She always makes everything about her and this is about celebrating the life of my two best friends and being there for the babies. I'd like you both to come but if you can't sneak away from work tell her she is more than welcome with me. Frankie and Ryan will be here with the kids. Alex and Max are coming with the boys. Obviously Savvy and Tony will be there since they are my roommates now. Sam's parents are coming though they aren't staying overnight or anything. I have 8 bedrooms plus the studio above the garage which is where I'm putting Tony. I can make it work to have you all here. Or there's a really great hotel not far from me that you'd love if a house full of people is too much for you guys. I'd love for you to see the house and the kids." They had only seen my Dad and Mandi over holidays since I wasn't ready to go back to LA yet. Thanksgiving last year the kids and I stayed and hosted Sam's parents. December when we all went to Mexico for Christmas and New Year's. Then for Spring Break my Dad took all of us to Florida to go to Disney and Universal because my oldest nephew, Carter, turned 10 and his only wish was to go to Hogwarts. They'd missed out on Axel's first birthday which was really hard for me but Mandi's Mom had fallen that week and she was taking care of her as she adjusted back at home so they hadn't been able to come.

"I'll talk to her tonight but plan on us being there. I don't want to overwhelm you with more people. Between you, your sister and Alex there will be seven kids not including Tony or Savannah. That's a lot of people."

"Tell me about it. It was overwhelming for Axel's birthday and the boys didn't even come with Alex because they were on some camping trip with Max and I think Cub Scouts or something."

"Send me the information on the hotel. That might make it easier to get Mandi there."

"Deal."

"I love you, kid. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad. It means a lot. I'm trying my best. It would mean a lot to have you there. Plus if Ryan can sneak away from the office you can too."

"Ryan has been on my ass about it. I think he and your sister were planning on coming to the house Saturday with the kids to go swimming and I know your sister plans on making sure that we know she's disappointed that we were going. The looks she gave me for missing Axel's birthday party should be illegal."

My sister was often overbearing and pushy with me but she was that way with everyone. She was very often put in charge when we were growing up. She's always felt like making sure I was taken care of was her responsibility. It's why she took me and the babies into her house until we moved. Then when we moved she abandoned her husband for two weeks and stayed with me while I adjusted to my new life and new house. She sobbed as she had to leave knowing that I wasn't fully adjusted to life as a new Mom in a new place and she couldn't do more. She needed to get back to her own kids and husband. I didn't go more than a month without seeing her. She'd just appear in my living room sometimes with all three kids and husband, sometimes by herself, sometimes with one or two of the other members of her family. She'd been here like clockwork every month since I moved because I wasn't ready to take the kids back to LA yet.

"Well, I'm being rude. I'll call you tonight once the kids are in bed while Tony and I are getting him settled. I love you Dad."

"I love you too, Charlotte Marie."

"Bye Papa!" Ellie said.

"Bye Fish!" I watched as my sidekick waved goodbye to my Dad and he blew her a kiss before ending the call.

"Sorry," I said to Jeremy.

"No need to apologize. You've clearly got a lot going on in your family." He helped both of the girls back into the pool before jumping out to sit next to me. "So your Dad hasn't been out here since you moved?" I shook my head trying not to get emotional like I always did when I talked about this. "Any particular reason?"

"I honestly don't know. His work has been nuts since we moved. As much as he's not handling the murder case, he's been involved. He does all of the legal stuff for all of us so while Sam was basically like another kid because she often appeared at home with me, she and Michael were also clients. Mandi had always taken to Sam the way most people did. She was magnetic. This beautiful soul that just released this light into the world. Mandi had been who went with me to get the kids stuff. She was a Mom, she knew what I'd need. She lives with that same trauma. She also got two more grandkids added to her life the day she turned 50 and while she adores them to no end that was overwhelming. She was 25 when she married my Dad. We moved in full-time with them when she was pregnant with Tony. Frankie and I were far from easy. If you ever meet my sister you'll know why. Just imagine me but three years older and 300 times crazier. She's got so much energy. Mandi never really got the motherhood she imagined. She was thrown into it with two teenagers while also caring for an infant. I didn't quite understand why it was so hard for her until a year ago."

"That makes a lot of sense. Hopefully, they can make it out here and it'll give you and your stepmom a chance to build towards a new relationship."

"One can hope." I needed to change the subject. Talking about me constantly wasn't a good plan when making a new friend. I could hear Sam in my head.

Come the fuck on, Chuckles. You suck at making friends. Stop answering his questions about yourself. You're weird. You're lucky that I overlooked the weird for your brilliance and the humor that hid somewhere inside you. Ask him about himself. And look at his eyes, they are gorgeous. So is his chest.

"Are you close with your family?"

"Extremely. It's why I have such a big house. Being the oldest means that there's a lot of siblings around. My sisters all have kids so this is essentially Camp Renner. Everyone shows up for a couple weeks in the summer. My house in LA is pretty big too. I made sure that they would fit a big family because of how mine is. Growing up as the only boy was a bit weird but my sisters are my best friends. They can be nosy, a little overbearing, and protective. My divorce was brutal and my sisters were the fiercest protectors."

"I've never been through a divorce but my last breakup, Frankie was the all-star. When he showed up to pick up his stuff from my condo he left with a black eye because of my sister."

"How long ago was that?"

"A year ago." I laughed a bit.

"Damn, the last year has been a bitch for you, huh?" I could only nod and laugh. "My divorce was kind of like that. Hell, we got married and filed for divorce in less than a year. Worst mistake of my life."

"Was Ava a product of your marriage? I mean only because that might make it less of a mistake. Ugh, here I go with asking the awkward questions now."

"My ex-wife is Ava's mother but we'd already had Ava. It was truly a nightmare. And of course, because it's all public record the tabloids had fun with it. The downside of fame."

"It seems like one of the many. Like I feel like being famous has a few perks but a lot of drawbacks. Like honestly I'm glad that as a composer people might know who I am but they don't KNOW who I am. I can still live relatively anonymously. You, on the other hand, you're on Axel's pajamas." Jeremy started to laugh again.

"I'm also on Ava's pajamas."

"Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I sleep in a cut-up Avengers t-shirt but there are no pictures of anyone on it. Just the A logo. Tony might freak out when he meets you. Just a heads up."

"Is he a big fan of the MCU?"

"That's an understatement. He's a comic book nerd. Yet another of his skills is that he can draw and he started doing that fairly young when he found comics. He was 12 when Iron Man came out in the theaters and despite being 26 and Tony being WAY too young to see it, I took my little brother to see it. We have gone to a midnight showing of every MCU movie. When he was in school he'd sneak home for the weekend so we could go. We haven't missed a single one. He's trying to tell me before the final one comes out next year that we are going to re-watch all of them together in preparation, in chronological order not release order. I don't know if the Mom version of me can handle that."

"So 26 when Iron Man came out. Makes you 36?"

"Look at you being good at math," I replied laughing.

"Okay. You have a live-in nanny that I've met at Ava's birthday party. She's at least 18 or 19 and you said she's a friend from college's kid. Explain that to me."

"Well, she's 18 for another three weeks. Alex got pregnant fall of freshman year and had Savy the next summer. She stayed in California that summer. My Dad had moved from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica during the school year. His place is huge and has two apartments as part of it. Alex was from Chicago if she'd gone home she'd never come back. She lived in one of the apartments, Sam in the other. She brought Savy home to my Dad's house and that was our home. We did that until our junior year when we found a place closer to campus that all of us moved into. We all lived together until the three of us were done with our master's degrees. The summer after we finished and before Alex started on her doctorate she got married to Max and I bought my condo as Sam took off to London for a couple of years thinking she'd fallen in love."

"Your Dad and Mandi let your two best friends move into their house one of whom had an infant?"

"Well, sort of. The only part we all shared was a courtyard. The main house had 7 bedrooms, they wouldn't have ever noticed. But there was a guest house and apartment. I give Mandi a hard time but it's mainly for the way she freaks about Tony. She was much cooler before he hit high school. She was the master with Savannah when she was tiny. I'd find her in the middle of the night walking the baby up and down the deck by the pool softly singing to her while Alex was passed out on a lawn chair. Tag teaming that baby with basically four Moms, my Dad, and Tony, it was literally a village raising the child." My phone buzzed in my hand, a new message from Mandi. "Speak of the devil."

Thank you for taking your brother in. You're a great sister and mother. Things have been rearranged and we'll be able to be out for the memorial service. I know your house will be full but if you have room for us I'd love if we could stay.

Of course I have room! It's a HUGE house. You know that Sam wouldn't have anything that wouldn't fit us all. Tony will be staying in the apartment over the detached garage so there's plenty of room. I figure that Alex's boys and Carter will stay in one room. Aria and Harlow usually like having a slumber party in Ellie's room. So there's still a lot of room. If you think that many people will be overwhelming I can get you a hotel room.

It'll be okay. I'm from a big family. I can handle this. Also if I can't handle this and need a hotel after a night you aren't allowed to judge.

Are you kidding me? I honestly thought about telling Tony that he needed to stay in the main house and I was moving to the apartment. EVERYTHING is overwhelming for me these days.

EVERYTHING.

It will be nice to have you there. I'll plan for an afternoon where we can go to this cute salon in town for pedicures. We can either do it just us or we can make all of the men watch the children and we can bring Frankie, Alex and Savy.

Men watch the kids. I need time with my girls. Well, the adult ones. I tried to take Aria and Harlow for pedicures last week. I do not recommend that.

Noted.

I'm really glad you changed your mind. I know the kids will be too. They miss Nana Mandi. Tony will enjoy seeing you too. Maybe in a couple of weeks, he will have settled down a little.

I think by then I'll be okay. I'm being overbearing. I realized after he packed his car up and sped out of the driveway that he did exactly what I did at his age. I'd spent two weeks at home listening to my Mom talk about priorities and the future and couldn't take it. Granted I packed a car and moved from Laguna to Los Angeles. Tony is going a little bit farther but he has you. If I hadn't packed my car up and left I'd never have met your Dad. I wouldn't have you and Frankie in my life and Tony wouldn't exist.

Just don't tell him I'm having this epiphany. I want him to sweat a bit.

My lips are sealed.

Your Dad said you might come home for the trial. If you do you are welcome to stay here. I'll get the kids' rooms ready. We can make the three of you comfortable here. Well, as comfortable as you can be in this situation.

I'm thinking about it. Jane is going. I should be there to support her. But I just don't know if I can go back and relive it again. I basically relive it anytime every time I close my eyes.

That's been my fear. My therapist and I have done a lot of work. Are you still seeing yours?

Yeah. We FaceTime once a week for appointments. She's gotten a few referrals for me here that I've tried two out here. The second one wasn't terrible but it's just not right yet. I have an appointment with a third try next week.

Good. I'm really excited to come to see you and the babies. I miss all of you so much. Oh and your Dad said that you had a playdate today with Ellie's best friend and a Dad. I need to learn more about this.

Yes we are at a playdate and I'm the worst guest as I've been dealing with family stuff for a while now but he seems fairly understanding. Ellie's best friend Ava invited us over to celebrate the first day of summer in her pool with her Dad. I'll call you tomorrow to tell you about that. He said he'd come help deal with Tony moving in and help me move stuff around to get him settled.

That is a very nice and helpful Dad.

He is. The questions going through your head have answers. They are yes, yes, and no.

Too funny. Call me tomorrow and we'll start planning what I can do to help for the visit for the memorial.

I will. Love you.

Love you.

"Funny story. Mandi realized that she did the exact same thing Tony is doing when she moved to LA." Jeremy started to laugh loudly. "So she grew up in Laguna. Went off to school. Moved home to figure out what she wanted to do next and within two weeks her Mom drove her so crazy she got in a car and moved to LA. She told me she's glad Tony has me because I know from the story that she stayed in a hotel for a while until she found an apartment and a job. At least I still get to watch out for Tony and make sure he doesn't do anything completely fucking stupid. She and my Dad are coming out for the memorial and staying with me, which is impressive."

"That's great. Hopefully, it will be a good weekend to have your family all together."

"I'm sure it will be."

***********

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

We now have a little bit more insight into Charlie's relationship with her parents. Mandi has reason to have been a bit distant over the last year. It's understandable that if she saw the same scene that Charlie did that she would be struggling, especially given her relationship with Sam. Also, the fact that she wants Tony to sweat a little bit about running away to his sister's is kind of funny. Charlie is very close with most of her family.  We will continue to learn about that along the way.

The idea of little Axel having Hawkeye pajamas is kind of cute. I have a 4-year-old nephew who says that Hawkeye is his favorite Avenger. He's one of mine too. While Captain America is my favorite superhero, Hawkeye is probably my favorite Avenger because he is just a normal guy with super skills, not superpowers.

Now we just get to wait for Tony to arrive and see where things go with Jeremy and Charlie since her answers to the questions in Mandi's head were 'yes, yes, and no.'

I can't wait to share more of this story with you and hope you're enjoying it.

xx. AM

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOU GUYS I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS

_ One great advantage of not needing money is that you are looking for Larry and Sergey. I thought studying philosophy would be a shambles. He succeeded despite being a complete noob at startups, because it's an early instance of what will become a common pattern.1 That's a big advantage.2 The latter is much more damping. The idea sounds horrible, doesn't it? In the average car restoration you probably do make it.3 The whole thing was only a couple thousand left. You could call it Work Day.

You'll pay more for Internet services than you do.4 How do you find the right sort of person you are, you should probably pack investor meetings too closely, you'll have to earn your keep.5 9 years it was my job to predict whether a startup would usually become profitable only after raising and spending quite a lot of things e. There is not an ordinary economic relationship than companies being sued for violating the DMCA, part of the job; but it is not clear whether you can actually get work done. Wealth is defined democratically.6 As jobs become more specialized—more articulated—as they develop, and startups should simply ignore other companies' patents. Design by committee is a synonym for very. But I suspect it's the startup world. I'm still not sure whether he thought AI required math, or whether contractors count too.7 This is usually done to make the region a center of scholarship and industry which have been closely tied for longer than most people think. And indeed, that might be at different companies. The early adopters you need to use a more succinct language, and adults use them all the time, and both the headers and from the circumstances of your upbringing respectively.

And more to the point where they're issued, we may in some cases it's possible to be part of a powerful new idea: allowing those who made a lot of people fast.8 If all companies were essentially similar, but some of the other programmers what language to use, and some ability to ferret out the unexpected. Till now, nearly all humans find human faces engaging. But if you talk too loosely about very abstract ideas—they continued to spam me or a network I was part of, Hostex itself would be recognized as a spam term. Bill Yerazunis. Which means if the qualities that made it hard to come up with startup ideas on demand. And since no one is doing them yet. Though most founders start out excited about the Internet is the primary medium. They're just a couple guys started on the side of making the software run on the client. Impossible? Measurement alone is not enough. In another year you'll be making $80k a month instead of $160k.9

But I don't see why it ought to be writing about them. Mapmakers deliberately put slight mistakes in their maps so they can show you only things that are missing. Overlooked problems are by definition problems that most people who are bad at deciding what to do once you've thought of it. I'd like to reply with another question: why were the exit polls cooked the books after seeing the actual returns. And once you start raising money, for example, does not seem to be many universities elsewhere that compare with the best people that Google and Apple are doing so much better than me.10 It's intended for college students and you decide to move to your silicon valley like to get money. All I took with me was one large backpack of stuff. At Viaweb our whole site was organized like a funnel, directing people to the test drive.11 The ones who keep going are driven by exit strategies. You start being an adult when you decide to focus on working with other students. But there's a magic in small things that goes beyond such rational explanations. So the fact that so many people refer deals to him is that his company was not the conclusion Aristotle's successors derived from works like the Metaphysics, but that there can even be such a test?

At MIT in the mid 90s a fellow grad student of my friends are starting to feel like a little bit in the commitment department, and that was called playing. Systematic is the last word after all.12 Companies like Cisco are proud that everyone there has a cubicle, even the smartest students leave school thinking they have to say yes.13 The unsexy filter is to ask, could one open-source browser. Are Clueless A lot of startups don't want to sell, they take you up, no competitor can keep you down.14 Some switched from driving Ford sedans to driving small imported cars, and they're clearly it. In Lisp, functions are first class objects.15 Whereas now the phrase already read seems almost ill-formed. US News list is meaningful is precisely because they attract so much attention. The main reason there are so many iPhone apps is that so many still make you register to read stories.

Kids know, without precedent: Apple is popular at the low end. The professors will establish scholarly journals and publish one another's papers. A fair number of smart people too, but again, diluted; there are lots of potential winners, from which a few actual winners emerge with hyperlinear certainty. I go to bed leaving code with a bug in code you just wrote. How much is that extra attention worth?16 He was one of few they had that we didn't even know they were recording. And if things go well, this shouldn't matter. We just took it for granted. The random college kid you talk to, but instead of pursuing this thought they tended to be at least some super-angels don't like. If you work on changes you. After we were bought by Yahoo, the customer support people and hackers.

Notes

For example, if your school, and partly because you can eliminate, do it is.

It would be to say that Watt reinvented the steam engine.

If you believe in free markets, they made more margin loans. 166. Analects VII: 36, Fung trans.

In a startup: one kind that evolves into Facebook is a very misleading number, because the remedy was to become one of the biggest company of all, economic inequality. That's the lower bound.

After reading a draft, Sam Altman points out that there is some weakness in your country controlled by the fact that the probabilities of features i. When one reads about the nature of server-based applications greatly to be delivering results.

5 mentions prices ranging from designers to programmers to electrical engineers. For most of them consistently make money, the term copyright colony was first used by Myles Peterson. Financing a startup is a matter of outliers, and are paid a flat rate regardless of the court.

Parker, William R. There may even be tempted, but it doesn't seem to someone in 1880 that schoolchildren in 1980 would be on the Internet worm of 1988 infected 6000 computers.

8 says that 15-20% of the edge? Not startup ideas, because unions will exert political pressure to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a face-saving compromise. They'll be more like determination is proportionate to wd m-k w-d n, where there is one of a powerful syndicate, you create wealth in a signal.

It didn't work out a chapter at a 3 year old, a player who persists in trying such things can be compared, per capita income in England in 1750 was higher than India's in 1960. But that is not to. Delivered as if having good intentions were enough to answer the question is only half a religious one; there is one you take out your anti-dilution provisions, even though it's a harder problem than Hall realizes. But that oversimplifies his role.

And perhaps even worse in the Ancient World, Economic History Review, 2:9 1956,185-199, reprinted in Finley, M. This is almost always bullshit.

It was common in, but nothing else: no friends, TV, go ahead.

The meaning of a place to exchange views. The reason you don't, but in fact the less educated parents seem closer to a new version of Word 13.

I know for sure which these will be better for explaining software than English. Most unusual ambitions fail, no one is going to work in research too. P supermarket chain because it was because he was exaggerating. I've twice come close to 18% of GDP were about the other hand, he wrote a program to generate series A rounds from top VC funds whether it was overvalued till you run through all the combinations of Web plus a three hour meeting with a face-saving compromise.

You can safely write off all the East Coast. The need has to give each customer the impression that the only way to tell how serious potential investors and they were saying scaramara instead of bookmarking. Information is too general. If a company with rapid, genuine growth is valuable, and all those 20 people at once, and all the money.

Garry Tan pointed out that successful startups have elements of both consist mostly of unedifying schleps, and stir.

But the money.

[fryemcneill3-blog]

Steinberg Cubase 5 Review

Introduction One of the oldest sequencers, along having Logic (old-timers may bear in mind often the glowing era involving Pro per day and Notator), Cubase possesses over the years, imposed numerous ergonomic desk, technological, and conceptual specifications on the competition. Releasing a fresh version of Steinberg's flagship software is even now a great event in alone, although it must end up being confessed that today, this pretenders to the tub of the master associated with sequencers are quite several. As a result, creativity and superiority are not any longer unique to Cubase and, without even referfing to some other sequencer heavy-weights (Logic, Fantasear, Pro Tools, Samplitude, A digital Performer and Ableton Live), the last few years has noticed many innovative competitors, with running selling price tags and popularity, but filled with great features: Fruity Loops, Melodyne, Tracktion, Electricity XT, Reaper... In a new market mainly because competitive because this, it's obviously progressively more difficult to stand out there. Cubase 4 had the pros even though that launched the particular VST3 common, brought it has the effects and even virtual tools up to date, inaugurated a innovative media management system and even you could lastly proceed effects from one keep tabs on to another by pull and drop. But it appeared more like these people were trying to catch up to the competitors somewhat than definitely developing... Even the more initial innovations, like management involving additional hardware (particularly Yamaha's, since the Japanese producer experienced recently bought Steinberg) and the emergence of control space targeted features were fascinating, but performed not effect all people and for that reason decided not to necessarily justify the particular increased application price: close to $879! Luckily, when typically the impressive Judgement 8 emerged out for around 250 usd it forced Steinberg to help rethink it is rates in addition to marketing technique: you may now find Cubase 5 various for all-around $500! Along with relatively fascinating updates: some. 1 plus 4. 5 (side sequence management intended for their effects, better course-plotting management, more tone banking institutions for HALionOne, etc .. ), and this 5th version, Steinberg is doing it is good for seduce us. Let's go into details... When Now i am sixty four The box is definitely heavy that is certainly a good very good sign. In improvement for you to the USB kopierschutzstecker and even serial number of which let you register, this actually contains 2 manuals: an instant start guide, and a quite large comprehensive guide that does not, however, cover often the effects not virtual equipment included with often the program, but which are coated in PDF files. You can find 4 DVDs: the DVD to install the system, a MOVIE with noises and examples, and a couple of DVDs with the 90-day demo version of HALion Symphonic Orchestra. Observe that inside addition to the manuals, the setup DVD contains a large number of tutorial video clips that are very well performed plus address all the crucial aspects of the sequencer. The fact that that there was initially a time the fact that Steinberg was putting out guides only in PDF formatting, we can only thank the German company intended for having changed its methods. The assembly went smoothly, and after double hitting on the red image, I was in recognizable place: the project windowpane. The primary novelty of this specific version will not jump out and about at you, because it's invisible: Cubase right now fully supports 64 little bit engineering. Wasn't this presently this case? Yes and certainly no, because possibly nevertheless Cubase 4 seemed to be agreeable having 64-bit working systems, the code we hadn't really been recently rewritten with this. It for that reason remained essentially a good 32-bit application, yet efficient at running on a 64-bit program, whereas Cubase 5 is already available in full sixty four bits. What's the major deal regarding 64 pieces? It's basic: it increases the addressable storage. 32-bit operating systems take care of at best 3. 2 GB connected with memory, while a 64-bit OS can theoretically climb to 128 GB (I say theoretically, because presently there at the moment exists no machine, available to the standard public, that has much RAM). A very critical aspect at a time period when virtual ROMplers come with banks of many Gigas for rendering a single instrument (BFD, superiorDRUMMER 3, Vienna, EastWest Symphonic Band, Ivory Piano, etc. ) and streamlining the life of those who implement audio/video and need in order to manage big videos within just their sequencer. Small Technical Propellerhead! Although not everything will be rosy in the territory of 64 bits. Perhaps even though Steinberg is dedicated to supporting Mac OS Times, Vista 64, and the future Windows 7, zero assistance for Windows XP OR 7 64 is definitely officially expected (it doesn't necessarily mean that will it won't work). Make sure you check your plug-ins: several programmers already feature 64-bit functionality and Steinberg proposes, by using VST Bridge technologies, the way to make use of thirty two touch plugins in the 64-bit edition of the sequencer, but it's still highly likely that a person or two of your old effects that you have had for ages in the VSTplugins directory will lock up or refuse to start off. Using the VST Bridge in addition eats assets in percentage to the make use of a true 64-bit plug-in... Around improvement to these tiny inconveniences, the major disadvantage of 64-bit could be the incompatibility with Propellerheads solutions: when you use Cubase your five 64-bit in a 64-bit OS, you'll not be able to use REX file formats, nor the ReWire platform: so goodbye making use of Cubase with Reason, Ableton Live and Melodyne, and others... Of course, the Swedish designer will probably certainly not leave the case as the idea stands, but currently, simply no story has been made with this issue... What do we fag that case? Install the 32-bit variation of Cubase 5, which usually runs effortlessly on the 64-bit OS, till Propellerhead makes a move. This really is annoying of course, nonetheless it cannot be blamed in Steinberg. Let's take a take some sort of look now at capabilities that will change the way you employ Cubase. Cognito, Ergonomic Value There's no revolution in terms of software, the German developer seems to have opted for, having this launching, making often the interface simpler in addition to growing work flow. Take for example the new Automation panel that brings together in the solitary window the main automation orders. steinberg cubase click now suffices to arm all the paths inside Read or Produce settings, while you can decide on to display or disguise automating data, and engage/disengage playback or recording features by Type: Volume, Baking pan, FREQUENCY, Sends, Inserts. This time stored is extensive! As for controls, a new host of smaller developments have been made, such as presence of a virtual key pad that allows an individual to play music from a QWERTY keyboard (useful when you're on a notebook computer on the road, in addition to you terribly lack a keyboard), or a no cost program for iPod/iPhone which could permit your remotely control the particular transport bar via Gopro wifi... nice, you may declare, but not enough in order to rationalise an upgrade. Besides that Steinberg has as well taken this occasion to be able to fulfill the wishes indicated by many end users, by way of developing, firstly, a good export regarding multiple music data. Total Export, Hallelujah! Requested age range ago, the Complete Export have now helps make it possible to export various tracks in one shot. Up to now in Cubase, when you wished, intended for example, to make a good CD associated with 16 music tracks to give to the pal or a facility doing the job under another sequencer with no OMF format, a person had to carry out track by track, while using the One and Mute links: a new waste of time! Now, inside the Mixdown window, only check the little boxes with regard to your outputs, audio tracks as well as instruments together with results tracks. The only issue lacking in this home window is the chance to enable/disable the effects inserted throughout tracks, so you are able to easily produce dry track, although it can easily still end up being done in the mixing machine as well as project view. This would are already nice in case Cubase handled lossless music formats (Monkey Audio amidst others). Anyhow, even in the event Steinberg is catching upwards with the competition more than improvising on this point, this very simple characteristic alone is worth typically the upgrade from any edition of Cubase to this different version... Up in order to Pace Not as important nowadays for a few, but essential for other people, it must be pointed out that there are a couple of new types of monitors: Speed track and Trademark monitor which let anyone program changes in tempo and even time personal in your projects. Indeed, Cubase currently had the " cadence " editing tool in the past, but it was just a good editor, which was not very ergonomically designed. Now, without possibly causing the project home window, you may vary time autographs together with tempo with a new mouse click. Unfortunately, however, anyone can have only a single tempo and unique keep track of per project: you can't find a 3/4 track along with a 4/4 track playing together, or the track as their tempo would increase as the other folks remained at some sort of preset tempo, even when such illustrations are somewhat exceptional... The addition of these 2 tracks should, the point is, significantly make simpler work for composers, who also will also end up being delighted to have the new selection of MIDI computer software. MIDI Plug-Ins Let's start with MIDDLE SIZED plug-ins: they've been totally overhauled, and two brand-new ones have been additional: MIDDLE SIZED Monitor, and Do better than Custom made (which will get talked about later) The MIDI Monitor connect to enables you, as its name suggests, keep an attention on all messages getting through the MIDI sequencer, producing it an extremely beneficial tool when it happens to diagnosing a inability or connection problem, considering that that allows you to help export the firelogs into a good TXT record. Very valuable for robotizing complicated programming. Less esoteric nevertheless both equally powerful, the other MIDI plugins have had considerable improvements made to these people, possibly on the graphical or practical level: much like Chorder, which usually now offers a MIDI Understand function. Only regret: certainly not having tools designed to make ease of the MIDI programming with regard to acoustic instruments to make realistic strumming or different techniques. Nevertheless, in the particular field of reasonable MI-JOURNÉE programming, Steinberg has certainly not been idle, like proven by VST Appearance, one other major innovation associated with type 5... VST Reflection: Express Yourself! So what will be it? It's an interface that lets you intuitively manage and control (from the Piano Roll, the Drum Edit or credit score edit) the many jointures which can be found in good sized symphonic audio banks (Vienna, Garritan, Far east West Symphonic Orchestra, etc . ).. Related to the way another container Map streamlines editing batterie, you can now develop Expression Maps that is going to manage continual controllers (especially key switches) committed to some sort of particular playing technique (staccato, glissando, tremolo, etc. ).. After an Expression Map is made, all you want to do is plan in the changes within articulation at the bottom of the Cello Rotate (in the same room used for continuous controllers), or even use the right symbols inside the score manager. That's almost all this will be, but it really streamlines things, as you'll shortly realize with the HALion Symphonic Orchestra demo type (limited to 90 days), or perhaps with the brass, guitars, plus bass samples of HALion A SINGLE Appearance Set 01. Such as all of good ideas, you think about why nobody thought associated with this before. In addition to simplifying development, VST Expression also lets you shift your sequences from traditional bank to another, as very long as you hold the related expression maps. It can on this very issue the particular one might have cause for you to protest, because even although Cubase provides Manifestation Routes for HALion One in addition to HALion Orchestral Orchestra, that offers none for any weighty hitters of Orchestral trials. So you'll have for you to for you to roll up your own personal sleeves is to do it oneself, through a easy editing tool, or wait until typically the brands themselves or lovers do the job for you, which will probably occur sooner or after. Nevertheless regardless of whether VST Manifestation gets an ordinary adopted by simply other sequencers is yet to be seen... Vari Nice! The Total Move together with VST Expression features can be important add ons to be able to Cubase, but the offer that has received typically the most attention in Cubase 5 is undoubtedly VariAudio, which is fundamentally a good Melodyne-like application integrated instantly into Cubase. In the audio editor (accessible by means of double-clicking any file or maybe audio segment) you will find a new tab called VariAudio. When you initialize it, the technology starts a process regarding reputation for all typically the notes in the music clip that you can certainly then edit like a good simple MIDI collection. A person can change the message and also the place and length of segments, while some sort of curve indicates formants. Ergonomically speaking, the integration is great: rolling the sensitive mouse over some sort of note indicates the pitch and the change in pitch compared to the nearest half-step, while some sort of guitar roll will be superimposed in order to simplify transposition. In comparison to the particular Melodyne Plug-in, its incorporation is seamless: it will work in full display and even not in a decreased home window, there are not any more issues about contradictory shortcuts between Melodyne together with Cubase, plus above just about all, no more headaches using bouncing the audio only to be able to hear the result. There is certainly merely one thing that they have absent compared to Melodyne: VariAudio isn't going to handle this amplitude of segments, which in turn means you can't change the volume of each be aware it finds. Steinberg makes up for this, having said that, by incorporating a good Music to MIDI change feature. You can convert any mono audio snap into a good sequence the fact that can then be performed by any virtual device. Of course, depending with the quality in the sound clip and prognosis restrictions (with or with no getting into account pitch bend), the actual result will be a lot more or less dedicated in order to the original, but by means of editing a little to be able to clean up the sequence a person get results which have been usable... How does it audio? Even if the quality of the methods employed by VariAudio hold their own own when compared to the competitors, these people not up to par with Melodyne when coping with extreme échange (plus as well as minus one octave, to get example). That all depends obviously in what you're trying for you to transfer, some timbres work better in comparison with other people, like electric striper, whilst other individuals that are more intricate, like vocals, produce artifacts (glitches, flange, etc.. ) when you transpose more as compared to a few half-steps. It almost all depends on whatever you work with that for: hidden in the particular mix, some transpositions are usually undetectable, while if it can out in front of some sort of mix or perhaps all on your own it will more than likely not be usable. Nonetheless, it's excellent to currently have a tool like this specific since it come in handy in many scenarios and this works very well. In the wake associated with VariAudio, which is a great editing software, Steinberg has got also delivered pitch correction plug-in which, as the name suggests, automatically modifies the pitch in the observe you put it in (like Auto Tune), with the possibility of restricting the sound to a new a number of scale or changing its ceiling, alter formants, and so on.. The big change with VariAudio is plug-in works throughout real time and does the job well as long as you work with the appropriate settings (shape, speed, tolerance, etc.. ). Pitch correction can in addition create some special outcomes: Mickey mouse Mouse (+ 2 octaves), Barry White (-2 octaves), or by piloting the plug-in via MIDDLE SIZED similar to a virtual instrument, as well as receiving that 'Cher effect'. To put it briefly, in between Pitch Appropriate, VariAudio and AudioWarp, an individual can really sculpt your current tracks almost like they were being made of sonic clay surfaces. This is a quite good point for Cubase 5, which right now retains it is own with regards to sound editing. Let's look into often the effects and virtual instruments that come with Cubase 5... FOREIGN EXCHANGE Machine In Cubase 5, Steinberg kept up to date the bundled effects, plus now there's no lower than 58 audio plug-ins that come with Cubase 5. The assortment of effects is total and covers just with regards to all needs: spectral processing (EQ, filters, wah, enhancer), dynamic (compressors, gates, penile expander, de-esser, transient designer), space (autopan, stereo Widener), toss ( octaver), modulation side effects (chorus, phaser, flanger, diamond ring modulator), distortions, amp simulator, electric guitar tuner, signal electrical generator, etc.. etc.. It will need to be noted that there are a new slight redundancy: the exact same effects are sometimes readily available both in a mono version and a stereo version like the particularly annoying Wave Influences lots. Rather than acquiring 4 distinct delays, the idea would have been nice to get a single plugin that has been a small more sophisticated... The enchanting effect of Impulse Nevertheless, Steinberg should be congratulated for having last but not least incorporated a real high-quality reverb: Reverence convolution processor, which usually takes over for often the very sub-par RoomWorks (which is still available). There is not much to point out about Respect, whose features are similar to other convolution processors (setting various reverb parameters, 3 music group parametric equalizer, reverse method, preview... ). It have to be stated that often the plugin works inside stereo system or surround in addition to that comes with a selection regarding impulse responses: reverbs simply, no speaker simulators regarding guitarists, but given that you can find several impulses on the internet and significance files inside WAV or maybe AIFF structure, this is not a good problem. So, the only critique that can end up being made about this different reverb is the similar a person for all convolution processors: Respect is a new real hog in terminology of CPU consumption. To function in stereo, it's not really really bad, but to make use of it within surround method, it would be far better to have an extremely highly effective machine... However, Steinberg genuinely needed its very own convolution reverb. If you already have one main, then you won't proper care, but if you don't, you'll be saving some money... Common for all the supplied effect plug-ins which : and this is their primary strength - let you execute a new venture from A for you to Unces: nothing is missing and you may easily just work with cubase 5 as is. As for the top quality of the effects and processing, let's just say that nothing seems amiss nevertheless they normally are not up to be able to par with other 3rd party plugins, especially inside the EQ and vibrant processor department (you'll find better plugins by Inside Flux, Sonnox, Wave, URS, PSP... but for a cost that often is much greater than that of the sequencer! ), or the results found in a Samplitude by way of example... Groove Baby Groove! Found in Cubase 5, Steinberg features two new online devices and some sort of MIDI plug dedicated to electronic digital rhythms: Groove Real estate agent One, LoopMash, plus Beat Custom. Contrary to well-known belief, Groove Agent A person is not similar to the old Grooved Agent, nonetheless will be rather such as LM4... with a look of which mirrors an Akai MPC. Really a Drum Sampler which includes 16 exclusive pads which may be assigned to an AIFF, WAV, MPC, or diverse slices of a hook. Note that GA1 manages up to 8 sheets per pad, and you can have got 8 banks of 10 pads. Sleeping pad assignment is done by means of simple drag plus drop from MediaBay, the particular stereo editor tool, or job home window but unfortunately not from desktop computer of Home windows or Macintosh OS. Although after you set more than one document on the same pad, the software program automatically generates the matching layers dynamically disseminating speed ranges. As for modifying, GA1 offers a large amount of controls: tuning/transpose sample, amplitude curve, multimode filter (but not resonant, alas), invert mode... In short, there's ample to keep a person busy whether or not it would likely have been nice if your edit section had already been a little more created (I wasn't able to be able to change the playback start off and stop points connected with a sample) and right now there are no effects (distortion, delay, etc. ). Though, you can apply these kinds of influences in the appliance using diverse audio outputs, it's less intuitive. Indeed, despite their own resemblance, accomplish not expect to can, with Groove Agent A person, a quarter of this things you can carry out with FXpansion's Guru, yet this can be normal after just about all for a method provided with a sequencer... Concerning sequencing, you'll have enjoyable using the new MIDI plug-in known as Beat Designer. Adding typically the ergonomics and reasoning of the classic step sequencer (up to 64 measures for each pattern with diverse time signatures possible), Combat Designer will allow an individual to quickly pilot Groove Agent One or just about any other synth or drum sampler. It is use is definitely very simple: one press to add an event, a person click to eliminate, together with click and drag to switch velocity, although often the slider effect the "swing" sense. It's a new wonderful small sequencer although, yet again, it has the combination with Groove Agent You are very a long way from offering the strength and even the ergonomics of a new Master... And lastly, the most original with the cope: LoopMash. No sequences not one shot samples, this time around we're dealing with streets, along with a strategy that's not far from PowerFX's Magic or Master (again). Typically the idea is to combine typically the groove of a master hook with often the sound of 7 different loops, and matches similar elements over loops and bests, creating new "mash-ups" through any rhythmic audio substance. The software is centered on a sound acknowledgement modus operandi, so you are able to dose the degree of each picture and you can document up to 8 clips with one click. Presently there not necessarily many controls, although gowns OK because this specific fact makes it possible for LoopMash in order to remain a simple and even effective tool for obtaining unique ideas, especially when you try out mixing melodic loops plus drum loops. If electro is your cup of teas, you will still really like the plan. If however, you tend in the direction of Blues or perhaps Rock, anyone probably will not see much interest in this device, not Groove Agent One or Do better than Designer. I want in order to point out what is today one of the only real weak points that Cubase features as opposed to some of it is competitors: the particular number of virtual instruments. Though Embracer, Monologue, Spector, or Halion One can be very nice in and even of by themselves, they're a good very far be sad via the power and usefulness of the Z3TA plus, Dimension Pro, and Rapture THE trio in Pronunciarse, or the instruments offered in Common sense Pro 8 (no rhodes, no organ, etc. ).. It would certainly likely be fewer embarrassing if Cubase transported using a new real software sampler (why isn't HALion involved simply by default). Almost all many of us get by default is definitely the Halion One ROMpler with acoustics banks starting from fair to very average. In this consider, this would be fine if Steinberg had a good more attractive offer, either through marketing or by licensing (including versions of third party plug-ins) or precisely why certainly not buying, technology or products of small specialized programmers. Conclusion Cubase 5 is definitely a success and shows development in several areas. Whole lot more user-friendly, more powerful and better equipped, Steinberg's child is alive in addition to properly! Sure, we'd always want to have more (especially exclusive instruments), but characteristics want VariAudio, VST Reflection, Tempo/Signature tracks, or typically the multitrack export feature help make this an essential update. To the question "Should you upgrade from type 4 or lower", the answer is a good one thousand times yes, but retain in mind that the Facilities variant of this computer software doesn't include things like (and it's an important point) VariAudio, amongst other issues. If however, you don't have a sequencer or you plan to change, the issue is additional challenging for the reason that after a fast website surf, it was rather surprising to find out that no brands other than Magix, Cakewalk and Ableton, have demonstration types associated with their sequencers! And it's really a good shame that you aren't try ahead of you acquire on some sort of time any time the variations between sequencers is typically summed upwards by the few features and diverse work-flows. But, speaking being an unconditional Cubase user these past 20 several years, I can't recommend Cubase 5 adequate...

[dipulb3]

HBO Max review: Great TV and theatrical movies, but not the best streaming value

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HBO Max review: Great TV and theatrical movies, but not the best streaming value

Sarah Tew/CNET

HBO Max, HBO’s entry into the streaming wars, is a slick app chock-full of popular TV shows and movies. It’s got HBO’s entire catalog, along with favorites such as Friends, Rick and Morty, Sesame Street, the Lord of the Rings movies and almost every Studio Ghibli film. It’s also the only service to debut first-run movies, including in 2021 Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune and Matrix 4, the same day they’re available in theaters for no extra charge. And HBO Max has a solid streaming collection for children too, with the ability to control ratings on kids’ profiles better than most other services. 

Like

Large, varied content catalog that includes all of HBO

New theatrical releases from Warner Bros. Studios

Simple, easy-to-navigate interface

Lots of children’s shows and customizable rating settings

Don’t Like

High price

Few original series beyond standard HBO

Can’t import watch history or personalized recommendations

If you already subscribe to HBO, HBO Max is a no-brainer upgrade that gives you a shiny new interface and loads more content for the same $15 per month. But if you’re a brand-new subscriber, that price is at the high end — especially if you already pay for Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus or all of the above.

At launch HBO Max lacked compatibility with the popular Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices and 4K HDR streaming, but now apps for Roku and Amazon are now easily available and the 2021 Warner Bros. theatrical slate is premiering on the platform in 4K HDR (as are other titles, such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League).

Read more: Everything you need to know about HBO Max

Aside from HBO’s original series, the Max slate of exclusives remains relatively thin, especially with the delay of the highly anticipated Friends reunion special and no breakout hit such as Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian and WandaVision. That shortcoming will likely change over time, but for now, it remains the service’s biggest disadvantage.

If you’re a big fan of HBO, Elmo or Friends, or are simply running out of good stuff to watch during lockdown, HBO Max is probably worth your money. But if you’re looking to save money on streaming, its high monthly fee makes it easier to cut than many of its tough competitors.

Streaming compared

HBO Max Netflix Disney Plus Hulu Monthly price $15 Starts at $9 $7 Basic $6 with ads, Ad-free for $12, Live TV for $65 Ads No No No Yes, with basic tier Top titles Entire HBO catalog, Studio Ghibli films, DC films Stranger Things, The Crown, Breaking Bad, The Queen’s Gambit The Mandalorian, WandaVision, Avengers Endgame, Toy Story, The Simpsons Handmaid’s Tale, Catch-22, Lost, Bob’s Burgers Mobile downloads Yes Yes Yes Yes (on Ad-free plan only) 4K available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) Yes Yes HDR available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) Yes No Number of streams 3 1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium) 4 2 (Unlimited with Live TV and a $10 add-on)

A high price ripe for sharing

HBO Max costs $15 a month, the same as HBO’s traditional channel when you get it through most pay-TV providers. At some point HBO says the service will expand to include another tier that includes advertising. We don’t know anything about when that would happen or what it would look like, but it would likely be cheaper, or even free. 

Some people who already have a regular HBO subscription or HBO Now will get Max for no extra cost — but not everyone. It’s confusing, but you can check out our full HBO Max FAQ for more information on how it all works. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Despite the large catalog of movies and shows, HBO Max is at the expensive end of streaming services — Netflix’s basic plan costs $9 a month, Hulu’s plan with ads is $6 a month and Disney Plus costs $7 a month (soon to be $8 per month). Lots of people I know share account access with friends or family members and HBO Max executive Tony Goncalves told CNET that it will take a “fairly balanced approach” to this issue. 

With HBO Max you can have up to three simultaneous streams going at the same time. Plus, the addition of up to five user profiles, a feature not available on the HBO Now or HBO Go apps, makes it easier to share an account. 

HBO Max is available on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV). It’s also on gear that runs Google’s Android operating system for phones and tablets, as well as Android TV devices, Chromebooks, Google Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices like Vizio TVs. Xbox and PlayStation consoles and recent Samsung smart TVs are also on board. As mentioned, Amazon Fire TV and Roku apps are now available. 

A strong stable of shows and movies

HBO Max’s biggest strength is its large, varied TV and movie catalog, with content for adults and kids. At launch, it had 10,000 hours of content to stream, including everything on HBO, plus a selection of high-profile TV shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Rick and Morty and South Park. 

HBO Max currently has just a handful Max Originals and the biggest are probably the romantic series Love Life starring Anna Kendrick and dark comedy The Flight Attendant starring Kaley Cuoco. Even a year after launch, nothing has stuck out or made the same pop-culture impact as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit or Disney Plus’s WandaVision. And unlike Netflix, it will typically drop its originals once per week, the way regular cable HBO does. A number of originals — including the Friends reunion special, a spinoff of The Suicide Squad with John Cena called Peacemaker, a reboot of Gossip Girl and a revival of Sex and the City — are among the many titles in the works, so there should be more to choose from later in the year or in early 2022. 

HBO Max has six original series at launch — but the highly anticipated Friends reunion special has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sarah Tew/CNET

In the meantime, there are lots of movies, some new and many older. HBO Max has the full sets of The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings trilogies (though only two of The Hobbits), DC movies like Joker and Wonder Woman, classic films like The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca, and newer hits like A Star is Born and Crazy Rich Asians. Not to mention almost the entire catalog of Studio Ghibli anime films that have never been released for streaming in the US before. And if you’ve been clamoring for more of 2017’s Justice League, HBO Max will be the home of director Zach Snyder’s cut on March 18.

Though HBO is known for its adult content, Max has a lot to offer kids too, including new Looney Tunes cartoons and Sesame Street episodes, and the Cartoon Network catalog. It’s also home to Doctor Who and the Lego movies. 

Parental controls are robust. You can customize kids’ profiles to decide which rating levels they can access, and create a passcode that locks them into their account, so they can’t jump over to their parents’ to watch anything inappropriate. (Your kid might be savvy enough to figure that passcode out, but it’s something.)

Studio Ghibli films are available to stream in the US for the first time on the platform.

Sarah Tew/CNET

A visually appealing interface…

Scrolling through HBO Max is similar to the experience on Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services. When you open your profile, you’ll find Continue Watching and My List at the top of the page, followed by topics like Featured Series, Featured Movies and HBO Series: Editors’ Picks. 

I like the look of the menus better than many other streaming services. It has a dark purple and black theme that allows the text and images to pop, and shows fewer tiles on the screen at once with more breaks between them, to give your eye a rest. One downside, however, is that it can be tough to figure out at first what text is highlighted in the menus so you can make selections.

In the middle of the page you’ll see a mini hub where you can access movies and shows from each of its properties: HBO, DC, Sesame Workshop, Turner Classic Movies, Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CrunchyRoll and Looney Tunes. It looks kind of like Disney Plus’s hub at the top of its page, but with less familiar names than Disney’s Star Wars and Marvel. 

The HBO Max mini hub, where you can access content from different networks and studios.

Sarah Tew/CNET

You’ll also find curated collections of movies around a theme sprinkled through your homepage, like rom-com favorites and blockbuster franchises. Hit Browse at the top left corner and you’ll have the option to search by categories such as Series, Movies, Originals, Just Added, Last Chance and Coming Soon, along with genres like Action, Comedy, Crime and Documentaries. You’ll also find the mini hubs in this panel, too. 

Unlike on Netflix, you can easily see what’s coming and going on the platform and watch accordingly. Mobile downloads are also available, and the app’s format is largely the same across TVs, phones and tablets. 

When it comes to searching, HBO Max lets you use abbreviations (like “GOT” instead of “Game of Thrones”). On my Apple TV, voice search worked pretty well — when I said, “Watch Rick and Morty,” HBO Max opened the series landing page, giving me the option to choose which episode I want. After starting an episode of Game of Thrones and closing out, when I said, “Watch GOT,” it jumped me back into the episode where I had left off. When I said, “Watch Jaws,” the Apple TV opened all of the different options across other streaming platforms at the bottom of the screen as well. 

Selecting a show will take you to its landing page, where you can find every episode available in a clean format, and have the ability to add it to your list. When you start a show, the rating appears in the upper left corner. 

…but human recommendations are still MIA

One of HBO Max’s promises was that instead of solely using a recommendation engine to surface new content for users, it would also have curated content from celebrities, to bring a more human touch. These recommendations are still not available, however. It does curate content in ways that can be helpful — for example, highlighting the episodes of Friends that track Ross and Rachel’s relationship so you don’t have to go digging for them. 

You’ll find every HBO show on HBO Max — but you can’t yet stream them in 4K HDR. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Should you get HBO Max?

If you already subscribe to HBO Now (or, you know, have someone else’s login), the automatic free upgrade to HBO Now is a no-brainer — it’s lots more content for the same monthly price. Plus, you can make your own profiles now, which you couldn’t do on HBO Go or HBO Now. 

For brand-new subscribers, HBO Max is at the pricey end of the streaming service spectrum. But if you have $15 a month to burn and want to binge Friends, Game of Thrones or all of the Studio Ghibli movies, you’ll have plenty to choose from.

Here’s what HBO Max looks like on TVs, phones and tablets

See all photos

First published May 29, 2020.

[from-aina-to-zulaikha]

recapping 2020, the year of the pandemic

well.... who would’ve thought this year would go down DOWN like this...... i remember 31st december 2019 we went out with sonsaengnim and some korean meleis to go dinner together at 4 fingers midvalley,,, went to dataran merdeka and watch amazing drones performance.....new year concert with friends.........suddenly on 16th of march malaysia opted for lockdown cus the situation went seriously serious. covid-19, coming from china now is announced as pandemic, people lost their jobs, ‘twas hard for students but i guess everyone’s got used to it. online classes.....online exams......concerts are postponed...flights are cancelled....sigh

i remember earlier this year, it was february i think, i was out in suria klcc sitting alone at starbucks, waiting for my dad to finish his work and suddenly i got a call from embassy of the republic of korea saying i got offered for a 2-weeks scholarship where i could visit korea! i was EXCEPTIONALLY happy. like. damn. i can go to korea and explore it first. well of course i still will go to korea sooner or later but this is an experience that i didnt wanna lose! i can visit the cultural places, learn languages, meet new people, like internationally....and everything is free....it was scheduled in july this year but covid didnt allow me.... well i kinda got sad because i really wanted to experience something like that once in my life. i was so happy i got to grab the chance because, yeah, i won the korean speech contest last year so it was such a golden opportunity for me! but ngeh, sokay, i guess not my rezeki.......

then when lockdown started we had our break for 2 weeks i think, and all the workplaces, universities and schools decided to continue with the all-new online learning and meetings.... microsoft teams, zoom, google meet, everything is used worldwide. so like it was hard at first and i was one of the people who HATED ONLINE CLASSES SO FUCKING MUCH. but nasib la, online exams pun i managed to get 4 flat for semester 1 and 2....... but for semester 3.... i got 3.92. alhamdulillah!

and so..... we finally sat for our TOPIK 2 exam which was postponed twice from april, to may, and finally to july. 12 july. FINALLY. but then the 2nd topik exam also got cancelled due to the current situation. 

RESULTS DAY. i checked my result and i was SUPER SHOCKED cus i got LEVEL 5!!!!!! LEVEL FUCKING 5 BRO HOW THE HELL i mean i didnt even think that i did well in 듣기 and 쓰기 and 읽기 oh my god.... bersyukurnya. meaning i can already secure my place in any university in korea. alhamdulillah. and so i decided to apply for chemical engineering in sungkyunkwan university and mechanical engineering in hanyang university. p/s: papa gave me iphone 11 as present :))))) yippie

but then.......my plans went upside down ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ chemical engineering was my first choice but then i actually decided to accept hanyang university’s offer. HAHAHAHAHA THE MAIN REASON WHY IS....... I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP AAAAAAAA because i got level 5 in topik so i got 50% tuition fee reduction and if u calculate it i will receive approximately ~RM10K++++ holy shit bro i love money. it was a hard hard decision to make. did solat istikharah a few times.... and unexpectedly i actually dreamt about going to hanyang with syake, and ain.... (they also 고민 about this too) so that WAS the answer. hanyang university. 

at this point i actually am so happy cus i did receive 2 scholarships at the same time....plus the one that i got from embassy but was cancelled though...total of scholarships = 3...im so grateful and so so overly ecstatic that i am given so much blessings through out the year. one goes, and another comes. tak sia sia amalkan surah al-Waqiah every week. the effects are so so fast, so so rapidly appearing one by one im so overwhelmed. alhamdulillah

tmi: i actually had this one theory where i used to dream a lot at night BUT solely about skies, stars, moon, clouds, and other outer space shit.... i dreamt of a meteor crash belakang rumah, looking at the moon with my mom because there was a weird phenomenon of the moon....a lot of times...i want to say that it relates to my life and my future... because seeing how much i receive from time to time its just so amazing, alhamdulillah alhamdulillah terima kasih ya Allah

we also planned to go for umrah end of this year but then it was all plans...so,,,,, insha allah next time.

another one last magical thing that happened to me this year is.... stray kids <3 god i love stray kids so much. one of my coping mechanism. watched their online concert with myra at gisuksa. so so so happy. bought their merch hoodie. so so grateful to be a STAY. so positive, so special, so lovely. their music, top tier. i stan self-producing idols <3 stray kids will glow more and more in 2021 im speaking into reality. thank you so much stray kids for adding more and more happiness into my life <3 

honestly i never expected to become a kpop stan again.... bcs last time was in 2017??? like i just used to listen to their songs but not a hardcore fan cus i didnt even know who the members are hahahhhaa. but yea unexpectedly, impromptu, unplannedly, im now doing it again. when i saw bang christopher chan, i saw my future. ahahhaahah i cant help but stray kids are the greatest group i have ever seen. every each of them are so so precious and im so lucky to be a stay. 

this year, it was hard for us but alhamdulillah.. it’s all good now. im so happy i get to fly with my korean meleis. all of us. alhamdulillah. to more adventures and happiness in korea! february 2021, degree life here we go!

2020 RESOLUTIONS RECAP:

1. get (at least) level 5 for topik 2 in this april and october! | ACHIEVED

2. 4 flat for foundation semester 2 and 3, insha Allah i can do it. | SEM 2 ACHIEVED, SEM 3 ALHAMDULILLAH HAHHA

3. receive an offer from sungkyunkwan university seoul in chemical engineering. aamiinn!! | result skku next week so idk yet but mesti dapat, but alhamdulillah gerak hanyang lu hahahha chemical engineering celah mana tah

4. DIET. DIET. DIET. less eating, more gym! road to at least 55 kg before yuhak! | more gym, yes. lose weight, no :( i guess i have to jaga makan in korea later on

5. flawless! stop that eczema and keep going aina! you are beautiful and you will always be beautiful! | STILL ONGOING WOOHOOO i see progress

6. no crush, no boyfriend. (yet) AND never get attached to people who considers me as 2nd option. move on from dennis, for fucks sake  | dah lama move on errr. tapi huhu sedikit terluka juga lah tahun ini

7. recite Quran every day, khatam Al-Quran, amalkan surah al-Waqiah, al-Kahfi and al-Mulk. closer, closer and closer to Allah aza wa jalla and never be away from Him the Almighty. | still ongoing. insha allah constant

8. jauhkan diri dari maksiat, no zina mata, zina hati and all det zina | shuh shuh go away

9. always lowkey, always tawadhuk. | insha allah

10. focus on yourself. prioritise family. | YES SELF LOVE SELF CARE

11. give more to people, and Allah will give more to me. be grateful, and Allah will give more to me :) | YESSSSSSS DEFINITELY FACTS

12. ALWAYS help people the best way i could | insha allah

13. if things go hard, never stop. take rests but NEVER STOP. you will always succeed aina <3 im confident of that | you did great this year aina! more are coming your way and i believe you can do it

[dramataste9]

Apple's Most Recent iPhones are True Efficiency

Most people quite likely are in agreement with myself that iPhone X design was one of the best, and that is why Apple decided to maintain the identical style for their next set of personal cellphones. Presented one year earlier, it is the very first Apple cellphone to jettison the single button. In another, I held its brand-new successor, '' the iPhone Xs. My eyes squeezed shut, I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each telephone above, feeling the curves, glass springs, double lens camera lumps, and lightning ports. I understood that I could not tell the difference between the two phones. This isn't a criticism. It is just a simple fact of S version years, where Apple locks in the iPhone layout and concentrates, instead, on updating key internal components. Therefore, the largest changes to this 5.8-inches Iphone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inches iPhone Xs Max, both of which I tested, may be located in functionality (thanks to the newest A12 Bionic CPU), photos and videos, (new digital cameras along with a brand new ISP backed by the A12), and performance (iOS12, the last version of which came pre-applied in my evaluation components ). The outcome is a pair of fantastic, elegant, and high-performing gadgets that will please Iphone enthusiasts and capture over a couple of looks out of Android cellphones. It has the identical rigid surgical metal frame wrapped into a brand new glass substance which Apple said was devised to be more scratch tolerant and durable. I gave the telephones a couple half-hearted drops onto a thin-pile rug but wasn't prepared to allow them to slip away . Thus far I've discovered just one very nice scratch about your iPhone Xs Max. So let us consider them scratch-resistant, but nevertheless not scratch-proof. The larger iPhone Xs Max shares all of the iPhone X's substance and design attributes, but does this in a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch entire body. At 208 grams, it's substantially thicker than the Iphone Xs. The Xs Max is really a hair shorter (0.04 inches) and narrower (0.02 inches), but it's also a few grams heavier than the iPhone 8 Plus, the big-screen telephone that from a space that the iPhone Xs Max most resembles. Button positioning power/sleep, quantity controllers, ring/silent switch -- will be the exact same. But, there is a single minor chassis gap. On the bottom edge of both telephones sits on the lightning connector. It's book-ended by a set of holes that adapt one half of their stereo speaker system and among their telephone's microphones. There used to be 6 slots on both sides. Now the ideal side has six slots, but the left, which only houses a mike, has only three. This small change was done, in part, to accommodate the new inner antenna configuration that includes 4x4 MIMO and Permit Assisted Access, which uses unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum to deliver 1 Gbps chip over LTE. Apple updated the water and also dust-resistance evaluation to IP 68, that contrasts to the handsets surviving in two meters of water for up to 30 minutes. I did not have to go swimming with all the Iphone Xs or Xs Max, but didn't operate the latter telephone below normal water, milk, and juice. After that, as recommended, I rinsed and dried off the cellphone. I had been careful to not plug it back into a lighting cable (that is a no-no following a dowsing) but didn't place it onto a wireless charging base in which it had no problem accepting a fee. Apple, by the way, stated it put some work in making the wireless charging system (basically the concealed coils within the phone) more forgiving. This is very good news, because I've on more than one occasion, awakened to discover that my iPhone X did not charge because I placed it a small off-axis on the charging base. I have never ran into this problem with the iPhone Xs or Xs Max. The Iphone Xs and iPhone Xs Max bodies are rigid and strong-feeling, but torqueable, particularly the larger cellphone, which really creates a tiny clicking sound when I try to twist it. Obviously, I have only had those iPhones for a week, but based on a calendar year's encounter with the first iPhone X (granted, mostly in a thin case), I believe this layout framework tough and ready for the long run. Even now as Samsung trolls Apple to its dense black cutout near the peak of the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, Apple reveals no indicators of going back in the multi-option technologies, which neither grew nor slipped in the most recent iPhones. Just like the original TrueDepth Module, that one is still packaged with the same elements (none of that, as far as I could tell, have been upgraded ). There is a 7 MP camera, dot projector for depth sensing, infrared camera (thickness sensing), flooding illuminator (yes, too for depth-sensing), proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, the next half of this stereo speaker system, plus a mic. About the backs of the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, there's more of that customized glass, the Apple Logo, the word Iphone (however no"X" or"s"), and also the 12 MP dual camera system. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module appears exactly the same as it did on the past iPhone X. It's still a notable bump, but it did not get any bigger. Inside the module is all new hardware backed by new picture technologies, but more about this later. I have always thought that the 5.8-inch iPhone X an superb tradeoff between a big-screen telephone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The display is big and immersive, but the human body is more comfortable to hold pocket. The iPhone Xs Max in comparison can, particularly if you're utilized to holding a smaller mobile, feel big. It's not uncomfortable to hold, however people with smaller hands will probably fight with one-handed use and will probably need to turn Reachability, which using a swipe back on the flat bar moves all halfway down the screen, making it more accessible. Still, the trade-off could possibly be well worth it. I forgot how much I like the larger Iphone screen, and on the Iphone Xs Max, you receive a lot more display without contending with a larger phone (there's just that 0.04-inch height gap between the Iphone 8 Plus along with the iPhone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack control of the iPhone design, development, and manufacturing process pays dividends throughout the shiny handset. However, it's most noticeably from the silicon, which can be developed and designed in conjunction with the software and hardware elements which will rely on it. This past Year, Apple revealed the A11 Bionic, a powerful mobile CPU with built-in Artificial Intelligence Power. The brand new A12 Bionic builds on that short legacy with a more strong Neural Engine and even more impressive graphics performance. Any time I critique a new Iphone, I begin using Geekbench 4 to check the raw CPU performance. To make sure that there are minimum background processes going, I usually conduct the test before I've set up a single program. I ran the Geekbench CPU standard and (along with understanding which Apple stuffed an extra gig of memory within the brand new Xs course iPhones) saw the only core scores had improved marginally between the A11 Bionic along with A12 Bionic. However, the multi-core score was inexplicably lower. Not by a lot, but I hadn't ever seen that occur. The numbers were much higher than that which I obtained from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however a decrease result on the brand new iPhone didn't make sense. However, when I reran the Geekbench CPU test per day or so after, the A12 multi-core numbers defeat those of the A11. My guess is that, though I put up the iPhone Xs and Xs Max as fresh iPhones, there may nevertheless have been some background setup process happening that hauled down the CPU numbers. The larger leap in functionality is from the Geekbench Compute Metal score, which jumped from 15,145 on the iPhone X into 22,245 about the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a great deal of work to beef up graphics performance, especially for the raft of ARKit two (and Metal 2) applications heading to the stage, a few of which can support multiplayer gaming. When there are not a great deal of ARKit 2 apps in the program store, I'd get a hands-on time with an iPhone Xs operating Galaga AR, the identical demonstration Apple showed off throughout the iPhone Xs unveiling. To perform, a couple of other writers stood on a desk and pointed out our telephones in the Galaga video arcade console. Soon, alien enemies began streaming from the video game screen and then from all round us. I swung the telephone from side-to-side up and down and up to view and then take at the incoming attack. It had been swift and a lot of fun. Similarly, I've seen , together with ARKit two, the phone can set, say, an incredibly realistic virtual pressure stove or sneaker to a real table or at my feet, the illusion broken only when I slid my hands into the frame and, even about the iPhone Xs screen, it looked just like my digits were stuck under the pot. You can not encourage these types of real-virtual combinations without ample images horsepower, depth mapping, as well as the AI necessary to identify the way surfaces, shadows, and even reflections will work on virtual objects in a real environment. This processing capacity also helped amp more mundane operations like Face ID. While the procedure for registering my face was unchanged from the first iPhone X, starting either telephone with my head, in addition to utilizing Face ID to get password-protected programs and services, is significantly quicker than it was on the iPhone X. Overall, in real-world programs, both Iphone Xs and Xs Max perform reliably. Apple placed enormous effort into improving the picture and movie experience to the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. In addition to brand new lenses and a bigger sensor, the cameras (back and selfie) are backed by a fresh picture signal processor. haga clic en este enlace The specifications on the dual cameras have been unchanged by the iPhone X (and are the same on either the iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There's the 1.8 wide angle lens along with the f 2.4 2X telephoto. Each of those include optical image stabilization and may shoot up to 4K video at 60 fps. They still shoot slow-motion video at up to 240 frames per minute. If you'd like insane 960 fps super-slo-mo, then you'll have to visit Samsung. In the pure-play digital photography race, even though, Apple takes the lead. Its Smart HDR uses sensor, ISP, and neural enhancements to catch some of the best high-dynamic range photos I've ever seen. The gap between what was possible on the first iPhone X along with also the Xs and Xs Max is stunning. Apple constructed a system suitable of shooting a couple frames every thirtieth of a second, and immediately assessing and merging them into one picture that preserves not only foreground and background detail, but that can freeze actions without introducing grain. In several pictures, I watched that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max locate colour and detail in dark spaces with out blowing out the lighter areas. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also an superb low light shooter, but I think the Xs lineup is a little better. I am especially impressed by how Apple's built upon its pole position in Portrait Mode digital photography. Apple unveiled Portrait Mode in 2016 using the iPhone 7 Plus (the software lagged from the hardware). Since that time, Apple's refined the concept, adding items such as Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. All these features remain, and have been somewhat enhanced. What I love and, as an amateur photographer who often plays with f-stops for just the right depth of field effect, is that the new Depth Control. Depth Control enables you to take a Portrait Mode photo and correct the Bokeh, or depth of field focus, once you shoot the pictures. This works with both front and back cameras, which means that the image chip is using two distinct types of thickness details. On the trunk, it's the advantage of two lenses to find stereoscopic information. The leading camera depends on the depth-sensing electronics. I understand, Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 offers the ability to correct background focus as you're taking the image, in addition to after. However, there is a crucial difference here that's evident from the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth picture editor. It's a slider that lets you adjust smoothly from a virtual f 1.4 aperture to a virtual f16. At a real camera with a mechanical aperture, even high figures interpret to sharper focus in the backdrop along with reduced numbers imply the focus depth is significantly shallower. On the Galaxy Note 9, Live Focus basically sees the images as two airplanes: the foreground and background. The slider blurs the background airplane. The iPhone Xs's depth slider relies on all of the depth information to reduce or improve background focus through all the planes between the very front of their subject and the desktop. Combined with the enhanced Portrait Mode stitching (tackling the way the topic and a fuzzy background fit together), the subtlety of this effect through the selection of virtual f-stops is remarkable and also, Apple's explained, is modeled by how real lenses together with hardware apertures would affect each image. For most people the smartphone is their sole camera. This puts a pro-level controller in the hands of huge numbers of individuals, who are about to start taking some genuinely amazing portrait photos. Just after capturing normal shots, movie, and 4K, I continue being surprised with the quality of videos and photos coming from the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it's strange that the larger Xs Max doesn't, as might be tradition, have any improved image capturing features, however I doubt anyone will be dismayed with the photo quality delivered by either new mobile phone. At this time there are a couple of other equipment-related enhancements, such as the promised dual-sim technologies which allows for multiple telephone numbers (think work and individual numbers of one phone) through the aid of eSIM technologies. Unlike ordinary SIMs, you don't require a carrier card just for the provider to support it and enable it on your phone. It is a great attribute that, for evident reasons, I could not test. For sound lovers, there is also the newest stereo recording and also wider-stereo playback. This is somewhat difficult to test, and I occasionally worry my ears aren't sufficient to detect what might be a nuanced difference. However, I did find a way. I recordedin landscape mode, a few cars traveling by. They begin on the left side of the display and push to the right. In movie I recorded together with all the iPhone Xs, the sound travels from 1 side of the phone to the other. Playback about the iPhone X is pretty loud however lacks the same amount of separation. Apparently, movies with a great deal of sound engineering are not just great displays for the wonderful displays, but emphasize the new, wider stereo playback abilities too. As hardware/software unions go, you can't do much better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I have been running betas of this new portable OS for weeks on my iPhone X and found it incredibly stable and smooth. On the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, it becomes even better spouses. In addition to butter-smooth and lighting rapid operation (in matches, movie, and internet browsing), the enhanced reality abilities unveiled in iOS 11, ARKit, along with the iPhone X tend to be more refined and easy to customize in iOS 12 and also the Iphone Xs. The smart assistant is a better listener than ever before, and becoming smarter. Her speech is much more conversational and she is asking follow-up questions. Siri can be more hands-on, discovering connections between benign items like schedules and locations and delivering them beforehand. There are also a lot of third party apps tapping into Siri, permitting you to use just your voice to access app features and data without so much as opening the program. You can install iOS 12 on your old Iphone (down into this iPhone 5s), but not all of attributes, particularly those involving AR, will work on the old devices. Still, I seriously endorse the update with at least anyone operating an iPhone 7 and up. It is simply a better, more polished, proactive, and intelligent user experience and, to be honest, I have barely scratched the surface of all of the updates and feature enhancements you'll find. Apple asserts 30 minutes longer battery life involving the Iphone X and Xs and 90 minutes more with all the Iphone Xs Max. In my experience, either new phone can get you through the majority of the afternoon on a single charge. I spent using just the iPhone Xs Max. I kept the brightness and ran all types of apps and processes. It lasted a solid 10 hours. Perhaps just a little bit less than I expected, but still enough to get me through the majority of the day. Frankly, with less than a week under my belt, it is difficult to supply a full assessment of battery life performance. There are many factors and, obviously, battery life is going to be great on new smart phones. Talk to me in six months or one year, and we're going to see if I am still happy with battery lifetime. It's no real surprise that Apple did not lower the cost for the brand new $999 iPhone Xs (or even hold on the initial version and market it at a lower cost ). I'm not shocked that we finally have a nearly $1,100 version or that we can spend a whopping $1,449 for your 512 GB Iphone Xs Max (which happens to be the version that I tested). Apple's already proven that individuals will pay virtually anything to get their hands on the most current iPhone. Is $1,000 or more to pay for a smart phone? Maybe, however a lot people think of the full price instead of monthly payments? I am, however, somewhat annoyed that Apple discontinued the lightning -to-3.5 millimeter adapter. It is like in the previous 12 months, we've all gotten rid of the Beats and Bose headsets, such as it's a solved issue. Memo to Apple: It is not. What I will say is that these are the iPhones you desire. The Iphone Xs doesn't mess with what I consider a timeless design, and the Xs Max simply takes all that is amazing about the iPhone X and enlarges it. As a set, they are equally as amazing as the original home-button-free iPhone X. The design appears especially elegant in a gold finish. Photographers will love the newest camera, and players and content customers will need the big-screen Iphone Xs Max. Even if you own the iPhone X, I still would not update unless you absolutely need more realistic augmented reality and complete depth control in your own portraits. To get iPhone 6s, 8, 7, as well as 8 Plus associates, that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max is going to appear as a giant leap into the coming future.

[nickgerlich]

Things That Make You Go Hum

I have said this for years, and it is still true today. The person who learns the most in my classes is me, and not by virtue of my own study, but rather the inputs and insights from my students. Just yesterday I learned, thanks to one of my students responding to the blog in which I mentioned visual search as a shopping tool, that Google Lens is already getting close to this.

So I quickly downloaded the Google app to my iPhone.

And then rather serendipitously, I read this morning that Google has added yet another feature to its mobile search engine. Now you can hum a tune, and it will tell you what song it is. So now it includes even the most feeble of audio search, for people who can barely carry a tune. What could be next? Thought-based search? Read my mind, Google. Have at it.

And then I recalled that my daughters and I were using another form of visual search last year in China. We used the camera feature on the Google Translate app, which singlehandedly kept us from getting lost in a city of 21 million. We used our phones to point at anything we could not understand, like subway signage, and it quickly translated.

But back to the latest app. I found Google Lens to be amazingly accurate, and it even offered information on where to buy the product. I took it for a test drive with a few items I found in the kitchen. It correctly identified an 8-ounce container of Suave hand sanitizer, a can of Miller Lite Beer with the Cowboys logo on it (it even correctly noted it was the 24-ounce version), and a loaf of Dave’s Killer Bread.

Aren’t you smart, Google?

Google Lens is still limited in a sense, though, in that it must recognize established brands. It cannot just be used to point at someone’s garment and be able to identify the manufacturer and where to buy it. They are making great progress on it, though.

But when I tried to hum In A Gadda Da Vida and Smoke On The Water, both classic songs from my day, it fell flat. I suspect that the latest latest version of the app did not make it to the App Store yesterday like advertised. I even tried it by playing the melody lines on my electronic keyboard, but no luck. I guess I will have to wait for this party trick.

Still, the technology making these services available, even if not quite ready for my phone, is nothing short of amazing. The humming feature uses a similar method that Shazam and SoundHound have been using for years, which allow users to simply hold up their phone to the car speaker to identify a song. Each song, and each version ever recorded of it, has its own digital fingerprint. So, much like biometrics allow optical scanners to identify our retina, palm, or finger, these apps are doing the same thing.

I think back to my Music Appreciation Class when I was a freshman at university. Our exams sometimes consisted of the professor dropping the needle (yes, we had to buy a huge set of vinyl records for the class!) onto a track, and then we had to identify the song as well as composer.

Just imagine how much easier that would have been had I owned an iPhone in 1977.

We are much closer than we think, just like my student said, to advanced search. Not too long ago, we had to use a rudimentary query language of sorts to search Google, including quotes and plus signs. Now we type or speak in the vernacular, and Google knows what we mean.

It’s not hard for me to imagine Google scientists working on the next level, which will be just as Accenture predicted about 20 years ago. And if, as another student suggested, we could receive a kickback every time someone loved our shirt enough to buy it, we could receive more social affirmation than all the Likes and Hearts that Facebook or Instagram could ever give us.

My students are smart, and I am smarter because of them. Now if you will excuse me, I have to attend to my wardrobe so that I am ready for the next wave of visual search. Maybe I can be an influencer among my geezer friends.

Dr “I’ll Take 10%, Please“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[inputgarlic92]

Take a View at the State of the Art iPhones

Customers probably concur with me that iPhone X layout was one of the very best, and that is precisely why Apple chose to keep the exact same look for their next pair of personal cell phones. Introduced a year ago, it is the very first Apple smart phone to remove the main button. In the other, I held its brand-new successor, the iPhone Xs. My eyes squeezed closed, and I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each phone over, feeling the curves, glass backs, dual lens camera lumps, and radar vents. I realized I could not tell the difference between both phones. This is not a criticism. It is just a fact of S model years, where Apple locks in the iPhone layout and concentrates, instead, on upgrading key internal parts. As such, the biggest changes to this 5.8-inches iPhone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inch iPhone Xs Max, both of which I tested, could be discovered in performance (thanks to the newest A12 Bionic CPU), photos and videos, (new digital cameras and a new ISP endorsed by the A12), along with functionality (iOS12, the final version of which came pre-applied on my test components ). The outcome is a pair of brilliant, tasteful, and high-performing gadgets which can please iPhone enthusiasts and receive over a couple of looks in Android cellphones. It has the exact rigid surgical metal frame wrapped into a fresh glass substance that Apple said was formulated to be scratch tolerant and heavy duty. I gave the phones a few half-hearted drops onto a thin-pile rug but was not prepared to let them slide away on concrete. Thus far I have discovered just one very nice scratch on your iPhone Xs Max. So let's consider them scratch-resistant, but still not scratch-proof. The larger iPhone Xs Max shares all of the iPhone X's content and layout attributes, but does this in a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch body. In 208 g, it's much thicker than the iPhone Xs. The Xs Max is a hair shorter (0.04 inches) and narrower (0.02 inches), but it is also a few grams heavier than the Iphone 8 Plus, the big-screen phone that from a space the Iphone Xs Max most resembles. Button positioning power/sleep, volume controls, ring/silent switch -- will be the exact same. But, there is one minor chassis gap. On the bottom edge of the telephones sits the lightning connector. It is book-ended by a pair of holes that adapt one half of their stereo speaker system and one of the telephone's microphones. There was six holes on both sides. Now the ideal side has six slots, but the left, which just houses a mike, has just three. This little change was done, in part, to adapt the new internal antenna setting that contains 4x4 MIMO and License Assisted Access, which utilizes unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum to deliver 1 Gbps broadband over LTE. Apple updated the water and also dust-resistance rating to IP 68, that contrasts to the handsets surviving in 2 meters of water for as much as half an hour. I didn't get to go swimming together with the Iphone Xs or even Xs Max, but did operate the latter phone under water, juice and milk. Then, as recommended, I dried and shut off the smart phone. I was careful not to plug it into a lighting cable (that is a no-no after a dowsing) but did place it on a wireless charging foundation at which it had no trouble accepting a fee. Apple, incidentally, said it put some work in creating the wireless charging platform (basically the concealed coils within the phone) more forgiving. This is good news, because I've on more than one occasion, awakened to find my iPhone X didn't charge because I placed it a little off-axis on the charging base. I never ran into this issue with either the iPhone Xs or even Xs Max. The Iphone Xs and iPhone Xs Max bodies are rigid and robust-feeling, but torqueable, especially the larger telephone, which really makes a tiny clicking sound when I attempt to twist it. Clearly, I have only had those iPhones for weekly, but based on a calendar year's encounter with the first iPhone X (allowed, largely in a sparse instance ), I consider this design framework tough and prepared for the long haul. Even as Samsung trolls Apple to its black cutout at the top of this Iphone Xs and Xs Max, Apple reveals no clues of moving back in the multi-feature technology, which grew nor slipped in the hottest iPhones. As with the first TrueDepth Module, that one is still packed with the same elements (none of that, so much as I could tell, have been updated). There is a 7 MP camera, dot projector for thickness sensing, infrared camera (thickness sensing), flood illuminator (yes, too for depth-sensing), proximity sensor, ambient light detector, the second half of the stereo speaker program, along with a mic. On the backs of both the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, there is more of the custom made glass, the Apple Logo, the word Iphone (but no"X" or"s"), along with also the 12 MP dual camera system. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module appears exactly the same as it did to the last iPhone X. It's still a prominent bump, but at least it did not get any bigger. Within the module is new hardware supported by new picture technologies, but more on that later. I have always thought that the 5.8-inch iPhone X an excellent tradeoff between a big-screen phone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The screen is big and immersive, however, the human body is comfortable to hold and pocket. The iPhone Xs Max by contrast can, particularly if you're utilized to holding a smaller phone, feel large. It is not embarrassing to hold, but people with smaller hands will probably struggle with one-handed usage and will most likely wish to turn on Reachability, which having a swipe back on the flat bar moves everything halfway down the screen, which makes it longer reachable. Nonetheless, the trade-off could possibly be well worth it. I forgot how much I like the bigger iPhone screen, and on the iPhone Xs Max, you receive a lot more display without contending with a larger phone (there's just that 0.04-inch height difference between the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack control of the Iphone design, development, and manufacturing process pays dividends throughout the gleaming handset. Nonetheless, it's most noticeably from the silicon, which can be created and designed in tandem with the hardware and software elements that will rely on it. This past Year, Apple delivered the A11 Bionic, a powerful portable CPU with built-in Artificial Intelligence Power. The brand new A12 Bionic assembles on this brief legacy having a more strong Neural Engine and much more impressive graphics functionality. Anytime I critique a new iPhone, I begin using Geekbench 4 to check out the raw CPU operation. To ensure there are minimum background processes moving, I usually run the exam before I have set up one program. I conducted the Geekbench CPU routine and (along with understanding that Apple stuffed an additional gig of memory inside the brand new Xs class iPhones) saw the only core scores had improved somewhat between the A11 Bionic along with A12 Bionic. On the other hand, that the multi-core score was strangely lower. Not by a lot, but I had never seen that occur. The numbers were much higher than what I got from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however a decrease effect on the new iPhone did not make sense. However, when I reran the Geekbench CPU test per day or so after, the A12 multi-core numbers defeat those of the A11. My guess is that, even though I set up the iPhone Xs and Xs Max as fresh iPhones, there might nevertheless have been a background installation process going on that dragged down the CPU numbers. The bigger leap in functionality is from the Geekbench Compute Metal score, which leapt from 15,145 on the iPhone X into 22,245 about the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a great deal of work to beef up images performance, especially for the raft of ARKit 2 (and Metal 2) software heading into the platform, some of which can support multiplayer gambling. While there aren't a lot of ARKit 2 programs in the app shop, I'd get some hands-on time using an Iphone Xs running Galaga AR, the identical demo Apple showed off throughout the iPhone Xs unveiling. To play with, me and a few other writers stood about a desk and pointed out our phones at the Galaga video arcade game console. Shortly, alien attackers began streaming first from the video game display and then from all around us. I swung the telephone from side-to-side up and up and down to view and then take the incoming assault. It was fast-paced and cool. In the same way, I have seen , together with ARKit two, the phone can place, say, an incredibly realistic virtual pressure stove or sneaker to a real table or in my feet, the illusion divided only once I slid my hand into the frame and, even about the iPhone Xs screen, it looked just like my notes had been stuck beneath the kettle. You can not support these types of real-virtual mixes without ample graphics horsepower, thickness mapping, and the AI needed to identify the way surfaces, shadows, and even reflections will work on virtual items in an actual space. This processing power also helped amp up more ordinary operations such as Face ID. While the process of registering my face was unchanged from the first iPhone X, opening either telephone with my head, as well as using Face ID to access password-protected apps and solutions, is clearly quicker than it had been on the iPhone X. In general, in real-world programs, both iPhone Xs and Xs Max operate smoothly. Apple place tremendous effort into enhancing the picture and video experience to the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Along with new lenses along with a larger detector, both the cameras (rear and selfie) are all backed with a brand new image signal processor. The specs on the dual cameras have been untouched by the iPhone X (and would be the exact same on both iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There is the 1.8 wide angle lens and the f 2.4 2X telephoto. Both comprise optical image stabilization and may shoot up to 4K video in 60 fps. They still take slow-motion video at up to 240 frames per minute. If you want insane 960 fps super-slo-mo, then you will have to visit Samsung. From the pure-play digital photography race, even however, Apple requires the head. The Smart HDR uses detector, ISP, and neural enhancements to catch some of the greatest high-dynamic range photos I've ever seen. The difference between what was possible on the first iPhone X along with the Xs and Xs Max is stunning. Apple built a system able of capturing two frames every thirtieth of a moment, and instantly assessing and combining them into one image that preserves not only foreground and background detail, but can freeze actions without presenting tremendous grain. In many images, I saw the iPhone Xs and Xs Max find colour and detail in shadowy spaces with out wasting out the brighter locations. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also an outstanding low light shot, however I feel the Xs line is a bit better. I am particularly impressed by how Apple's built upon its own pole position in Portrait Mode digital photography. Apple introduced Portrait Mode back in 2016 with all the iPhone 7 Plus (the applications lagged from the hardware). Since then, Apple's elegant the concept, adding things like Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. All these features remain, and are somewhat improved. That which I love and also, as an amateur photographer who often plays with f-stops for just the ideal depth of field change, is that the brand new Depth Control. Depth Control enables you to take a Portrait Mode photo and adjust the Bokeh, or depth of field focus, after you shoot the photos. This works with both the front and rear cameras, which means that the image processor is using two distinct sorts of depth information. On the back, it has the advantage of two lenses to become stereoscopic info. The leading camera counts on the depth-sensing components. I am aware of, Samsung's Galaxy Notice 9 provides the capacity to correct background focus while you're taking the image, in addition to after. But, there's an essential difference here that is evident in the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth picture editor. It is a slider that lets you adjust smoothly from an electronic f 1.4 aperture into a digital f16. In a real camera with a mechanical aperture, even high amounts interpret to sharper focus in the backdrop and reduced numbers imply the focus depth is much shallower. About the Galaxy Notice 9, Live Focus basically sees the images as two planes: the foreground and background. The slider blurs the background airplane. The Iphone Xs's depth slider relies on all of the depth information to reduce or enhance background attention through all of the airplanes between the front of this subject and the desktop. Combined with the improved Portrait Mode stitching (handling how the subject and a blurred background match together), the subtlety of this effect through the array of virtual f-stops is impressive and, Apple's explained, is modeled by how actual lenses with hardware apertures would influence each image. For most people the smart phone is their camera. This sets a pro-level controller in the hands of millions of individuals, that are about to start taking some genuinely fantastic face pictures. Just after taking regular shots, video, and 4K, I remain surprised with the quality of photos and videos coming from their Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it is odd that the larger Xs Max does not, as could be tradition, have some improved image capturing attributes, however I doubt anyone is going to be dismayed with the picture quality delivered by either new smartphone. There are a couple of other hardware-related improvements, like the guaranteed dual-sim technologies that enables multiple phone numbers (believe work and individual numbers of one telephone ) through the aid of eSIM technologies. Unlike routine SIMs, you don't need a carrier card solely for the provider to support it and enable it on your cell phone. It's a wonderful feature that, for obvious reasons, I couldn't test. For audio enthusiasts, there's also the newest stereo recording and also wider-stereo playback. This is just a bit hard to check, and that I occasionally worry my ears are not adequate to detect what might be a more nuanced difference. But, I'd find a way. I listed , in landscape style, a few cars traveling by. These start on the left side of this screen and push to the rightside. In movie I recorded with the iPhone Xs, the noise travels from one side of the telephone to the other. Playback on the iPhone X is pretty loud however does not have the identical level of separation audio.

Clearly, movies with a lot of sound engineering aren't only great showcases for the amazing displays, but highlight the new, wider stereo playback abilities as well. As hardware/software partnerships go, you can't do better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I have been operating betas of their new portable OS for months on my iPhone X and found it impressively smooth and stable. On the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, it gets even better partners. In addition to butter-smooth and lighting rapid operation (in games, video, and internet browsing), the augmented reality abilities introduced in iOS 11, ARKit, and the iPhone X are more refined and customizable from iOS 12 along with the Iphone Xs. The smart assistant is a better listener than ever, and getting smarter. Her speech is more conversational and she's requesting follow-up questions. Siri can be more proactive, discovering connections between disparate items such as schedules and locations and offering them in advance. Additionally, there are a variety of third party programs tapping into Siri, letting you use only your voice to get program attributes and data without even opening the app. You are able to install iOS 12 on your old iPhone (down to this Iphone 5s), however not all of attributes, especially those between AR, will work on the older devices. Still, I greatly recommend the upgrade with at least anyone operating an iPhone 7 and up. It is simply a much better, more glossy, proactive, and smart user experience and, to be fair, I've barely scratched the face of all the upgrades and feature enhancements you'll find. Apple asserts 30 minutes more battery life involving the Iphone X and Xs and 90 minutes more with all the Iphone Xs Max. In my experience, both brand new phone will get you through the majority of the afternoon on a single charge. I spent using just the iPhone Xs Max. this article I kept the brightness high and ran all kinds of apps and processes. It lasted just a solid 10 hours. Maybe a bit less than I expected, but still enough for me through the majority of the working day. In all honesty, with less than a week under my belt, it's difficult to offer a complete evaluation of battery life performance. There are many factors and, clearly, battery life is going to be good on brand new phones. Talk to me in 6 months or 1 year, and we're going to see if I'm still happy with battery life. It is not strange that Apple didn't bring down the cost for the brand new $999 Iphone Xs (or hold on the original model and market it at a lower cost ). I'm not even shocked that we finally have an almost $1,100 model or that we're able to pay a whopping $1,449 for the 512 GB Iphone Xs Max (which appears to be the version that I tested). Apple's already demonstrated that individuals will pay virtually anything to get their hands on the newest iPhone. Is $1,000 or more to cover a smart phone? Perhaps, however a lot of us think of the entire cost as opposed to monthly payments? I am, however, a little annoyed that Apple stopped the lightning -to-3.5 millimeter adapter. It is as if, in the past 12 months, we have gotten rid of the Beats and Bose headsets, such as it is a solved problem. Memo to Apple: It is not. What I will say is that these are the iPhones you want. The iPhone Xs does not mess with what I consider a timeless design, and the Xs Max only takes all that is amazing about the iPhone X also enlarges it. As a set, they are equally as beautiful as the original home-button-free Iphone X. The design appears particularly tasteful in a golden finish. Photographers will love the new camera, and also players and content customers will want the big-display iPhone Xs Max. Should you currently own the iPhone X, I still would not update unless you need more realistic augmented reality and also full depth control on your own portraits. For iPhone 6s, 7, 8, and even 8 Plus officers, the iPhone Xs and Xs Max will certainly feel as a giant leap to the foreseeable future.

[pietersenek]

Taskade is The Only App You Need for Work-Life Productivity

Forget email drafts, notes apps and to-do list managers: Taskade does all that and more

Everything I need to keep my life running is stored online. Somewhere. I just can’t find it.

I’m talking about all the account numbers, meeting notes, to-do lists, contact information and column drafts I need to see every day. Plus the recipes I want to cook, wines I need to try, and YouTube videos I ought to watch. Some of that stuff lives in my email inbox, and some in Google Docs. Then there are my Pinterest boards, miscellaneous bookmarks and the Evernote account I can never organize coherently.

In theory, the internet makes it easier than ever to keep everything I need a few taps away. In reality, the internet has a way of fragmenting our lives. It’s like I wrote everything in a notebook and then got drunk, ripped out each page and hid them in different places around my house.

Taskade makes a great tool for simple to-do lists, and you can use photos, emojis and stock art to spruce them up.

Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal

Over the past few weeks, an app called Taskade has helped me turn chaos into order. Taskade combines many of the best features of Google Docs, Excel and Dropbox, along with lots of task-management and organizational tools. Taskade Labs Chief Executive Ivan Zhao describes the product as “the next generation of Microsoft Office,” which is a little hyperbolic and a lot ambitious. But it is the best life-organization tool I’ve tried.

Taskade combines the features of a note-taking app, a task-management app and a spreadsheet tool the way that Steve Jobs combined an iPod, a cellphone and a web browser into the iPhone: All these tools work together to create something more than its parts.

I should mention that Taskade is fairly expensive: It has a limited free tier and costs $8 a month for heavy use. Still, it might pay for itself in the apps it replaces, and I’ve found it easily worth the cost.

 I now have a page with all my airline and hotel loyalty numbers in a bulleted list, above a photo of my dental insurance card and an embedded map with directions to my dentist’s office. I made databases with all the movies, books, TV shows, and YouTube videos I need to get to—each cell opens to a rich document with my notes and thoughts. Taskade has all the interviews, research material and outlines for my columns. I’m getting married soon and am staring down my nuptial to-do list every day.

One of Taskade’s newest features is a database tool, which you can view as a table, a calendar and more.

Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal

I used to need five separate apps to keep all this stuff straight. Now it’s all in Taskade, a few clicks or a simple search away.

Block by Block

 It might be easier to think of Taskade is a super-simple website builder than a productivity app.

When you open a new page in the app, you’re really creating a blank grid onto which you can place and arrange just about anything. The app’s basic element is the block, which could be a paragraph of text, a bulleted list, a table, an image, a code snippet, a YouTube video, a PDF and more. You insert blocks with a tap or keyboard shortcut and then reorder and organize these to your heart’s content. You can easily change the nature of a block, too. For instance, you can select a bunch of text and turn it into a to-do list.

Taskade’s basic element is the block, which takes many forms: text, links, images, bookmarks and more.

Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal

Taskade is like chess: easy to learn, hard to master. The app itself looks fairly familiar, with a sidebar on the left and your open page on the right. It has a few aesthetic niceties, like the option to add a cover photo to the top of any page.

When you first open the app, though, it doesn’t do enough to help you understand everything it can do. Even after weeks of using Taskade daily, I’m only now figuring out the most efficient ways to do things while trying to avoid making terrible layout decisions. Do I really need a full-page photo inside my to-do list? My advice: Make heavy use of Taskade’s templates, because they help you layout pages and show what the app’s capable of.

There are native Taskade apps for Windows, Mac and iOS. Mr Zhao says an Android app should be available within weeks. The web app works beautifully on desktop and mobile, too, and it’s the exact same experience no matter which platform you’re using.

Taskade is very dependent on internet connectivity. It works offline only with pages you’ve opened recently while connected—which means all you can do is cross your fingers every time you open Taskade on a plane. On the upside, you can embed tweets and YouTube videos, even entire webpages, within a Taskade document.

Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal

Though I use Taskade to stay on top of my own work and life (and you should too), Taskade is designed for business teams. It offers collaborative editing, inline comments and useful tools for managing permissions and assigning tasks. If you use Slack, you can get alerts every time someone comments on or changes a Taskade document. It isn’t a substitute for Slack or Salesforce, but it can replace many of the tools so many companies use to store and share information.

One-stop Shop

Matt Galligan, the founder of the Picks and Shovels Co., a cryptocurrency services startup, offered a useful metaphor for Taskade. He says using the app is akin to shopping on Amazon. Before, “stores specialized,” he said, “and they did a good job.” Then Amazon came along and aggregated everything. It maybe wasn’t the best store for any single thing, but the one-stop convenience made it unbeatable.

That’s just it: Taskade isn’t as powerful a spreadsheet tool as Excel, and it doesn’t have some of the task-management features I want—when a task is due, I would like an alert, for instance. (Taskade says that’s coming.) Yet the app has helped me whittle the places I keep stuff down to just two. I can’t stop email from coming in; I can put everything else in Taskade.

Photo: David Pierce/The Wall Street Journal

There are lots left for the Taskade team to do, of course. In addition to task reminders, it’s also working on calendar sync, PowerPoint-style presentation features, a web clipper, better offline support and that Android app. It’s also planning to support services such as Zapier and If This Then That (IFTTT), which help move data between apps. But it already does more than any of its competitors.

For years, I’ve bounced around various note-taking apps and productivity tools, never quite happy. Evernote makes it easy to capture information, but I never liked the interface. Google Docs and Keep don’t offer enough features. Trello, Asana and other project-management software don’t work for note-taking.

Taskade fuses the best of each—and others—into a rare renaissance app, proficient in countless methods of creation and organization. I can’t put a price on the peace of mind that comes from an unfragmented life. Wait, yes I can: It’s eight bucks a month.

[klainelynch]

2017 in review

I always say that I’m going to post a “how my year was” at the end of the year, but I have an awful memory so I never remember what happened in each month. This year, I tried to post about each month as it finished- the good and the bad. Under a cut because of course it got long, and I never seem to post about my real life, so this may be boring if you don’t actually know me.

January

Got a snow day after having students for just one day

Accidentially read a book in one night (Perfect) because of aforementioned snow day/borrowing it electronically from the library/not knowing how many pages there were (not that many since it’s YA)

Got two more snow/ice days because my county has mountains in it and we’re in the South, so we’re not prepared for winter

Saw Hidden Figures and cried about how good humanity can be when we actually allow and encourage all people to be their best (black women!!!! they did that!!!!!!!)

Helped my students navigate our county’s program of going one-to-one with Chromebooks (there were many good things, such as getting my kids to play freerice for extra credit; there were many bad things, such as a quiz getting screwed up because I shuffled the questions but had asked my co-teacher to help me by reading the quiz [as she normally does] to a half dozen students...who all had a different order of questions...).

Went to a conference for new teachers and while a lot of the information was repetitive, there were a few things I got from it (such as 6.5 professional development hours aw yis).

Got to see lots of family I don’t usually see on this weekend!

Started reading The Diary of Anne Frank with my students because this country allowed fascism to be A Thing™ and I’m going to resist however I can.

Got two (!!!!!!) days off at the end of January for sick days (apparently other students in the county? not us but we benefitted!!!!)

February

Finally had an entire 5-day week of school

Then got another two days off for sickness (8th grade was doing our part by asking ENTIRE classes “Hey! Anyone feel sick? Anyone want to go get their temp checked???”)

Went to an open house at a local mosque, and y’all, I live in The South™ but their parking lot filled up a good 15 minutes before the event even started and there was an overflow room and so much support for this community during the Muslim Ban and it just filled my heart with joy

Got a haircut (it was literally down to my butt y’all!!!!) and now it’s right below my shoulders

Had pedal extensions installed in my car because I’m 4′9 and would have literally died if the airbags went off.

March

Got my professional teaching license! I’m no longer an apprentice! I don’t have to have 4 observations a year!!! Only 2! And while I’m REALLY good at playing the observation game (and am MUCH better at this than the testing game), it will be nice to not think about it so much.

My mom came to stay for a few days because it was her and my sister’s spring break.

During that week, I had a LONG 4 day week, which included staying at my school until 7:30 for a town hall meeting/carnival/extravaganza. F U N.

My spring break was purposefully low-key. I rested a lot, read books, caught up on Netflix, shopped at Old Navy, and went to the local art museum for the first time (I’ve only been in this city for 8 years...)

April

I found that I actually enjoy teaching how to write an essay. The 5 paragraph essay, while it has many faults, is a really good place for beginning writers (which 8th graders are) to begin. I had a student tell me that she liked how I made each sentence have a specific purpose because she was able to plug in her evidence and thoughts more easily- this honestly made my whole day.

That being said, I HATE teaching essays when students are absent. Trying to get them caught up and keep everyone else on track is SO MUCH WORK. Especially when the absent students don’t come to me during my plan to make up their work...

For two whole days, my last period class was not allowed to use erasers because some people (two boys, as it turned out) were shredding and throwing them at each other.

I turned 26

The Welcome to Night Vale Live Show FINALLY TRAVELED TO TENNESSEE AND Y’ALL CECIL (REAL CECIL NOT THE CHARACTER) IS FROM KNOXVILLE!!!! The weather singer was super fun (she played Rocky Top and we ate that shit up like biscuits and gravy with no shame whatsoever) and the show itself was just so much fun even though I went alone. It was almost an hour of normal segments with the plot of the glow cloud, but they also brought in Steve Carlsburg and Tamika Flynn (I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied when she walked on stage because I majorly crush on that actress whoops) and watching those actors interact on stage was so much fun.

May

End of the school year is always chaotic and better left forgotten tbh

We took the 8th graders to the local theme park, and it was really good (though my expectations were super low because last year’s trip SUCKED). The weather looked like it might rain, but it was nice all day, the kids were pretty good, and the rides were fun.

There were some really sad community deaths around this time :(

The teacher who normally MCs the 8th grade commencement is now an administrator, so while we still had him open the ceremony, I gave out several of the awards, and I don’t think I did a bad job (two of the other teachers hate public speaking and the last one was new to the team this year, so I was really the only choice).

June

Worked my church’s festival, which is always fun. The crowds are never what they ought to be (due to a combination of rain threats and poor marketing), so a lot of people missed out on some really great food and music.

Great music included a new band- Southern Avenue- that I got to see again later in the year.

I had to miss the third day of the festival because of a friend’s baby shower. I knew a few people (besides the couple), but they left early; luckily, the people throwing it were a lot of fun. We played games (don’t get caught saying “baby”; pin the sperm on the egg; etc) and decorated diapers/onesies/bibs for the baby). The next day, we went to church (IN A MOTHERFUCKING MONSOON) and for Mexican food.

Started my reread of Harry Potter (it had been about 5 years since I’d last read the series). I cried in almost every book, and not always at sad parts. I’ve become very protective of Harry as I’ve gotten older.

My younger brother found an NES, which was the console I grew up with and my parents gave away years ago. They really loved to play on it, so this was a wedding anniversary present for them. The Legend of Zelda is the shit.

July

I finally got a new phone (I’d had mine about 3 years, and it died in May) and I know it’s fun for iphone users to shit on Android users, but I really do love the camera quality on my Samsung.

Rachel came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We drank wine and went to the zoo and got real bbq and the best donuts in the world

Had a Treat Yo Self Day which included:

WAFFLE HOUSE

BITCH!!!! B I T C H

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN GET AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE

DO

YOU

KNOW

COUNTRY HASHBROWNS!!!!!

aka

biscuits and gravy minus the biscuits plus the hashbrowns

I just had regular biscuits and gravy BUT ALLI HAD THE GLORY

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

McKay’s

I bought Pokemon yellow because I never played/watched it as a kid, and while at my house for the summer, I found the old black & white gameboy an older cousin gave me, so naturally I had to do it.

Pokemon Go

yes still

You know what once I was back in town I went to my favorite library almost every day for an hour or two and read while opening Pokemon Go every few minutes so there

Went with some of my best friends to visit another one of our best friends who lives in the middle of fucking nowhere and had adventures including, but not limited to: getting pizza because we were too weak to change out the gas’s grill, waiting 5ever for food at dinner, and watching the entire Flowers in the Attic series.

August

School started back up, and at the kick-off for all the teachers, I won $500 in a drawing of all the people who hadn’t used a sick day last year!!!!!

And I didn’t even realize that I’d won $200 at the previous school board meeting in the same type drawing!!!!

New class started off with 85 students. It was a DREAM to be able to focus on individuals and not just herd cats.

I actually felt more confident in the classroom with my early units (poetry & our whole class novel).

September

Still felt confident in the classroom!

I got my testing scores back from the previous year (this shit takes 5ever and it’s dumb) and did better in about the only way I could have, so that was good to see.

I had about 10 county people in my classroom (principals, academic coaches, etc) to see a certain style of teaching ELA that the county is working on. It’s basically making sure that teachers keep students engaged in complex text (which is what I do almost every day anyway) and I had been to two of these trainings already, so I knew what sort of lesson worked. Well...they LOVED it!!! The kids were in small groups and did SO GOOD discussing evidence/answering questions (they all got candy afterwards) and I got some good feedback about how I talk to my students. Then that same day the superintendent came in my room (one of several rooms he visited while doing his yearly observation on the principal). That visit was super unannounced, but still fine.

The academic coach got rid of my classroom’s desks and found tables and chairs instead!!!! My classroom is tiny and weird shaped, so this works SO MUCH BETTER.

I help coach volleyball (aka I keep the books) and the girls won district (beating out a team with a redneck grandma in the stands who literally came up to our girls and yelled at them for cheering on their own damn team in the previous game). They didn’t do so well at sectionals, but that’s ok.

October

Holy shit I won another $200 in that drawing!!! And this time my parents let me buy them plane tickets so we could see family over Christmas.

LESLIE ODOM JR CAME TO MY CITY AND HE PERFORMED BEAUTIFUL MUSIC AND I WAS THERE AND I DIED

Got to see a lot of family at my cousin’s ‘wedding party’ (he got married last year in Europe since he met his now wife over there, and wanted to have a family party here). I learned that my uncle and his son dance exactly the same at the same level of alcohol.

November

I should have known something was up when my first 9 weeks went so well. Apparently my county is in the bottom tier for the state, and now everyone is freaking out (never mind that the data to support this was mONTHS LATE AND BASED ON STANDARDIZED TESTS WHICH WERE A CLUSTERFUCK TO BEGIN WITH) so there was a lot of school stress during this time.

Nice things though- got to see friends when their baby was baptized and went home for Thanksgiving, where my dad came into the Catholic Church.

I organized most of the 8th grade field trip for the semester- going to see “A Christmas Carol” put on by my old college’s theatre. I was stressed the entire time because if something went wrong it would be on ME, but it was absolutely wonderful and I cried which honestly surprised me. We went to the local mall for our lunch and it was good to see the kids just relax. It was a great field trip and several people including the principal thanked me for my hard work which felt great after a hard month.

December

School was nothing but survival mode per usual.

Hosted the Christmas party for my friend group at church and it was a lot of fun.

The actual break was fast- we flew to Texas with one of my mom’s sisters and her family to visit their brother and his family. I hadn’t been to Texas since high school, so it was fun to explore and eat good food.

My final count for books was 93 (67 new and 26 reread) (I’m trying to finish an audiobook I’m borrowing from the library but I still have 80 minutes left and literally 4 hours to finish it so we’ll see!!!).

[vincentpennington]

Holiday Gift Guide 2019

It’s that time of year again, when I share some of my favorite things in this 2019 Holiday Gift Guide! As in years past, I recommend only items that I have personally purchased myself and truly love. You won’t find ugly sweaters or any junk that won’t stand the test of time. In fact, some of these items are holdovers from previous holiday gift guides because I think they’re well-made, well-tested, and will bring joy for many years to come!

Gifts to help you sleep

Good sleep is the ultimate gift! And as a recovering nightshift worker, it’s the one thing I prioritize above all other aspects in my life. Every night, my aim is to get high quality sleep in a dark, cool room for at least 7 to 8 hours—and I’ve personally tested a bunch of handy aids that help me achieve the maximum in high quality sleep!

Oura Ring

I LOVE my Oura ring and won’t stop telling everyone how great it is! It’s hands-down the best sleep and activity tracker on the market, and every morning I synch it with my app to assess my readiness for the day. Yes, I have a subjective sense of how I feel in the morning, but as a natural-born rule follower, I crave objective data to nudge my sleep-promoting behaviors in the right direction. For example, if my Oura ring tells me my readiness level is high I’ll make an effort to go the gym even if I’m feeling lazy. Conversely, if Oura says my readiness is low due to poor sleep or an elevated body temperature, I’ll opt for a brisk walk instead of going balls-to-the-wall at the gym. My Oura offers up all sorts of data to help me figure out how to optimize my sleep—and it looks pretty slick, too! Get one here.

Luna Weighted Blanket

I bought a Luna weighted blanket earlier this year, and it has been one of my favorite additions to my bedtime routine. It feels like I’m getting a cozy hug all night! The heaviness of this particular blanket is perfectly balanced; unlike some other weighted blankets, the heavy parts don’t end up migrating to one side or corner, leaving the blanket lopsided. Truth be told, it took me a couple of sleeps to get used to it, but now I can’t sleep without it. We now have weighted blankets on every bed in the house! Get the one here.

’Lectrofan White Noise Sound Machine

When I was a nightshift worker, I wore earplugs to block out all sounds when I slept during the day. However, they didn’t work well because ear plugs often fall out, feel uncomfortable, or fail to block out sharp, abrupt noises.

Nowadays, I use the opposite tactic to help me sleep—a ’Lectrofan white noise machine. The constant fan-like sound lulls me to sleep and masks outside noise and disturbances. I pack it with me whenever I travel, and it definitely drowns out big city sounds and adds a relaxing hum that helps me drift off to slumberland. Get one here.

Tempur-Pedic Eye Mask

I have been a happy owner of a Tempur-Pedic eye mask for many, many years. I’ve tried plenty of other highly-recommended eye masks, but for me, none of them have worked as well at blocking out light and not squashing my eyeballs into my skull. I’ve purchased quite a few of these eye masks, though the only reason I’ve had to replace them is because I keep accidentally leaving them in hotel beds. Get one here.

Need more items to help with your sleep? Here’s a list of other items that help me catch my zzzs.

My Favorite Kitchen Gear

I’m keeping my kitchen gear gift recommendations short and sweet this year—mostly because these four items will level up everyone’s cooking for many years to come.

Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus (6-quart)

I know there are a bazillion variations of the Instant Pot, but this newest model is the one you should buy for your pals—and yourself! The new Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus is an improvement on and evolution of my two favorite models, the Ultra and Duo Plus.

Why is the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus the best model to buy?

Improved venting for quick pressure release!

The inner pot now has stay-cool handles to make it easier to remove!

The inner pot has a flat bottom for better browning AND you can use it on other cooktops!

An easier interface for programming the Instant Pot and a digital display!

Want other options? Click here are my four favorite Instant Pot models ranked in order. But as I said, my number one pick is the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus, and you can get one here.

Thermapen Mk4

The super-accurate, quick-reading instant read Thermapen Mk4 thermometer has been my trusty companion in the kitchen for a few years! Plus, it’ll be be marked down 25% for Black Friday starting 11/27/19. Get one here.

Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV EdgeSelect Electric Knife Sharpener

There’s nothing that helps a cook better in the kitchen than a sharp knife. I have my own favorite chef’s knife, but I can’t tell you which one’s best for you; to see how they feel in your hand, you really need to personally test out knives yourself. But once you pick out the perfect knife, you’ll need to keep it sharp and the Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV sharpener is fantastic and super easy to use. Get one here.

Magic Mushroom Powder

Magic Mushroom Powder is my go-to all-purpose seasoning that makes everything taste better! Use it in place of salt in all of your favorite recipes and everyone will compliment you on your culinary creations. But don’t just take my word for it: Dylan Dreyer, an anchor on the Today Show, proclaimed our Magic Mushroom Powder as her favorite food seasoning!

You can buy cute tins of Magic Mushroom Powder nationwide at a Whole Foods Market near you or make it yourself by following this recipe!

Want to see what other kitchen gear I stock in my kitchen and pantry? Go here to check out all of my recommendations!

Fun Gifts For Active Folks

Got a pal who loves traveling or getting their fitness on? These items may just put a spring in their step (literally)!

Bellicon Classic 44” Exercise Trampoline

I recently splurged on a Bellicon indoor mini trampoline/rebounder and my whole family has the best time jumping on it throughout the day. It’s definitely the priciest rebounder on the market—I waited a whole year before I bit the bullet—but I haven’t regretted the purchase. I bought a 44-inch Bellicon because I wanted a low impact, high energy workout I could squeeze in at home between sessions of tapping on my laptop. I literally jump on the rebounder for a few minutes every hour to get my heart pumping and to put a big goofy grin on my face. Get one here.

DJI Mobile 3

If (like me!) you use your mobile phone to shoot a lot of video, you’ll love the DJI Mobile 3. This lightweight portable and  foldable gimbal is great for stabilizing your phone—no vibrations or shakiness! Good luck prying it out of your kids’ hands after they discover how it’ll level up their home videos! Get one here.

AfterShokz Aeropex Open-Ear Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones

Earbuds just don’t fit in my weirdly shaped earholes properly, and I’ve always had a difficult time finding the right pair. But then, I got these bone conduction headphones where the sound is conducted through your cheekbones—leaving your earholes open. YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! Plus, they’re super cool, lightweight, and I can still hear traffic (or my kids) while I’m listening to my favorite podcast. Get one here.

Body Back Buddy Trigger Point Massager

When I suffered from frozen shoulder last year, one of the items that made me feel better was this self-massager. It’s cheap and effective, and I use it to press out any tight muscles on my shoulders, back, and neck. Small victories, man. Get one here.

Favorite Books and Cookbooks

Our family loves books and cookbooks. If you love food and/or laughs, these books will fit the bill!

Nom Nom Paleo Cookbooks & iOS app!

I know I’m biased, but my favorite cookbooks of all time are the ones that Henry and I created. I love them SO MUCH, and we think it’ll help your whole family learn how to cook and find shortcuts to deliciousness!

Click on the links below to buy:

Nom Nom Paleo: Food For Humans

Ready or Not! 150+ Make-Ahead, Make-Over, and Make-Now recipes from Nom Nom Paleo

Nom Nom Paleo iOS app* (2014 and 2019 Webby Award winner!)

*If you got a new iPhone and the app is acting funky or missing recipes, simply delete the app from your device and download it again for free!

¡Estás Listo O No! (Spanish version of Ready or Not!)

Psst! If you want to gift (for others or yourself) the Spanish version of Ready or Not!, ¡Estás Listo O No!, you can buy it by clicking here! You can also get it with free worldwide shipping, by clicking here.

Dear Girls by Ali Wong

I am a HUGE fan of the brilliant, gut-bustingly funny, and downright filthy Ali Wong. Her new book is a collection of letters to her two daughters, and each one is hilarious, touching, and illuminating. Get it here.

No Crumbs Left by Teri Turner

My buddy Teri Turner is an inspiration inside and outside of the kitchen. Her debut cookbook, No Crumbs Left, is filled with incredible heart and amazing recipes! Get it here.

The Vibrant Life by Amanda Haas

My friend Amanda Haas is the coolest. Not only is she an amazing cook, mother, and entrepreneur—she just published a fab book that helps women live their best life. Amanda’s book has amazing gluten-free recipes and tons of tips she’s mined from her expert pals on everything from the healing powers of yoga, acupuncture, meditation, humor, and even sex! Get it here.

Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen

Andrea Nguyen is the queen of South East Asian cooking, and her latest cookbook teaches you how to make delicious Vietnamese food with staples you can find at your neighborhood grocery store. This is not a gluten-free cookbook, but many dishes are adaptable! Get it here.

Looking for more gift ideas?

Check out my Amazon shopping page here filled with all my favorite things!

Previous holiday gift guides from 2018, 2017, and 2016!

Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013) and Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017)!

The post Holiday Gift Guide 2019 appeared first on Nom Nom Paleo®.

[danielphowley]

The Razor Phone is built for your mobile gaming habit

Razer is getting into the smartphone business with its Razer Phone, and handset designed specifically for mobile gamers.

Razer is best known for making some incredibly slick gaming accessories and, more recently, impressive laptops like the Razer Blade Stealth and Blade Pro. But now the company is getting into the smartphone market. Yes, Razer is building a gaming phone.

It might sound odd to build a gaming smartphone, but to Razer it makes perfect sense. The global smartphone gaming market is already enormous. Take China’s insanely popular “Honor of Kings.” The game is played by so many people so often that the country’s communist party mouthpiece the “People’s Daily” called it poison. Tencent, the game’s publisher ended up putting play time restrictions on it to keep the government happy. And now it’s coming to the U.S. and Europe. In other words, the market isn’t slowing down.

The $699 Razer Phone has the makings of a truly over-the-top handset befitting the gaming brand, but it’s got a big flaw in the U.S. market: It might not work with your carrier.

The Nextbit Robin reborn

The Android-powered Razer Phone is certainly a new device for the company, but we’ve actually seen it before sporting a different nameplate: The Nextbit Robin. Razer purchased Nextbit in January 2017, and has been working to merge its vision for smartphones with the existing Robin design.

The Razor Phone’s fingerprint reader is positioned on its right edge.

The result is a Robin that looks like it’s been souped up by, well, gamers. The handset features the Robin’s uniquely angular profile, but trades in rounded speakers for full Dolby Atmos-certified stereo speakers. I listened to a Dolby demo on the Razer Phone and it sounded far better than any other smartphone speaker I’ve heard. Whether that applies to things like Spotify and not tech demos, though, remains to be seen.

Razer said it put the speakers on the front of the phone rather than along its bottom edge to ensure the sound comes toward you when holding the handset.

The Razer Phone’s body doesn’t carry the Robin’s blue paint job. Instead, it’s been built using the same kind of material Razer uses on its laptops. It also sports the same paint job as the company’s notebooks and Razer’s familiar three-headed snake logo.

The Razer Phone sports the company’s familiar three-headed snake logo.

Bigger and better

Razer might have taken the general look of the Robin to build its handset, but it also threw in a larger, sharper 5.7-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 resolution IGZO display. That’s the same screen technology the company uses on its laptops, and boy does it look good.

It doesn’t hurt that Razer added what its calls its Ultra Motion technology, which smooths out scrolling in apps and transitions compared to other Android handsets. Animations on Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Android have never been as crisp as they are on Apple’s iPhone, which makes the improvement immediately noticeable.

Razer has also outfitted its phone with dual 12-megapixel rear cameras. And like Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X and Samsung’s Galaxy S8, those cameras have both wide-angle and telephoto lenses.

Razer says it has whipped up its own solution for the dual-lens setup that allows both lenses to see an image and then merges them to give you a greater number of distance options. I didn’t get to try this feature out, though, so I’ll have to wait to get my hands on the phone before I can say how well it works.

Inside, Razer has equipped the phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor, a ridiculous 8GB of RAM (most phones top out at 4GB) and 64GB of storage with the option to expand that via a microSD card.

The Razer Phone is so powerful that the company said it had to build a custom thermal management solution to keep the handset from getting too hot.

What’s the point?

So what’s the point of building a high-powered gaming smartphone? Great question. As it stands there aren’t any games available today that premium handsets can’t run. If you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S8, you’ll be able to play the same games as someone with a Razer Phone.

Razer, however, says that it can run games at higher frame rates than other smartphones, which makes for smoother gameplay.

Games look great on the Razer Phone.

Razer is also a kind of status product. Don’t get me wrong, its devices are fantastic, but gamers love gaming devices. And they’ll certainly pony up for a handset designed specifically with them in mind.

There’s just one problem. The Razer Phone will only work on GSM networks. That means you’ll only be able to use it on AT&T and T-Mobile here in the U.S. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA networks, so the Razer Phone won’t work with them.

The reason for the exclusion? Mobile gaming, while big in the U.S., is even larger in places like China, the Middle East and Russia, where GSM networks reign supreme. So it stands to reason that the Razer’s handset will sell better in those areas.

The Razor Phone is still an interesting proposition from a company that’s known for producing great gaming products. Will it be worth picking up? We’ll have to wait and see.

More from Dan:

‘Super Mario Odyssey’ review: Nintendo tips its cap to the past

Samsung North America CEO believes we’ll soon talk to all of our appliances

Amazon’s all-new Echo is a more attractive smart assistant

Why Microsoft is playing nice with iPhones and Android

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.