Friday 11 November 2016
Belgium Puts Corporate Tax Rate Under Review as Conflict Lingers
Belgiums government averted a political crisis by relegating plans to cut the tax rate on corporate profits and calls for a capital gains levy to further review as the conflict threatened to derail a last-minute budget deal.
You cant let things like this depend on the outcome of a deal struck in early hours, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Flemish public broadcaster VRT. Thats why we decided to give ourselves more time and take a closer look at the impact on corporate financing and job creation.
Prime Minister Charles Michel canceled an appointment last Tuesday to present the 2017 budget and measures to accomodate private-sector job creation in parliament in Brussels. Talks between the four coalition parties had stalled over Flemish Christian Democrats demands for the introduction of a capital gains tax on stock investments. De Croo spoke as he left Michels office shortly before midnight. Under European Union rules, Belgium must submit its draft budget by Oct. 15.
Michel will give details about the 2017 budget at a briefing shortly after 11 a.m. on Saturday. According to De Croo, the political agreement amounts to a 3 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) effort, keeping the governments target of a structurally balanced budget in 2018 within reach.
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Review: Microsoft Surface Book with Performance Base
For years, consumer hardware has increasingly differentiated with design. And while Microsoft’s latest Surface Book hybrid features the premium materials, sleek looks, and lighter and thinner body you’d expect, it’s all about incredible engineering at its core.
This is the second version of the unique detachable device Microsoft first released a year ago, and outwardly the mechanics are largely the same. When the Surface Book’s 13.5-inch touchscreen docks in its mechanical-and-magnetic grip, it’s a powerful laptop with a comfortably spaced keyboard.
Microsoft Surface Book with Performance Base
8/10
Wired
It’s a lean performance hybrid with an awesome keyboard. The sharp touchscreen has a sweet aspect ratio for hard-core doc-jockeying. Laptop mode offers the graphics performance of a decent gaming laptop. It does hybrid right.
Tired
Battery life is solid, but falls short of the 16 hours claimed. Sometimes you will forget where the power button is. It’s expensive, but you’re essentially getting two computers in one.
How We Rate
- 1/10A complete failure in every way
- 2/10Sad, really
- 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
- 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
- 5/10Recommended with reservations
- 6/10Solid with some issues
- 7/10Very good, but not quite great
- 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
- 9/10Nearly flawless
- 10/10Metaphysical perfection
But then you hold down a button for a second, hear an electromechanical thunk, and lift the display right off. Thats the muscle wire lock working as designed, a special mechanism that keeps the screen on tight in laptop mode, and lets it loose when you want a big-screened tablet PC instead—complete with its own three-hour battery and mobile processor. When it comes time to re-dock, go ahead and put the screen on backwards; the system still works and sips from the main battery, giving you a gently sloped surface to write on with the included Surface Pen stylus.
All of which makes Surface Book a unique entry in the portable PC field, even a year later. And while this year’s model—the Microsoft Surface Book with Performance Base—doesn’t reinvent the hinge, it does offer a dual-core Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 16 gigs of RAM, and dedicated graphics processors for more gaming and graphics oomph. Not that you can tell from the outside; the new machine looks just like last years Surface Book.
The new model sticks with the same a 13.5-inch, 3000 x 2000 touchscreen display, and its 3:2 aspect ratio leaves ample vertical real estate for rockin’ Word docs. It has same signature bendy-straw hinge as its predecessor, the same surprisingly good speakers, the same contoured magnesium-alloy body with chiseled details, and the same MacBook-silver coloration.
There are differences, though, all of them hidden inside. As a result, the newer Surface Book is a little bit heavier, weighing in at around 3.7 pounds versus the previous model’s 3.5-pound frame. Those extra ounces are no big deal, as it remains a fairly light load in your laptop bag.
Interior Upgrades
The most notable change is an upgraded graphics processing unit, which makes the Surface Book with Performance Base more attractive for gamers, video editors, or CAD whizzes who found last years internals too wimpy. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M GPU tucked inside now is an upgrade from the Nvidia 940M-range GPU found in last year’s models, and theres also double the memory devoted to it (2GB of GDDR5 RAM).
The upgrade pays off; the 2016 Surface Book is super-powerful for such a slim, light, and versatile machine. For the majority of mixed-use cases during testing—streaming a bunch of video, writing this review, surfing the web, and listening to music—the Surface Book had no trouble multitasking without a hiccup. It really zips. Thats to be expected out of the top configuration I tested, a $3,300 rig with a top-shelf Core i7 with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. Still, it lives up to very lofty performance expectations.
I ran it through 3DMarks Cloud Gate benchmark test for all-purpose laptops, and the Surface Pro with Performance Base churned out a score of 8,803, which was significantly better than most 2013 gaming laptops and any general-purpose portable PC. On the more intense Sky Diver test, it held its own as well, netting a 10,738 score that also put it above older gaming laptops and all-purpose portables. No, it’s not on par with newer gaming laptops—it wont handle Oculus VR, for example—but it’s especially impressive when you factor in its size, weight, and versatility.
One perk that the new Surface Book didn’t live up to was its listed 16 hours of battery life in laptop mode. I tested the laptop through three complete charge and recharge cycles, with normal heavy use, and it gave me between six and seven hours of juice at a time. Microsoft suggested downloading the latest Windows update, which did improve power management quite a bit, boosting me to around nine to 10 hours per charge. Another caveat: Microsoft’s battery life spec is based on video playback, not mixed use. The upshot is that you get solid mileage, but don’t expect to make from sunup to sundown with everyday use, unless you live in the Arctic.
Outside of the fresh new engine and bulked-up battery life, the experience of using the new Surface Book is exactly the same as using last years model. Thats largely a long list of pluses: I am a huge fan of its keyboard, which has wider keys, better ergonomics for bigger hands, and more pleasant key travel than the 13-inch MacBook Pro I normally use. The input options are decent, with two USB 3.0 ports and an SD reader along its left edge, and a mini DisplayPort jack on the right edge.
The Surface Books detached-screen experience is best described as tablet PC rather than tablet. When its freed from its dock, the big ol slate runs full Windows 10 programs and is more like a desktop experience than the app-filled iPad. Microsoft calls it Clipboard Mode, which is apt; its size and shape really do make it feel like a clipboard in your hands. In other words, its bulkier than your average iPad. For most casual users, Clipboard Mode will primarily be a nice-to-have feature for reading and watching movies on a plane.
Casual users probably aren’t ponying up this much for a laptop, though. And while Im certainly not the target audience for drawing on its touchscreen all that much, Microsoft nailed the feel of writing with the Surface Pen. It feels like a cross between the worlds smoothest ballpoint and jotting on a slick whiteboard. Just as importantly, stowing the Surface Pen is as simple as sticking it on the edge of the Surface Book’s display with its super-strong magnetic innards. For artists, its certainly worth at least a test sketch to see if it fits your needs.
There are tiny complaints with the new Surface Book here and there. The placement of the power button and the headphone jack will never feel quite right; to accommodate its standalone tablet mode, the Books power button is on the top of the display and the headphone jack is on the top right edge. Cords be danglin. Due to the unique hinge design, theres also a small loopy gap between the screen and the keyboard when the Book is closed. It didnt bother me at all, but it bears mentioning.
Just like the first version of the machine, Surface Book with Performance Base is certainly a laptop first—a damn good laptop first, with a great keyboard, superb performance, and a sharp display that gains more than youd think from its aspect ratio. The new graphics-boosted configurations represent steps up in performance, with the same clever engineering elements that make them such unique portables. But theyre certainly pricey, and if you can do without the tablet mode—and if you truly want a tablet, not a slate PC, you probably can—you can find a similarly powerful machine for the same price or less.
It just wont be as cool.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/review-microsoft-surface-book-performance-base/
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Thursday 10 November 2016
Eyewitness review a compelling and complex crime show remake
USAs new anthology series based on a Norwegian small-town crime drama is dragged out a bit longer than necessary but is a deceptively substantial take
Theres a certain type of film-making the washed-out colors, the bleak autumn landscape, the small towns with big problems which are always about five minutes away from a downpour or maybe just five minutes after the end of one that suggest a TV drama set in the Pacific north-west.
To be even more specific, it usually indicates an American remake of a Scandinavian show. Remember The Killing? Sadly, I do too.
Eyewitness, a new anthology series, has that look and is a remake of a popular Norwegian show. But its actually set in Tivoli, New York, not far from Manhattan. The setting isnt the only thing thats different. It is a visually compelling and narratively complex (if a bit derivative) take on the small-town crime genre.
The big crime here is a drug-related multiple murder in a cabin on the heroin smuggling route from the city to points north. What should seem like an open and shut case of a drug deal gone wrong is complicated by a number of factors: one of the dead men was an FBI informant and the killer was somehow caught up with a nearby kingpins 17-year-old daughter.
But the biggest complication is that Lukas (James Paxton, son of Bill) and Philip (Tyler Young), two closeted high school students who stole away to the cabin for some intimate time together, witnessed the whole thing.
Lukas, the son of a local bigwig, refuses to let Philip talk about the crime not because he doesnt want to get involved but because he doesnt want to tell anyone what he and his friend were doing there.
To lend that level of coincidence that always infects a rural crime thriller, Philips new foster mother is the local sheriff. Helen (Julianne Nicholson) is a bit of a hard-ass, with observation and deduction skills that come in handy when trying to piece together a crime. Shes not so good at trying to make a skittish gay teenager trust her.
Helens investigation is thwarted by an FBI agent, Kamilah Davis (Tattiawna Jones) but aided by her wisecracking partner Tony (Matt Murray). That might be the big draw, but the story between the two teens is much more emotionally engaging.
In one of the better-observed stories about gay teens searching to make sense of their newfound sexual urges, the push and pull between Philip and Lukas is fascinating if painful to watch.
Lukas says at one point: I dont want to be that guy, my father doesnt want me to be that guy, no one wants me to be that guy. Though a bit trite, it perfectly encapsulates his feelings while showing he cant resist spending more time with Philip, not only as lovers but also as companions. The two almost seem to despise each other, even as they cant pull themselves away.
The other high point is Nicholsons performance. Though she has been on TV before, most notably in the quickly forgotten Red Road, it seems like an actress of her caliber should have landed a role this meaty before. She brings a great nuance to Helen, hard-edged but sympathetic.
Thankfully, her character is not the sort of very talented jerk that is usually at the center of a procedural. With her brittleness and dedication to her job, Helen is the type of character that would usually be played by a man. Her bland, well-meaning husband Gabe (Gil Bellows) is often left with little to do but care for the children.
While the investigation is dragged out a little bit longer than necessary over the 10 episodes, the ambient pleasures of watching Nicholson and her two young co-stars are enough to keep anyone plugging through the more boring stretches.
The show, adapted for American television by Adi Hasak (Shades of Blue) with the first two episodes directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), offers a deceptive substance lying below the surface. Eyewitness will not only fool viewers into thinking its set in the Pacific north-west, but also that it is more conventional than it truly is.
- Eyewitness premieres Sunday 16 October at 10pm ET, on USA.
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Review: Lenovo Yoga Book
The Lenovo Yoga Book is a credit to its namesake, both in that it celebrates flexibility and leaves me feeling a little out of sorts.
Lenovo Yoga Book
6/10
Wired
A truly beautiful little gadget. Incredibly adaptable. A better stylus and digitizer than you’d expect for the price. Makes a stab at the future.
Tired
The Halo keyboard is barely usable. Being pretty good at a lot of things is no substitute for being great and something.
How We Rate
- 1/10A complete failure in every way
- 2/10Sad, really
- 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
- 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
- 5/10Recommended with reservations
- 6/10Solid with some issues
- 7/10Very good, but not quite great
- 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
- 9/10Nearly flawless
- 10/10Metaphysical perfection
Its hard to describe what the Yoga Book exactly is, because it wants to be many things. Its a tablet, surely, with a crisp 10-inch display, remarkably solid speakers, and extra software heft onboard to enable superior streaming. But then! Fold it open, and on the half of the device where the keyboard usually resides is a digitizer, complete with a stylus. You can plop an included pad of paper atop that half to take physical notes, with real ink, that show up digitally as well.
And then! That same half of the Yoga Book doubles as a Halo keyboard, with flat, capacitive touch keys. Its like typing on buzzing glass. Did I mention it comes in both Android and Windows varieties? It does.
Thats a lot of device to stuff into a 1.5-pound gadget. Forget a 2-in-1; were looking at four or more uses in a single package. All at the completely sane prices of $500 for the Android version, or $550 for Windows 10. Its innovative, its gorgeous, and its incredibly adaptable. But its attempts to be everything make it hard to recommend to everyone.
Lets start with the good: The Yoga Book is gorgeous. Truly. Its one of the nicest-looking gadgets Ive spent time with, its magnesium-aluminum alloy shell all sleek and sturdy and lux. And while the watchband hinge that enables it to open 360 degrees isnt new for Lenovo, its worth applauding here again. The Yoga Book bends smoothly, and holds steady at any angle.
And as a pure tablet, the Yoga Book works pretty darn well. Or at least, as well as Android 6.0 will let it. Androids a terrific mobile operating system, but still doesnt quite work in a large format. Lenovos added some software tricks to help it feel more PC-like, but those also dont help much. Theres a feature that minimizes apps to fit more onto a screen, but go-to downloads like YouTube arent compatible. Theres also a decent amount of Lenovo bloatware packed in, some of which you can uninstall, some of which you cant.
Still, the Intel Atom processor inside seems up to most tasks, despite being a bit outdated. (I didnt test a Windows unit, but Im curious how well it holds up there). And because you can fold the Yoga book all the way around, holding it in tablet mode feels like holding a slightly thicker tablet than usual.
If you just wanted a tablet, though, you wouldnt be buying the Yoga Book. Youre here for the tablet-plus experience, which ranges from pretty good to gobsmackingly frustrating.
The digitizer experience works just fine. Press the pen button on the Halo keyboard or on the display and it turns into a drawing board, which Lenovo calls the Create Pad. Its responsive, adequately pressure-sensitive, and its compatibility with a magnetized pad of physical paper makes for a more comfortable note-taking experience than using the stylus alone. I cant shake the feeling, though, that this is also a case where more versatility also means more complications. Switching from the digital stylus head to the real-ink head can be frustrating, an once youve thrown the Yoga Book, stylus, and notepad in your bag, have you really saved much time and space at all?
For the organized, early adopting digital note-takers and mobile scribblers of the world, the answer may absolutely be yes. If you belong to that clan, youll get plenty out of the Yoga Book. If not, youll wish you just had a regular tablet. And in either case, you probably shouldnt expect to do much typing.
Until now Ive avoided talking about the Halo keyboard, but we have to discuss it at some point, since its such a large reason why the Yoga Book exists. Ditching physical keys is what allows for the Yoga Books thinness, and enables its claims on the future. Its a nice thought—though Lenovos not the first to try it—but in practice, its crazy-making.
Heres a small sample of my attempt to type this review on the Yoga Book itself:
My first thought hda been to wriet my Yoga Book review using the Yoga Book. People do thta, right? iPhone rdviews written on iPhones, after alli got about there sentenecs in bfeore I gqve it up: thqts hoz long it took ,e to s,oehoz szitch ,y keyboqrd to french:
Insetad, i folded the Yoga Bookmaround and went back tmotewting it as atablte. That seemed more funl at lersat.
Lenovo says the Halo keyboard will learn how you type and adjust in kind, and Im sure after a few weeks I would learn how to use it and it would learn how to use me and wed meet in a workable middle. But of all the learning curves we have to experience in this life, typing should be a one-time deal.
The overall experience is lacking, but here are a couple of specific gripes. The trackpad is very small and close enough to the space bar that youll inadvertently press the latter many times. The layout is scrunched, which is a byproduct of any tablet-sized keyboard, but one made especially frustrating without the placement reassurance of physical keys. I somehow switched the settings to French multiple times during my typing sessions. Mon dieu!
I respect what Lenovos trying here. Its too rare that a company attempts to leapfrog into the future. For that alone, the Yoga Book deserves applause. In terms of actual usage, though, Im not sure that it manages to solve the problems it sets out to without creating an equal number in return.
Can it do more than a tablet alone? It can, but at the cost of not being the best possible tablet. Can it replace your computer? The Atom processor and funky keyboard mean no, not likely. Ultimately, its like winding up with a platypus when all you really wanted was a beaver or a duck. The exception is if you enjoy digital sketching and note-taking enough that you want the option handy at all times, but not so much that youd spring for a dedicated accessory. Thats a narrow frame of appeal to contort into, but hey. Thats what Yoga is for.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/10/review-lenovo-yoga-book/
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Wednesday 9 November 2016
Review: Google Pixel
I write about gadgets, which means everyone asks me what laptop or dishwasher or whatever to buy. I struggle with this, because the answer often starts with,“It depends.” Unless youaskabout a phone. In that case, I usuallysay get an iPhone.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Android. But the phones can be… frustrating. Clever features too often seem overwrought or poorly designed, or they’re buried beneath 15 Verizon apps on the homescreen. The iPhone is the Default Phone, the one you buy when you want a phone, not a project.
The Google Pixel changes that. It offers the look and competence of an iPhone, with a truly great camera and loads of innovative software and services. It changes my answerto the question I hear most often: What phone should you get?
You should get a Pixel.
Talk To Me
Google’s new phone arrivesThursday, starting at $650 for the Pixel and $770 for the Pixel XL. You can get itin blue, black, or silver, with 32 or 128 gigs of storage, from Google or from Verizon. You should buy it directly from Google, and soon. Most models already are backordered.
Not long after I got my Pixel XL, I flewto Colombia for a week’s vacation. It was a very Google-y getaway: I had a Project Fi SIM card, I kept my itinerary in Google Trips, and, given what Verizon charges for international data on my iPhone 7, I relied entirely upon thePixel because Project Fi gives standard rates in most countries.
Google Pixel
9/10
Wired
Google Assistant is the first voice assistant that really works. You can’t take a bad picture with the Pixel. So what if it looks like the iPhone? The iPhone looks great, and so does the Pixel.
Tired
Every phone should be waterproof, and this one isn’t. Good as it is, Assistant’s hardly flawless.
How We Rate
I’ve always loved Android because it felt so much more alive and connected than iOS. The sharing menus are smarter and more prominent, apps refresh in the background so they’re always up to date, and widgets and notifications are useful and interactive. But iOS was always so much simpler, with shallower learning curves. It’s dictatorial, but painless. The Pixel’s software doesn’t totally close that gap. It’s still too easy to clutter your homescreens with multiple versions of the same icon, and it’s still too hard to find cool features like the thing where you can swipe down on the fingerprint reader to see your notification shade. But the Pixel is the mostcoherent and cohesive Android ever.
I’ve always been an iPhone guy, honestly. I’ve used just about every flagship Android phone ever made and always returned to Apple. That’s partly because I bought an iPhone 4S in 2011 and signed up for iMessage, and leaving iMessage is a monumental pain in the ass.But mostly I liked having a phone I didn’t have to think about. The iPhone always offers great hardware, a good camera, fantastic apps, and data security. I don’t want to worry about my phone, or spend my time tinkering with it. My phone’s too important to risk any extra effort, or worse, unreliability.
But I’m switching. For real. I’m turning off iMessage, re-buying apps, and warning friends that I probably won’t get their texts for a few days. I am a little worried about Google’s long-term commitment to this new hardware push (and the customer support that comes with it), given itspropensity for killing productsthatdon’t get billions of users. But I’m totally in love with the Pixel. I love this camera, I love Google Assistant, I love that I’ll get to use it with a comfy VR headset, I love that I finally get a version of Android that is both powerful and attractive. I love that there’s a kickass Android phone that (probably) doesn’t explode.
The immediate joke everyone, including me, made on Twitter after the Pixel launch was that Google made an iPhone. Well, that’s true. As it turns out, an iPhone running Android is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/10/review-google-pixel/
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Robert Plant Lampedusa tour review tenderly rocking for refugees
The former Led Zeppelin frontman warned that there would be no Hobbit songs instead he rolled out an empathetic set of Americana with guests including Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Joan Baez
I keep good company now, said Robert Plant as he stood onstage at New Yorks Town Hall flanked by Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Buddy Miller.
Plants companions represent some of the most valuable players in the world of Americana, a realm the British star has eagerly adopted ever since his acclaimed collaboration with Alison Krauss on Raising Sand nearly a decade ago.
Its not just their company and music Plant has avidly pursued. Now, he has taken up one of their causes. The multi-star concert he participated in Tuesday night arrived as part of the 11-date Lampedusa tour, organized by Harris to address an increasingly alarming situation: the shows aim to raise awareness of the worldwide refugee crisis, amplified by wars raging across the Middle East and northern Africa. All proceeds from the event go to Jesuit Refugee Services Global Educational Initiative.
Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean sea, has been a prime entry point for refugees in Europe since 2000. It has also been a place of considerable peril. Last year, nearly 1,600 migrants died en route there from Libya.
While issues so dire gave the show its urgency, the mood of the night often stressed joy through cooperation. The setup helped. Rather than honoring a strict hierarchy of stars, the main artists remained onstage throughout the night, sitting in a semicircle on chairs, taking turns performing songs round-robin style. Along with the stately names at the top of the bill, the show included equal contributions from the gifted young duo the Milk Carton Kids, a cameo for the musical comedy of Will and Grace actress Megan Mullally, as well as a special appearance at the end by the grande dame of politicized song, Joan Baez.
Toward the start and finish of the two-and-a-half hour event, songs of displacement, alienation and wandering peppered the set. Miller emphatically delivered Shelter Me, whose narrator draws on faith to guide him to safety. The Milk Carton Kids offered Hope of a Lifetime, whose lyrics chart an equally treacherous journey. Earle contributed Copperhead Road, featuring characters who try to get by on the underground economy.
Deep into the night, the theme grew more pointed. Earle sang City of Immigrants, while the Kids rendered The City of Our Lady, whose chorus declares: Everywhere we go / Were the child of where we came. Baez delivered Woody Guthries classic Deportee, about the consequences of objectifying refugees.
In the central part of the show, the subject turned to thwarted love. Harris offered Making Believe, a song she first recorded 40 years ago, whose narrator can only imagine romance. Plant went back farther to cover a sad ballad sung by Elvis Presley called Done. Here, as well as in his renditions of Little Maggie and Nothing, the Led Zeppelin yowler drew on his quietest voice, finding in its high, open tones nearly as much power as his classic shouts. In a snarky aside about his old band, Plant said he would not be performing Hobbit songs.
Throughout the night, Harris lent harmonies to other singers on the most tender points of their songs, Miller injected energy through his electric solos, while Kenneth Pattengale of the Milk Carton Kids ran rings around the tunes with his speedy and dexterous acoustic solos.
The Kids brought to the night youth, humor and the dynamism of a duo in ideal sync. Their tandem vocals inescapably recall the most delicate interplay of Simon and Garfunkel, while their banter has the dry wit of the Smothers Brothers. Their songs added prettiness to proceedings which more often emphasized the flinty and raw. Nearly the entire set list drew from Americas greatest musical resources: blues, folk and country music. The result carried a potent subtext: it presented an empathic and inclusive view of America, in contrast to the fearful and exclusive one exploited by Donald Trumps campaign. Baez referred to the show as a pocket of sanity in the current world. To her point, when a Earle song introduced the line we are all immigrants, the audience, as one, sang along.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/19/robert-plant-lampedusa-tour-review-refugees-benefit
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Review: Beats Solo3 Wireless
Apple’s recent announcement that it was releasing some goofy-looking wireless earbuds for $159 netted plenty of attention, but the geek vitriol overshadowed a key point—that Apple had developed a new wireless chip called the W1. The signaling around the W1 made it clear that this was going to change everything about wireless audio for the better, so much so that you would soon wish you never even heard of a headphone jack in the first place, philistine.
AirPods will contain the W1, but beating them to market is the Beats Solo3, a set of headphones powered by the same technology. Solo3 is of course an update to the best-selling Solo2, the more compact and wireless version of the classic Beats headphones. This on-ear model has a near-identical appearance to the prior version (the Solo3 is 10 grams heavier but is otherwise a total lookalike) and even includes the same acoustic technology as its predecessor, including noise isolation and Beats’ iconic, big bass driver.
WIRED
The biggest news here surrounds the W1, which makes all other Bluetooth headphones suddenly look like a tin can and string. Designed to make pairing seamless, one button press auto-pairs the headphones not just with your iPhone but with any other iOS device you have linked up to iCloud. Controls in iOS 10 let you switch between sources with just a few taps. But the even bigger draw might be the insane range that the W1 makes possible. While a typical Bluetooth connection craps out at about 25 to 30 feet (at least in my house), the Solo3 delivered perfect sound a whopping 120 feet away from my phone. From there it stuttered, finally dying completely at 135 feet away.
Also under the hood is an upgraded battery, which is totally worth the extra 10 grams. Apple’s spec pegs the Solo3 at 40 hours (my testing found that to be understated), a vast improvement over the 12-hour life of the Solo2. In typically moderate use, you will probably be able to use these headphones for weeks without having to charge them—and when you do, the new Fast Fuel feature will give you 3 hours of run time with just 5 minutes of USB-powered juicing (works as advertised). The integrated microphone isn’t outstanding, but it’s good enough at least for a quickie phone call.
TIRED
Despite all the upgrades, $300 is still an awful lot to pay for headphones, even if they are as much status symbol as audio device. (You can even get them finished in rose gold to match your fancy new phone.) Some may find the fit to be exceptionally snug, even after adjusting, and that bass can often be a bit much, particularly on songs that already have too much boom boom boom already. But when it comes to sound, the world has already divided itself into pro-Beats and anti-Beats camps. Presumably at this point, you already know who you are.
RATING
9/10 – Nearly flawless. Buy it now.
Read more: http://www.wired.com/
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Tuesday 8 November 2016
Review: Pulse Camera Remote
Undoubtedly, you’ve seen some incredibly beautiful long-exposure photos of the night sky, or time-lapse movies of the Milky Way marching steadily across the frame. To reproduce shots like those, you could employ cheap, finicky intervalometers or you could go the smart and easy route and play with a remote camera trigger that’s programmed by your phone to control the shutter. Those app-controlled remotes have been around a few years, and they vary in quality. But few are as slick as the Pulse Camera Remote from Alpine Labs.
The $99 remote mounts onto the hot-shoe of your camera and plugs into the USB port on the camera body. Pulse then pairs to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to give the user nearly full control of the camera’s settings. The Bluetooth connection lets you control it from as far as 100 feet away, and while it can’t spin your camera’s manual control dials for you, the Pulse can adjust shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, and trigger the shots. It’s also very light, and if something else is in the hot shoe, Pulse can just dangle from its USB cable.
There are more than 60 cameras (mostly Canon and Nikon, but also the Panasonic GH4) on Alpine Labs’ list of tested cameras. Sony cameras are absent—the company has some tethering restrictions that render the Pulse useless. And while there are many consumer-grade cameras that allow for some degree of control via built-in Wi-Fi, many professional grade cameras do not have Wi-Fi. For instance, Canon’s 5DmkVI is the first in the massively popular 5D series to include Wi-Fi. So if you’ve got something like an older Canon 5D, the Pulse can be a valuable photo assistant.
WIRED
The unit pairs with your phone easily, and the app’s interface is intuitive. Shooting styles include photo (simple remote trigger), video, time lapse, long exposure, and HDR. It can also act as a photo booth, snapping up to 10 photos in a row with 5 to 60 seconds between each shot—however much time your subjects need to change the positions of their feather boas. For time-lapse sequences, Pulse can ramp the ISO and shutter speed for varying exposures. This is helpful for capturing a time-lapse shot of a sunrise or sunset where the changing brightness requires different exposure settings. The App will even control up to three different Pulse units for multi-angle shots for broader coverage.
Pulse is a set-it-and-forget-it device. Once you’ve dialed in the sequence or other instructions via the app, Pulse no longer needs the smartphone around to keep track of what it’s doing. For long time lapse shoots, I was able to re-connect the app to the device and it would tell me what percentage of the sequence was complete. A calculator shows how long the final time lapse sequence will be according to how many frames have been programmed to be shot during the sequence.
TIRED
There’s an on-off switch on the unit, and there were a few occasions when I picked it up and realized I had forgotten to turn it off. The battery had drained in my camera bag, and it was dead. This makes me wish it would just pull power through the USB connection from the camera (if that’s even an option) to avoid having to keep it charged up. One other quibble: there’s no live preview option since it uses low-energy Bluetooth, which has data limitations. You only get an image thumbnail of the most recent shot.
RATING
8/10 – Excellent, with room to kvetch.
Read more: http://www.wired.com/
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Monday 7 November 2016
FBI worked ‘around the clock’ to review emails in Clinton server probe
Washington (CNN)In the days since the FBI dropped a bombshell into the presidential race with the discovery of new emails relevant to the Hillary Clinton server investigation, bureau investigators worked “around the clock” to review the large volume of emails, two law enforcement officials told CNN.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/06/politics/fbi-review-hillary-clinton-emails-comey/index.html
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Sunday 6 November 2016
I Am Not Your Negro review James Baldwin’s words weave film of immense power
Raoul Pecks stunning look at the civil rights era ends up as the writers presumptive autobiography, but it gets there via an unexpected route
Raoul Pecks documentary I Am Not Your Negro has a written by James Baldwin credit in its opening sequence. At first this seems like a polite tip of the hat to the author, essayist and public intellectual who died nearly 30 years ago. Soon we realize this is an accurate statement of fact. Each line of the narration that permeates the film is taken directly from one of Baldwins texts or letters. His words dominate the archival clips as well.
It in no way diminishes Pecks work as a film-maker to suggest that Baldwins ideas and personality are the author of this movie. It is a striking work of storytelling. By assembling the scattered images and historical clips suggested by Baldwins writing, I Am Not Your Negro is a cinematic sance, and one of the best movies about the civil rights era ever made.
Eschewing talking head interviews, Pecks documentary ends up as Baldwins presumptive autobiography, but it gets there via an unexpected route. During the final years of his life, Baldwin was researching a book he planned to call Remember This House. It would profile three assassinated civil rights leaders: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. He intended it to be a personal work, as he knew each of these men, and telling their stories would likely be a springboard to tell his own story at a more advanced age.
Beginning with Baldwins pitch to his agent, we link to touch points with the slain men, hopping through time, juxtaposing Baldwins personal essays with his public statements. (As with last years wonderful Best of Enemies, I Am Not Your Negro excerpts from the Dick Cavett show. I can only imagine a documentary about him is headed our way soon.) The entirety of Baldwins written and on-camera oeuvre eventually mixes down to a roux, and while Peck uses the occasional chapter break, the effect is more of a Chris Marker-like cine-essay than typical Frontline-like reporters documentary. (Though they both focus on the topic of race in America, I Am Not Your Negro is quite the opposite of ESPNs justly celebrated OJ: Made In America.)
Peck occasionally takes advantage of some of Baldwins more prophetic passages to flash-forward through time. Images from Ferguson, the Obama inauguration and the dross of daytime TV arent there so much to say see, he was right? as to make us realize the timelessness of his greater arguments. Baldwin did much of his best writing about America while living as an expatriate, and this outsiders perspective (shared by Peck, who is from Haiti) brings with it a tremendous amount of clarity. I Am Not Your Negros specifics are only intermittent, like reporting on different reactions between white and black audiences during Sidney Poitier films. By and large this film concerns itself with the greater philosophy of why groups in power behave the way they do. This might be the only movie about race relations Ive ever seen that adequately explains with sympathy the root causes of a complacent white American mindset. And it took a black writer and director to do it.
The narration is done by Samuel L Jackson, and its one of the best things hes done in years. No offense to the many boldfaced names who swoop into a recording booth to lend their voice and celebrity to a well meaning issue-oriented documentary, but what Jackson does here is give a performance. He doesnt exactly mimic Baldwin, who we see in many of the archival clips, but he does much more than read words on the page. (I didnt even realize it was him until the closing credits.) We live at a time when almost every notable person from the 20th century has a documentary about them streaming somewhere. Thats all well and good if they are about someone whose work you fancy. I Am Not Your Negro isnt a special interest title, it is a film.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/20/i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin-raoul-peck
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American Football: American Football review a twinkling trip into emo’s past
Few bar a gaggle of devoted diehards noticed when American Football split up shortly after releasing their self-titled debut in 1999. In the years since, though, the album has proved a canonical text for anyone who was a fan of the wistful, technical sound of 90s emo, back before the genre was hijacked by the mascara-and-self-loathing crowd. Now the Illinois band are back with a follow-up that may as well come encased in amber, so redolent is it of that first work. Opener Where Are We Now? sets the scene with its twinkling, perambulating guitar lines and vocalist Mike Kinsellas cry of Weve been here before, while the excellent Desire Gets in the Way adopts the jazzy inflections of the bands most recognisable hit, Never Meant. For the most part there is little interest in deviating from the tried and tested, but for anyone who felt the band were gone too soon in their first incarnation, this is a welcome trip into familiar territory.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/20/american-football-review-album-emo-wichita
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Review: LG V20
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 going up in smoke, there’s a little more room for other jumbo phones to get some attention. The LG V20 is one of those mammoths, a 5.7-inch display with top-line internals and a handful of distinguishing features. Most of all, it’s one of the last smartphones to make a direct plea to the power user—an endangered genus, if ever there was one.
LG V20
7/10
Wired
Monster specs should appeal to power users. Audio features (both listening and recording) are a major step up. The second display could be a gimmick, but it’s actually useful.
Tired
The design lacks some polish, especially for the price. Verizon bloatware and LG skin are crummy. It’s not waterproof. The fingerprint reader as power button drove me bananas.
How We Rate
- 1/10A complete failure in every way
- 2/10Sad, really
- 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
- 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
- 5/10Recommended with reservations
- 6/10Solid with some issues
- 7/10Very good, but not quite great
- 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
- 9/10Nearly flawless
- 10/10Metaphysical perfection
Saying that the LG V20 is always powerful, though, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always good. There’s plenty to like here, some to not, and most of all a sense that while it may not be your dream phone, it’ll do until your dream phone comes along.
Work Horse
Specs can be boring, but let’s tick them off here, mostly because if you care about the V20 in the first place, you care about the guts inside. It’s got a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 5.7-inch display with more pixels that it could possibly need, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It’s strong like a bull, and it shows. The V20 never choked, never stuttered, never hiccuped, no matter how many rounds of Contest of Champions I played or how much Last Chance U I streamed.
More importantly, the V20 also makes the kind of Android-fan accommodations that are increasingly hard to find. There’s a microSD slot, for expandable storage up to 2TB (!). The aluminum back shell pops off to reveal a removable battery. There’s even a thin “second screen” at the top of the display that persistently shows the time, notification icons, battery level, and so on, and can be customized for quick access to your favorite apps.
Much of that list comprises things Android manufacturers used to do but don’t anymore. They’re also, frankly things I personally don’t need or use or value much, but I recognize that many folks do, and that those same people feel rightly abandoned by the move toward one monolithic, iPhone-inspired smartphone design upon which HTC and Google and Motorola and others have converged. The V20 wants you to know that you are not forgotten.
There’s even a setting that will snap a photo whenever someone says ‘cheese.’
It also has a few pleasant forward-looking features. There’s quick-charging USB-C here, which works for me because I already made that jump with my Nexus 5X, but know that you’ll never be able to bum someone’s charger in a bar. The camera borrows the two-lens system that LG deployed in this year’s modular G5, which really just means it adds a wide-angle shooter that trades fish-eye perspective for fishy quality (though it still looks fine). Usually I’d break out an entire section for the camera, since that’s mostly what smartphones are today, but the V20 doesn’t distinguish itself as particularly good or bad. Photos are a little washed out sometimes, and I wish low-light shots turned out a little crisper, but what else is new?
Besides, the most interesting thing to note about the camera isn’t quality, really, is how it lets you fiddle. Oh mercy, can you tool around in there. There are settings for ISO and white balance and lots of filters and more, there’s so much more, there’s even a setting that will snap a photo whenever someone says “cheese.” I’m more comfortable with auto modes and not bossing my smartphone’s shutter around verbally, but again, the V20 is for the tinkerers, through and through.
There’s even a shout out to audiophiles, at least as much of one as can be accomplished in a device that’s just over six inches tall by three inches wide. The V20 has a Quad DAC system inside, which really did make Frightened Rabbit sound as frightened as intended through my headphones. (In fairness, I also could have imagined this, the same way a $50 bottle of wine will always taste better than my beloved Bota Box.) It also takes care of the recording end, with three high AOP microphones that capture lossless, hi-res 24-bit clips. I only used it for a couple of trial voice memos (“Remember to listen back to this before you write your V20 review”), but it came back crisp and clear enough that I’d trust it with instrumentals as well.
All of which is to say that if you’re looking for bells and whistles, the V20 has them. It even launches with Android 7.0—not that you’d recognize it. And that’s where the quibbles come in.
Fit and Finish
That there are so many nods to the Android superfan in the V20 make the experience of actually using it all the more frustrating. Our review model came loaded down with Verizon apps that you won’t want or use, while LG’s thick skin over stock Android does away with, most notably, the app drawer, opting instead for endless side-swiping to access apps. You can retrieve the app drawer (or something like it) from deep in the settings, but why bury one of the definitive advantages Android has over iOS?
The V20 doesn’t quite come together in other places as well, sometimes literally. Having a detachable back plate is the best way to access the removable battery, but it also makes the V20 feel less finished than other flagships, which really means less premium, which is not how you want to think of an $820 smartphone. You’d also want a smartphone for that price to offer some waterproofing assurance, which the V20 doesn’t. Blame the back plate, again; parts that can come off necessitate seams, and seams let water in.
And I acknowledge may be an entirely personal hang-up, there’s no way to awaken the V20 from the front or the sides, other than to activate the camera. LG doubles up the fingerprint scanner and power button here, both on the back. The clinical term for how I feel having to pick up a phone all the way to turn it on is, I believe, “bonkers.” That may say more about me than the V20, but there you have it.[Update: You can double-tap the display to wake the phone as well.]
It makes using the V20 a sometimes confusing experience. Its internal hardware is rock solid, but the outside feels a little flimsy. It’s built for power users, but I don’t always enjoy using it.
If the things that bother me don’t bother you, and you yearn for a smartphone that caters to heavy-duty usage, and especially if you take recording and listening to music on a smartphone seriously, the V20 could fit you just right. I wonder, though, how many Android power users are left, or rather if devices like the Pixel XL and Moto Z are already plenty powerful enough. They’re certainly more pleasant to use. Some people are addicted to horsepower. I prefer a smooth ride.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/review-lg-v20/
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Saturday 5 November 2016
Time to get a smartwatch? Apple Watch Nike+ review
File photo – Apple Inc. COO Jeff Williams discusses the Apple Watch Series 2 with Nike+ during a media event in San Francisco, California, U.S. Sept. 7, 2016. (REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach)
If youve been holding out for an Apple Watch, the Nike+ version may be a good reason to buy.
Probably the single best reason is that the just-released Apple Watch Nike+ edition costs no more than the least-expensive Apple Watch Series 2. Like other Watch 2 models, the Nike+ starts at $369 for the 38mm version and $399 for the 42mm.
But in addition to the standard stuff that comes with any Apple Watch 2, you get some nice Nike extras.
Ive been using the Nike+ edition for the past five days and can say its a better watch than the original Apple Watch the latter I used pretty much every day for more than a year.
What you get with Nike+ version
Apple is mostly making a fashion and branding statement for the workout crowd with Apple Watch Nike+. The two outstanding features are the Nike+ band available in the iconic Nike Volt lime color scheme and the Volt digital and analog watch faces.
A UKRAINIAN MAN CHANGED HIS NAME TO IPHONE 7 TO WIN A FREE DEVICE
The band really makes the Watch for me. Though it costs the same, its a cut above the plain Sport Band on my first-gen Apple Watch. But even if you’re not wowed by the looks of the compressionmolded perforations, the ventilation they provide is reason enough to get the band. My previous Sport Band was not “breathable” and would quickly collect sweat. That hasn’t happened with Nike+ band.
And the combination of the Nike+ band with the Nike Watch faces does transform the Watch into a fetching workout wearable. In addition to the option for a large, bold Nike Volt digital time face, the watch face sports complications, which are essentially small, customizable widgets that appear on the side of the screen. Complications include quick-glance information like battery life or a short cut for launching the Nike+ Run Club.
And speaking of the Run Club, Ive been using it to track my workouts. The Run Club app, which can be installed on non-Nike+ Apple watches too, provides distance, duration, and speed and it will read those to you out loud (aka voiceover) at intervals while youre exercising. It can also be set up to automatically pause when you stop moving and then automatically restart when you begin moving again. And, like any Apple Watch app it can be started and stopped with Siri via voice commands.
The Club part of the app is basically a social network for runners. You can get coaching and workouts created by Nike master trainers (which I haven’t tried yet). And you can connect with friends. For example, you can share run results on leaderboards.
What you get with any Apple Watch 2
To be clear, most of whats new on Watch 2 Nike+ is new to every Watch 2. That includes a built-in GPS. Phone-free GPS tracking is a critical fitness upgrade for a product co-branded with Nike because it gives you the option to untether your watch when exercising. That is not possible on the first-gen Apple Watch, which needs the iPhones GPS.
APPLES NEW MACBOOK PROS ARRIVE: A GREAT REDESIGN, BUT AT A PRICE
And the first-gen Watch was only splash resistant, while the Watch 2 has a water resistance rating of up to 50 meters under water, which means you can go swimming with it. That said, Apple plays if safe and does not recommend it for scuba diving or waterskiing.
The Watch 2 also packs a faster processor (now with two processing cores). That makes the Watch 2 noticeably snappier. For me, that alone is a reason enough to upgrade. For example, using the Watchs Maps app used to be so slow to make it almost unusable at times. So far, thats not the case with Watch 2. Maps launches faster and its easy to navigate now.
Pretty much everything works better with more processing oomph. I still rely on the Watch for email and text notifications (you can read and respond to both on the Watch) and for taking short phone calls. I also use Apple Pay to buy groceries and for purchases at Starbucks. And I like the Watchs Photos app for quick glances at photos. Again, all of the above is faster, more responsive on the Watch 2.
The Watch 2’s display is also two times brighter than the Watch 1’s.
Throw in the Nike+ extras and its a pretty compelling buy for a full-featured Smartwatch.
IS SAMSUNG’S LOSS A WIN FOR APPLE AND GOOGLE PHONES?
A final note: We wont know if the Nike+ version is a catalyst for increased Apple Watch sales until the fourth quarter of this year, Daniel Matte, an analyst with market researcher Canalys, told FoxNews.com. Canalys released figures Thursday showing that Apple shipped almost 2.8 million watches in the third quarter of this year. Thats significantly more than the shipment numbers IDC released last month for the third quarter.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/11/03/time-to-get-smartwatch-apple-watch-nike-review.html
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Review: Tile Mate and Slim
For a few years now, the absentminded have found salvation in Tile, the simple tracking gizmo that helps you locate your keys or anything else you can hold onto. Late for work? Fire up your iPhone and the Tile app, then listen for the Bluetooth-activated sing-song or check the on-screen map for Tile’s last known location. Have your keys but not your phone? Press the Tile’s button and your phone will ring.
Tile is affordable and brain-dead easy to use—just attach it to whatever you tend to lose. Although it must be within Bluetooth range of whatever you’ve lost, Tile does offer a killer feature: If other Tile users are near your lost keys, the Tile on your keys can still chime and update its location on the map. The people who use Tile, the easier it is to find everything. Crowdsourced memory. Beautiful.
With a rising user base—Tile says people use the app to locate more than half a million items every day—the march of progress has finally addressedanother complaint:Tile is too big.
WIRED
Tile Mate and Tile Slimreplace the original Tile. Tile Mate shaves3mm fromeach side and nearly 1mm in thickness. Thetraditional hole in the corner makes it ideal for keychains and other hanging items. Tile Slim is larger in surface area, but flatter, just 2.4mm thick.
The changes don’t seem huge, butmake a big difference in practical terms. The Mate is small enough that you can feasibly clip it to your wayward cat’s collar. The Slim—almost precisely the thickness ofthree credit cards (not two as claimed)—slips into a wallet or passport holder, something the original could never achieve.
These smaller Tiles work just likethe original and still use the old app (both iOS and Android are supported now), and promise the same battery lifespan of about a year, after which you can “reTile” for half price. (Batteries still aren’tuser-replaceable and undoubtedly never will be.) Prices climb a bit—$25 for the Mate, $30 for the Slim—but are significantly cheaper if you buy four at a time.
TIRED
Tile works without a hiccup, and the app could find my keys at 100 to 120 feet without a problem. However, though both units specify over 80 decibels of volume, the reality is that the chime can be difficult to hear (at least compared to, say, the chime of Apple’s blaring Find My iPhone klaxon). This is particularly problematic with the Tile Slim, should it be stored ina wallet. Leather and fat stacks of cash muffle the audio significantly, making it inaudible if you’re more than one room away.
RATING
8/10 – Excellent, with room to kvetch.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/review-tile-mate-and-tile-slim/
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Review: Doctor Strange Might Just Be the Future of Marvel Movies
The most notable thing aboutDoctor Strange isn’t its dizzying visual effects or its kaleidscopic action sequences; it’s how muchtime goes by before themoviereminds you that it’s set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe. Around halfway through its two hour run time, a librarian (Benedict Wong) tells surgeon-turned-sorcerer-in-trainingStephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) that Strange’s fellow students aren’t just budding masters of arcana, butacosmiccomplement to the Avengers in defending the Earth against malevolent outsiders. Its the only time the big team gets name-dropped. It bodes well for the universe’s next crop of heroes:Rather thanfeeding into the ever-expanding, ever more complicated narrative web of the MCU, Strange wins bigbystaying small.
At the films outset, Strange, a hotshot neurosurgeon with a healthy dash of Tony Stark-style arrogance, gets in a serious car crash which renders his hands virtually useless. Pursuing anypossible road to recovery, he tracks down Jonathan Pagborn (Benjamin Bratt), a former paraplegic who advises him to seek out the Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal. There, he meets the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton)andfellow studentKarl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and learns of Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a fallen pupil whostole pages from a spellbook andbig bad alertwants to merge Earth with a being in the Dark Dimension in order to gain eternal life.
It this all sounds overly complicated, dont worry: Strangeglosses overthe logic of these multiple dimensions, sidingwith action overexposition. Imagine the best spell fights from a Harry Potter movie married with the tessellating dream-architecture of Inception, seasoned with the trippiness ofthe Star Child sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Its one of the only installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that demands to be seen in full 3-D. (If you thought the Bifrost Bridge scenes from Thor were impressive, just waituntilthe Ancient One introduces Strange to astral projection.)
Spellbooks Full of Villains
One of the most enduringproblems in the MCU is itslack of compelling antagonists. Not only has overarching villain Thanos been stupendously ineffective at acquiring the Infinity Stones he needs for his gauntlet, but the enemies in too many Marvel movies—Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron-Man 3, even Captain America:Civil War—faded from memory soon after the credits rolled.There’s no such problem with Mikkelsen as Kaecilius, whose eyesbenefitfrom some of the best makeup work the MCU has seen. While hes a compositeof various characters from the comics, Mikkelsen is so domineering, so effortlessly sharp, that he’s indelibly memorable despiteclearly functioning as a one-and-donefoes.
But likethe best films in the Marvel franchise, Strangesucceeds by layeringthe conflict.The Ancient One is much more thana benevolent teacher;Mordo’s arc turns Ejiofor’s characterfrom rival to something more pleasingly existential. Anyone familiar with Strange in the comics knows where this is heading, and its great that something larger is planned for Mordobut well be damned if this movie couldnt have been improved even more simply by swapping his role with Cumberbatch. Having said that, we can’t say it’s not gratifyingto see Cumberbatch, sporting a Vincent Price goatee and oozing witharrogance, getting his ass and brain handed to him by a bald female monk, a black warrior, and an Asian librarian.
But perhaps the best aspect of Doctor Strange is that for all of its talk of parallel dimensionsMirror, Dark, and othersand visual fireworks transporting Stephen through landscapes that would warp even MC Eschers mind, the events of the movieonly affecta narrow community of sorcerers. The Avengers are headline-grabbing heroes whose exploits dominate newscasts; like Ant-Man before him, Doctor Strange’s origin story is one of small-scale discovery, not averting global apocalypse. Even the third act’s climactic battle manages to edge away from the usual MCU face-off formula, in a way that’s mind-bending without completelyoverloading the audience.
Marvel’s Next Phase
The Marvel Cinematic Universe spent Phase One assembling the Avengers, and Phase Two creating a conflict between Iron Man and Captain America (and their loyalists). Phase Three, which began with Civil Warand comprises10 films over the next three years, shoulders the dual burdenof resolving theInfinity Stonestorylinewhileintroducing audiences to dozens of characters who are far less recognizable than Spider-Man. But after seeing how Strange only hints at ties to the main thread, it bodes well for how Ant-Man and the Wasp will continue those heroes’stories, Black Panther will feature in his eponymous standalone movie, and Captain Marvel will finally put a female lead on the map.
The MCU’s gender problems linger in StrangeRachel McAdams talents feel wasted playing Strange’s love interest, and the moviefailsthe Bechdel Test in spectacular fashion. But the dominant fear for theuniverse’sBorg-like expansion is how itwill continue to add more characters to an already crowded stable. Doctor Strange has memorable, complex characters and action sequences, along with a visual style that sets it apart from the previous 13 Marvel films. If its manyteam-up movies start to sag under the weight of gratuitouscrossovers, at least the studio knows it can do origin stories right.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/doctor-strange-review/
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Friday 4 November 2016
Review: Google Home
I’d be lying if I said unplugging my Amazon Echo didn’t feel a bit like a breakup. “Alexa,” I whispered while pulling the plug, “it’s just for now.” Butit wasn’t Alexa, it was me. More specifically, it was someone else. I needed the space for Google Home.
The $129 Home smart speaker playsa vital role inGoogle’s futuristic vision of “a Google for everyone,” powered by itsomnipresent Assistant. Virtually nothing about it is new; it’s like someGoogler bought an Echo and wondered if, uh, maybe Google should make one, too. (I mean, the product development timeline does allow for this.) Its not a knock-off, though. Google aspires to another level of power, personalization, and accuracy—not to mention a cuter package than the goth tennis ball can Amazon designed.
I like Home. It providesmuch of what Echo offers, while signaling far more product and platform ambition than Amazon. Great potential is worth only so much, though, and Amazon seems to understand better than anyone what’s possible withthese devices right now. Sometimes Home feels like sci-fi magic. Sometimes it reaches beyond its grasp and falls flat. The Echo is less impressive, but more reliable.
The good news is, you cant go wronghere. Youll like them both, though neither is perfect. The question is how much youre willing to bet on what these devices could be, and which company you think can deliver on that promise.
Speaker of the House
Any gadget sitting front-and-center in your home had better look nice. Home does. It sits 6inches tall, with a bulbous bottom and a sharply sloped top which makes it easy to seethe four lights that indicate Home is listening or working. It looks like something you might plant a succulent in, or a modernist orange juice carafe. Or an air freshener.
Google Home
7/10
Wired
Home looks like a gadget you’d actually want in your home. Assistant does all the basic things really well, plus a few remarkably cool things too. It’s an impressively good speaker, for such a tiny package.
Tired
Not much of the Google-infused personalization or intelligence seems to be here yet. Google doesn’t have many third-party partners yet, so you’re stuck in Google Land.
How We Rate
The potential here is enormous, perhapsbigger than what Amazon could ever offer with Alexa. Right now, you can say “OK Google, play Last Week Tonight on my living room TV,” and Home connects to Chromecast tomake it happen. You can network a bunch of Homes together and pump music through your house. You can keep a shopping list in Google Keep, and check your Google Calendar. Echo, of course, can do most of this as well; to truly differentiate, Google needs to integrate more of its services more deeply. Why can’t I email from Home? Or make phone calls through Voice or Hangouts? Or search for photos and see them on my phone? Home also needs more third-party partners, because surprise, not everyone uses all Google everything.
Someday, assuming Google keeps caring about Home, I suspect the device will be more like the ad. It’ll be smart and integrated enough to know that your flight is delayed and change your dinner reservation, to turn on all the lights in your house, to tell you how to get to work, to teach your kids about the world, and all the rest. Right now, it’s simpler than that. Like, a lot simpler.
A Familiar Sound
Don’t get me wrong. As much as I wish Google Home lived up to its future promises, its a fantastic addition to my living room right now. It’s hard to describe how nice it is to play music just by asking for it, or turn on NPR without lifting a finger. You never realize how many times you pull out your phone for one tiny, insignificant thing, until you finally havea better way to do it.
Of course, all that is true of the Echo, too. Home might be better two years from now, but right now they’re more or less the same device. So here’s where I landed, after 18 months with the Echo and a week or so with Home: They’re both great.
Helpful, right? If you don’t own either, I’d say buy a Google Home. It’s cheaper, it’s just as good in almost every important way, and Google’s ambition for both this product and Assistant in general is so high that Home should get really good, really fast.
But then again, Amazon does have Sonos integration coming, which is awesome. And it’s away ahead withthird-party partnerships. And I’m leery of giving Google yet more data it can sell to advertisers. OK, never mind, buy an Echo. Oh, and isnt it overdue for a hardware refresh?
You know what? This is impossible. Both devices are excellent, both have bright futures, both are increasingly essential partsof your household. I bought a Home because I like the design, and I like the sound quality. If you buy an Echo because you love your Sonos and don’t trust Google with your data, youll be perfectly happy as well.
There’s only one mistake you can make, really: not letting a smart speaker into your home at all. These things are great, and they’re only getting better.
Read more: https://www.wired.com/2016/11/review-google-home/
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