Privacy is on everyone’s mind these days, and in iOS 14.5, which is starting to roll out to the public today, there are new privacy features that may make you feel happier but are not endearing Apple to some other companies — specifically Facebook.
The new feature is aptly called App Tracking Transparency. Many apps don’t just track your movements inside the app, but they track your movements outside of the app — in other words, where you go after you’ve left the app. This is why you see ads in Facebook and other apps for products you were just looking at on Amazon or other sites.
Before 14.5, you could turn tracking off for all of your apps by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turning off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” The new version of iOS allows you to be more specific. To begin, when you install a new app, you won’t have to do anything; you’ll be automatically asked whether you want the new app to track you.
If you want to see which apps have asked for permission to track, and possibly change their tracking settings, you can just go to that same Tracking page. There, you will be able to give or revoke that permission. So:
Go to your iPhone’s settings and select Privacy > Tracking
Beneath “Allow Apps to Request to Track,” you’ll now see a list of specific apps that have asked for that permission. You can permit or revoke that permission for each specific app.
Privacy > Tracking to change the settings for specific or all apps.” data-upload-width=”3660″ src=”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/echo/Image_from_iOS__3_.jpg6086d936b4110.jpg” >
Go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking to change the settings for specific or all apps.
And you can still use “Allow Apps to Request to Track” to turn off permission for all of your current (and future) apps.
Facebook is building its own in-app podcast player, the company confirmed today. This will be separate from its new in-app Spotify player. Podcasters will be able to distribute their shows through their Facebook page and will opt into doing so. The exact product details are still unclear. It’s possible this will operate through RSS or that creators will have a backend way to upload their content to Facebook. This functionality is expected to roll out within the next “few months,” according to a Facebook blog post.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the Spotify partnership as being primarily about “music” during a chat with Platformer writer Casey Newton last week. But Spotify’s release about its Facebook miniplayer today specifically calls out its use case for podcasts. People can share episodes and listen to them from within the Facebook app without actually navigating to Spotify. But Facebook apparently has other plans to be more ingrained in the podcasting ecosystem.
The company’s interest in podcasts makes sense. It says more than 170 million people connect to podcast pages, and more than 35 million people are members of fan groups around shows. Plus, podcasts are still primarily an ad-based product, meaning Facebook could gather data about shows and listeners and target its own ads against them, possibly giving creators a cut. It could also offer creators a way to put them behind a subscription paywall, similarly to Apple’s forthcoming Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, which it announced last week. Facebook’s formal entry into the podcast player space would mean nearly all the tech giants run their own podcast products, including Apple, Google, and Amazon, on top of Spotify and other smaller apps.
The hacking group known as REvil has reportedly pulled all references to a ransomware attack against Apple supplier Quanta Computer from its home on the dark web, MacRumors reports.
Last week, the group had threatened Quanta with ransomware, demanding $50 million by April 27 in order to stop it from leaking product blueprints. It appears, per BleepingComputer, that after Quanta didn’t budge, it turned to Apple for the money.
“Quanta Computer’s information security team has worked with external IT experts in response to cyber attacks on a small number of Quanta servers,” a Quanta spokesperson told BleepingComputer last week.
The hacking attempt came as Apple announced new products at its “Spring Loaded” event, announcing M1 iMacs and an iPad Pro, Air Tags and updates to its Podcast app. By the end of the event last week, REvil has posted a number of schematics, published by some web sites, that appeared to have been of upcoming MacBook products.
What is unclear is why REvil would have pulled the threat, and whether a ransom was paid or if legal measures were taken. Apple did not reply to a request for comment in time for publication, but we will update if we hear anything. Apple has also not commented publicly on the situation.
Then again, in a video announcing the M1 iPad Pro, we learned that Apple CEO Tim Cook is a bit of a super spy, so maybe that answers some questions.
Being able to play your PlayStation 4 and 5 games all around your house via Remote Play streaming is a neat feature, but the small number of officially supported devices means you’re stuck with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, or another PlayStation. Enterprising coders determined to get an open-source Remote Play client running on a wider selection of devices have had it happily streaming on Linux for a while, and the humble Raspberry Pi, with its Debian-based OS, is the latest target, as shown in this video from Philippines-based Evoneg Tech.
To get it going you’ll need a Raspberry Pi 4, and a fork of the Chiaki streaming app from Github. Remote Play needs to be activated on your PS5, and you should pair a Bluetooth controller with your Pi (a DualShock will work fine, but make sure it’s not still paired with, and within range of, your console).
You’ll need to install a few dependencies first, then build the app on your Pi, so don’t jump in unless you’re comfortable with typing console commands. There’s a full guide to Pi installation on the project’s Github wiki. You’ll also need your PSN account ID, which can be extracted by following the steps here.
It works on both wired and wireless connections, and with a good connection you’ll get a 1080p/60fps connection. The devs say it also works on the PS4 Pro, but there’s no mention of the original PS4 console. Nintendo Switch owners should note that there’s a build of the app for their console too, but it has some very specific installation instructions.
Facebook is making it easier to never leave its app. The company’s partnership with Spotify is coming to fruition today in the form of a miniplayer for the News Feed that’ll allow people to play music and podcasts from within Facebook. Audio content can be shared from Spotify to Facebook, and once on Facebook, listeners can press play and listen to it even as they scroll around. It’ll be available on both iOS and Android and in 27 markets, including the US, at first. More will follow in the coming months. Users will also see the miniplayer on shared videos that have music in the background. A play button will surface after the video finishes where people can play the song.
Facebook listeners will hear the shared track, and once it ends, Spotify will continue to play music on shuffle, as it usually does. Free users will hear ads, too. The ads will come directly from Spotify, but Facebook will receive “limited data” about users trying the integration, including subscription type and metrics to assess the miniplayer’s performance. It won’t use this information to target ads, Spotify says, and listeners will have to consent to the data sharing when they first start the player.
This partnership comes along with a larger audio push from Facebook. The company announced multiple new features last week, including its Clubhouse competitor Live Audio Rooms as well as shareable, short sound clips called Soundbites. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also emphasized an interest in podcasts, and this partnership is one way people will be able to listen to shows without sacrificing any Facebook time.
Last week Apple announced its new podcast subscription service, and Spotify could be about to follow suit. In fact, according to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal, it could launch as soon as this week.
The service will allegedly allow those creating the podcasts to set their own prices, but unlike Apple, Spotify won’t charge a fee or take a cut of each membership.
Crucially, payment could also work a bit differently to Apple’s service. Sign up through Spotify’s iOS app, and you will be re-routed to a website to complete the transaction, instead of Apple’s App Store, as is customary. This would deny Apple its usual cut of in-app purchases.
It’s likely Apple wouldn’t take kindly to this approach – when Epic Games tried the same thing with its hugely successful game Fortnite, Apple kicked it off the App Store (that legal case is due to start next week).
Spotify hasn’t confirmed the plans, but its advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff has previously said there is “room for everybody” in podcasting.
Apple announced last week that it would let podcasters charge subscribers to listen. As well as setting the price, podcasters can decide what extras (if any) you get for paying – examples include bonus content, early access, and ad-free shows. Free trials and sample episodes are also options.
Apple’s service launches next month.
Audio content like podcasts has boomed over the last year, especially during lockdown and Facebook will soon let members listen to podcasts directly through its platform, too.
MORE:
Check out 10 of the best podcasts for music lovers
Colette, a short film featured in the Oculus VR game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, has won this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Presented by Oculus Studios and Electronic Arts’ Respawn Entertainment, and later acquired and distributed by The Guardian, it’s the first time a video game industry project has won an Oscar.
Directed by Anthony Giacchino, Colette features a French Resistance survivor, Colette Marin-Catherine, returning to Germany for the first time since the end of World War II to visit a slave labor camp where her brother was killed. The documentary is presented in a traditional 2D format whether you watch it in the Oculus TV app or elsewhere.
“The real hero here is Colette herself, who has shared her story with integrity and strength,” Oculus Studios director of production Mike Doran says in a statement. “As we see in the film, resistance takes courage, but facing one’s past may take even more. Allowing us to preserve this pilgrimage for future generations was a true act of bravery and trust. We hope this award and the film’s reach means, as Colette says, that Jean-Pierre’s memory, as well as all of those who resisted, are no longer lost in the ‘Night and Fog’ of Dora.”
“It’s true what they say: It really is an honor just to be nominated. And it’s an incredible moment to win. We’re humbled by this recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and would like to extend our sincere congratulations to all of our fellow nominees. It’s a privilege to stand alongside you.”
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was not well-received as a video game, with many reviews highlighting its huge system requirements and 170GB installation size — much of which was down to the inclusion of extensive historical and documentary footage. Now that one of those films has won an Oscar, the project may get more positive attention than before.
You can watch Colette for free online on YouTube, Oculus TV, or at The Guardian.
A small-format resin 3D printer with a bargain-basement price, the Longer Orange 10’s weak output and wobbly build quality make it a poor bargain.
For
+ Inexpensive price
+ Small footprint
Against
– Laser-cut UV lid feels wobbly
– Low XY resolution
– Small build volume
The Longer Orange 10 is the entry-level 3D printer in the Orange lineup and sits below the Orange 30 and Orange 4K in both price and features. It’s available from the Longer site for $139, a surprisingly-low price that is around the cheapest I’ve seen a 3D printer of any kind for sale.
After testing the Orange 10, I’m left with more questions than answers as to who this printer is marketed towards. It uses an RGB masking LCD that defaults to a slow per-layer cure time as well as a small build volume. Importantly, it also has a pixel resolution that is over 50% larger than the Creality LD-002R, a comparable printer in price and size, resulting in lower resolution prints and pronounced stepping on shallow curves.
Longer Orange 10 Specifications
Machine Footprint
6.7″ x 6.7″ x 14.2″ (17.0cm x 17.0cm x 36.0cm)
Build Volume
3.86″ x 2.17″ x 5.5″ (98mm x 55mm x 140mm)
Resin
DLP Photopolymer Resin
UV Light
UV Matrix 405nm UV LED
Masking LCD Resolution
854 x 480
Masking LCD Size
4.5″
Interface
2.8″ LCD Touchscreen
XY Axis Resolution
.115mm
Included in the Box of Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 ships with all of the consumables you need to get up and printing including the power supply, a metal scraper for removing parts, gloves, a clean-up rag, a microSD card, a USB microSD card reader, and some resin filters for reusing resin. The UV-resistant lid ships disassembled (more on that later), and all the pieces required to assemble it are included in the box. The Orange 10 also includes a printed manual that covers all of the steps involved with getting the printer up and running.
Assembly of Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 includes a UV-resistant lid that requires assembly before it can be mounted onto the printer. This is a little unusual; most MSLA resin printers like the Anycubic Photon Mono, Creality LD-002R, and the Elegoo Mars Pro use a single-piece acrylic lid that ships mounted to the printer. The lid for the Longer Orange 10 ships in five pieces that all have a protective film applied to both sides. This film tends to tear and delaminate when peeled and was very time-consuming to remove; it took me almost fifteen minutes to remove it fully.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Once the protective film has been removed, the lid can be assembled. The jigsaw pattern on the sides of the panels allows them to snap into place, and the included black brackets hold the side panels together before the top panel is added. Assembling the lid felt a bit like a juggling act; the brackets and top hold the sides together, but the sides can’t be assembled without the top to hold them in place. It took a few tries to get it right but the lid eventually snapped together.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The lid is held together with a pair of rubber bands; one at the top and one at the bottom. While this solution is relatively inexpensive and allows the printer to ship in a slightly smaller box, the general shakiness and lack of a sturdy lid did not inspire much confidence in me after it was put together. The rubber bands pulled tight around the acrylic corners, and I’m concerned that picking up the lid will cause the rubber band to tear over time from rubbing against the sharp corners of the acrylic panels.
Design of Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The user interface of the Longer Orange 10 is a 2.8-inch color touchscreen LCD that offers basic functionality controls as well as real-time information during printing. The LCD is bright and responsive, but the overall UI is a little bare and the controls used to calibrate the build platform aren’t labeled intuitively.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Orange 10 uses a custom controller board with an STM32F103 microcontroller and an A4988 stepper driver. The controller board cooling fan is the loudest component on the printer, and it operates at a very reasonable volume during printing. The case of the Orange 10 is made from bent sheet metal, and I liked the solid and stable feel that it provided.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The masking LCD on the Longer Orange 10 is a 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 854 x 480. This combination results in a relatively low .115mm XY resolution, a much coarser resolution than the .035mm achieved by the 4K resolution masking LCDs like the one on the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. Even non-4K masking LCD screens like the one on the Creality LD-002R are capable of sub-.1mm resolution (the LD-002R is .075mm), so this slightly-thick XY resolution can result in parts with visible stepping on shallow curves.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The build platform has a rear-facing slant, which allows resin to drip back into the vat during printing. The gantry to which it attaches is made from a bent piece of metal and the Z threaded rod has an anti-backlash nut installed to prevent banding during rapid movements. The motion components on the machine generally feel solid, and the gantry doesn’t seem to have any play during printing.
Leveling the Build Platform on Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The build platform on the Longer Orange 10 is secured to the gantry with four bolts that are also used for leveling. After loosening the bolts on the gantry and placing a piece of paper over the masking LCD screen, I dropped the build platform to the home position and tightened the bolts on the gantry.
The bolts have split ring lock washers as opposed to regular washers, which make leveling the bed a tedious and difficult task. As I tightened the bolts, the split ring washer moved just slightly and caused the build platform to raise or lower. Leveling this printer was a challenge that required me to work very slowly to make sure the build platform didn’t shift while tightening.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
After I leveled the build platform, I installed the resin vat in the printer and secured it with the two attached thumbscrews. The vat has a polymer frame with fill indicators graduated to the max fill line of 200ml embossed on the side. The FEP film at the bottom of the vat has been installed, pretensioned and is ready to use right out of the box.
Printing Safety with Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 uses 405nm UV resin, a material that you need to handle safely when in an uncured state to avoid injury. The resin can be harmful when making contact with skin, so make sure to wear gloves when pouring, cleaning up, or handling uncured resin. I also make sure I’m wearing gloves when removing the build platform after a print, as the resin tends to pool on top of the platform and can drip off while the platform is being removed.
Make sure you use the Orange 10 in a well-ventilated room to minimize the danger from inhaling fumes. Any spills or uncured resin stuck to a surface should be cleaned using 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and the container for the resin should be kept closed and secured when not actively pouring material.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The build platform on the Orange 10 has four upward-facing bolts that are used to secure it to the bracket. This is a poor design element, as the location of the bolts means it is very difficult to clean uncured resin off inside the bolt caps or clean the space between the bolt heads and the bracket. While the slanted build platform does allow the majority of the resin to slide back into the vat, it still pools around where the bracket meets the build platform and it can be difficult to clean completely. While this isn’t a problem unique to the Longer Orange 10, it is certainly something I find to be unnecessarily time-consuming and could be easily solved with a one-piece build platform.
Printing the Included Test Prints on the Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 includes four pre-sliced models that are ready for printing, as well as the .STL files used to make them. The first one I tested was VampireLordBust.lgs, a 75.26mm model that prints in five hours and nine minutes. The model (which I found uploaded on MyMiniFactory by searching for the file name) has supports designed into the model as opposed to being generated by the slicer software.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
I try to avoid models with supports designed into them, as every printer will handle them differently and the slicer software is usually better at generating them. This is more of a problem with MSLA resin printers, as larger supports need to be broken off which can shatter or crack the brittle cured resin.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The part printed without any issues and, as expected, removing the support material left some defects. The two large bars underneath the arms were difficult to remove fully, and the thin beams under the chin left material behind after they were cracked off. The overall level of detail on the model was muted, and the resolution didn’t look as sharp as I would have expected from an MSLA resin printer. The teeth on this vampire bust have been individually modeled, but I noticed that they were difficult to differentiate on the printed model.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The built-in model The_Three_Wise_Skulls_20mb.lgs is a taller print (107.25mm) that let me get a better feel for the level of detail the Orange 10 was capable of. This sliced model was interesting for two reasons; it prints out completely support-free, and it also prints completely solid. This means that it uses more resin in the printing process and has a heavier, denser feel than the Vampire Lord bust (78 grams as opposed to 27).
I was a little more impressed with the detail shown on this model, and the nine hour and 17 minute print time was a pleasant surprise considering the height of the model. The low XY resolution (.115mm) leads to visible stepping on the shallow curves of the model, most notably the back and sides of the skulls.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Preparing Files for Printing with LongerWare
(Image credit: Longer)
Longer includes two apps with the Orange 10; LongerWare and Chitubox. LongerWare is an app that is designed for the Orange 10, Orange 30, and Orange 120 MSLA resin 3D printers. LongerWare includes profiles for the various resin types including water-washable, standard, and castable at multiple resolutions. LongerWare offers the functionality you would expect from a slicing software, such as the ability to scale, rotate, and move models before preparing them for printing.
(Image credit: Longer)
I was disappointed in the overall experience while using LongerWare, though, as
thesoftware feels a little unfinished. There’s no ability to preview print times or material usage in the software, and once exported as an .lgs file for the Orange 10, the object can’t be opened to examine the settings. This feels like a major oversight, and it made planning my print schedule a little difficult. The only way to see the estimated print time is to save a project as a .lgs file, export it to the microSD card, insert the card into the printer, click print, and then see the time on the printer touchscreen interface.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
To test out LongerWare, I printed out a 32mm mini from Loot Studios sliced using the .05mm Water Washable resin profile. The mini (32mm_Georgios_HelmetVersion) printed in just over four hours, and it wasn’t until the mini was above the vat of resin that I noticed the supports had not attached to the model at various points. After removing the model and cleaning it, I saw that the shield was missing a large section. The supports for the shield printed all the way up to the contact point then stopped abruptly, leaving me to believe that the connection between model and support wasn’t strong enough to hold the model in place.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Despite the lack of support material on the shield, the spear printed without issue and successfully completed. The quality of the support material on the spear is hit or miss, with some of the individual structures fused with those adjacent to them.The various defects in this model are frustrating, but the bigger takeaway for me was the difficulty in using the LongerWare software. When compared with the alternative offered by Longer (Chitubox), it’s hard to imagine a situation where it would be advantageous to use LongerWare.
Preparing Files for Printing with Chitubox
(Image credit: Chitubox)
Chitubox includes the Orange Longer 10 on its list of supported printers, but you’ll need to import a plugin to export the .lgs extension used by the printer. Longer includes both the Chitubox app as well as the required plugin on the microSD card included with the machine. Chitubox offers all of the functionality of LongerWare as well as additional features such as print time estimates, material usage estimates, and the ability to fix any potential issues with a sliced file by deleting islands (individual pixels that are not connected to the main body and can float around in the vat or stick to the FEP film).
(Image credit: Chitubox)
I used the same profile on Chitubox that I used on LongerWare (Water Washable for 0.05mm), but I noticed that the exposure time was set to six seconds as opposed to eight. This is a minor difference, but it did make me wonder about what other changes may exist in the various profiles between the slicers. The Z speeds all seemed to be the same, and the bottom layers had the same exposure and height settings as well.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Sliced in Chitubox, the 32mm miniature Minotaur model by Loot Studios printed out in 3 hours and 2 minutes and didn’t seem to have the support delamination issue that the model sliced in LongerWare had. The detail was similar to the other models printed, although some of the smaller features looked a little soft. The support material was attached to the model throughout, and the removal was quick and easy.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Print Size Comparison of the Longer Orange 10 vs. Creality LD-002R
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 is a compact 3D printer with a noticeably smaller footprint than other MSLA resin 3D printers. The $199 Creality LD-002R MSLA resin 3D printer offers similar specifications at a slightly-higher price point, so it makes sense to compare the overall build volume and printer volume to get a feel for how much smaller the Longer Orange 10 really is.
Longer Orange 10
Creality LD-002R
Masking LCD Resolution
854 x 480
2560 x 1140
XY Resolution
.115mm
.075mm
Build Dimensions
3.86 x 2.17 x 5.5 inches
4.69 x 2.56 x 6.3 inches
Build Volume
46.07 cubic inches
75.64 cubic inches
Printer Dimensions
6.7 x 6.7 x 14.2 inches
8.7 x 8.7 x 15.9 inches
Printer Volume
637.44 cubic inches
1203.471 cubic inches
Build / Footprint Ratio (higher is better)
7.20%
6.20%
The significantly reduced length in the X and Z axes on the Orange 10 directly translates to a significantly impacted build volume when compared with the LD-002R. The lower resolution masking LCD on the Orange 10 means that the XY resolution is also lower than the LD-002R. However, the compact form factor of the Orange 10 gives it a slight advantage when comparing the overall build volume to footprint ratio.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Printing the Included Bracket Print on the Longer Orange 10
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
After printing a few miniatures, I wanted to see how the Longer Orange 10 performed when making parts that were intended for real-life use. The Orange 10 includes a file on the microSD called ‘BRACKET.lgs’ which prints out in a speedy hour and a half. The bracket has been filled with hexagonal lightweighting holes that perforate the model vertically and circular lightweighting holes that run through horizontally.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The printed bracket felt stiff and lightweight, and the inclusion of this model gave me something to think about while it was curing. While the overall resolution of the Orange 10 doesn’t seem up to the task of printing highly-detailed miniatures, larger or blockier models that don’t require sharp detail may be a good fit for this printer.
The bracket had a minor amount of stepping in the XY plane, but that’s less of a consideration when printing functional parts like this. Seeing this model made me think that this printer may have a home with any user who is looking to print functional parts where accuracy is less of a concern.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Longer Orange 10 is currently available directly from Longer for $139. In addition, the Orange 10 is $179.99 on Amazon, and Amazon Prime members can currently pick it up for a very reasonable $143.99 with free shipping. At that price, it can certainly appear that the Orange 10 is a good value for someone interested in getting involved with 3D printing.
Unfortunately, I have a hard time finding a compelling reason to go with the Longer Orange 10 when other budget MSLA resin 3D printers like the Creality LD-002R exist in the same price range. The relatively low resolution on the XY plane and non-Mono LCD means that the Orange 10 will take longer to print lower resolution parts than other budget MSLA resin machines. The Orange 10 strikes me as an application-specific machine, but you will need to have that application ready and in mind before purchasing this printer.
Generally speaking, a lot of the appeal of the Orange 10 will likely come from the rock-bottom pricing of the machine. For users unconcerned with speed or accuracy who want a hands-on assembly like they would get from the Creality Ender 3 Pro FDM 3D printer, the Orange 10 offers a complete MSLA resin 3D printing experience for less money than a date night for two.
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If a $100 budget phone is the fast-food dollar menu and a $1,000 flagship is a steakhouse dinner, then the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G sits comfortably halfway between the two: the laid-back all-day cafe with surprisingly tasty food.
It’s good. More importantly, it’s good where it matters. Sure, you have to order your food at the counter and get your own water refills, but it’s worth it because brunch is fantastic and the prices are reasonable.
The A52 5G is the highest-specced of the budget A-series Galaxy phones we’ll see in the US this year, offering all of the basics for its $499 price tag along with a few good extras. Its 6.5-inch screen comes with a fast 120Hz refresh rate that’s scarce at this price point. Its main camera includes optical image stabilization, something I missed when I used the more expensive OnePlus 9. The A52 5G is rated IP67 waterproof for some extra peace of mind. And hey, there’s still a headphone jack! In this economy!
Still, this isn’t a flagship, and costs had to be cut somewhere. The device’s frame and back panel are plastic, and while I like the matte finish on the back, there’s a certain hollowness when you tap on it that’s not very reassuring. There’s also no telephoto to complement the wide and ultrawide cameras, just digital zoom plus a depth sensor and macro camera of dubious usefulness.
The important stuff is here, though. Samsung has the A52 5G on its list for monthly OS updates currently, and it says it will offer three years of major Android OS updates and at least some security support for four years. That will go a long way toward making the most out of your investment in this phone, and it will help you take advantage of its headline feature: 5G — Sub-6GHz, specifically, with hardware-level support for the C-band frequencies carriers will start using in 2022.
It’s getting more common to see 5G offered in midrange and budget phones, but in this country, it’ll be a couple more years before our 5G networks are truly good. Healthy device support for the next few years makes it more likely that the A52 5G will actually last long enough to make it to that 5G promised land.
The A52 5G offers solid everyday performance with a Snapdragon 750G chipset and 6GB of RAM.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G performance and screen
The A52 5G uses a Snapdragon 750G processor with 6GB of RAM, and the combination feels like a good fit here. You can certainly push it out of its comfort zone with heavier tasks like webpages with JavaScript, and I noticed it hesitating a moment too long when opening the camera app from the lock screen. But for day-to-day tasks and social media scrolling, it keeps up well.
As in last year’s model, the screen is where the A52 5G (and Samsung generally) really stand out. This is a 6.5-inch 1080p OLED panel that’s rich, bright, and generally lovely to look at. Plus, it offers all of the velvety smoothness that comes with its 120Hz refresh rate. Swiping between home screens, opening apps, scrolling through Twitter — it all just feels nicer with a fast refresh rate.
Even considering the additional power needed for the 120Hz screen, the A52 5G’s 4,500mAh battery consistently lasted well into the next day in my use. I managed to get two full days out of it when I forgot to charge it overnight and decided to embrace chaos and just plow through on the remaining charge. This was with light to moderate use, and I was down to low double-digit battery percentage by the end of day two, but my gamble paid off.
One feature I continue to fight a losing battle with on the A52 5G is the in-display optical fingerprint sensor. I’ve been chastised by the phone many times for not leaving my finger on the sensor long enough, and I almost always need at least two tries to get it to register. That hit rate goes down significantly outside in bright light.
These problems aren’t unique to this device, and you can just opt to use (less secure) facial recognition or a plain old PIN to lock and unlock the phone. But there are nicer in-display fingerprint readers in pricier phones like the OnePlus 9 and Samsung’s own S21, so it’s a trade-off to be aware of.
The Galaxy A52 5G ships with Android 11, which is great. The less good news is, as we saw in the S21 devices earlier this year, Samsung’s latest take on the OS stuffs a lot of unwanted apps, ads, and general clutter into the UI. I see enough ads throughout my day as it is, and I do not appreciate seeing one more when I check the weather on my phone’s own weather app.
If there’s a positive way to look at this situation, it’s that it feels more forgivable on a budget phone than on a $1,000-plus flagship. But I’d rather not have the ads at all. If you buy the similarly priced Pixel 4A 5G, you give up a lot of other features from the A52 5G, but you get an ad-free experience.
Housed in the rear camera bump are a standard wide, ultrawide, macro, and depth sensor.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G camera
The A52 5G includes three rear cameras, plus a 5-megapixel depth sensor. You get a 64-megapixel standard wide with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, and the seemingly obligatory 5-megapixel macro camera. There’s also a front-facing 32-megapixel selfie camera.
Taken with 2x digital zoom
Taken with ultrawide
Taken with ultrawide
The 64-megapixel main camera produces 16-megapixel images in its standard photo mode that are bright with the very saturated colors you’d expect from a Samsung phone. Sometimes the look is pleasant, but more often than not, it’s a little much for my taste. The good news is that this sensor is capable of capturing lots of fine detail in good lighting, and it even does well in dim to very low-light conditions.
I put its night mode up against the Google Pixel 4A, which is still the low-light champ in the midrange class. There’s more noise visible in the A52 5G’s night mode shot, and details have a watercolory look, but while the 4A hangs on to its title, the A52 5G is quite close behind.
Left: Galaxy A52 night mode. Right: Pixel 4A night mode.“,”image_left”:{“ratio”:”*”,”original_url”:”https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22465175/samsung_night_crop.jpg”,”network”:”verge”,”bgcolor”:”white”,”pinterest_enabled”:false,”caption”:null,”credit”:null,”focal_area”:{“top_left_x”:0,”top_left_y”:0,”bottom_right_x”:2040,”bottom_right_y”:1580},”bounds”:[0,0,2040,1580],”uploaded_size”:{“width”:2040,”height”:1580},”focal_point”:null,”asset_id”:22465175,”asset_credit”:null,”alt_text”:””},”image_right”:{“ratio”:”*”,”original_url”:”https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22465178/pixel_night_crop.jpg”,”network”:”verge”,”bgcolor”:”white”,”pinterest_enabled”:false,”caption”:null,”credit”:null,”focal_area”:{“top_left_x”:0,”top_left_y”:0,”bottom_right_x”:2040,”bottom_right_y”:1580},”bounds”:[0,0,2040,1580],”uploaded_size”:{“width”:2040,”height”:1580},”focal_point”:null,”asset_id”:22465178,”asset_credit”:null,”alt_text”:””},”credit”:null}” data-cid=”apps/imageslider-1619271003_9454_116978″>
Left: Galaxy A52 night mode. Right: Pixel 4A night mode.
The Pixel 4A is still the better camera in good lighting, too, but the differences are more subjective here. The 4A goes for more subdued color rendering, and the A52 5G’s images lack a little contrast in comparison.
So the A52 5G can’t beat the generation-old imaging tech in the 4A, but that might say more about the Pixel than anything else. Aside from that, the A52 5G turns in good all-around camera performance. Images from the ultrawide sometimes have a little cooler color cast but are generally good. The selfie camera offers two zoom settings: a slightly cropped-in standard wide view and an ever-so-slightly wider angle. The “focal length” difference between the two is almost laughably small.
At its default settings, the selfie camera does a fair amount of face smoothing and brightening. I don’t think it quite crosses the line into hamcam territory, but it certainly has that telltale “maybe it’s AI, maybe it’s Maybelline” smoothed look to it.
If you want to go full hamcam, there’s a new mode just labeled “fun” in the camera app with AR face filters brought to you by Snapchat. There’s a different selection of them every day, and you don’t need a Snapchat account to use or share them.
I’m tempted to dismiss them as “for the youths,” but maybe this is really for the olds like me who would rather not join another social platform if I can possibly avoid it, thank you very much. At last, I can transform my face into a piece of broccoli and share it with the world without logging in to Snapchat — three years after the kids have all moved on to something else. Anyway, it’s there, it works, and you can indeed turn your face into broccoli.
Good hardware and healthy software support make the A52 5G worth spending a little more on.
There’s a lot that the Galaxy A52 5G gets right. Maybe the most important feature is one that sounds much less exciting than cool headline specs: security updates for at least the next few years. At $500, this is the higher end of the budget market, but a few extra hundred dollars is likely easier to swallow if you know you’ll get a couple more years out of your investment.
Samsung has invested in hardware in all the right places: the 120Hz screen makes for an elevated user experience, battery life is good, camera performance is strong, and a healthy processor / chipset combination handles daily tasks well.
What I didn’t love — the cluttered software, fussy fingerprint sensor, a tendency toward oversaturated color in photos — feels more forgivable when the phone gets the nonnegotiable stuff right. The Pixel 4A 5G is probably this device’s closest competition, and it beats the A52 5G on camera quality and a cleaner UI, but it’s a smaller device without a fancy fast refresh rate screen. Depending on how you feel about either of those things, the 4A 5G might be the better pick for you.
In any case, the A52 5G is a good midrange phone today. But just as importantly, it will be a good phone a few years from now. With solid hardware and a software support system to back it up, this is a pricier budget phone that’s worth budgeting a little extra for.
If you’re like me, you spend a little too much time on a few websites, particularly social media sites. Try as you might to avoid them, you find yourself unconsciously typing in Facebook, Reddit, or something else into your search bar. There are a ton of browser extensions, desktop apps, and router rules you can configure to help, but I wanted something more physical.
This project uses light switches and an at-home DNS server running on a Raspberry Pi Zero to turn on or off access to specific websites. If I want access to a site I have blocked, I need to physically get up and turn off the switch — something that’s slightly more difficult than turning off a browser extension.
What You’ll Need To Make A Website Off Switch
Raspberry Pi Zero W, SD Card, and Power Supply
Two single-pole light switches
A PVC double-gang switch box
A plastic 2-toggle switch plate
Four male-female jumper wires
Phillips and flathead screwdrivers
How to Build a Website Off Switch With a Raspberry Pi
1. Set up your Raspberry PiZero W and connect to it remotely. If you don’t know how, see our tutorial on how to set up a headless Raspberry Pi.
2. Update and Install git if not already installed.
4. Run the installation command from within the newly cloned directory. This will take care of installing all base dependencies, installing the dnsmasq tool, and ensuring it’s running.
cd internet_kill_switch
make install
5. Ensure dnsmasq is running by entering the following command. To exit, use Ctrl + C. You should see status “Running” in green.
sudo systemctl status dnsmasq
# Use Ctrl + C to exit
6. Try running the software to ensure everything works accordingly. You should see a few log messages with no errors. Exit the software with Ctrl + C.
make run
# Use Ctrl + C to exit
7. Wire the male end of each jumper cable to the switches. You should be able to tuck the pin under the screw and tighten it until it’s snug. These switches are designed for high AC voltage, but will work just the same for our project.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. Attach the female end of the jumper cables to the Raspberry Pi. Pin order doesn’t matter, as long as one end of the switch goes to a GPIO pin, and the other goes to a ground pin. The default code expects GPIO (BCM) pins 18 and 24, though this is configurable.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
9. Tuck the raspberry pi into the PVC double-gang switch box, and affix it to the back with hot glue.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
10. Run the power cable through the switch box inlet, and connect it to the Raspberry Pi.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
11. Attach both switches to the switch box using the screws they came with.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
12. Place the switch plate on top of the switches, and attach it with the screws it came with.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
13. Label which switch belongs to which site. Keep track of which switch is attached to which pin.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
14. Open the src/toggle_switches.py file for editing.
cd src/
nano toggle_switches.py
15. Modify toggle_switches.py to list the websites you want to block for each switch. You can add or remove switches by modifying the SWITCHES list, and adding new objects of the class SwitchConfig. The accepted parameters are the BCM pin number, followed by a list of sites to block.
# Example: The switch connected to BCM pin 18 blocks social media, and the switch connected to BCM pin 24 blocks video websites
SWITCHES = [
SwitchConfig(18, ['facebook.com', 'instagram.com']),
SwitchConfig(24, ['netflix.com', 'youtube.com', 'vimeo.com']),
]
16. Run the application to test it, and make note of the IP address it prints out when starting – that’s the IP address of your Pi.
cd ~/internet_kill_switch
make run
# IP Address is 10.0.0.25
17. Configure your DNS servers on your computer with that IP address. I’m configuring mine in System Preferences > Network of my MacBook, but you can also configure it at the router level.
18. Test the switches on the machine that now uses your Pi as a DNS server – in my case, my MacBook. With the switches in the off position, you should be able to access websites freely. Once you flip the switches to the on position, after a short delay, you should receive a network error when trying to visit that website.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
19. To confirm, use the following command on your computer, substituting google.com with the site you’ve chosen to block:
# When the switch is off
dig +short google.com
172.217.164.238
# When the switch is on
dig +short google.com
127.0.0.1
20. Edit your /etc/rc.local file to include the following line, so this software runs when your Pi reboots.
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
# Add this line before the very last line
cd /home/pi/internet_kill_switch/src && sudo ../env/bin/python app.py &
21. Mount your switches. If you would like to put this switchbox on the wall, you’ll have to find a place to mount it that’s close to an outlet so you can power the Pi. Alternatively, you can just leave the switchbox on a table or shelf somewhere.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Enjoy, and if ever you’re not able to load websites, try removing the Pi’s IP address from your DNS servers – there’s likely a problem.
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Lenovo’s Ideapad Flex 3 Chromebook is one of the tiniest Chromebooks I’ve ever used. It’s also one of the cheapest, retailing for just $349.99.
Any laptop that costs that little is going to have some serious drawbacks — and the Flex 3 certainly does. On the other hand, if you’re the sort of shopper who’s willing to set those aside, this little IdeaPad also has a number of pleasant surprises up its sleeve. There are even a few areas (in particular, the battery life) where it gives significantly more expensive devices a run for their money.
I’ll start with the pleasant surprises. The Flex 3 offers a more modern port selection than I’d expect at its price point — there are two USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 ports and two USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 ports (one on each side, which is really handy for charging and connecting accessories), as well as a microSD reader, an audio combo jack, and a lock slot. There’s a 720p webcam that works decently well if you’re not in low light. And the touchpad is surprisingly sturdy — I often find that touchpads in this price range feel plasticky. The Flex even comes with a Google Security H1 chip, which encrypts sensitive on-device data.
There’s a power button on the side, as well as a volume rocker.
There are two features that really impressed me (in addition to the battery life, which I’ll discuss later on). First, I can’t stop talking about the keyboard. It’s great, with tons of travel and a satisfying click. The keys have a slightly rough texture that really grew on me. I got one of the highest scores I’ve ever gotten on my usual typing test, with almost no errors. The only note is that it lacks backlighting, a feature you’ll find on more expensive devices like Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713 (our current top Chromebook pick) and Lenovo’s Flex 5 Chromebook.
God, I love a good keyboard.
Second, audio. The balance and volume that these 2W stereo speakers deliver are on par with those of any number of more expensive Chromebooks. They easily beat the Spin 713, which sounds tinny and thin. There are caveats, of course: There’s very little bass, percussion is weak, I heard a bit of distortion at max volume, and you’ll want an external speaker for any crowded setting. But the Flex is great for video conferences and regular music-listening, and certainly beats what I’ve heard from all kinds of Windows laptops that are over $1,000.
Now, for the major drawbacks. First, this thing is a clunker. It’s not too heavy, at 2.65 pounds, but it’s 0.7 inches thick, and it’s not too far from the size of many modern 13-inch laptops despite having just an 11-inch screen. My main turnoff, though, is the bezels. Good lord, the bezels are enormous. When I’m using the Flex 3, I feel like I’m looking at a small window of screen floating in an abyss of black. It looks like a device you’d have bought in 2014.
I wish Lenovo had sprung for a better screen.
I do like some things about the chassis, though. It doesn’t feel at all flimsy, with an aluminum cover and a non-plasticky finish. The display and keyboard are free of flex (despite the laptop’s name). And the 360 hinge is sturdy, with very little wobble.
Speaking of the display, though: That’s the second major drawback here. It’s cramped — I often use two windows side-by-side and I’ve been squinting at tiny text in order to make that work on the Flex 3. Moreover, it’s dim (maxing out at 250 nits), kicks back a ton of glare even indoors, and is quite low-resolution (1366 x 768). I’m gonna be real: It’s pixel-y to look at. I’ve been using the Flex 3 as my primary driver for a week, and while I will miss the keyboard and audio when I send it back, I can’t wait never to have to look at this terrible screen again.
That’s the lowdown on the chassis — let’s look inside. This Ideapad Flex 3 Chromebook configuration is powered by Intel’s dual-core Celeron N4020. That’s the bottom of the barrel as Intel processors go, and it comes with just 4GB of memory (LPDDR4-2400, soldered) and 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage.
On a Windows machine, these specs would be a hard pass. But Chrome OS is a lighter load, and I can vouch that the Flex 3’s screen is a bigger limit on multitasking than its horsepower is. I was able to use the laptop for a substantial workload, jumping between dozens of Chrome tabs and some apps, but the experience was cramped enough that I wouldn’t recommend it.
The color is called “almond”.
Scrolling got a bit sluggish when I tried to work on top of a Spotify or YouTube stream, and the transitions between laptop and tablet mode were a bit slower than I would’ve liked. The only task where I ran into real trouble, though, was sorting through a batch of shots in Google Photos (with a couple other apps running on the side). The Flex 3 did get the job done, but it was quite slow. The one Zoom meeting I tried (on top of some other tabs I needed) was also a bad experience — audio randomly cut out a couple times, and video was stuttery throughout.
Overall, this device is best if you’re looking to do basic office or school tasks, and don’t think you’ll need to have more than a few things open at a time. (And in case this doesn’t go without saying, you’ll want to stay far away from this thing if you plan on doing anything fancy with Linux.)
The flipside of the weak processor is that the Flex 3 has excellent battery life. I averaged eight hours and 45 minutes to a charge with brightness at 50 percent — and I was pushing the thing harder than most people probably will be, as noted above. You can expect that this thing will last all day, and certainly longer than many more powerful Chromebooks. The 45W charger is acceptably quick, juicing the device up to 60 percent in 52 minutes.
Six rows of keys.
The Flex 3 runs Chrome OS, which means it can run Android apps natively. Some of these have improved since the last time I used this operating system — Messenger is now functional and no longer a complete disaster that bricks the machine, for example. But most of the services I use daily (Slack, Twitter, Gmail, Reddit, etc.) are just better experiences in a browser, so I didn’t use the dedicated app functionality all that often. There’s also still a double-notification problem — every time I got a Slack message, I got a notification both from the Slack Android app and my browser.
The Flex 3 also supports Chrome OS’s tablet mode, which has gotten quite good. It supports Android-esque gesture controls, which should help flatten the learning curve for new Chromebook users (though they were a bit sluggish on this device).
Deciding whether to buy a $350 Chromebook comes down to understanding what the big drawbacks are. In this case, there are two: The screen is cramped, and the processor is weak. So the question to ask is: Given those caveats, can you get your stuff done?
If you’re just using this device to pay bills, email people, and run some YouTube videos, I would say you can. It’ll be a little cramped, but you can. And if you can stomach that, the Flex 3 does deliver some great benefits in other areas, from the great keyboard and convenient ports to the outstanding battery life and respectable audio. In these categories, it rivals or surpasses our top Chromebook pick (the Spin 713). If you’re okay with its flaws, you’ll find that the Flex 3 offers quite a bit for its budget price.
Google probably wasn’t planning to reveal this until the company’s I/O developer conference on May 18th, but it looks like a cat may be out of the bag: the company’s testing a feature that should let you stop alarms and answer calls on your Android phone simply by saying “stop” — no need to pick up your phone or even say “Hey Google.”
We know this because a mysterious new setting called “Guacamole” has popped up in the Google app on Android 11 for some users — including me. (Android Police and9to5Google tipped us off.) And while none of us journalists have been able to actually turn on the feature yet, it’s fairly easy to imagine what it does.
The menus where Guacamole can be found, for some users running Android 11 and Google app version 12.15.9.29.
If you’d rather not imagine, 9to5Google’s sources say it specifically will handle alarms, timers, and calls by saying “Stop”, “Snooze” and “Answer/decline the call” respectively. None of those worked for me after I flicked the switch, likely because I wasn’t able to access a Google internal website for dogfooding employees.
I even tried adding a period to make it g.co/assistant-guacamole, thinking the “go” might have been a typo for one of Google’s g.co shortlinks, but no dice.
If the feature sounds familiar, it’s probably because Google already shoved some guacamole into its Google Home / Nest Hub smart speakers and displays at Google I/O 2019. You’ve been able to simply say “stop” to stop their alarms ringing for nearly two years already.
“We’re constantly experimenting with new ways to improve the overall experience with Google Assistant. We have no additional details to share at this time,” Google tells The Verge.
Oculus is turning on its Air Link PC streaming feature for the Quest 2 virtual reality headset. Air Link is part of the Oculus v28 software update, which recently started rolling out to Oculus headset owners. Facebook Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth says you can find the feature if you’re running v28 on your PC and Quest 2 headset; if you haven’t gotten access to the update yet, “it’s coming very soon.”
Air Link lets Quest 2 owners with a strong Wi-Fi connection play PC VR games wirelessly on their headsets. Air Link was initially disabled on v28. But as Upload points out, Quest 2 owners had found a way to unofficially turn it on, and Oculus had warned that the experience was “not representative” of the final result. Bosworth says Oculus is releasing the feature today because “the excitement over Air Link can’t be contained”; the release was originally scheduled for next week, so Bosworth’s tweet moves it up by a few days.
Looks like the excitement over Air Link can’t be contained, so we’re officially making it available today for everyone who has both Quest and PC v28. If you don’t have v28 yet, stay tuned, it’s coming very soon!
— Boz (@boztank) April 23, 2021
Air Link evolved from Oculus Link, which used a USB-C cable to run PC VR games on the otherwise standalone Oculus Quest line of devices. (Oculus says a cable will still give you the best graphical fidelity, and unlike Air Link, it will charge your headset while you’re playing.) A similar wireless feature was already built into Virtual Desktop, a third-party app. Depending on performance, Air Link could make Virtual Desktop’s alternative less appealing to Quest 2 owners. But Oculus isn’t currently bringing the feature to its original Quest headset. Air Link is also classed as an experimental feature. If it’s like the original Link, users can expect some bugs around the launch — but at least that launch is coming a little sooner than expected.
Twitter has said it’s exploring features like tipping to give people a way to pay other Twitter users, and now we have further evidence that a tip feature may be on the way. App researcher Jane Manchun Wong shared images on Thursday and Friday showing that Twitter could offer a tipping button right on user profiles.
Here’s one iteration of what it could look like — check out the little blue cash button under the “@wongmjane” watermark in the left image. Clicking or tapping that button apparently shows options to let you tip via Bandcamp, Cash App (made by Square, which counts Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as its CEO, too), Patreon, PayPal, and Venmo.
As you can see in this tweet, Wong also found evidence in March that Twitter is working on a “Tip Jar” feature for Twitter Spaces, the company’s Clubhouse-like social audio rooms (Clubhouse just introduced its own direct payments feature on April 5th).
Here’s another look at the tipping button on profiles, from Wong. These screenshots show a black tipping button instead of a blue one. They also show designs Twitter is apparently testing for its forthcoming Super Follows, which will let you charge followers so they can access extra content. (Think Patreon, but for tweets.)
Twitter has not formally announced a tipping feature, so there’s no guarantee the company actually releases it publicly. Even if it does, it’s unclear if there would be any restrictions on who could put a tipping button on their profile. It seems possible that the feature will be gated in some way, perhaps requiring you to have a certain number of followers or be verified.
Oculus is beginning to roll out redesigned avatars that are more expressive and customizable than those that launched in 2016. They’ll appear starting today in just a few games for the Quest VR platform, including Epic Roller Coasters, PokerStarsVR, and Topgolf with Pro Putt. Soon, they’ll appear in Synth Riders, and later in the year, a new game called ForeVR Bowling will feature them.
The avatars launching today, starting with those few select games, seem far more fleshed out. They’ll have legs in the editor, for one (though they won’t yet appear on your avatar in VR). The new avatar editor apparently allows for a quintillion possible combinations of hair, eyes, body type, facial hair, piercings, clothing, and other features. There’s no gender toggle, nor are there a pre-baked batch of face presets. Instead, the editor lets you dive into each facial feature, down to wrinkles, nose, and makeup. It’s like a glorified character creator from an RPG. You can make an avatar that looks similar to you or just one that’s aspirational, reflecting how you want to be seen in social VR spaces.
A look at the new avatar editorOculus
By the end of 2021, Oculus will have opened its new avatar SDK to all developers, and these VR personas will be supported in Facebook Horizon, the company’s own expansive social VR playground. Though, games are just one application for these refreshed avatars. Oculus says the avatar you create will eventually appear in some form within the Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, and more, but only if you choose to. Oculus wouldn’t divulge any specifics on how exactly your avatar will appear in those apps or when. “We’re at the start of a long journey,” Mike Howard, product manager for avatars at Oculus, told The Verge.
Avatars first launched on the Oculus Rift platform in 2016 as “monochrome busts with floating hands,” as my colleague Adi Robertson put it. Howard shared that all of the avatars from the early days had eyewear on because they weren’t trying to simulate realistic facial features, particularly the eyes. Hand movement was the big breakthrough at the time, since Oculus had launched its Touch controllers for the Rift.
Avatars in Topgolf with Pro Putt.
The design of these new avatars builds off the learnings from the now-defunct Facebook Spaces and the aforementioned Horizon experience that’s currently in an invite-only beta — both of which opted for a more welcoming, cartoon-y look than the more realistic Expressive Avatars that Oculus showed off in 2018. Howard told The Verge that these new avatars are oriented in their design toward delight with attributes from animation techniques. The expressions look a little exaggerated, and they’re about as harmless-looking as Memoji. They’re cute.
Despite their unassuming look, Oculus studied behavioral traits, like how often people usually blink and the speed at which their eyes shift around to look at points of interest, to make the new avatars seem more grounded in reality. It worked to make a compelling eye gaze, even though Oculus’ current headsets don’t track what your eyes are doing. Perhaps the next-generation Quest headset will, though. Mark Zuckerberg recently talked about eye tracking in an interview with The Information, saying, “One of the things that I’m really excited about for future versions is getting eye tracking and face tracking in, because if you’re really excited about social presence, you want to make sure that the device has all the sensors to really kind of animate realistic avatars so you can communicate well like that.”
Epic Roller Coasters with avatars.
As for making the rest of your body move in a believable way, Oculus is leaning on machine learning to make your arm and head movements look less stilted. It trained a prediction model that can guess your shoulder and elbow positions based on where the headset and Touch controllers are located.
You can create a new avatar within the Quest and Quest 2 headsets by clicking into your profile. For Rift users connected to a PC, the new avatar editor will be located within the floating row of navigation buttons near the bottom of your field of view.
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