TikTok will soon make personalized ads mandatory, meaning you’ll start getting ads in the app based on the kind of content you engage with, whether you want them or not.
TikTok’s notice about ad changes.Image: TikTok
The app currently has a setting that allows users to choose whether they’ll be served ads based on their activity within the app. “Starting April 15,” reads a notice shown when opening the app, “your settings will change and the ads you’ll see may start to be based on what you do on TikTok.”
People will still be able to control whether TikTok personalizes ads based on data pulled from other apps and websites. The change in TikTok’s privacy settings reflects the way ads already operate on many social media sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Users can opt out of advertising that’s personalized based on tracking across different sites, but not the personalization based on activity within the sites themselves.
The change is likely related to Apple’s upcoming rollout of iOS 14, which will require developers to get users’ permission to track their data across apps for targeted advertising. Any apps that don’t request permission will risk suspension or removal from the App Store. Making personalized ads mandatory allows TikTok to target advertising to some extent as more people opt out of cross-app tracking.
EA Play, EA’s games subscription service, will be available as a perk for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on PC beginning Thursday, March 18th, at 5PM ET, Microsoft and EA announced on Wednesday.
EA Play has been included with Xbox Game Pass for consoles since November, and it was originally going to be available for PC subscribers in December. But on the day it was supposed to become accessible, Microsoft announced that EA Play wouldn’t be coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC until 2021.
EA’s subscription service will be available at no additional charge for Xbox Game Pass PC or Ultimate subscribers. If you want to play an EA game through Game Pass once the EA Play perk is available, you’ll need to have the Xbox app for Windows 10 and the EA Desktop app installed. Microsoft has also released a handy video that walks through how to get everything set up.
EA Play includes more than 60 EA games, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Titanfall 2, and titles from Madden NFL and The Sims franchises. You can also play 10-hour trials of some EA games like FIFA 21.
(Pocket-lint) – Despite being well known for invoking nostalgic memories of big wooden speaker cabinets and crackling vinyl, Klipsch is a brand that has adapted with the times. Its first pair of true wireless earbuds was such a great-sounding pair that it became one of our favourites for pure music enjoyment.
The second-generation – the aptly named Klipsch T5 II True Wireless – comes with lots of refinements in terms of design and performance, and also comes in two Sport models, one with exclusive McLaren F1 design. In this review, we’re focusing on the regular model.
Design and build
IP67 water- and dust-resistant
Colours: White / Gunmetal
Physical control button
6 pairs of oval tips
Charging case
It’s in the design department you’ll notice the biggest difference between the T5 and the T5 II. Starting with the first thing you get to: the case. Thankfully, the main ethos remains same, as it still looks friggin’ cool – almost like a chunky Zippo lighter. It’s smaller and thinner than the previous version, but there’s a solidity and durability to it. It feels like it might hurt you if you dropped it on a toe, and gives a reassuring clank when you open and shut the lid.
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As for the ‘buds, these almost keep to the same essence too. It’s a similar hard-to-describe shape, featuring a tapered oval design but, again, the second-gen is slimmer, smaller and lighter than the originals. That also means that in the non-Sport model, there’s nothing holding these ‘buds in your ears except for the redesigned oval silicone tip.
The tips extend out from underneath the main body in an unconventional design, but once stuck inside the entrance of our ear canal, we found the fit was secure and steady. These ‘buds never felt like they’d fall out – and didn’t gradually push their way out either. Since the silicon tips are soft and thin, they give just the right amount of pressure. In our ears, the pre-applied tips were the perfect fit, but the T5 II comes with six different sizes, so you should easily find a pair that works for you.
Another interesting change is that there’s one single button on the outside, which depresses really easily to ensure that when you press, it gives easily and doesn’t lead to that feeling that you’re just pushing an earbud deeper into your ear. The button gives in once it feels even the remotest bit of resistance, which makes good sense.
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Around the edge of that button is a metal collar, which makes up that outer surface. It’s more than just decoration though, it’s an external antenna to ensure there’s nothing getting in the way of that connection between the ‘buds and what you’re connecting them to.
The main takeaway here is that the T5 II is a lightweight and secure package. Not so secure that we’d recommend using these in-ear in the gym or when out running, but that’s what the Sport models are for instead.
Despite that, with an IP67 water- and dust-resistance rating, the ‘buds should survive pretty much anything anyway. Whether inside your ears, or inside their own metallic bunker/charging case.
Sound
5mm dynamic moving coil micro speaker
10Hz – 19kHz frequency response
EQ control
With frequency response as low as 10Hz, the 5mm drivers inside the Klipsch ‘buds produce sound you wouldn’t expect to hear from such small drivers. Of course, human hearing only really goes as low as 20Hz at a push – but it’s that control at the lower end of the sound spectrum where these earphones definitely excel.
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With the equaliser (EQ) set to its default flat mode, there’s still plenty of bass, without it being overwhelming, but – more importantly – you still get clean and bright notes at the top end.
We love how acoustic bass drum kicks retain that feel of air moving around the kick pedal or inside the drum every time the skin is struck by the pedal. Or in songs like Hey Ma by Bon Iver, you get the full airy feel of the bass and mid notes swelling near the beginning or, later on, the muted bass note plucking. What’s more, in that same track, the subtle percussive noises are clear without dominating the primary elements of the track.
The Klipsch T5 II is adept at tackling any genre of music, and will give you the right feel from those acoustic songs, but is sonically strong with more synthesised tracks too. Crank up Leon’s Better in the Dark and enjoy the way the bass sounds when the synth and bass drum strike at the same time, without crumbling.
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Of course, you can adjust the EQ, so if you need even more bass you can get it, but we found there was plenty from the default setting. In fact, we never felt the need to tweak the default sound profile. But it’s nice of Klipsch to give that option for those users who have preferences.
Features, performance and calls
8 hours playback + 24 more hours in the case (32 hours total)
Quad mic system for external noise cancelling during calls
Bluetooth 5.0 + signal boosting external antenna
Transparency mode
To get the first thing out of the way: there’s no active noise-cancelling (ANC). An increasing staple feature in the world of premium in-ears, but we’ve often argued that with a good set of well-fitted in-ears, it’s not as noticeable as it would be on over/on-ear cans. Passively, the T5 II does a good job of blocking out noise thanks to those soft tips.
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Although ANC isn’t a feature here, you do still get an audio transparency mode, which uses mics around the ‘buds’ casing to let in and amplify noise from around you. Using the Klipsch Connect app you can switch it on and select how much transparency you want – it works pretty well but isn’t always all that effective once you have music playing.
It’s also worth noting that the ‘buds don’t feature any automatic play/pause feature when you remove them from your ears. There’s no proximity sensor for this, which is a bit of a shame.
On the plus side, you do get to pair the T5 II with up to eight different devices – although only one can be connected at a time.
With those external antennae doing their job, we found the wireless connectivity to be very strong. Walking from room to room and leaving the music source where it was, we struggled to make these in-ears drop connection. It’s a similar story with voice calls: you get strong performance here as well, with calls coming through clearly.
The best Lightning headphones 2021 for your iPhone or iPad
By Dan Grabham
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As battery life goes, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever need to worry about it much. With a maximum of eight hours outside the case, thee T5 II will comfortably get you through your commute to work – well, when we all eventually return to work – and the case will keep recharging in the interim another four times over. That’s well over a full day of non-stop listening time.
Verdict
The first-generation Klipsch T5 was one of our favourite pairs of true wireless earbuds. The second generation takes what was great and refines it, making for a truly stunning pair of ‘buds.
Sure, a few advanced features might be absent – there’s no proximity sensors or active noise-cancelling – but in all the ways that matter, the T5 II performs really well. For music lovers, at this price, you’ll struggle to find anything that sounds better or packaged in as neat and stylish a product.
If you love music, we think you’ll love the sound produced by the Klipsch T5 II. There’s little to rival the quality on offer here.
Also consider
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Grado T220
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Grado has a similar approach to Klipsch – in that it’s all about the sound – and the T220 sounds fantastic. In fact our first listen left our jaw on the floor, it was that good. It has some downsides though, like a finicky design and sensitive touchpad.
Read the review
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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
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If you want all the bells and whistles in a great sounding pair of buds, Bose has the ones for you. QC Buds have excellent noise-cancelling, great sound overall, plus a comfortable and secure fit.
Read the review
Writing by Cam Bunton. Editing by Adrian Willings.
(Pocket-lint) – If your TV audio isn’t up to snuff then there are a bevy of options on the market to help step things up a notch. Among these is Polk Audio’s React soundbar, which is available for less cash than many a rival.
But just because you’re paying less doesn’t mean you’ll get less in terms of raw sound capability. Especially if, as we have for this review, you opt for the bundled React soundbar and React Sub package.
That said, the Polk React doesn’t offer any fancy object-based sound decoding, it doesn’t even play pretend – as there’s no Dolby Atmos surround output here from the bar itself – instead sticking to Dolby Digital and DTS surround formats.
You can later invest in Polk’s RS2 surround speakers, which are simply paired at the touch of a button, to create a fully fledged 5.1 system (if you have the Sub) in smaller steps rather than forking our a massive chunk of change up front. That, we think, is a big part of this soundbar’s wider appeal.
Design & Setup
Ports: 1x HDMI (ARC) output; 1x optical input
Controls: Included remote / four-button top-of-‘bar panel
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Alexa voice control integrated
Dimensions (soundbar): 56mm (H) x 864mm (W) x 121mm (D)
Dimensions (sub): 348mm (H) x 218mm (W) x 419mm (D); 7.5kg
Having recently reviewed the JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam – which is an all-in-one box solution that can’t ever be connected to separates – it was interesting to dig into the Polk React for its points of difference. The Polk is a longer soundbar – at 864mm it’s 160mm longer by comparison – so even sat against a 55-inch telly, as pictured, it’s fairly good at covering the majority of the screen width, which is handy for a wide soundscape to help match the action on screen.
The Polk is simpler than the JBL in terms of core specification, though, as there’s no HDMI input, just the one HDMI input – the latter of which is ARC (audio return channel) capable. For us this meant a slight rejig of our TV’s four HDMI ports, as we couldn’t passthrough using the soundbar itself, ensuring the HDMI ARC cable provided was running from TV to React ‘bar.
Thing is, our ARC port is one of the two 4K resolution capable HDMI ports on the TV (every maker does this at present), so our BT TV box for telly had to be relegated to HDMI 4 (running Full HD maximum – which, in fairness, is how majority content from there is streamed) to save HDMI 1 for our PlayStation 5 (our source of Blu-ray and 4K streaming apps such as Netflix). ARC does its job though: once the TV is switched on the audio handshakes between device and soundbar.
Well, it didn’t at very first. For a brief period of time we were in a no man’s land of having both TV audio and soundbar audio outputting simultaneously. That’s because the setup is, to our mind, a little finicky. The soundbar needed an update out of the box, that much it told us (by voice alert), but having advised us to install the Polk Connect app – which we did on our Google Android phone – it then didn’t like it, forcing a handover to Amazon Alexa instead. But the Alexa app initially failed to get things talking successfully.
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Success did come after a few attempts, after which there’s been no issues, but it very much points to this Polk’s intentions: it’s an Alexa voice control soundbar through and through. There’s even an Alexa button pride of place on the included remote control. There’s not even a proper off button – as your main TV remote will take over for that duty anyway – and there’s always a glowing light of some colour to the front of the ‘bar, which we think is a design downside when watching movies in darkened rooms.
Oh, and Alexa shouts crazilyloud for some reason too – almost to the point of distorting – and there’s no simple way that we can find to turn this down, which is irksome.
The included remote isn’t the prettiest, but it’s well appointed, able to switch between TV and Bluetooth audio sources. There are adjustments for bass up/down on the left, volume up/down in the middle, voice up/down on the right, four quick-select movie presets below this, and surround sound volume/balance adjustment to the bottom of the controller.
That surround sound adjustment won’t do anything unless you’ve bought into the Polk’s expandable options though. As the React soundbar itself is a straight forward left, centre, right speaker arrangement. But if you buy the RS2 surround speakers – not on test here – then you can easily sync them at the touch of a button on the back of the soundbar and boost things to a 5-channel system.
Go with the subwoofer – paired in the same way, using the same button to quickly sync without extra wires – and that brings 5.1 channel potential into your living room. The sub is pretty beefy in terms of scale – and deeper than it is either wide or tall – but the addition of true bass at the lower end of the spectrum is transformative to the sound profile. We think it’s an essential addition to make the React ‘bar deliver its potential.
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Which brings us to the whole reason to buy a soundbar: to enhance audio quality, notching up TV audio to new heights. And the Polk React does a generally decent job, although given its positioning to the base of a screen (inevitable, of course) and lack of object-based sound control it lacks any distinct verticality – so on larger screens voice parts might not give the impression they’re coming from the person speaking with the greatest of precision.
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Otherwise there’s a lot of tweaking that can be done with ease, so it’s great to have all that control directly to hand. The presets are particularly useful, selecting Movie to enhance that extra bass – there’s always a good down-pitched “wommm” in an action flick – or Night to quieten such frequencies and allow your family/neighbours/whoever to get some shut-eye when you’re having a late night session.
The independent controls for bass and voice are handy too, the latter really adjusting the mid-to-high-end of the frequency range to give more curvature to vocal output. So if you’re finding the bass balance is a bit too high, then this can help voices to cut through the mix with greater clarity. We like that it’s a simple system, too, not over-complex in how many ways it can all be adjusted.
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However, bass-wise we’ve heard soundbars with chunkier capability. Which is why, once paired with the React Sub, you’ll really hear and feel the difference. With the React subwoofer linked up the sound has a much more rooted appeal, delivered with gusto. It’s got great musicality too, to the point we’ve ceased using our Marshall standalone speaker in the living room and instead just tuck into the Polk React and Sub on Music mode for the best possible listen.
Through the Alexa app it’s simple enough to get the soundbar to register as part of your home network. With Google Home open it’s easily identified (although not directly controllable here, as Alexa rules the way), so Spotify plays nice – and you can ask Alexa by voice to load your favourites.
We suspect that adding a pair of RS2 speakers would add to the expanse of the overall sound as, like we said up top, the Polk React doesn’t support object-based audio, so you’re not going to get any Dolby Atmos pseudo height and all-around sense from this soundbar. But, really, given how such systems can sometimes fly off the handle in weird (and not always wonderful) ways, we think Polk delivers here exactly what people will want – enhanced sound on a smaller budget.
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That will raise the question, however, as to whether you want something smaller and more technologically complete, such as the JBL Bar 5 MultiBeam that we mentioned at the beginning of this review. It can’t match the smacking bass of the subwoofer by any means, but if you don’t have the space then it might be a better fit to your needs – and the Atmos found there is impressive given the right source material.
Verdict
While the Polk React doesn’t have object-based sound decoding bells and whistles – that’s to say there’s no vertical channels for pseudo surround – as a standalone large ‘bar with decent output and control, for a very fair price, it’s got a lot going for it. Especially if you’re keen on Alexa integration for voice control.
But things really step up a notch when you add a React Sub as part of the package. That’s when the sound becomes extra full, deep and rich – to the point that it’s taken preference as our living room music speaker when the telly is out of use. Now if that’s not high praise, then what is? Keep your expectations in check in terms of technological prowess and Polk delivers strong at this end of the market.
Also consider
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JBL Bar 5.0 MultiBeam
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It’s a different prospect, as it’s a single box solution – so you’ll never be able to add extras or a sub – but that might better suit your space restrictions. However, it permits passthrough (thanks to HDMI in and out ports with eARC) and offers Dolby Atmos decoding, which with the right source delivers a more complete sound. That said, the Polk’s React Sub, if you want to fork out the extra cash, takes impactful sound to the next step where the JBL simply cannot reach.
Read our review
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Yamaha SR-C20A
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Looking for something smaller? If what you need is a bit of everything from your soundbar – ignoring that, at this price point, you can’t expect surround sound – you can’t go far wrong with this little Yamaha. It’s a one-box solution (so, like the JBL above, there there’s no subwoofer here) and can turn its hand to pretty much anything, without ever making itself the centre of attention. A different prospect, but a nice neat little package.
Yaseen Aslam and James Farrar, the two lead claimants in the successful tribunal that fought Uber for employee rights in the UK, say the company is continuing to flout the law. After it lost a final appeal with the UK’s Supreme Court in February, Uber announced yesterday it would give its 70,000 drivers minimum wage, holiday pay, and pensions. But Aslam and Farrar say the details of Uber’s new policy mean it’s still short-changing workers.
The issue is that Uber has only committed to paying drivers at least minimum wage for the time “after accepting a trip request.” This, says Aslam and Farrar, contradicts the Supreme Court ruling, which found that working time for Uber drivers included any period when individuals were logged in to the company’s app and waiting in the right area for fares.
As the justice of the Supreme Court, Lord Leggatt, stated in a summary of the ruling: “The judgement also upholds the finding of the employment tribunal that for the purposes of the legislation, the claimants’ working time was not limited, as Uber had argued, to periods when they were actually driving passengers to their destinations. It also included any period when the driver was logged into the Uber app in the relevant territory and was ready and willing to accept trips.”
Speaking to The Verge, Aslam said the language in the Supreme Court ruling was clear, and Uber’s response showed it would continue to try to bend the law to its advantage. “It’s just a cheap PR trick,” he said of the decision. “If I’m working 10 hours, but only have passengers on board for three hours, I’m only getting paid for those three hours.”
Farrar added: “The Supreme Court was asked to decide two things: if we are workers and when we are workers. These were the decisions it had to make and Uber is in clear violation of them. We can’t accept it and we won’t accept it.”
Uber did not respond to requests for comment from The Verge.
Yaseen Aslam (left) and James Farrar (right) were part of a small group of Uber drivers who brought a case against the company in 2015. Image: Getty
It’s not clear how much time Uber drivers spend on average waiting for fares, and thus how much potential income has been lost through the company’s new policy. Farrar and Aslam say that drivers will lose out on 40 to 50 percent of a possible wage increase. A 2019 study by the University of California, Berkeley, found that US Uber and Lyft drivers spent roughly a third of their working day logged in to the app and waiting for fares.
Aslam said Uber’s new policy is crafted to ensure it won’t lose a key advantage versus traditional taxi firms: creating an abundance of drivers who respond quickly to customers without paying for their downtime. “It costs Uber next to nothing to operate in cities,” says Aslam. “All the liabilities — the running costs and expenses of maintaining a vehicle — are shifted over to the driver. So the more drivers they have on the platform, the better it is for them: it doesn’t cost them anything but creates more availability for customers.”
If Uber had to pay drivers for time spent waiting for requests from passengers, it would lose this advantage. It’s for reasons such as this that critics of the company say it doesn’t offer any significant technological innovations at all. It simply extracts extra value from workers by exploiting loopholes in countries’ legal systems.
What’s not clear is what happens next from a legal perspective. Aslam says it’s up to the UK government to enforce the Supreme Court ruling, but he also says London’s transport regulator, Transport for London (TfL), should take responsibility. “TfL has the power to protect workers but they don’t want to get involved,” he says. Farrar added: “It should have been government enforcing this all the way back to the original case, rather than expecting precarious workers to bring complicated litigation all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Paul Jennings, a partner at the London law firm Bates Wells, who represented Aslam and Farrar in their original employment tribunal, said that the discrepancy between Uber’s new policies and the Supreme Court ruling was clear and that the government should act.
“The idea that drivers are only working when they have a passenger in the car is not consistent with the judgement,” Jennings told The Verge. “It’s regrettable that Uber hasn’t done the right thing entirely.” He added compliance could be enforced without additional litigation, but that the latter might be necessary to “reinforce the judgement.”
Overall, Aslam and Farrar say they are pleased that Uber has been forced to change its policies but are disappointed their fight is not yet over. “We suffered financially and mentally. But we’re not delighted. What we’re getting is a bone chucked at us,” says Aslam. “It’s never going to stop, we know that. This is Uber.”
Farrar added that despite the time and resources they’d committed already, the pair was happy to keep on fighting: “Me and Yaseen, we latch on and we don’t let go.”
Sony has announced that the PlayStation 5 will get DVR functionality in Japan by way of a new app that’ll work with its Nasne tuners. The app will be called Torne (pronounced to-ru-ne) and should be available later this year.
Torne was originally a TV tuner add-on for the PS3 that was released in 2010 and allowed you to save broadcast shows to your console’s hard drive and transfer them to a PSP or PS Vita. It was followed by Nasne, which added its own storage and worked more like a NAS drive, with the recordings available through a mobile app.
Sony stopped selling Nasne in 2019, but last year Japanese peripheral manufacturer Buffalo announced that it’d take over the product and release Buffalo-branded versions, with the first models set to ship this spring. The new Nasne still looks like a PS3, just with a Buffalo logo on it; Buffalo is doubling the internal storage to 2TB, however, and tripling external storage capability to 6TB. It’ll go on sale later this month for 29,800 yen (~$270).
Starting April 1st, users setting up a new iPhone in Russia will see a screen that allows them to automatically install apps that are officially sanctioned by the Russian government, in compliance with Russian law (via Engadget).
The law in question was passed back in 2019, and requires smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and smart TVs sold in Russia to come pre-installed with specific apps made by Russian companies by April 1st, according to Russian news site Vedomosti. (The law was originally set to go into effect in July 2020, but was pushed back to April 2021). Vedomosti also says that apps won’t be installed if users don’t want them. Apple confirmed to The Verge that it will comply with the law by giving the users the option to install the apps when activating the phone.
Which apps are specifically going to be offered to users remains unclear, though Vedomosti cites a government services app, and apps from Russian companies including Yandex, Mail.ru, and Kaspersky Lab. The government seems to be aware that it might be problematic to favor specific apps, and is planning to expand its list over time: “The Ministry is not at all interested in seeing popular apps included in the mandatory pre-installation list take dominant positions. If alternatives emerge on the market, prove interesting to users and gain popularity quickly, they will be included in this selection and also offered for pre-installation,” a Russian official told Vedomosti.
Apple has historically kept tight control over the iPhone’s setup process, and that appears to now be changing, if only in one market. While Apple has previously made changes to stay on the side of local laws — it’s changed maps, blocked pride watch faces in Russia, and now stores iCloud data on state-run servers in China — this may be one of the more dramatic changes, as it affects a screen that every user will see when they set up their iPhone.
Apple has slowly been allowing users to change how iOS works out of the box, with the ability to change some default apps in iOS 14, but now it’s given a small amount of control over the setup process to the Russian government, too. As the company faces legal challenges from the EU and US over antitrust, and over giving its competitors a level playing field, we may see Apple having to give over some more control to governments if it wants to sell its phones to their citizens — though it probably won’t be compelled to ask users if they want to install Spotify at setup. Probably.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’already robust design tools are getting some improvements with a free update hitting March 18th. One new addition is a big upgrade to the NookPhone’s design app that will let you customize umbrellas, small flags, uchiwa fans, and photo stands.
The app already let you make designs for shirts, dresses, and hats, so with the upgrade, you’ll be able to tailor an even more custom look (and make a fun photo stand while you’re at it). The upgraded app will also add 50 design slots to both the normal and Pro custom design modes, allowing you to create and save even more designs than before.
You can make designs for new items in the New Horizons update. Image: Nintendo
You’ll be able to buy the app upgrade with Nook Miles at the terminal in the Resident Services building. And while you’re there, you’ll be able to spend Nook Miles to add the Custom Design portal from the Able Sisters’ shop, which lets you connect to the internet to share and search for custom designs, right to your NookPhone.
In addition, the update adds a cake to celebrate the game’s first anniversary (yes, it has been out for nearly a year) and Sanrio-themed items that you’ll be able to get using amiibo cards available at Target on March 26th. There will also be new seasonal items you can purchase from Nook Shopping, including prom-themed items to help you host a virtual dance party and… whoopee cushions. (In honor of April Fool’s Day, of course.)
Prank your friends with whoopee cushions.Image: Nintendo
Tinder is giving 500 users a pair of free mail-in COVID-19 test kits — one for them and one for a Tinder match. The company says it’s a way to help people feel more comfortable meeting up with matches for real-life dates.
It’s using tests from the medical testing company EverlyWell. People taking EverlyWell’s coronavirus tests swab their noses at home and mail the sample to the lab. Results are posted online within one to two days.
Throughout the pandemic, dating app companies have introduced new features to help people date safely. One main focus was on ways to facilitate virtual dates, which are actually a good way to meet people without the risk of spreading or contracting COVID-19. Bumble recently launched Night In, a feature that lets users play games together over a video call.
Image: Tinder
Tinder is framing its test kit giveaway as another way to reduce the risks of dating. “We’re excited to be working with Everlywell to make it easier for our members to go and meet their matches safely,” Nicole Parlapiano, Tinder’s vice president of marketing for North America, said in a statement.
But giving out test kits doesn’t make an in-person date entirely safe. Taking a COVID-19 test before meeting up with someone new helps but doesn’t eliminate risk entirely: someone could take the test, send it out, and then catch the coronavirus in the window before the result comes back.
Tinder gestures at this in an interface for the giveaway, saying that “a negative test result does not mean you don’t have or cannot transmit COVID-19.”
According to Tinder, more and more people are saying in their profiles that they want to go on a date. There are ways to make that safer, like meeting outside, wearing masks, or avoiding other people before and after. Tests can play a role in that overall calculus — but a negative result isn’t a free pass.
Tinder users in the United States can claim a code for the tests on March 20th starting at 7PM ET. If you don’t manage to snag one, free COVID-19 tests are also available at health centers and pharmacies across the country.
LastPass, the popular password manager, announced changes last month to the free version of its software designed to make its Premium paid version much more attractive — and the free one much less so.
“LastPass offers access across two device types – computers (including all browsers running on desktops and laptops) or mobiledevices (including mobile phones, smart watches, and tablets),” the company wrote in a blog post. “Starting March 16th, 2021” — that’s today — “LastPass Free will only include access on unlimited devices of one type.”
What that means: if you’re a LastPass free user, you’ll have to choose whether you want to access your passwords on your computer — in browser or via desktop app — or on your mobile device. You won’t be able to use both, though your passwords will sync across devices regardless. That said, you’ll have the opportunity to switch your main device three times, starting today. (LastPass is also offering a discount on Premium subscriptions for a limited time, presumably to dampen the sting.)
If, however, you find all of this too onerous and you’d like to just switch password managers entirely, I have some good news for you: moving your passwords out of LastPass is pretty easy. I actually did it myself, using (naturally) The Verge’s guide. I chose Bitwarden because it syncs across mobile and desktop and it’s open source.
Also, if you’ve made it this far and you don’t have a password manager yet — what are you doing here? Get on that.
(Pocket-lint) – Despite being well known for invoking nostalgic memories of big wooden speaker cabinets and crackling vinyl, Klipsch is a brand that has adapted with the times. Its first pair of true wireless earbuds was such a great-sounding pair that it became one of our favourites for pure music enjoyment.
The second-generation – the aptly named Klipsch T5 II True Wireless – comes with lots of refinements in terms of design and performance, and also comes in two Sport models, one with exclusive McLaren F1 design. In this review, we’re focusing on the regular model.
Design and build
IP67 water- and dust-resistant
Colours: White / Gunmetal
Physical control button
6 pairs of oval tips
Charging case
It’s in the design department you’ll notice the biggest difference between the T5 and the T5 II. Starting with the first thing you get to: the case. Thankfully, the main ethos remains same, as it still looks friggin’ cool – almost like a chunky Zippo lighter. It’s smaller and thinner than the previous version, but there’s a solidity and durability to it. It feels like it might hurt you if you dropped it on a toe, and gives a reassuring clank when you open and shut the lid.
Pocket-lint
As for the ‘buds, these almost keep to the same essence too. It’s a similar hard-to-describe shape, featuring a tapered oval design but, again, the second-gen is slimmer, smaller and lighter than the originals. That also means that in the non-Sport model, there’s nothing holding these ‘buds in your ears except for the redesigned oval silicone tip.
The tips extend out from underneath the main body in an unconventional design, but once stuck inside the entrance of our ear canal, we found the fit was secure and steady. These ‘buds never felt like they’d fall out – and didn’t gradually push their way out either. Since the silicon tips are soft and thin, they give just the right amount of pressure. In our ears, the pre-applied tips were the perfect fit, but the T5 II comes with six different sizes, so you should easily find a pair that works for you.
Another interesting change is that there’s one single button on the outside, which depresses really easily to ensure that when you press, it gives easily and doesn’t lead to that feeling that you’re just pushing an earbud deeper into your ear. The button gives in once it feels even the remotest bit of resistance, which makes good sense.
Pocket-lint
Around the edge of that button is a metal collar, which makes up that outer surface. It’s more than just decoration though, it’s an external antenna to ensure there’s nothing getting in the way of that connection between the ‘buds and what you’re connecting them to.
The main takeaway here is that the T5 II is a lightweight and secure package. Not so secure that we’d recommend using these in-ear in the gym or when out running, but that’s what the Sport models are for instead.
Despite that, with an IP67 water- and dust-resistance rating, the ‘buds should survive pretty much anything anyway. Whether inside your ears, or inside their own metallic bunker/charging case.
Sound
5mm dynamic moving coil micro speaker
10Hz – 19kHz frequency response
EQ control
With frequency response as low as 10Hz, the 5mm drivers inside the Klipsch ‘buds produce sound you wouldn’t expect to hear from such small drivers. Of course, human hearing only really goes as low as 20Hz at a push – but it’s that control at the lower end of the sound spectrum where these earphones definitely excel.
Pocket-lint
With the equaliser (EQ) set to its default flat mode, there’s still plenty of bass, without it being overwhelming, but – more importantly – you still get clean and bright notes at the top end.
We love how acoustic bass drum kicks retain that feel of air moving around the kick pedal or inside the drum every time the skin is struck by the pedal. Or in songs like Hey Ma by Bon Iver, you get the full airy feel of the bass and mid notes swelling near the beginning or, later on, the muted bass note plucking. What’s more, in that same track, the subtle percussive noises are clear without dominating the primary elements of the track.
The Klipsch T5 II is adept at tackling any genre of music, and will give you the right feel from those acoustic songs, but is sonically strong with more synthesised tracks too. Crank up Leon’s Better in the Dark and enjoy the way the bass sounds when the synth and bass drum strike at the same time, without crumbling.
The best Lightning headphones 2021 for your iPhone or iPad
By Dan Grabham
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Top headphones capable of handling lossless 48kHz digital audio from Apple devices.
Pocket-lint
Of course, you can adjust the EQ, so if you need even more bass you can get it, but we found there was plenty from the default setting. In fact, we never felt the need to tweak the default sound profile. But it’s nice of Klipsch to give that option for those users who have preferences.
Features, performance and calls
8 hours playback + 24 more hours in the case (32 hours total)
Quad mic system for external noise cancelling during calls
Bluetooth 5.0 + signal boosting external antenna
Transparency mode
To get the first thing out of the way: there’s no active noise-cancelling (ANC). An increasing staple feature in the world of premium in-ears, but we’ve often argued that with a good set of well-fitted in-ears, it’s not as noticeable as it would be on over/on-ear cans. Passively, the T5 II does a good job of blocking out noise thanks to those soft tips.
Pocket-lint
Although ANC isn’t a feature here, you do still get an audio transparency mode, which uses mics around the ‘buds’ casing to let in and amplify noise from around you. Using the Klipsch Connect app you can switch it on and select how much transparency you want – it works pretty well but isn’t always all that effective once you have music playing.
It’s also worth noting that the ‘buds don’t feature any automatic play/pause feature when you remove them from your ears. There’s no proximity sensor for this, which is a bit of a shame.
On the plus side, you do get to pair the T5 II with up to eight different devices – although only one can be connected at a time.
With those external antennae doing their job, we found the wireless connectivity to be very strong. Walking from room to room and leaving the music source where it was, we struggled to make these in-ears drop connection. It’s a similar story with voice calls: you get strong performance here as well, with calls coming through clearly.
Pocket-lint
As battery life goes, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever need to worry about it much. With a maximum of eight hours outside the case, thee T5 II will comfortably get you through your commute to work – well, when we all eventually return to work – and the case will keep recharging in the interim another four times over. That’s well over a full day of non-stop listening time.
Verdict
The first-generation Klipsch T5 was one of our favourite pairs of true wireless earbuds. The second generation takes what was great and refines it, making for a truly stunning pair of ‘buds.
Sure, a few advanced features might be absent – there’s no proximity sensors or active noise-cancelling – but in all the ways that matter, the T5 II performs really well. For music lovers, at this price, you’ll struggle to find anything that sounds better or packaged in as neat and stylish a product.
If you love music, we think you’ll love the sound produced by the Klipsch T5 II. There’s little to rival the quality on offer here.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Grado T220
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Grado has a similar approach to Klipsch – in that it’s all about the sound – and the T220 sounds fantastic. In fact our first listen left our jaw on the floor, it was that good. It has some downsides though, like a finicky design and sensitive touchpad.
Read the review
Pocket-lint
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
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If you want all the bells and whistles in a great sounding pair of buds, Bose has the ones for you. QC Buds have excellent noise-cancelling, great sound overall, plus a comfortable and secure fit.
Google is reducing its long-standing 30 percent cut, which it takes from each Play Store digital purchase for all Android developers around the world, on the first $1 million they make on the digital storefront each year, starting on July 1st. According to Google, that change means the 99 percent of Android developers that make less than $1 million each year will see a 50 percent reduction in fees.
Google’s news follows Apple’s announcement of a reduced 15 percent fee last year as part of a new small business program, with one critical difference: Apple’s fee reduction only applies to developers that make under $1 million per year. But if an app maker goes over the $1 million threshold at any point in the year, they’ll be booted from Apple’s program and subject to the standard 30 percent rate.
Google’s program is a flat cut to the first $1 million developers make each year. That means whether you’re a student making your first app or a multibillion-dollar company, the first $1 million you make on the Play Store each year will only get charged a 15 percent service fee by Google. Any money you make after that will then be subject to the usual 30 percent cut. A Google spokesperson says the company felt that applying the reduced fees equally to all companies was a fair approach in line with Google’s goals of helping developers of all sizes.
Google has charged a 30 percent cut for any purchases through the Google Play Store since it first launched as the “Android Market” — although originally, the company claimed that “Google does not take a percentage,” with the 30 percent cut going toward “carriers and billing settlement fees.” In its more modern incarnation as the Play Store, Google now puts that 30 percent cut toward its “distribution partner and operating fees.”
The 30 percent fee has been constant for the lifespan of Google’s storefront. The only exception is subscriptions: in 2018, Google (in another similar move to Apple) announced that it would reduce its cut down to 15 percent for subscription products after users had been subscribed for a full year.
The number of developers that make more than $1 million each year — and will end up still being charged the full 30 percent — is proportionally tiny. Google notes that only about 3 percent of Android developers actually charge for either downloading their apps or for digital in-app purchases to begin with, and only 1 percent of those developers make more than the $1 million threshold that would see the 30 percent cut kick in.
The new policy also comes at a critical moment when Google (and Apple’s) app store policies are under intense public scrutiny, kicked off by the removal of Epic Games’ Fortnite from both the App Store and Play Store and the game developer’s subsequent antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google.
The issue is also coming to a head in legislation, with states like Arizona and North Dakota debating new laws that would force Apple and Google to offer more alternative software distribution methods and payment options on their platforms.
GoPro is releasing a new version of its main smartphone app that will now be called “Quik.” The new app will remain the main interface for connecting to and controlling GoPro cameras, but it is also getting new features, including one called “mural” that’s sort of like a private Instagram feed meant to help people organize their favorite images and videos — regardless of whether they were taken by a GoPro camera — and save them from the “abyss of your camera roll,” GoPro CEO Nick Woodman says in an interview.
Close followers of GoPro’s efforts in the software space know that the company already once launched an app called Quik way back in 2016 that was all about auto-editing footage to a beat. But that app has not been supported for a while and will no longer be available to download after today with the launch of the new Quik app.
The auto-editing feature will live on in the new app, which launches on iOS and Android today. It also has a few other features like a video editing suite (including a speed adjustment tool), themes and filters, and unlimited original quality cloud backup of everything posted to the mural feed. GoPro is charging $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year for those features, though the basic camera connection and control side the app will remain free to use for people who don’t want to pay for the new stuff. Customers who already pay for GoPro’s Plus subscription service (which includes unlimited cloud storage, live-streaming functionality, and camera replacement) will get Quik’s features for free.
Woodman sees the new Quik app as something of a culmination of a yearslong effort at GoPro to diversify away from hardware that started around 2013 and 2014. And by gearing the app at a wider audience, not just GoPro users, he thinks there’s great opportunity to be had.
In fact, that wasthe strategy with the original Quik app, which let users mash together photos and videos from their camera roll without requiring the use of a GoPro. And it worked: Woodman says that app still had “roughly eight million monthly active users” despite having been essentially abandoned by the company.
While he doesn’t expect all of those users to pony up for the paid version of the new app, he thinks many will appreciate the mural feature because he still doesn’t see any good solutions to that camera roll clutter problem — especially not albums. “Albums suck. Albums are just miniature camera rolls,” he says. “You don’t go into albums [thinking] ‘This is going to be a super awesome experience. Hey honey, let’s AirPlay our album to the TV and kick back and reminisce.’ You don’t do that.”
Users can build out the mural feed in the Quik app a few different ways. One is fairly straightforward: after you open the Quik app and give it access to your camera roll, you can scroll through and add photos to the mural feed or to “events” (not albums, of course) on the feed. The more attractive option, in Woodman’s eyes, is to add photos and videos you take on the fly using the share sheet every time you capture a “keeper.” (Users can also text or email photos to the mural feed.)
That said, Woodman thinks people may use the feed in all sorts of ways, like saving images that inspire them or for planning a project, a la Pinterest. Others will just use it for their GoPro footage and photos and nothing else.
“It can be all of those things,” he says. “I think that what we’re solving for people is like a very relatable and widespread problem: I don’t have a convenient, private place to put content that matters most to me, and you know what, sharing it to your Instagram feed ain’t working because there’s that tension of, ‘Well, this matters to me, but I know it’s not going to really matter to anybody that I would socialize it with.’”
GoPro has carved out a decent supplemental business so far with its Plus subscription service, with nearly 800,000 paying subscribers as of the end of 2020 (the equivalent of just shy of roughly $40 million of annual revenue). But with Quik, Woodman sees not just a great business opportunity or a chance to reach new customers. He sees it serving a higher purpose.
“Not to bash on social feeds, like there’s a lot of good from them, we get a lot of inspiration from what other people are doing. But damn it, man, you can get a lot of inspiration from just looking at what you’ve been doing with your life. It’s pretty awesome,” he says. “This is the cosmic moment where I point to the deeper meaning behind what it is that we’re doing for people with Quik, because I think we’re really going to help people develop a stronger sense of self-esteem, self-worth, and ultimately happiness. You don’t have to find happiness in what other people are doing. There’s a ton of happiness to be found in what you’re doing with your life and and Quik helps you bring that to the forefront.”
Philosophical value aside, bringing more customers under the GoPro tent has long been a goal for Woodman; it’s a big part of what inspired the company to make a more concerted push into software. But whether or not GoPro turns the new Quik app into a moneymaker, that it’s attempting another shift in its software strategy is on its own a sign that the company is back on solid ground. It spent the last few years pruning its camera lineup back to the essentials, quickly scuttling a dalliance with the drone market, and focusing more on selling directly to consumers. That has the company back in the black and willing to take chances again.
“We’re known for enabling amazing content. It’s just until now, it’s always required a GoPro,” Woodman says. “[But it’s] too limiting to just serve people through our hardware alone. Let’s also serve people through software. Meet them where they are. And we can build a phenomenal business.”
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Like many people, I have spent much of the pandemic rekindling my love of bike riding. When I’m out, I usually want to be able to listen to something as I’m riding so I don’t get too bored. The problem, of course, is that blocking noise from the outside world is a very bad idea when you’re on a bike. It’s incredibly dangerous when you’re riding in a city — especially a city with little to no bike infrastructure to protect you from cars.
So I have gone on a short quest to solve this problem with open-ear headphones. Open-ear headphones do exactly what you expect: let you listen to music or podcasts while keeping your ears open for traffic or whatever else is around you.
It turns out that when you’re testing open-ear headphones for riding a bike, your feature priorities are nearly inverted. Sound quality is nice but suddenly way less important than getting a secure fit on (or near) your ear. Noise cancellation is right out — it’s literally the opposite of what we’re going for here. Volume also ends up mattering a lot.
Of the five or six different options I’ve tried, those different priorities drove my decision-making. My top pick doesn’t have great sound, but it’s the least hassle to use while pedaling around.
AfterShokz Aeropex
The best open-ear headphones on a bike: AfterShokz Aeropex
The best headphones to use when you’re biking are the $159.95 AfterShokz Aeropex bone conduction headphones. They work by pressing two fully enclosed “speakers” up against your head right in front of your ears. The audio then travels (conduces) through your literal skull into your eardrums, leaving your actual ears completely open to the world.
There are many reasons not to love bone conduction headphones. While generally comfortable, it does eventually get tiring to have vibrating pods pressed into your head. It’s the sort of feeling you’re not really conscious of until you are, if that makes sense. They have a big band that swoops behind your neck, too, which can get caught on a collar.
I also don’t like that they use a proprietary charger, which I am guaranteed to lose.
AfterShokz Aeropex
Then there’s sound quality, which I’d place somewhere just above the original pack-in Apple wired earbuds and below every decent pair of Bluetooth headphones. The Aeropex headphones sound okay, but mainly that’s relative to other open headphone options.
But again: those priorities are inverted. The Aeropex do look a little silly, but they never interfere with my helmet strap or my glasses (sometimes they’ll get caught up in a mask strap, though). It turns out that the most complicated part of open-ear headphones is the method they use for physically placing the sound next to your ear — and the Aeropex do a great job of it.
You can get loud-ish stereo sound out of them, letting you make sense of podcasts in moderate traffic. Bone conduction isn’t magic, though: when your environment gets truly loud, they’ll be drowned out just like anything else.
If you want to save a little money, AfterShokz makes a few less expensive models (which I haven’t tested). They come in multiple sizes as well, so you may need to try and return one to get a proper fit.
Galaxy Buds PlusPhoto by Chris Welch / The Verge
Use the buds you already have in just one ear: Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus
If you aren’t biking a ton or just don’t feel the need to spend the extra money, there’s a decent chance the wireless earbuds you already own could be a good option for you.
Correction: earbud. It’s really not that safe to wear both earbuds while biking in the city, especially when they either seal up your ear or have some sort of noise cancellation. I personally wouldn’t even recommend using two headphones with a passthrough mode — those features have gone wonky on me too many times.
Your state may even have a law against using two headphones (or headphones at all) while on your bike.
In any case, the move is to just put one earbud into the ear that faces away from where traffic will be — in the US, that’d be your right ear. It leaves your left ear open to hear (and react to) the world around you.
There are lots of pros to this method. You don’t have to spend more money. You can just keep using the buds you already have. And if it’s an ear-sealing style of bud, it should mean that you don’t need to turn the volume up super loud to be able to hear it.
The cons should be obvious: when it comes to sound quality, you’re getting half of stereo (or, if your phone is smart enough to realize it’s connected to only one bud, proper mono). That’s good enough for podcasts, but might be frustrating for music. There’s also the fact that you’re using one earbud much more than the other, which could mean it has a shorter overall life span.
If you’re wondering which earbud is best for this method, my advice is to go for the Galaxy Buds Plus. They secure into your ear with a solid seal and they have a long battery life. Most importantly, though: no stem. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an AirPod go skittering across the pavement because I wasn’t careful enough with my helmet strap. The Buds Plus offer the best balance of price, sound quality, battery life, a secure fit, and most importantly: not sticking out of your ear, ready to be knocked out.
There are lots of other earbuds you could use, but again the most important thing here is that they fit securely to your ear even when there’s other stuff taking up space behind it: mask straps, helmet straps, or glasses.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds
Custom open-ear headphones: Bose Sport Open Earbuds
The headphones that actually inspired me to go find something I could use while riding were the recently announced $199.95 Bose Sport Open Earbuds. In theory, these would have been perfect. In practice, they were a big disappointment.
Good stuff first: the Bose Open Earbuds sound great. Bose, it turns out, appears to know a thing or two about acoustics. These work differently than bone conduction headsets or traditional earbuds. There’s a large ear hook that floats the speaker module directly above your ear hole, pointing sound waves right at it.
The combination of the speaker’s proximity and its relative size means that Bose can get great sound despite leaving your ears open to the world. They do a very good job of overcoming ambient traffic noise, too.
Unfortunately, they did an absolutely awful job of staying on my ear. I admit that everybody’s ears are different so they might work for you — but for me they were hard to fit on and went flying off all the time.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds
They also suffer from a problem I’ve mentioned before: we’ve got more stuff hitting our ears now than ever. Eyeglass or sunglass temples and these earbuds do not mix. Neither do mask straps or bike helmet straps.
Even so, I hung on to the Bose Open Earbuds with the idea that I might use them at home or in the office. I really do like wearing open earbuds around the house. It’s much less fatiguing that sticking an earbud into your ear canal or wearing a heavy set of cans. It’s also easier to just pause it and talk to people.
Alas, the Bose Open Earbuds are terrible for office or working from home because they utterly fail to support multiple devices. They do the thing where if they’re connected to your computer and you want to switch them to your phone, you have to manually disconnect them from the computer first.
There may be people who don’t care about any of those problems and who have the right ear shape for these headphones — and I will admit I am jealous of them. These sound better than they have any right to, but when I’m on a bike, sound quality simply isn’t at the top of the priority list.
Headphones in your glasses: Bose Frames Tempo
When I reviewed the Echo Frames from Amazon, I realized that simply having little always-available and unobtrusive Bluetooth headphones is great. It sounds dumb, but not having to put in or take out headphones changes your relationship to audio — it’s just always available, always there when you want it.
Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a set of glasses with Bluetooth speakers that don’t have some kind of significant compromise. With the Echo Frames, it was battery life (and, well, looks).
With the Bose Frames, it’s a much simpler problem: I’d like to use headphones in situations where sunglasses don’t make sense.
I’m not against “single-tasker” tech solutions to problems, but the $249.95 Bose Frames take it too far. You can get different lenses for them, but they’re really not the sort of thing you’ll want to use outside of some specific contexts. Bose has other styles, but all of them are very much techie speaker eyeglasses instead of subtle.
Sena R1 Evo bike helmet
Speakers in your bike helmet: Sena R1 Evo
The $159 Sena R1 Evo smart helmet is one of the gadgetiest gadgets you can gadget on your bike. It’s a bike helmet that includes:
A local, nine-channel mesh intercom system
Bluetooth “headphones”
An FM Radio
A blinky tail light
A voice-driven interface (for some reason)
A companion smartphone app
I own and use the Sena R1 Evo as my bike helmet and I’m here to tell you that the first feature I mentioned, the mesh intercom, is great. The rest? Not so much.
The mesh intercom just uses local radio to keep an open channel with other, compatible Sena systems. When you’re riding along, you can simply talk and hear other people you’re riding with as long as you’re relatively close (I’d say less than a third of a mile with line of sight, less without line of sight). It’s so much more convenient than needing to get within talking or shouting distance to have a conversation.
The rest of the features are less impressive. The problem with the Sena system is that the speakers are simply too far away from your ears and too quiet to be audible when there’s ambient noise. Out on a quiet trail: awesome. In a city: nope.
The smartphone app doesn’t look very modern, but it does the job of configuring the helmet with your FM stations and preferred mesh intercom channels. The built-in smart assistant (“Hey Sena”) is sadly a mess. I triggered it accidentally more often than intentionally and when I did want it to work, it had a difficult time recognizing my voice commands.
I can’t speak to its safety specs, but it’s not MIPS if that matters to you. The taillight on the helmet is also fairly dim, I wouldn’t consider it a replacement for a proper taillight on your bike or back. I should also note that you can’t have music and the mesh intercom on at the same time, you have to switch modes manually.
Despite all that, I like this helmet and will keep using it — especially since my partner and I often go riding together.
Open-ear headphone options
Using a Bluetooth speaker strapped to your bike
I mean if you want to annoy everybody else around on you, it’s a choice.
Dropbox is adding a new feature on top of its usual offerings of storage and file sharing for free Basic accounts. Dropbox Passwords, the password management feature the company introduced for paying customers in 2020, will be free for Dropbox Basic accounts in April — with a new, arbitrary limit of 50 passwords that makes it seem suspiciously like a way to upsell you on a paid Dropbox account.
Now that LastPass is putting a device limit on its free plans, many are looking for a free alternative, and Dropbox Passwords will indeed allow you to sync your passwords across three devices for free. Like other password managers, it exists as a web browser extension, a mobile app on iOS and Android, and desktop applications on MacOS, Windows, and Linux. But other free password managers, like Bitwarden, offer unlimited passwords for free.
The 50-password limit might only make sense if you don’t have a lot of online accounts (grandparents come to mind). I think it would be very hard to find someone who both uses Dropbox and doesn’t have a stack of passwords numbering in the hundreds, and it’s not like it costs Dropbox more money to store double, triple or quadruple the number of passwords. We’re talking about text, not multi-gigabyte videos. If you’re already using a free Dropbox account for other files, you’re probably storing things that are already far larger than all the passwords you’ll ever use in your lifetime.
Still, it might be a worthy introduction to better password security for existing Dropbox users, and if you’re already paying Dropbox $11.99 per month for a Plus account or $19.99 per month for a Professional account, though, here’s a good reminder that Dropbox Passwords exists and you can easily give it a try. Dropbox plans to allow users to securely share passwords to other accounts at some point in the future, too.
When asked about the choice of 50 passwords, Dropbox said “We’re confident that 50 passwords will suit most users on our Dropbox Basic plan. For those who need more, we have a number of other plan options to suit various needs and individual, family or professional situations.”
Dropbox Passwords is available on free Basic accounts in April, but you should read The Verge’s list for some equally free, more fully-featured alternatives.
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