The Nvidia Shield has a new look. Well, to be precise, its operating system does. The media streamer – which runs Android TV – has a new Discover tab with recommendations grouped by genre, and a redesigned apps screen.
The revamp draws inspiration from Google TV, the OS that at the time of writing is only available on the Google Chromecast with Google TV. The circular app icons (that looked like blobs) are gone from the left-hand side, and there’s now room for a bigger visual in the top right showing your selected content. Following these changes, there’s actually more room to show more games, apps, and other content on screen simultaneously.
The update is rolling out now but could take up to a week to reach you. Customers in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Australia will get the new UI and Discover tab, but those in Italy and Spain will only get the new UI.
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Screenshots of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 operating system have appeared online today. Originally published at Chinese site Baidu, the screenshots show off the new Windows 11 user interface and Start menu. The UI changes look very similar to what was originally found in Windows 10X before Microsoft canceled that project in favor of Windows 11.
App icons are now centered on the taskbar, with a new Start button and menu. The Start menu is a simplified version of what currently exists in Windows 10, without Live Tiles. It includes pinned apps and the ability to quickly shut down or restart Windows 11 devices. The operating system is identified as Windows 11 Pro in screenshots, and we can confirm they are genuine.
While Microsoft canceled its Windows 10X operating system, the company is clearly reusing large parts of that work with Windows 11. Windows 10X was originally designed for dual-screen devices, before shifting towards traditional laptops and then being canceled. Windows 10X included a number of refined and simplified aspects to Windows, and some of those are present in the leaked screenshots.
Microsoft has been dropping hints that it’s ready to launch Windows 11. The software giant is holding a special Windows event to reveal its next OS on June 24th. The event starts at 11AM ET, and the event invite includes a window that creates a shadow with an outline that looks like the number 11. Microsoft execs have also been teasing a “next generation of Windows” announcement for months, and one even described it as a “new version of Windows” recently. Microsoft also teased Windows 11 during an 11-minute video last week.
With Euro 2020 now in full swing, a lot of us are thinking that our ageing, grubby TVs could do with an upgrade. If that’s you, you might want to check out Hisense’s 2021 TV range, which will be hitting UK shops imminently.
It’s headed up by the flagship U9GQ (£3299), a Mini-LED model whose 10,000+ pcs backlight unit and Full Array Local Dimming Pro produces a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. Hisense’s Quantum Dot Colour claims to give you more than 1 billion colours, and the 75in screen should make the footy action more immersive than ever. It features HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, a high refresh rate of 120Hz, and MEMC technology to do help eliminate the dreaded soap opera effect.
That’s not the only big-screen offering from Hisense. It also has a couple of laser TVs in its line-up, although the press release we were sent didn’t have the specific range name. We do know they are available in 88in and 100in sizes, while their ultra-short-throw laser engine promises stunning picture detail and precise colours. Their ambient light-rejecting screens supposedly give a more natural viewing experience with low blue light content.
Lower down the pecking order is the A9G line. This OLED TV range boasts 55in and 65in models, with HDR technologies (HDR10+ and Dolby Vision) onboard. IMAX Enhanced support should make compatible content more cinematic too.
Taking another step down, you find the U8GQ (available in 55in and 65in). This 4K set features Quantum Dot Colour, Full Array Local Dimming Pro and a peak brightness of 1,000 nits. Also onboard are Hisense’s Game mode, IMAX Enhanced support.
There are three mid-range models available too: the A7GQ, E76GQ and A4G. The first two offer Quantum Dot tech, 4K HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos along with a 60Hz MEMC. The A4G, meanwhile, has DTS:Virtual:X and the VIDAA U5 Smart OS.
Rounding out the range are the A6G and A4G. Spanning screen sizes from 43in all the way up to 75in, the A6G is a 4K model with 60Hz MEMC. The A4G only comes in 32in and 40in sizes and is HD resolution.
Here’s the full list of model numbers, sizes and prices.
We were big fans of the Raspberry Pi 400 when it launched at the end of last year, so it’s good to see that support will be added into the mainline Linux kernel with the upcoming release 5.14, as spotted by Phoronix.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Although effectively a Raspberry Pi 4 trapped in a keyboard like a genie in a bottle, there are a few differences between the two SBCs – the CPU of the Raspberry Pi 400 is clocked at 1.8 GHz, 300 MHz more than the Raspberry Pi 4. The speed boost is largely due to better thermals, as we discovered in our review. The Raspberry Pi 400 also features a different Wi-Fi chip, a soft power button (the first Pi to have a power button), and the 400 lacks the Pi 4s activity LED.
The 4B received mainline kernel support back in 2020 with version 5.7. For Kernel 5.14 no driver changes were required for the Raspberry Pi 400, merely a DeviceTree addition was made to support the CPU speed, Wi-Fi and ACT LED. By adding the Raspberry Pi 400 it means that, should the developer decide to take advantage of it, Pi 400 support will be available on any Linux distro based on the mainline kernel. The current version of Raspberry Pi OS is using the Long Term Support version of kernel 5.10, which brought improved support for the Pi 400, making the upgrade in March this year. Before that, it used version 5.4 LTS.
Kernel 5.14 has yet to appear on kernel.org, with the latest stable release at 5.12.10 and a release candidate in the wild for 5.13.
Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025. It will mark just over 10 years since the operating system was first introduced. Microsoft revealed the retirement date for Windows 10 in an updated support life cycle page for the OS. Thurrott reports that this is the first time Microsoft has ever described the end of support for Windows 10.
It’s not clear exactly when the support document was updated, but Thurrott reports it only previous documented “when specific Windows 10 versions would leave support,” and not the entire OS. It could be another hint that a new version of Windows is on the way.
Microsoft has been dropping lots of hints that it’s ready to launch Windows 11. The software maker is holding a special Windows event to reveal the “next generation” of the OS next week. The event starts at 11AM ET, and the event invite includes a window that creates a shadow with an outline that looks like the number 11. Microsoft execs have also been teasing a “next generation of Windows” announcement for months, and one even described it as a “new version of Windows” recently. Microsoft also teased Windows 11 during an 11-minute video last week.
We’re expecting Microsoft to announce a new version of Windows with significant user interface changes, and an overhaul to the Windows Store. Microsoft has been working on something codenamed “Sun Valley,” which the company has referred to as a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows.” There will be many other changes, so read our previous coverage for what to expect.
We’re expecting to see a new version of Windows soon.
Microsoft originally committed to 10 years of support for Windows 10, with an original mainstream end of support date set for October 13th, 2020. That mainstream end of support has not yet commenced, as Microsoft has been introducing regular updates and extending active Windows 10 support.
We’re still not in the extended support phase of Windows 10 yet, which is the period when Microsoft doesn’t add new features to an operating system and simply maintains support with bug fixes and security patches.
Windows 10 has been an unusual release for Microsoft, as it moved away from its typical cadence of releasing a new version of the OS every few years. Instead, Microsoft moved Windows to more of a service, updating it twice a year with new features. Microsoft may have described Windows 10 as “the last version of Windows,” but it has now been nearly six years since its release and Microsoft looks ready to move on to something new.
The number of keystrokes we record in a day is huge. From messaging apps to coding or writing that next novel, the sheer number of key presses is hard to calculate. But what if we could save a little time and our aching joints by creating a shortcut keypad?
Pimoroni’s Keybow 2040 is a 16-key keyboard which can be programmed in CircuitPython to act as a USB keyboard. Each single key can be programmed to launch an application, control audio levels, switch scenes in OBS or paste funny cat pictures to Twitter.
In this how-to, we will set up Keybow 2040 to be a general purpose keyboard with page navigation keys, OBS shortcuts and two hot keys to launch common applications.
Our shortcut keyboard was designed to scratch an itch. To augment our existing keyboard, and add extra features such as OBS scene switching and application launchers. Your layout will be a reflection of your needs, so use this guide as a foundation from which to build a personalized layout.
For This Project You Will Need
A Pimoroni Keybow 2040
Setting Up Your Keybow 2040
Pimoroni has a full guide on how to set up your Keybow 2040, and the build process is fantastically simple, requiring only a screwdriver and a few minutes of effort. Keybow 2040 comes with CircuitPython and all of the necessary libraries pre-installed. Should you need to install CircuitPython and the libraries, then Pimoroni has a tutorial that you can follow.
Rather than use the included keycaps we sourced some MX compatible caps from a spare keyboard. We then placed the caps on the keyboard to our desired layout.
The top row is basic navigation, home, arrow up, end and page up. The second row is the remaining arrow keys, and page down. Third row controls our volume, up and down, launches the screenshot tool and opens a terminal / command prompt. The final row is reserved for OBS, moving between four scenes. Obviously, if you’re trying this at home, you can use whatever keycaps you want and assign them to whatever functions you want, whether that’s launching an app, performing an action in a program like OBS or controlling media playback.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Keybow 2040 uses a numbering system which sees key 0 at the bottom left of the board, and key 15 at the top right. When using the Keybow CircuitPython library we will use these numbers to set up what each key will do, and how it will light up.
Programming Your Keybow 2040 Shortcut Keys
The code for this project is written in CircuitPython which is very similar to MicroPython and Python 3.
1. Connect your Keybow 2040 to your computer via a USB-C cable. A new device, CIRCUITPY will appear.
2. Using your preferred editor, open code.py found in the CIRCUITPY drive. We recommend Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code, Thonny or Mu code editors.
3. Delete any text in the file.
4. Import four libraries. The first is board, which enables us to use the GPIO on the RP2040 chip. The second is Keybow2040 which is an abstraction to make controlling the Keybow 2040 easier. Import time to control the pace of the code. Finally import usb_hid which will allow us to send keyboard shortcuts as if we had a USB keyboard.
import board
from keybow2040 import Keybow2040
import time
import usb_hid
5. Import three libraries to enable Keybow 2040 to act as a keyboard, with a US layout, and enable keystrokes to be generated by code.
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
6. Import two libraries that will enable the Keybow 2040 to send Consume Control codes, typically used for media keys.
from adafruit_hid.consumer_control_code import ConsumerControlCode
from adafruit_hid.consumer_control import ConsumerControl
7. Keybow uses I2C to communicate with the RP2040. We need to tell the code that we are using I2C, and create an object keybow that we can easily reference. Then we use that object to create another object, keys which makes interacting with the keyboard much easier.
8. Create three objects, keyboard, used to create a USB human interface device (HID) and layout which sets the keyboard to use a US layout. The third object is consumer and enables us to send special key presses, typically assigned to media keys such as volume control.
9. Create two lists: default and wasd. These lists will store the key numbers that will later be used to light specific keys. As you may have guessed, wasd refers to movement keys, in our case they map to the cursor keys.
10. Create a loop to constantly run the main code.
while True:
11. Inside the forever loop create a for loop that will iterate through the default list, setting the LED for each numbered key to green. Each time the for loop iterates, the value of i changes to the next item in the list, from 0 to 1,3…15. Note that Keybow 2040 uses G R B (Green, Red, Blue) LEDs so bright green is 255,0,0.
or i in default:
keybow.keys[i].set_led(255,0,0)
12. Create another for loop. This time to set the color of the cursor keys to red, so we can easily locate them.
for i in wasd:
keybow.keys[i].set_led(0,255,0)
13. Use a conditional test to check if a key is pressed. The first key is key 0, located in the bottom left corner. When this key is pressed we want it to press the SHIFT + A keys, releases the keys, then light the key red for 0.1 seconds. This shortcut changes scenes in OBS when we present The Pi Cast show.
if keys[0].pressed:
keyboard.send(Keycode.SHIFT, Keycode.A)
keybow.keys[0].set_led(0, 255, 0)
keyboard.release_all()
time.sleep(0.1)
14. Set a condition for key 1, located one key up from the bottom left. When this key is pressed it sets all of the LEDs to purple (red and blue mixed) then sends a media key command to lower (decrement) the volume. The keys are released and a short sleep reduces the risk of key debouncing. Repeat this process for all of the keys that you wish to map. If you need a template, the complete code for this project is at the bottom of this how to.
15. Key 9 on the keypad has a PrtSc keycap, and this key will trigger the Windows Snipping Tool. Configure this key to set all of the LEDs blue when pressed, and then we instruct CircuitPython to press three keys at once. These keys are Control, ALT and P. We then release the keys, and pause the code for a moment.
16. Repeat the conditional process for all 16 keys. The process of identifying a key and setting the actions to be taken when it is pressed are repeated for all sixteen keys. The final key is key 15 (we started at 0) and when this key is pressed it sets all the LEDs to blue, then sends a Page Up key press before releasing the keys and pausing for a moment.
17. In order to keep keybow looking for input we need to tell it to update at the end of each loop. If this is missing, the code will not work as expected.
keybow.update()
Save the code.py file and Keybow 2040 will restart and run your code, in a few seconds you can press the keys and make short work of most tasks but we still have a little work to do.
Adding Keyboard Shortcuts to Launch Windows Apps
If you’re using Windows, you’ll need to create keyboard shortcuts so that when you hit one of the keys on the keypad, the OS knows to launch a program such as the Snipping Tool (for pressing the Prtsrc key on our keypad) or the CMD prompt after we hit the Terminal key on our keypad. Note that Windows’ built-in keyboard shortcut method wants CTRL+ALT + [a letter or number] so the Prtsrc key on our keypad will actually be firing CTRL+ALT + P, for example. Repeat these steps for any keyboard keys that launch programs.
1. Search for the app (ex: “snipping tool”) in the Windows search box. Don’t launch it.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Right click on the program icon and select “Open File Location”
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Right click on the l shortcut icon and select “Properties.”
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Click on the Shortcut Key field and enter the keyboard combo (CTRL + ALT + P in our case for Prtsrc). This will set the shortcut key for that command which matches the code for that key.
Setting Up OBS Shortcut Keys
To set up OBS shortcuts we need to open OBS, and then click on Settings >> Hotkeys to assign a keypress to a Scene.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Complete Code Listing
Note that this code includes shortcuts for all 16 keys, which you may want to use for different functions in your project.
Google will be adjusting the release cycle for Chrome OS later this year, moving to a schedule where it launches a new release every four weeks, the company announced on Friday.
“To deliver new features more rapidly to consumers while also continuing to prioritize the key pillars of Chrome OS – security, stability, speed and simplicity – Chrome OS will move to a 4-week stable channel starting with M96 in Q4,” Chrome OS release TPM lead Marina Kazatcker said in a blog post. For enterprise and education users who may not want that fast of a release cycle, Google also plans to introduce a new update channel with a 6-month cadence by the time of the M96 release.
The speed of Chrome OS’ release schedule will bring it on par with the Google Chrome browser, which will also be transitioning to a four-week release schedule. For the Chrome browser, that change will kick in starting in the third quarter of this year.
Nvidia is planning to drop support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 later this year. Nvidia drivers will be exclusively available for Windows 10 in October, with only critical security updates available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 through September 2024.
Microsoft has already dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows 8, and even the extended support for Windows 8.1 will end in January 2023. “The vast majority of our GeForce customers have migrated to Windows 10 OS,” reads a support note from Nvidia. “In order to ensure GeForce owners experience the best possible security, support, and functionality, Nvidia will now focus on Windows 10 operating system.”
There are now 1.3 billion active Windows 10 devices, but Windows 7 is still in use in many parts of the world. Statcounter estimates that Windows 7 still accounts for 15 percent of all Windows versions. Windows 10 dominates Steam usage though, making up nearly 93 percent with Windows 7 at just under 2 percent. Microsoft is also expected to launch a new version of Windows, likely to be named Windows 11, in October.
Nvidia’s last driver to officially support these old versions of Windows will be made available on August 31st, with an October 4th release being the first to only support Windows 10.
It may look like the unlikely outcome of teleportation experiment involving a Sega Bass Fishing controller and a Game Boy Micro, but Playdate is a tiny, handheld games console with a novel form of input.
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(Image credit: Panic)
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(Image credit: Panic)
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(Image credit: Panic)
In case this is your first contact with the boxy yellow machine, it’s an extremely low-powered attempt to bring bite-sized games to a dedicated system instead of a cellphone. The crank on the side is a gameplay tool, and doesn’t charge the system or act as a Van de Graff generator. The only hair-raising will, hopefully, come from the games.
The specs are lower than a Raspberry Pi Zero W, but much more than a Raspberry Pi Pico. Playdate is powered by an Arm Cortex M7 CPU running at just 180MHz, 16MB of RAM, 4GB of flash (up from an initial 2GB), and a 2.7-inch, 400 × 240 1-bit Sharp Memory LCD that creates images in pure black and white, no shades of gray which means dithering is required to add texture and tone to a game. The screen lacks a backlight, relying on the reflective nature of the screen to illuminate your games. Anyone who had a Game Boy will be familiar with these principles, as the reflective screen and dithered graphics were part of Nintendo’s classic handheld. There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board, along with a headphone jack and a USB-C port for charging.
US software publisher Panic Inc. (that recently moved into games with titles like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game) and Swedish industrial designer Teenage Engineering are the brains behind this quirky and interesting device.
Games, which are being made by the likes of Bennett Foddy, Zach Gage and Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, will arrive as a ‘season’, with 24 (recently doubled from 12) of them delivered wirelessly to the handheld, two a week, for no extra charge. The platform is open source and will allow games that aren’t part of an official ‘season’ to be side-loaded. An SDK will be available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS, which will include a simulator and debugger, and will be compatible with the C and Lua programming languages.
In an in-depth interview with Edge magazine, reproduced by Gamesradar+, Panic Inc. co-founder Cabel Sasser describes the device’s inception: “The first question from the CEO was, ‘Do you really think anyone’s going to buy this?’ I was like, ‘I’m not sure. But it’s something we really want to do, if you can help?’ And then the consultants were like, ‘It’s going to cost you, bare minimum, a couple million bucks to even remotely get this thing off the ground.’”
The pre-order price has recently been raised (hence the increase in specs and number of games) and currently sits at $179. Pre-orders begin in July from play.date.
Looking for an open-source cryptocurrency trading solution? GooseRepresentative1 has got you covered with this automated, Raspberry Pi self-trading cryptocurrency bot project!
The best Raspberry Pi projects make life easier and this bot definitely earns its keep. According to GooseRepresentative1, you miss every shot you don’t take and sleeping takes away from potentially valuable trading opportunities. This project is designed to trade cryptocurrency automatically when certain parameters have been met.
The Raspberry Pi 4 is housed inside a custom case with an LCD screen on the front panel. This panel shows things like processor temperature, CPU usage and storage space availability. There are already plans in the works to include cryptocurrency price data, as well.
Software-wise, the bot relies on Raspberry Pi OS which runs the trading software developed from scratch by GooseRepresentative1 using Python. It’s totally open-source requiring minimal Python experience to modify the code to use your trading accounts instead.
If you want to see this project in action or even recreate it yourself, visit the original project thread via Reddit. You can even farm Chia using a Raspberry Pi 4, and we have just the guide to help you.
Following Apple’s acquisition of popular weather app Dark Sky in March 2020, Dark Sky’s iOS app and website will be available until the end of 2022, co-founder Adam Grossman said in a Monday update to Dark Sky’s blog (via 9to5Mac).
The update about the 2022 shutdown hit the same day that Apple announced new weather features coming to iOS 15 as part of its WWDC keynote presentation. The stock Weather app is getting a new design, full-screen weather maps, next-hour precipitation notifications, and even new animated backgrounds.
Dark Sky shut down the Android and Wear OS versions of its apps on August 1st, 2020. But the iOS app is still available for $3.99 on the App Store, if you’re interested in buying it ahead of next year’s shutdown.
The Dark Sky API will also continue to work for existing customers until the end of 2022. Previously, the API was set to stop working at the end of this year; now, it will work for a little while longer.
(Pocket-lint) – The Polar Ignite 2 is the follow-up fitness watch to the 2019 original. While it gives you all those key sports watch features, its key skills are to track your workouts and tell you the ones you should be doing next.
The relatively low asking price puts it up against the likes of the now older Apple Watch Series 3 or Fitbit Versa 3, but does the second-gen Polar deliver enough spark?
Design and display
1.2-inch IPS TFT touchscreen, 240 x 204 resolution
43mm case diameter, 8.5mm thick
Waterproof to 30 metres
Weighs 35g
The Ignite 2 is virtually identical to the original watch. It has the same-sized round polymer case, with a single physical button tucked away in the bottom corner, and a touchscreen controlled display.
Pocket-lint
That’s partnered up with a silicone strap with a traditional watch-style buckle that comes in two size options. Those straps are removable too with a simple pin mechanism, letting you quickly swap for one of Polar’s dressier options or a strap that looks a lot like one of Apple’s sport bands.
Polar is offering some more colourful options here too as well. There’s now champagne, blue, black, and pink strap options to go with the four case colour options.
The Ignite 2 is a light watch – at just 35g – and we’ve found it’s been very comfortable to wear 24/7. If you like the idea of a watch that doesn’t sit big and bulky on your wrist, then it’s got appeal.
The biggest design change over the Ignite lies with the more textured, grippier finish on the case. With the right case and strap combo, it gives a slightly nicer-looking watch than its predecessor, but it’s the smallest of changes where pretty much everything else otherwise remains the same.
Pocket-lint
Another element that hasn’t changed is the screen. It’s the same 1.2-inch touchscreen display that offers the same in the way of overall quality and viewing angles. It’s not as crisp, vibrant or as colourful as an AMOLED screen, but it’s a good enough screen surroundings to soak up your stats.
What isn’t so good is the still lingering lagging you get when interacting with this screen. It was the same on the first Ignite and clearly Polar hasn’t sought to improve things regarding the screen’s slightly delayed response.
Software and performance
Phone notifications, music controls and weather forecasts
Works with Polar Flow and third-party apps
As is the case with all of Polar’s watches (aside from a brief play with Google’s Wear OS for its M600 watch), it sticks to packing on its own in-house operating system.
It’s a software that pairs to your phone over Bluetooth and does offer the ability to pair up external Bluetooth heart-rate sensors. In the Ignite 2 you don’t get the ANT+ connectivity you get on more expensive Polar watches to widen the support of devices you can connect it to.
The software experience is similar to what you’ll find on Polar’s top-end watches, albeit with a greater emphasis on using the touchscreen to navigate your way around the interface. You can commence workout tracking in the same fashion, while swiping left and right on the watch screen will drop additional information around the watch face, such as current heart rate, activity tracking data, and a useful weekly summary of your training.
Polar has sought to offer more smartwatch features on the Ignite this time around, rolling out features that have already appeared on its Vantage series and Grit X watches. Along with the same notification support, you now getting weather forecasts, the ability to adjust the look of watch faces, and there’s now music controls here too.
Pocket-lint
They’re not groundbreaking features, but they’re ones that make the Ignite 2 more useful to have around when you’re not just working out. They work well enough, too, although displaying notifications still feels a little clunky. The music controls are easy to use and work with third-party apps like Spotify, though, which is good news.
Off the watch, your go-to place for setting things up is the Polar Flow phone app or desktop app, but this is a watch that will play nice with third-party apps if you want to bypass Polar’s own once you’ve set things up. Much like Garmin, there’s a lot going on in Polar Flow and it pays to spend some time to get to know where things live in the app and get a sense of what all of the extra training insights mean.
Sports and fitness tracking
FitSpark workout recommendations
Nightly Recharge measurements
Pool swim tracking
Despite its small stature, Polar still manages to pack in quite an impressive array of features into the Ignite 2. There’s built-in GPS, the same Precision Prime heart rate monitor technology used on its pricier Vantage watches, and a rich collection of training features like adaptive running programmes.
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For sports tracking, you’re getting access to over 130 profiles – with activities like running, cycling, pool swimming the best served. There’s also profiles for HIIT and cross training, with a bigger emphasis on monitoring heart rate to measure effort levels during those workouts.
GPS signal pick-up was nice and snappy on our outdoor runs and distance tracking accuracy and core running metrics were in line with a similarly-priced Garmin watch.
In the water, however, the Polar wasn’t so good. Accuracy of tracking laps was fine on shorter swims, but accuracy waned noticeably over swimming longer distances above 400-500 metres.
Pocket-lint
If you’re hoping for a reliable heart rate monitor, then the one on the Ignite 2 performed well in most of our tests. On runs and home workouts, it was a few beats per minute (bpm) out from a Garmin HRM-Pro chest strap monitor. For something more intense like interval training, that accuracy and ability to keep up with the sudden spikes and drops in heart rate shows though. It’s not a terrible performer, but if you yearn for supreme accuracy, take the opportunity to pair up an external sensor.
One of the standout features on the Ignite 2 is FitSpark. This is Polar’s smart suggested workouts feature that looks at the types of sessions you’ve logged with your watch to recommend workouts you should do around them. So it may suggest working on strength if you’ve been smashing the cardio lately, or adding some mobility work to better balance your training.
It works really well too, clearly instructing you what to do during the workouts and will start a countdown and send a vibrating buzz to let you know when to prepare for the next workout. It’s not a feature unique to this Polar watch, but it’s one that’s great to use if you’re not sure about what to do when it comes to training.
Pocket-lint
If you’re yearning for some of the more advanced training analysis you get on Polar’s other watches, you can still get details on your cardio load status and you can learn more about whether you’re under- or over-training. You can now also understand what’s fuelling your run with the new Energy Sources feature – this heart rate-fuelled feature gives you a breakdown if you’ve used carbohydrates, proteins or fats to power a workout.
The Ignite 2 doubles up as a pretty solid fitness tracker too. It will track steps, distances, nudge you when you’ve not been active for a period of time, and display in the app a breakdown of when you were most active during the day.
But what’s really impressive with the Ignite 2 is the sleep tracking. It offers all the typical things you’d expect to find on a sleep monitoring watch, including a breakdown of sleep stages including REM sleep and sleep scores. Where things get interesting are the Nightly Recharge measurements, which aim to help you better assess if you’ve recovered from a tough physical day. It looks at sleep quality and how your autonomic nervous system calms during the early hours of sleep to generate the measurement. It can then offer tips on whether you should train or why you might have had a bad night of sleep.
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The accuracy of sleep tracking ultimately dictates how useful this feature is – and against a Fitbit’s pretty impressive sleep tracking the Polar held up really well on that front. So if you’re looking for a watch that tracks sleep but also offers useful, actionable insights based on that data, the Ignite 2 fits the bill.
Battery life
165mAh battery, up to 5 days per charge
100 hours in training mode
20 hours GPS battery life
The Ignite 2 promises to deliver up to five days of life in smartwatch mode – with continuous heart rate monitoring in use. When you’re using GPS, you can expect to get 20 hours of tracking time. And there’s now a new training mode that will record workouts up to 100 hours.
What we’ve learnt over our experience with Polar’s latest watches is that they can come up a little short on those claims. That doesn’t change with the Ignite 2. It’s clear the more advanced sleep monitoring features Polar has introduced have quite a noticeable drain on battery – and you can’t turn it off. You can disable continuous heart rate monitoring, which will get you to that five day mark – otherwise it’s more like four.
Pocket-lint
When you’re putting GPS tracking to use, you’re getting around the same battery life as a similarly priced watch from Garmin, but significantly more GPS battery life than what you’re going to get from any Apple Watch model. If you want something that can get you just under a week of training, then that’s what the Ignite 2 will get you.
When it’s time for charging, Polar retains the same disc charger that clips onto the back and takes over an hour to get from 0-100 per cent, so it’s a relatively snappy charger.
Verdict
Polar hasn’t made wholesale changes compared to the first Ignite, instead focusing on improving the look and trickling down some features from its pricier watches into the Ignite 2.
But it’s got pretty much everything you could want in a fitness watch, offering solid tracking for most activities, plenty in the way of data, features and insights, and is a light and comfortable watch to live with.
Features like FitSpark and the Nightly Recharge measurements is what really makes the Ignite 2 stand out from the similar price competition. The latter though clearly is a drain on battery life.
As a smartwatch you’ll get more from the likes of Garmin, Fitbit and Apple. But in terms of a fitness watch first and foremost there’s a lot to like here.
If you like the idea of a watch that does a great job of bringing training and recovery closer together and helping you make sense of it, the Ignite 2 is worth strapping on.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Apple Watch Series 3
While you’ll have to live with much less battery life, the Series 3 gives you a better screen, smartwatch features, and pretty solid sports tracking in a more attractive, customisable look.
Read our review
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Pocket-lint
Garmin Venu Sq
The square Venu Sq is in a similar price range and again offers a nicer display and more smartwatch features like Spotify offline playlist support.
Read our review
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Pocket-lint
Polar Unite
If you can live without the built-in GPS, the Unite offers those great FitSpark and Nightly Recharge measurements for less money.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) can offer an additional layer of security and privacy for your online activity. Whether you’re working on a public Wi-Fi network and want to escape prying eyes, or you’re worried about privacy in general, a VPN can offer a lot of benefits.
In a nutshell, a VPN establishes a secure, encrypted connection between your device and a private server, hiding your traffic from being seen by others. Of course, the VPN itself can still see your traffic, which is why you should choose a VPN from a company you trust. (A good rule of thumb is to avoid free VPNs, because if they’re not charging you a fee, they may be monetizing in some less desirable way.) In addition, law enforcement can get its hands on your information through the VPN company. However, for the most part, a VPN offers you a way to hide your online activity from others.
Note that getting a VPN is only one of the measures you can take to make your web browsing more secure. Others include enabling two-factor authentication and using a password manager.
In addition to their security benefits, VPNs can be handy when you’re trying to access sensitive information, or if you’re traveling in Europe and want to stream Netflix or Amazon Prime titles only allowed in the US. Some even claim they can allow you to jump firewalls in heavily regulated countries such as China.
At home, you can set up your VPN through your router, which takes a few more steps, but then any devices connected to your router won’t need to be configured individually; this can also slow down all traffic that goes through. However, for this article, we’re going to concentrate on VPN apps that you can load on your laptop or phone so you can use the internet safely while away from your home base.
Most VPN apps these days support the OpenVPN protocol, making setup a simple matter of allowing the app access to configure the settings for you. But whether your device uses macOS, Chrome OS, Windows 10, iOS, or Android, if you’d like a quick overview of what’s involved before selecting a service, or if you prefer to do a manual setup, we’ve broken down the steps into straightforward instructions for you.
Setting up a VPN in Windows 10
The first step is to create a VPN profile, which you’ll fill out with details from your particular VPN service.
Add a VPN profile in Windows 10.
Click on the Windows button, then head into “Settings” > “Network & Internet” > “VPN.” Click on “Add a VPN connection.”
In the fields on the menu, select “Windows (built-in)” for your VPN provider. Give your VPN a name under “Connection name.” Enter the server name or address, the VPN type, and the type of sign-in info, such as a username and password.
Click “Save.”
To connect to your VPN, go back to “Settings” > “Network & Internet” > “VPN.” Click on your VPN name.
If you want, you can select “Advanced Options” to edit the connection properties, clear your sign-in info, or set up a VPN proxy. You can also add a username and password in this section for extra security (optional, but recommended).
Select “Connect” and enter a password if you’ve set one.
Setting up a VPN in Chrome OS
While using a VPN with a Chromebook used to be a problem, these days, there are several (like ExpressVPN or NordVPN) that have versions specifically for Chrome OS. To get started, you can head to the Google Play store and get the VPN app from there, or download one from the VPN’s website. No matter which you choose, after opening your VPN app, it should prompt you with instructions on how to fully set it up.
If you need to do it manually, you can. Chrome has native support for L2TP / IPsec and OpenVPN. To install a VPN that works with one of these formats:
Chrome OS has native support for L2TP / IPsec.
Click on the time in the lower-right corner of your screen, then click on “Settings.”
Click on “Add connection” and then on “OpenVPN / L2TP.” (You may also find the name of your VPN in the “Add connection” list, which will make things easier.)
Add all of the necessary information, which may include server hostname, service name, provider type, pre-shared key, username, and password. You can save your identity and password if you like. When finished, click on “Connect.”
Some VPNs, especially those issued from a workplace, demand a certificate, which you will need to import first. If that’s required:
Enter chrome://settings/certificates into the address bar.
Go to the “Authorities” tab. Find the correct certificate in the list and click “Import.”
Then follow the instructions above for setting up the VPN.
Setting up a VPN in macOS
As with the other formats here, there are apps that automatically guide you through the setup process, but you can also do it yourself manually.
Open the drop-down menu and choose “VPN” so you can enter your VPN’s details.
To start, head into “System Preferences” and then choose “Network.”
From there, the process is straightforward. Click the Plus-symbol button on the bottom left, and use the Interface drop-down menu to choose your VPN. You’ll need the details from your VPN of choice to fill out “VPN Type” and “Service Name.”
Click on “Create.” Fill out the server address, remote ID, and local ID in the appropriate fields. Then click on “Authentication Settings.”
Enter the username and password for your VPN, which you can set through your VPN app.
Click “OK” and then “Connect.”
Setting up a VPN in iOS
Setting up a VPN on an iOS device is fairly simple. Again, if you download an app from the App Store, select it and it should guide you through configuration. Here’s how to do it manually, though:
Just head into “Settings” and tap on “General.”
Scroll down to select “VPN.” (The iPhone will indicate whether you are currently connected to one or not.)
Tap on “Add VPN Configuration” and then on “Type” to select a security protocol. (Follow the instructions provided by your chosen app.)
Go back to the “Add Configuration” screen, where you will add the VPN’s description, server, remote ID, and local ID.
Enter your username and password. You can also use a proxy if you like.
Tap “Done.” You will then be brought back to the VPN screen. Toggle the “Status” switch to on.
Setting up a VPN in Android
As with iOS, setting up a VPN on an Android device shouldn’t be too difficult. Here’s the manual process if you’re not letting an app automatically configure things for you. (Keep in mind that, because some vendors like Samsung tweak their Android versions, your process may vary slightly.)
Head into “Settings” > “Network & Internet” > “Advanced” > “VPN.” If you don’t see “Network & Internet” in the Settings menu (which may depend on your Android overlay), then do a search within Settings for VPN. Press the “Add” button.
If you happen to be setting this up on a new phone, or if you haven’t yet set a screen lock or password, Google will prompt you to set one for your phone first. Do so.
Now create your VPN profile. Add the VPN name, type, and server address. Click on “Save.”
You’ll be taken back to the VPN screen, where you should now see the name of your VPN. Tap on it, and put in your name and password for the VPN. You can also choose to save your account information, and you can optionally set the VPN to be always on. When finished, tap “Connect.”
Enter the VPN name, type, server address, username, and password.
Then tap “save.” You’re done!
Once you’ve got your VPN up and running, you might notice that web browsing isn’t as fast as it used to be, especially if you’ve configured traffic to go through another country. Stronger encryption, or more users connected to one VPN, can also slow down your internet speeds. Downloads might slow to snail speed, and your League of Legends screen lag might be absurd. But those aren’t big problems compared to the security that you’ve added.
And anyway, now that you know how to set up a VPN, toggling it off is easy in comparison. You just have to remember to do it.
Update June 1st, 2021, 10:20AM ET: This article was originally published on March 1st, 2019, and now features a few updates related to changes in the Windows 10 interface.
Apple had its WWDC keynote on Monday, where it showed off the big new features coming to its platforms, but it didn’t have time to show off everything coming to the new versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. So we’ve combed through the preview pages, Twitter, and a good chunk of the internet to see what interesting features got left out of the presentation.
The big features in iOS and iPadOS were the updates to notifications, FaceTime, and multitasking, but it appears Apple may have been really focusing on the platforms themselves, too. There are a ton of quality-of-life improvements including:
More Memoji options with new outfits and accessibility options
FaceTime will let you know when you’re muted but trying to talk.
FaceTime will also let you zoom with the back camera so you can finally show people things across the room without standing up.
The Announce Messages feature found in AirPods is coming to CarPlay, so your phone can automatically read texts out loud while you’re driving.
Wary iPhone users will be able to put off upgrading to iOS 15 but still get security updates.
Find My will be able to track your iPhone when it’s off (or even after it’s been factory reset). It’s currently unclear what phones will support this feature.
There’s an improved print dialog with more options.
You’ll get free temporary iCloud storage when you transfer to a new device, but it will only last for three weeks.
Leaving and arrival times are coming to Apple Maps, letting you better plan trips in the future.
iPhone apps for iPad will be able to run in landscape. No more flipping your iPad around when you need to check the one app that is still iPhone only.
There will be push notifications to tell you when it’s going to rain.
You’ll have the ability to schedule HomeKit devices with Siri (for example, asking it to turn on your bedroom lights at 7PM).
Safari is getting the pull-to-refresh mechanism found in Mail and many social network apps.
Accessibility settings like text size and contrast will be able to be set on a per-app basis.
EXIF data will be available in Photos, including camera and lens info.
You’ll also be able to adjust a photo’s date and time.
There’s a redesigned software Apple TV remote, which looks more like the new hardware version.
Panoramas taken on iPhone 12s should have less distortion, and moving subjects should look better.
You’ll be able to suggest to Photos that specific subjects shouldn’t show up in places like the Photos widget or Memories.
Spotlight will be accessible from the lock screen and Notification Center.
Filtering for spam texts… if you live in Brazil, that is. It’s likely rolling out there because of rampant spamming of SMS in the country — India got the feature last year.
You’ll be able to drag and drop files across apps on iPhone.
Spanish speakers will be able to choose whether their devices refer to them using masculine, feminine, or neutral words.
Mail is getting a widget, and there’s also a widget to show you how poorly you slept.
iPads are getting the ability to tab through text fields and buttons in apps, as can be done with Macs and in Safari.
iPads will support eye-tracking hardware to improve accessibility by letting people control a cursor using just their eyes.
The Monterey portion of the keynote was dominated by an incredibly impressive demo that showed off Apple’s new Universal Control feature, but Apple also took the time to discuss Shortcuts, which are coming to macOS. Macs are complex machines, though, and there are a few more fun and useful things that will be coming in the fall:
The ability to use your Memoji as your user profile picture (it’ll even shake its head if you try to log in with the wrong password).
A software microphone indicator light in the menu to show when an application is listening to you
A better file copy interface, with the ability to pause and resume transfers
The easy ability to erase user data, settings, and apps without re-installing the OS (great for if you’re selling your Mac)
The ability to manage your saved passwords in System Preferences. You can also import them from other password managers or export them.
You can customize the mouse cursor’s outline and fill color.
Windows will resize when you move them to another monitor.
Shortcuts will let you integrate shell commands.
An improved Go To Folder dialog in Finder
Of course, Apple is running an ecosystem here, so many of the features that got announced will be coming to all of its computers. Here are a few more that will also be coming to iPhones, iPads, and Macs:
A built-in one-time password generator, similar to Google Authenticator or Authy
Safari will detect if websites can support HTTPS and will automatically use it if they do (similar to the HTTPS Everywhere extension).
A low power mode for macOS and iPad (I can’t wait to see how far I can stretch an M1 MacBook Pro)
Reminders are also getting a tags feature, similar to the one found in Notes.
The Photos info pane will tell you about what Visual Look Up sees in the picture.
The ability to turn on DownTime whenever, if you really need to focus on something
An extension for Edge on Windows that lets you use your iCloud Passwords
Well, Apple showed off pretty much everything for WatchOS onstage — it looks like it’s not a big year for the wearable (but I’ll be very happy to get better always-on display support and multiple timers). There are some new time complications, though!
Just noticed there is a new set of Time complications in watchOS 8. While a slight bit of ‘Sherlocking’ for Watchsmith, I’m honestly super glad it’s here. A good number of my gray hairs came from supporting time based complications…glad I can focus elsewhere now. pic.twitter.com/q44aVDMoZh
— David Smith (@_DavidSmith) June 9, 2021
If you want to know if you’ll be getting these features, we’ve laid out which devices the new OSs will be coming to here:
All in all, Asus’s Chromebook Detachable CM3 is a nice package. It’s a 10.5-inch tablet with magnetically-attached fabric cover and kickstand. It’s $389.99 as tested, which means it’s priced far below all kinds of convertible Chromebooks. I’m not the first to make this comparison, but it’s a slightly more expensive, and slightly fancier version of the $269 Lenovo Chromebook Duet (currently listed at $269) that impressed me so much last year.
I think the CM3 is a slightly worse purchase than the Duet for most people who are looking for a secondary device, or a small Chromebook for a student. The CM3 does offer a few noticeable benefits over the Duet, but I’m not sure they’re worth $100. While features like a dual-folding kickstand, a garaged stylus, and a headphone jack are nice to have, none of them are as central to a device’s user experience as its processor. And while $269 is an acceptable price to pay for a tablet with a MediaTek chip, $389.99 is pushing it.
With all that said, I don’t have many problems with this Chromebook. It’s just in a bit of an odd spot.
My test unit includes 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, a 10.5-inch 1920 x 1200 display, and a MediaTek 8183 processor. There’s a 64GB version listed at $369.99 as well. 64GB isn’t a lot of storage (and there’s no microSD card slot for expansion on the CM3), so my config is the one I’d recommend most people go for.
The most important thing to understand about the CM3 before you buy it is the size. It’s small, with just a 10.5-inch screen. This brings benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, it’s quite slim and portable, at just 0.31 inches thick and 1.1 pounds (2.02 pounds with the keyboard and stand attached). It’s the kind of thing I could easily carry in my purse.
On the other hand, a 10.5-inch screen is cramped for a desktop OS like Chrome OS (though it is bright enough to use outdoors, and I appreciate that it has a 16:10 aspect ratio — 16:9 would be unbearable for me at this size). But it was too small for me to comfortably use as a work driver. I had to zoom out far to be able to see everything I needed to in my Chrome windows.
It also means there’s only so much space for the keyboard deck, which is also cramped. The touchpad, in particular, is small. The keyboard itself is roomier than the Duet’s, though — it has a surprising amount of travel and a satisfying click. While the small keys are a bit of an adjustment, none are small enough as to be unusable.
Small doesn’t mean cheap, and the CM3’s build is fairly sturdy overall. The palm rests and detachable keyboard deck feel quite plasticky, but the tablet itself is aluminum (with “diamond-cut edges”, per Asus). The magnetic cover is made of a woven fabric, and looks quite similar to the cover of the Chromebook Duet. The cover is included with the price of the CM3, which isn’t the case with some detachables (such as Microsoft’s Surface Go line).
A USI stylus lives in the top right corner of the chassis — it’s firmly in there, so you’ll need a nail to tug it out. It’s small, and not my favorite stylus I’ve ever used, but it is there and does work. The Duet supports USI styluses, but it doesn’t come with one, so that’s one advantage the CM3 brings.
The main way the CM3 is unique to other detachables is that its kickstand folds multiple ways. That is, you can fold it the long way when you’re using the tablet like a laptop, or you can flip the tablet vertically and fold the kickstand horizontally. This is a cool feature I haven’t seen before, and it does work — I was never worried about the CM3 falling over in either direction.
On the other hand, the only real use case I can think of for the horizontal position is video calls where you don’t need to have the keyboard attached and are okay with the camera being on the side of the screen. You can take your own view, but I’d rather use an iPad or dedicated tablet for these purposes and have the camera in the right place.
My unit did have a bit of fraying on the edges of the keyboard deck, which was disappointing to see on a brand-new device, even at this price. The kickstand cover also slipped off the tablet a few times while I was adjusting the height, which isn’t something that ever happened with the Duet.
Speaking of convertibility, the CM3 has a two-megapixel front-facing camera as well as an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera. Both cameras deliver a surprisingly reasonable picture. I wasn’t too washed out when I did a video call outside, nor was I too grainy in dim light. That said, the dual-camera setup is another cool-sounding feature that probably isn’t the most pragmatic: The rear camera isn’t good enough for actual photography of any kind, and the best use case is probably for snapping pictures of a whiteboard in class. It also takes a few seconds for the CM3 to swap between cameras (it’s not nearly as quick of a swap as it is on an iPhone, for example) so it wouldn’t have saved me a ton of time over just whipping out a phone.
The CM3’s MediaTek MTK 8183 is a hybrid chip that’s mainly used in Android tablets. (It’s a different MediaTek chip from the one that was in the Duet last year, but very similar to the one in uh, Amazon’s new Echo Show 8 smart display.) It’s far from the most powerful processor you can find in a Chromebook, but that’s by design — battery life is going to be a higher priority for many folks who are considering a device as portable as the CM3.
The battery life is, in fact, excellent. I averaged 12 hours and 49 minutes of continuous use running the CM3 through my regular workload of Chrome tabs and Android apps including Slack, Messenger, Twitter, Gmail, Spotify, and an occasional Zoom call with the screen at medium brightness — over an hour longer than I saw from the Duet with the same workload. This is already a heavier load than many people may want to put the CM3 through, so you may get even more time between charges. The 45W USB-C adapter juiced the CM3 up to 40 percent in an hour, making it much faster than the Duet’s wimpy 10W charger.
That battery life doesn’t come free, though, and the CM3’s performance was a mixed bag. It works fine in Chrome, for example, albeit with a teensy bit of sluggishness when swapping tabs and resizing windows, as well as other Google services like Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, and Meet (and it comes with a free 12-month 100GB membership to Google One for the rest of this year). Gaming is also fine — Flipping Legends and Monsters were both smooth and stutter-free, regardless of whether the CM3 was plugged in or running on battery.
I also think Chrome OS’s tablet mode, which the CM3 supports, has gotten pretty good. It uses Android-esque gesture controls that can help flatten the learning curve for new Chromebook users. Swiping up brings you to the home screen, for example, and swiping right swaps between web pages. You can access a version of Chrome specifically for tablets, which allows you to easily open, close, and reorder tabs with drags, swipes, and large buttons. It’s not quite like using an iPad, but I do think it’s a smoother experience than Windows’s tablet mode (especially in Chrome).
All you have to do to switch in and out of tablet mode is snap the keyboard on and off — it takes a second, and my windows didn’t always quite go back to the way I’d arranged them when I put the keyboard back on, but it’s a reasonably smooth affair overall.
But the CM3 didn’t perform well on every task I needed. Sometimes when I was trying to use Slack or Messenger over a pile of Chrome tabs, something would freeze. Zoom calls were possible — which is more than can be said for some budget Chromebooks — but I did run into lag between audio and video inputs. Slack froze and crashed quite often, and Spotify crashed a few times as well.
Access all kinds of Android apps through the Google Play store.
Photo editing was where I really ran into trouble. Lightroom was basically unusable on the CM3 with just a few things running in the background — I tried to edit a batch of around 100 photos, and could consistently only get through a few before the program crashed. I tried to move over to Google Photos, which also eventually crashed, and ended up having to do everything in Gallery. Of course, not everyone will be editing photos on their Chromebook, or pushing it as hard as I was pushing this one, so it’s a matter of knowing your own needs.
Speaking of Zoom meetings, the dual speakers are okay for Zoom calls but not too much more. The songs I played had stronger percussion than I sometimes hear from laptop speakers, but it was thin and tinny overall. The microphone did seem to work well, and didn’t have trouble picking up my voice on calls.
This was a difficult product to score. I do think the CM3 is a great device. And it does offer a few benefits over the Chromebook Duet that justify it costing a bit more. I’d probably purchase it over the Duet myself for the keyboard alone if I were looking for this type of device — the versatile kickstand, built-in stylus, and decent build quality are nice perks as well.
But “if I were looking for this type of device” is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. I’m not looking for a MediaTek device, and there’s a reason I’m not. The battery life is impressive, sure, but it’s just not enough horsepower for the workload I need. And if you are someone whose needs are suited to this low-powered processor (and there are plenty of these people in the world), I really think $389 is at the very high end of what you should be spending.
Sure, the CM3 has a (just okay) stylus, a kickstand with a funky fold, slightly better battery life, and one extra port. But it’s also on par with or slower than the Duet in most tasks I tried, the audio is worse, and it’s thicker and heavier. Given all that, I’m not convinced the CM3’s advantages are worth $100 to most people who are shopping in this category.
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