Wednesday
Dec282016

Track time you spend on apps on your Mac with Usage

With the year coming to a close, it makes some of us reflective about our actions—and that includes our digital activity. If you want to improve productivity or your effectivity when it comes to your work, time-tracking apps can help. There’s a simple and free app for the Mac that tracks how much time you spend using a particular app on your computer. Called Usage, it keeps tabs on your app usage by day and shows how much you spend in each app. If you’re expecting more from it, you might be disappointed, though. It’s not the kind of app that cuts off use if it thinks (or you set it to think) that you’ve spent way too much time on a particular program. But if simple activity tracking is what you need, Usage might be worth a look.

Source: Lifehacker

Wednesday
Dec282016

Periscope gets 360-degree livestreaming

Not to be left behind by Facebook, Twitter is offering “select partners” a chance to livestream 360-degree videos on the Periscope platform. Much like how it works on Facebook, you’ll be able to see all of what the camera catches by moving the phone around or tapping and scrolling through the screen of your phone. On the desktop, you just click and drag to see what’s happening. There will be a badge that shows up on Periscope and Twitter to show if someone is livestreaming a 360-degree video. The feature is rolling out to users now so just wait for it to head your way.

If you’re a creator and interested in streaming, Periscope seems to be promoting the Insta360 Nano camera. But if you want to use other 360-degree cameras, the company said you can experiment with these using the Periscope Producer service. However, just because you’re a creator and have a 360-degree camera, it doesn’t mean you can start streaming. Periscope hasn’t given the names of the partners it’s working with at the moment. But they’ve said interested parties can join the waitlist. Periscope hasn’t specified either if this will be a creator-exclusive feature or if it’ll open it to more users.

Source: VentureBeat

Wednesday
Dec282016

Review: Apple AirPods

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I would say that Apple has had two major innovations for 2016. The first would be TouchBar on the new MacBook Pros and the second are the Apple AirPods.

The TouchBar, I hear, was actually in development for many years with the price of OLED touch panels a huge factor in integrating it into the MacBook Pros. The AirPods, which are a culmination of various Apple technologies and the biggest answer to the, “why get rid of the headphone jack?” question remind us why Apple shouldn’t be counted out of the innovation game.

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Tuesday
Dec272016

Look at this levitating speaker from LG

LG has been showing off its wares ahead of CES early next month and this time around the tech manufacturer ventures into audio territory. It’s not just any speaker, though, it’s a levitating speaker. The thick base of this off-white lunar lander-like speaker houses the subwoofer for that bass you will be looking for. The hovering speaker itself is an omnidirectional speaker with control options placed on it. LG claims this Levitating Portable Speaker comes with Dual Passive Radiator technology for “flush mid-range tones and crisp highs.”

Battery life is expected to last for 10 hours and when it runs out of juice it’ll slowly descend back on land, much like a mini lunar lander would. You will still be able to use the speaker when it’s charging but where’s the fun in that? There’s no word yet on pricing and release date for the speaker, though.

Source: The Verge