Begging the Question
Our verdict of the MINGER iHoment LED TV Smart Lights:
Cost-effective, relatively easy to install and retrofit to any TV. iHoment is the perfect immersive addition to entertainment setup.
29 August 2018
What Is SIP? macOS System Integrity Protection Explained
macOS changed significantly with the release of 10.11 El Capitan and the introduction of System Integrity Protection, or SIP for short. It’s a security measure that had some pretty big implications for the operating system back in 2015.
These days, most of us have adapted to a post-SIP macOS. But you might still wonder what it is, what exactly it does, and why you’re best off leaving it alone.
So let’s take a look at SIP, what purpose it serves, and why it came about in the first place.
What Is System Integrity Protection?
Put simply, System Integrity Protection is a security measure Apple introduced to protect certain parts of your macOS installation and core processes, and to vet third-party kernel extensions. It actively protects parts of your system from modification, and blocks installation of insecure extensions.
While you have SIP enabled, certain areas are entirely off-limits in the name of (unsurprisingly) protecting the integrity of your system. You can gain certain privileges via Apple’s developer program, allowing signed software to take actions like installing drivers.
SIP is invisible, and works entirely in the background. It’s not the same as Gatekeeper, Apple’s other security feature that blocks installation of unsigned third-party software. But it’s certainly part of the security-conscious trend that saw Apple introduce the technology, previously known as File Quarantine.
Why Is System Integrity Protection Necessary?
SIP protects your Mac from unwanted meddling. It’s a security feature that appeared in the face of an increasing macOS malware threat. Gone are the days of Apple’s “I’m a PC” marketing slogans that claim the system is virtually bulletproof.
Mac malware exists; there have been many documented cases from simple JavaScript “ransomware” to pervasive malware that attempts to steal your admin password. SIP and Gatekeeper only go so far in protecting against these threats. Mac dangers are a real issue, particularly when it comes to browser technologies like the Java plug-in and Adobe Flash.
Apple noted that much of the threat to macOS (then OS X) came from the fact that most Apple computers use a single user account with admin privileges. Having admin (root) access to your computer provides autonomy, but prior to SIP, this led to some users unwittingly approving the installation of malware.
In short: your Mac isn’t safe, even from yourself. By limiting what root access can do, Apple effectively builds a barrier between you and the most sensitive parts of your system. The side effect of this approach is that you no longer have complete control, particularly with tweaking appearance and application behavior.
This tightening of Apple’s grip over macOS has led some users to complain that the platform is following too closely in the footsteps of Apple’s mobile platform, iOS. On the upside, iOS is the most secure mobile platform on the market, so the approach has some merit.
Which Parts of macOS Does SIP Protect?
SIP affects directories, processes, and kernel extensions. That means you cannot make changes to the following directories:
- /System
- /usr
- /bin
- /sbin
Most of these directories aren’t even visible, so the protection is mainly aimed at preventing third-party programs from writing to these areas. This also includes the ability to make changes to core system files, which means less customization than pre-SIP macOS.
Users and third-party apps can still make changes to the following directories:
- /Applications
- /Library
- /usr/local
SIP also protects most applications that come installed with macOS from interference too.
Finally, third-party kernel extensions (including drivers) must now be signed with an Apple Developer ID. Your Mac won’t boot if unsigned kernel extensions are present.
How Does SIP Affect Mac Software?
In the few years since SIP was introduced, developers and users alike have adjusted to the lockdown of certain system components. Many developers rewrote apps from the ground up to work alongside SIP. Lots more have since launched that already accommodate Apple’s restrictions.
All apps in the Mac App Store must work with SIP in order to gain Apple’s approval. The vast majority of third-party apps work just fine too. There are a few exceptions like Winclone, which still requires the disabling (and then re-enabling) of SIP in order to perform its function as a Boot Camp cloning tool.
While there are plenty of small handy Mac tweaks for fixing just about everything still available, deep system tweaks are mostly no longer viable. For example, theming apps designed to change the colors, look, and feel of Finder relied on code injection, which you can’t do anymore. These apps are no longer viable without building something new from scratch.
Ultimately, though, software is not affected unless the developer specifically points it out. If that’s the case, it might be worth looking for a different app to perform the same task. SIP exists to protect you. For the vast majority of users who see macOS as a functional base with which to get work done, it’s well worth living within these constraints.
How Do You Disable SIP on macOS?
If you really want to disable SIP, you can do so by rebooting into your Mac’s recovery partition (hold Cmd + R at startup), then using the csrutil command line utility. Check out our full guide to disabling SIP, but we’d recommend you re-enable it when you’re done tinkering.
It’s also worth pointing out that your computer will re-enable SIP every time you update your OS, or upgrade to a new version of macOS. You might as well leave it on and work around it, since it’s here to stay.
System Integrity, Protected
Apple’s efforts to secure macOS have led to it enjoying an excellent security record. Built on a Unix base, macOS provides signature Apple user-friendliness and approach to user privacy. It’s completed with a rock-solid foundation and a focus on security.
Since new software is built with SIP in mind, only old software, deep system-level tweaks, and the odd niche third-party app will ever require you disable it.
In the end, it’s a security feature, and one that follows Apple’s design sensibilities for the macOS platform. Since the use of Apple’s OS is one of the primary motivators for buying a Mac, it doesn’t make much sense to disable a feature like this.
Read the full article: What Is SIP? macOS System Integrity Protection Explained
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Diver attacked by Elon Musk as “pedo guy” is prepping a libel suit
A British cave diving expert who helped save the young Thai football team that got trapped in caves this summer is preparing a legal action against Elon Musk for making “false and defamatory statements”, TechCrunch has confirmed.
BuzzFeed reported the development earlier, after obtaining a letter sent to Musk’s home on August 6 by a firm representing the diver, Vernon Unsworth.
The background here is that in a highly offensive and extremely bizarre episode last month — even for the famously ‘loose cannon online’ Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to attack Unsworth, branding him a “pedo guy”.
The bizarre attack came after Unsworth had given a critical interview to the media saying the mini sub which Musk had designed and brought to Thailand “had absolutely no chance of working”. Unsworth ended an interview segment by suggesting Musk should “stick his submarine where it hurts” — a tongue-in-cheek phrase which apparently triggered Musk’s Twitter outburst.
Facing a backlash over his comments about a man who had successfully helped rescue the boys, Musk subsequently deleted the offensive tweets and quasi-apologized for slurring Unsworth in a further set of tweets, on July 18, though these were only posted within a Twitter thread, rather than being broadcast to his ~22.4M Twitter followers.
At the time Musk said Unsworth’s comment had angered him, and that had made him lash out, but he also added: “Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.”
The public element of the episode might have ended there but earlier this week Musk dredged it all up again by repeating his offensive insinuation against Unsworth during a debate with ex-TechCrunch journalist Drew Olanoff — who had brought up the “pedo guy” attack as an example of Musk himself telling untruths.
Yet instead of reiterating his apology to Unsworth, Musk doubled down on his original offensive attack — writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.”
To which Olanoff replied: “What I think is especially strange here is that you’re wondering why he hasn’t sued you while the rest of us are wondering why you did something so egregious that he could sue you for in the first place.”
We contacted the law firm for confirmation that it is representing Mr Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk. Partner Lin Wood was unavailable to speak about the matter when we called but he confirmed via email that the firm is representing Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk, and that it is preparing a legal action.
In the letter sent by the firm to Musk’s home earlier this month Wood informs Musk he has been retained by Unsworth on account of the defamatory statements made by Musk on Twitter alleging that he is a pedophile.
Wood also writes that he is preparing a civil complaint of libel and invites Musk to contact him “in an attempt to avoid litigation and to see the public record corrected”.
It’s not clear whether or not Musk had seen the letter at the time of his tweets to Olanoff.
We’ve reached out to Musk (via Twitter) for comment on the legal action and to ask whether he will be withdrawing his repeat allegation against Unsworth. We’ll update this story with any response.
The Tesla CEO’s erratic behavior online has caused other high profile headaches for his companies in recent weeks, after he tweeted about taking Tesla private — triggering wild swings in the stock price and scrutiny (and potential problems) from the Securities and Exchange Commission, only for the idea to be nixed weeks later.
The associated risks for shareholders in a public company whose CEO uses Twitter as a weapon to indulge personal spats and feuds — and to spitball major business decisions — without, apparently, any thought for the legal and reputational consequences for him or his companies, are hard to quantify but equally difficult to deny.
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Sonos releases new speaker Amp, partners with Sonance for in-wall speakers
Sonos is doubling down on the custom in-home audio market with new products and partnerships. The company today announced a new version of the Sonos Amp and a partnership with Sonance that will result in three architectural speakers — in-wall, in-ceiling and outdoor — that Sonos says will gain additional functionality when paired with a Sonos system.
Sonos is also announcing upcoming Control APIs that the company says will make it easier to integrate Sonos into the ever-evolving smart home. This jibes with Sonos’ long-standing approach of working with other platforms to offer its customers as many services as possible.
The new Amp allows owners to use traditional home audio speakers with a Sonos system. Connect a turntable or stream media with just the Amp and power a set of bookshelf speakers. According to the spec sheet, the Amp has enough power to push most high-end bookshelf speakers.
The Amp replaces the Connect:Amp. The new version is more powerful, works with more platforms and is more expensive at $599 rather than $499. This new version outputs 125 watts per channel at 8 ohms; it can power four speakers instead of two. The additional power makes the Amp more versatile than its predecessor, too. Sonos says the Amp can be used to add stereo sound to a TV (thanks in part to HDMI Arc support) or add wireless rears to a Sonos theater setup. Or, two Amps can be used to add a complete surround sound system. Multiple Amp units can be stacked or mounted in a rack.
The Amp works with AirPlay 2 and with Alexa when used in conjunction with an Amazon Alexa-enabled Sonos device like a Sonos One or Beam.
With a product like the Amp, Sonos has a new offering for those customers looking to integrate the convenient Sonos line into their high-end home theater setup. That’s a serious market, too, and the company’s new partnership with Sonance shows Sonos is committed to addressing the home audio enthusiast while building products to compete with Apple and Amazon.
Together, they will produce in-wall speakers that when used with a Sonos Amp will offer additional functionality. The company stopped short of detailing the added functionality. These speakers are set for an early 2019 release.
This is Sonos’ first large announcement after going public on August 2.
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Google steps back from running the Kubernetes infrastructure
Google today announced that it is providing the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) with $9 million in Google Cloud credits to help further its work on the Kubernetes container orchestrator and that it is handing over operational control of the project to the community. These credits will be split over three years and are meant to cover the infrastructure costs of building, testing and distributing the Kubernetes software.
Why does this matter? Until now, Google hosted virtually all the cloud resources that supported the project like its CI/CD testing infrastructure, container downloads and DNS services on its cloud. But Google is now taking a step back. With the Kubernetes community reaching a state of maturity, Google is transferring all of this to the community.
Between the testing infrastructure and hosting container downloads, the Kubernetes project regularly runs over 150,000 containers on 5,000 virtual machines, so the cost of running these systems quickly adds up. The Kubernetes container registry served almost 130 million downloads since the launch of the project.
It’s also worth noting that the CNCF now includes a wide range of members that typically compete with each other. We’re talking Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle, SAP and VMware, for example. All of these profit from the work of the CNCF and the Kubernetes community. Google doesn’t say so outright, but it’s fair to assume that it wanted others to shoulder some of the burdens of running the Kubernetes infrastructure, too. Similarly, some of the members of the community surely didn’t want to be so closely tied to Google’s infrastructure either.
“By sharing the operational responsibilities for Kubernetes with contributors to the project, we look forward to seeing the new ideas and efficiencies that all Kubernetes contributors bring to the project operations,” Google Kubernetes Engine product manager William Deniss writes in today’s announcement. He also notes that a number of Google’s will still be involved in running the Kubernetes infrastructure.
“Google’s significant financial donation to the Kubernetes community will help ensure that the project’s constant pace of innovation and broad adoption continue unabated,” said Dan Kohn, the executive director of the CNCF. “We’re thrilled to see Google Cloud transfer management of the Kubernetes testing and infrastructure projects into contributors’ hands – making the project not just open source, but openly managed, by an open community.”
It’s unclear whether the project plans to take some of the Google-hosted infrastructure and move it to another cloud, but it could definitely do so — and other cloud providers could step up and offer similar credits, too.
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10 Relaxing Netflix Shows to Watch When You’re Stressed
What do Breaking Bad, Hannibal, and The Americans have in common? Sure, they’re all top-quality shows deserving of all awards that came their way, but they’re also dark, heavy, and difficult to watch when you’re stressed out or have a lot on your mind.
Sometimes you just want to come home, plop down on the couch, and watch a palate cleansing-type of show to help you unwind. For that, you’ll want to check out these relaxing Netflix shows.
NB: You won’t find any traditional sitcoms or standup comedies on this list. We’re delving into the more unusual corners of Netflix in search of real relaxation. If you believe laughter is the best medicine then see our articles on the best Netflix sitcoms, overlooked Netflix sitcoms, and the best Netflix standup specials.
1. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Imagine a talk show hosted by comedian Jerry Seinfeld where every guest is one of his comedian friends—and takes place inside a cafe as well as during the car ride there. No scripts. No self-promotion. It’s entirely authentic, genuine, and absolutely hilarious.
Just look at the name of the show, it says it all: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The episodes are about 15 to 20 minutes long, and each one features a vintage car picked by Seinfeld himself to match the personality of the episode’s guest.
It’s the ultimate show for when you want to shut off your brain and just have a laugh.
Watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix
2. Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere
Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere is basically the same thing as The Joy of Painting, but the episodes are taken from the 1991-1992 seasons of the show, and not all of the episodes are there.
But who cares? Nothing beats the feeling of watching Bob Ross paint up another scenic masterpiece, complete with his soft voice and gentle encouragements. Looking for a show you can fall asleep to? Look no further.
Watch Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere on Netflix
3. Chef’s Table
Have you seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi? If you did and you liked it, then you really should watch Chef’s Table. Directed by the same person (David Gelb), Chef’s Table is one of the best Netflix documentaries for foodies.
Every episode focuses on the life and cuisine of a world-class Michelin-starred chef, and brings out the human element that’s often missing in food documentaries.
But if that sounds boring, think again. Not only is Chef’s Table one of the most beautifully shot shows, period, it’s deeply engrossing and even inspirational. The hours will melt away as you watch. There’s nothing quite like it.
Watch Chef’s Table on Netflix
Watch Chef’s Table France on Netflix
4. Explained
While Explained is a Netflix show, it feels more suited for a YouTube series in that every episode is about 15 minutes long, educational, entertaining, and entirely self-contained to a single per-episode topic.
As of this writing, there are Explained episodes for: cryptocurrency, K-pop, esports, the stock market, cricket, the longevity of life, and more. It’s enough to give you a general understanding of a topic’s history and importance, and it’s presented in a mostly unbiased way that’s engaging—and surprisingly relaxing.
5. The Great British Baking Show
Also known as The Great British Bake Off, this show is perhaps the most wholesome reality TV competition you’ll ever watch (rivaled only by MasterChef Junior).
The Great British Baking Show has amateur bakers face off in a series of elimination rounds until there’s a winner. But the best part is that it’s devoid of the hardcore competitive spirit that props up most American reality shows. It oozes with kindness, humor, and great food. What’s not to love?
Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix
Watch The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass on Netflix
6. Terrace House
Have you ever wanted to watch Big Brother or Real World but without any of the fabricated drama or scripted narratives? Well, that’s Terrace House for you.
Six strangers come together to live in a shared house for a month, with hidden cameras everywhere. But this is a Japanese reality show, and there’s a different culture and atmosphere than what you normally see in American reality TV. It’s soft, it’s polite, and it’s a joy to watch.
The original Terrace House (Boys & Girls Next Door) ran for three years in Japan, but Netflix revived it in 2015 with Boys & Girls in the City. This was followed by the sequels Aloha State and Opening New Doors. Only the Netflix-produced ones are available on Netflix.
Watch Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City on Netflix
Watch Terrace House: Aloha State on Netflix
Watch Terrace House: Opening New Doors on Netflix
7. Planet Earth
Planet Earth is the third highest ranked show on IMDb. The first show on that list? Planet Earth II.
These two shows comprise the most incredible nature documentary experience currently available. Using state-of-the-art technology, they capture some of the most secret moments in all of wildlife. In the case of Planet Earth II, it’s all captured in 4K.
Each episode took years to produce, and you can tell. There’s a reason why Planet Earth sits atop our list of the best BBC documentaries on Netflix.
Watch Planet Earth on Netflix
Watch Planet Earth II on Netflix
8. Samurai Gourmet
Samurai Gourmet is a lighthearted show that follows a newly retired Japanese man who roams his neighborhood and explores the rich culinary offerings therein.
In a word, Samurai Gourmet is refreshing. Few shows are as easy to watch as this one, and it demands nothing of you.
Watch Samurai Gourmet on Netflix
9. Aggretsuko
Aggretsuko is a Japanese anime, but don’t let that turn you away. It’s ultra cute, but it’s not a kid’s show. The cuteness contrasts against the main character’s mundane and frustrating office life, as well as her secret love of death metal karaoke.
The episodes are short at just 15 minutes, so you can pop them on whenever you—like the main character—feel like you need to blow off some steam.
10. Curious & Unusual Deaths
This show is a bit of an oddball on this list, but I back it wholeheartedly.
In each episode, Curious & Unusual Deaths explores three different unusual deaths that actually happened in the past, and investigates how these strange deaths happened. The deaths are often thematically related (e.g. Trapped to Death).
Despite the morbid subject, Curious & Unusual Deaths is downright fun to watch because the deaths are just so weird. Not to mention how corny the narration is. Every death is wrapped up with a groan-inducing pun, and that just adds to the experience.
Watch Curious & Unusual Deaths on Netflix
Relax Even More With Netflix’s Slow TV
The “slow TV” fad seems to have come and gone, but you can still find some beautiful slow TV shows on Netflix. Notable titles include Moving Art, Fireplace for Your Home, and Train Ride Bergen to Oslo.
Never heard of slow TV before? To cut a long story short, it’s a kind of realism where the footage is played back in real-time as it was recorded. Using the example above, watching a recording of a fireplace counts as slow TV. It’s devoid of any drama, making it perfect for when you just want to zone out to get away from the stresses of everyday life.
Learn more in our quick guide to slow TV.
Read the full article: 10 Relaxing Netflix Shows to Watch When You’re Stressed
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Facebook has restored the cross-posted tweets that were removed from users’ profiles
Facebook says it has corrected the issue of users’ deleted posts, which had affected those who had previously cross-posted their Tweets to their Facebook profile – a feature that’s no longer supported. Earlier this month, Facebook locked down its API to prevent third-party apps from being able to post to profiles as the logged-in user, and Twitter was one of those apps impacted by the change.
However, the changes to Facebook’s API would not have mass deleted all of users’ cross-posted Tweets. It should have only prevented Twitter users from continuing to automatically post from Twitter to their Facebook profile or business page.
But Twitter, for whatever reason – an accident, one would hope – requested its Facebook app be deleted. This resulted in removals of all the content that had been cross-posted by Twitter to Facebook being also deleted from users’ profiles.
Facebook was in touch with Twitter since then, and received permission to have the app re-enabled. (Though it took longer than expected – Twitter was made aware of the problem early in the evening on Tuesday but it wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday that Facebook confirmed it was restoring the content – which means they received permission from Twitter to do so. Obviously, Facebook can’t just turn on a third-party app again after the developer says to take it down – it had to ask. Twitter, we understand, didn’t give Facebook immediate permission to fix the problem. Maybe it’s still mad about the whole cross-posting thing being turned off?)
While, technically speaking, the error is on Twitter’s side here, Facebook probably should have had some kind of warning in place to alert the app developers – whomever they may be – of the consequences of their decisions. That is, deleting their app would also delete all the content shared through it over the years.
Many Twitter users had heavily relied on the cross-posting feature to maintain their presence on Facebook and continue their discussions with a new audience. The deletions meant they lost years’ worth of Facebook posts and conversations, in many cases.
Facebook says it has restored all the removed content, a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email around 1:20 AM ET on Wednesday. All impacted users should be able to see their cross-posts tweets and their discussions again.
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Sinemia takes aim at MoviePass again, with new $9.99 plan
Sinemia continues its campaign to take advantage of MoviePass’ high-profile struggles and win over the better-known movie ticket subscription service’s customers. Today, it announced a new plan priced at $9.99 per month.
MoviePass, after all, recently announced that it would be keeping its monthly subscription price at $9.95, but limiting subscribers to three movies per month (with discounts on additional tickets).
The new Sinemia tier also includes three tickets each month, but it has the additional benefit of allowing subscribers to buy tickets for any 2D, non-IMAX screen, and to buy those tickets in advance. MoviePass, in contrast, is rotating the available movies each day, and it requires subscribers to buy their tickets at the theater, on the same day as the screening.
Just a couple weeks ago, Sinemia announced a refer-a-friend program that rewards subscribers who convince their friends to leave other subscription services. The company makes no secret of the fact that it’s targeting MoviePass in particular — in today’s announcement, it describes the new plan as one that “matches MoviePass’ latest.”
Sinemia offers a variety of other options, ranging from $3.99 per month for one ticket, to $14.99 for three tickets, with IMAX and 3D access.
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Facebook Watch is launching worldwide
Facebook Watch, the social network’s home to original video content and answer to YouTube, is now becoming available worldwide. The Watch tab had first launched last August, only in the U.S., and now touts over 50 million monthly viewers who watch at least a minute of video within Watch. Since the beginning of the year, total time spent viewing videos in Watch is up by 14x, says Facebook.
The company has continued to add more social features to Watch over the past year, including participatory viewing experiences like Watch Parties, Premiers, and those with audience involvement, like an HQ Trivia competitor, Confetti, built on the new gameshow platform.
Watch also offers basic tools for discovery, saving videos for later viewing, and lets users customize a feed of videos from Facebook Pages they follow.
Along with international availability, Facebook is introducing “Ad Breaks” to more publishers. These can be either mid-roll or pre-roll ads, or images below the video. Publishers can either insert the ads themselves or use Facebook’s automated ad insertion features. Facebook says 70+ percent of mid-roll ads are viewed to completion.
Ad Breaks are now offered to creators who publish 3-minute videos that generate over 30,000 1-minute views in total over the past 2 months; who have 10,000 Facebook followers or more; who are in a supported country; and who meet other eligibility criteria.
Supported countries today include the U.S., UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Next month, that list will expand to include Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand, supporting English content and other local languages. More countries and languages will then follow.
Also new today is the global launch of Creator Studio, where Pages can manage their entire content library and business. This includes the ability to search across their library to view post-level details and insights, as well as manage interactions across Pages, Facebook Messages, comments, and Instagram. Other tools here focus on using Ad Breaks, viewing monetization and payments, and publishing the videos.
The Creator Studio is also seeing the addition of a new metric on audience retention added now, allowing publishers to better program their content.
YouTube, too, also this year launched an updated version of its Creator Studio, now called YouTube Studio, offering similar analytics for its own network.
Facebook isn’t the only one making a play for YouTube’s creators – Amazon’s Twitch has been offering deals to woo creators to its game-streaming site, a recent report claimed.
“Our goal is to provide publishers and creators with the tools they need to build a business on Facebook,” the company said in an announcement. “Facebook’s Fostering an active, engaged community and sharing longer content that viewers seek out and regularly come back to are key to finding success,” it noted.
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Apple updates AirPort Express firmware with AirPlay 2 support
Surprise, the AirPort Express isn’t dead! While Apple stopped selling AirPort products back in April, the company is still updating the firmware of the once beloved AirPort Express.
This firmware update is quite significant as it adds support for AirPlay 2 and the Home app. In other words, you can now plug speakers to a dusty AirPort Express and turn them into wireless speakers for your home sound system.
The AirPort Express was a pretty basic home router. It hasn’t been updated since 2012, which means that it’s nowhere near as performant as today’s cheap routers. It only supports 802.11n while everybody has moved on to 802.11ac.
Its Ethernet ports are limited to 100 Mbps. So if you have fiber internet, the AirPort Express is not a good solution as it caps your internet connection to 100 Mbps.
But the AirPort Express also has an audio jack — something that you can’t find in many Apple products these days. Today’s update makes this audio jack relevant again, as it’s a cheap way to get started with AirPlay 2.
After updating the device with the AirPort Utility app on your Mac or iOS device, you can launch the Home app and add the router as a new Home accessory. After that, you’ll find the AirPort Express in your AirPlay speaker list.
Apple recently released AirPlay 2, an update to its audio and video protocol. With AirPlay 2, you can stream music from your Apple devices to multiple speakers at once. On your phone, you can control the volume of each speaker individually and play the same song across your home.
While Sonos, Bose and other speaker manufacturers are updating their devices to support AirPlay 2, chances are many devices won’t get an update. The AirPort Express update can help you go through this transition.
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10 Free Photoshop Brushes and How to Install Them
Digital artists need Adobe Photoshop brushes. And brushes are an absolute necessity for photographers and UX designers too. They add that extra shine to any project in Photoshop. The best Photoshop brushes cost money. But thanks to the open community, you can find plenty of high-resolution brushes that are free as well.
It isn’t too tough to find a free brush when you have community sites like DeviantArt, Brusheezy, and ArtStation around. But we decided to save you a search by recommending 10 Adobe Photoshop brush sets that can be downloaded for free.
1. Kyle T. Webster
A voluminous set of more than 1000 brushes is one of the new Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 features you shouldn’t miss. When you go to the download page on Adobe.com, you will learn a bit more about the award-winning illustrator and the world’s topmost authority on Photoshop brushes. There are 15 free Photoshop brush sets on offer.
Take your pick from watercolor, dry media, spatter, runny inkers, or just the megapack with 300 brushes to begin with. It’s available to Creative Cloud members for free.
2. Real Markers
If you are into sketchnotes or just sketching, then this free 12 brush pack could be for you. Eilert Janben is a freelance illustrator from Germany who uses his own brushes for storyboarding. The entire set boasts 300 brushes but will cost you $9. So why not take a peek with the twelve free brushes first.
3. Abstract Bokeh Brushes
Bokeh is those out-of-focus orbs of light that make close-up photos pop. The best way to create bokeh is with the lens itself. The second-best way is creative trickery with Photoshop. Brusheezy is a site well known for its Photoshop brushes and PSD resources. This single find has 24 high-resolution brushes in sizes up to 5000px.
4. Eyeshadow Photoshop and GIMP Brushes
After Brusheezy, make a stop at DeviantArt to fill your cart with a variety of Photoshop resources. This unique set of eyeshadow brushes for Photoshop and GIMP is just a small part of it. The 52 brush set should fit right into your palette if you are interested in make-up mockups and other eye effects on portrait photos.
The description says—it includes various glittery effects, patterned eye makeup, and face painting styled eye accents (a butterfly and a swirl). Maybe, you can pair it with these eyelash brushes made by the same developer.
5. Tech Photoshop Brushes
We are a tech site, so why avoid these cool Photoshop and GIMP brushes that are made of tech shapes and diagrams? The brushes are made by the same developer as the eyeshadow brushes and you can find them on Stephanie’s site.
The brush shapes include circles, hexagons, lines, blueprints, diagrams, binary designs (including a Matrix-like binary arrangement), gears, circuits, and other tech forms.
6. Free Calligraphy Brushes
Calligraphy brushes are the first thing you will search for when you are a brush lover. BrushLovers.com has a huge stock of free Photoshop brushes and I found this nice set there. The 54 free calligraphy brushes can help you mimic the style of traditional calligraphic pens and create interesting hand-lettered effects.
7. Woodland Wonderland: Gouache Brush
Gouache is an opaque watercolor and is a painting medium. The Photoshop equivalent is a creative option for digital coloring. The Woodland Wonderland 31 brush pack from RetroSupply is a set of natural media-inspired Photoshop brushes. It isn’t free but there is a free sampler pack which will give you a free Gouache brush for the price of your email address.
You can also subscribe to the site and get hold of their other freebies too. The whole site is about adding a touch of retro to your designs, so a brush set like Edge and Fold Distressor brushes could be useful too.
8. Sketchy Cartography Brushes
Let’s make two stops at MyPhotoshopBrushes.com and pick up this unique set of 146 cartography brushes. Maybe, you are in the mood for making your own Indiana Jones-style treasure map. Or, an inspired history assignment for your kids. The vintage sketches of geographical shapes and map lines can add the right effects.
9. Hi-Resolution Cloud Brushes
Take the help of Franz Jeitz and his 17 brush set of cloud effects. These high-resolution brushes can be added to any photo which needs a more interesting sky. You can add the cloud to the night sky too and make it look realistic with the help of Photoshop. Maybe, you can give it a shot in your next project when you replace a background using Photoshop.
10. Free Christmas Holiday Text Brushes
It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, and if it creeps up on you you’ll wish you had these brushes installed and ready to go. You can take this 20 brush set and create inspiring text designs for flyers, Christmas cards, and Christmas photos. The brushes are vector scalable to high-resolution.
Browse MyPhotoshopBrushes.com for other free Christmas and winter sets too. The brushes are free for personal and commercial use.
How to Install New Brushes in Adobe Photoshop CC
Installing new brushes in Photoshop shouldn’t take more than a few seconds. The more important part is organizing the brushes in their own groups so they become easier to manage. But, let’s install some first:
1. Open Adobe Photoshop. Go to Windows > Brushes and open the Brushes panel.
2. Click the small hamburger menu icon on the top right corner of the panel and click Import Brushes
3. Browse to the folder location on your PC where you have downloaded the new brushes. Find the file with the .ABR extension and double-click the file to load it.
4. The single brush or group of brushes in a folder will now appear at the bottom of the list of Photoshop brushes.
5. Delete unwanted brushes. Select a brush. Choose Delete Brush from the panel menu, or click the Delete icon.
More Photoshop Brushes to Download
The Creative Cloud Marketplace is a good place to scour for the best digital art resources. But it is like a shiny Fifth Avenue shop. The web is so vast, you will always find a nook here that’s more like a bazaar with freebies to dive into. And, if all else fails, you can learn to create your own Photoshop brushes by mixing and mashing different shapes.
Read the full article: 10 Free Photoshop Brushes and How to Install Them
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Forget Philips Ambilight: iHoment Retrofit TV Backlight Does The Job For $60
If you’re looking to set the mood in your entertainment areas, ambient lighting is one of the best ways of accomplishing this. There are a plethora of LED strips available online and at the high end we have systems like Philips Hue and the innovative Nano Leaf.
But ambient lighting can also be used to increase levels of immersion by syncing with what’s happening on your screen. Achieving this can prove to be challenging for a number of reasons. Has the MINGER iHoment kit solved these problems in a cost-effective and easy way? Let’s find out – and at the end of this review, you can enter our competition to win a kit for yourself!
Specifications
- Small SKU size: 6.23ft of LEDs for 40″-55″ TVs
- Large SKU size: 7.22ft of LEDs for 46″-60″ TVs
- Connectivity: Bluetooth
- App Support: iOS and Android
- Video Source: Anything displayed on the TV
What is an Ambilight?
Ambilight is a trademark for the immersive lighting technology that Philips launched in 2004, with lighting on the rear of the TV that reflected on-screen content. To date, they’re the only manufacturers to build this technology into the TV itself. Unfortunately, the TVs aren’t sold in the US any more. Various attempts have been made to retrofit this functionality to other TVs, but have been unsuccessful due to cost, complexity, or limitations.
Our own ambilight DIY project required a Windows PC to playback the content and capture the image, but you can do the same with a Raspberry Pi and HDMI capture device for any input source:
For a ready-made kit, there’s LightBerry, but it costs upwards of $300.
iHoment have an innovative solution that keeps the cost and complexity low: it mounts a camera on top of your TV.
Getting Started
Packaged in the box are the LED strip, the controller, a camera, four electrostatic stickers and a tape measure.
The LED strip is made up of three pieces. One vertical side with a USB connector, followed by the horizontal longer piece, and finally the last vertical piece. Each side is connected via a flexible cable making it easy when it comes to installation.
The first step would be to clean the back and top side of your TV and be sure to remove any dust that may have settled. Ideally, you want to place the TV face down on a soft towel, or if you’re extra lazy like me install it in place and get a friend to help out.
Installation
The orientation of how you install the strips is very important. If you’re looking at the rear side of the TV, ensure the vertical strip with the USB connector is going to be applied on the right-hand side. It may be a good idea to do a test fit without removing any adhesive tape to get an idea of where you’re going to be sticking the strips.
Once you’ve got the orientation correct, remove the adhesive tape from the middle piece and press down along the length of the strip. Do the same with the vertical side pieces and let’s move on to the camera.
The camera is going to be installed on the top surface of your TV and needs to be parallel with the ground. Not all TVs are going to be completely flat on the top so you may need to fashion something out of Sugru or play dough in order to install the camera correctly. If your camera doesn’t seem to be parallel the mount can be bent easily to get the perfect fit.
The camera needs to be precisely in the center of your TV. Using the tape measure, and a whiteboard marker, mark the center of your TV on the bezel. You can also mark the camera mount to make lining up the camera and the bezel much easier. Remove the 3M adhesive tape and stick the camera to the top of your TV.
Finally, stick the four electrostatic stickers on the four corners of your TV. Fortunately, being electrostatic they are not going to leave any residue, which again is well thought out on iHoment’s part. Be sure to preserve these stickers in case you need to recalibrate the LED strips.
Calibration
If there are any red items in the periphery or line of sight of the camera, put them out of sight as it can interfere with the calibration. Ensure your TV is powered off and connect the camera and LED strip to the controller box. Finally, hook up the power (to the iHoment controller that is, not your TV). Quickly move away and make sure there’s at least a meter between yourself and the TV to make sure calibration happens correctly.
The LED strip will cycle through a few colors and when it stays solid white calibration is complete. If for any reason this is not the case you need to leave the stickers in place and re-run the calibration from within the app. I had to recalibrate one more time after initialization for the strip to work correctly. It also helps to keep the room lights switched on when calibrating the strips.
Power on your TV, and run a few quick tests to check if all your hard work has paid off. If you have access to YouTube you can search for “Ambilight Test” and have your TV cycle through a few colors and put the strip to the test.
Sit Back and Enjoy
The result is absolutely stunning. Your TV which once was a simple animated picture frame is now a window into another dimension. It almost feels as if the TV is extending beyond its frame into the rest of the room. The iHoment doesn’t feel intrusive but rather adds to the ambiance complimenting every scene.
It’s quite difficult to translate over video or in pictures but it is something you just have to experience. When technology like this comes along some may not see it as necessary but there’s no disputing how impressive it is. But how does it compare with the likes of Philips Ambilight?
Inherently, this is an apples to oranges comparison as Ambilight have their LEDs baked into the TV. Relatively the Ambilight has a few more milliseconds of latency but it’s by no means sluggish. The colors on the Ambilight are also slightly more accurate for some of the colors but I doubt this will be very noticeable in regular usage.
The App
You can find the iHoment app on the App store or the Play store. Make sure your Bluetooth is switched on and fire up the app. Your mobile device will begin searching for the iHoment controller. When you initially pair, you can rename the device, in case you want to pair to multiple controllers.
The app has essentially three modes; music, video, and color. Music activates a microphone in the controller box and the LEDs change based on sounds. Color, as you guessed allows you to statically set the color of the lights. The color picker does seem a little sparse, compared to a color wheel style picker similar to the Philips Hue.
Having an app to control the iHoment is brilliant. Many of the cheaper LED strips are paired with an infrared remote which is less convenient. Not to mention the app can be upgraded to include new features.
Predominantly you will leave the system in dynamic video mode which is where all the magic happens. The iHoment detects if your TV is on or off and switches both on and off with your TV. This is a great feature that means usage is generally a case of set and forget.
Do You Want an Ambilight For Your TV?
iHoment has put in a huge amount of effort with this device an it shows. The fact that you can retrofit it to almost any TV, isn’t dependant on HDMI, and is simple to install compared to a fully DIY solution, makes the iHoment the ultimate accessory to your entertainment system.
There are some areas where they could improve. Such as making the user manual a little easier to follow and the aforementioned color picker. It would also be nice if the transitions between static colors faded into each other. However, this can probably be added as a firmware update to the controller.
The iHoment has good color detection in my experience and exceeded expectations. If you’re looking to take your video or gaming experience into the next level, there just isn’t another system as cost-effective as the iHoment.
Enter the Competition!
iHoment Retrofit TV Backlight KitRead the full article: Forget Philips Ambilight: iHoment Retrofit TV Backlight Does The Job For $60
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Google’s Wear OS gets a new look
Wear OS, Google’s smartphone operating system that was once called Android Wear, is getting a new look today. Google says the overall idea here is to give you quicker access to information and more proactive help. In line with the Google Fit redesign, Wear OS now also provides you with the same kind of health coaching as the Android app.
In practice, this means you can now swipe through multiple notifications at once, for example. Previously, you had to go from one notifications card to the next, which sound minor but was indeed a bit of a hassle. Like before, you bring up the new notifications feed by swiping up. If you want to reply or take any other action, you tap the notification to bring up those options.
Wear OS is also getting a bit of a Google Now replacement. Simply swipe right and the Google Assistant will bring up the weather, your flight status, hotel notifications or other imminent events. Like in most other Assistant-driven interfaces, Google will also use this area to help you discover other Assistant features like setting timers (though I think everybody knows how to use the Assistant to set a time given that I’m sure that’s 90% of Assistant usage right there).
As for Google Fit, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Wear OS is adapting the same circle design with Hear Points and Move Minutes as the Android app. On a round Wear OS watch, that design actually looks quite well.
While this obviously isn’t a major break from previous versions, we’re definitely talking about quality-of-life improvements here that do make using Wear OS just that little bit easier.
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