The Best New Windows 10 Features in the May 2019 Update

Windows 10 releases major updates roughly twice a year, targeted for April and October. The latest release at the time of writing is the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903). While this version doesn’t feature many new features, it makes lots of small improvements across the OS.

Let’s take a look at some of the new features and updates in the latest version of Windows. We’ve kept an archive of notable features from previous updates, in case you’re interested. Feel free to jump ahead to any section.

Jump to an update:

• The May 2019 Update
• The October 2018 Update
• The Fall Creators Update

How to Update to the Latest Version of Windows 10

You’ll eventually get the all feature updates to Windows 10 through Windows Update. Microsoft deploys these updates in batches, so you might not get them right away. When it’s time, you’ll see a prompt letting you know there’s a big update pending.

It’s also possible to start the download manually, though Microsoft has changed this a bit. In the past, simply clicking the Check for updates button at Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update would prompt the latest version to download. However, due to rocky launches in the past, Windows will now display a separate prompt here asking if you want to upgrade to the latest feature update.

You won’t see this prompt unless you have the latest updates installed. For a simpler way, head to the download Windows 10 page and click Update now to grab an applet that will begin the download.

Just make sure you take precautions before updating Windows 10.

The May 2019 Update

Let’s take a look at the best new features in version 1903, the latest at the time of writing.

Windows Sandbox for Testing Software

Most of the changes in the May 2019 update are tweaks and refinements to existing features. One of the few brand-new tools is the Windows Sandbox. It’s only available for those on Windows 10 Pro and above, and enables you to run software in a safe environment.

Enable the Windows 10 Sandbox

To enable it, you must make sure you have virtualization features enabled on your system. To check this, open the Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Select More details if you only see a small list of apps here, then switch to the Performance tab.

In the CPU section, you’ll see a Virtualization field on the right side. If this does not say Enabled, you’ll need to follow our guide to enabling virtualization on your PC.

Once that’s done, type Windows features into the Start menu and open the Turn Windows features on or off link. In the resulting list, find Windows Sandbox, check it, and hit OK. You’ll see a new dialog that installs some necessary files, then prompts you to restart to complete installation.

Finally, you can now search for Windows Sandbox via the Start menu. Open it and confirm admin privileges, and you’ll see a blank Windows 10 desktop after a few moments.

Using the Windows 10 Sandbox

From there, you have an isolated environment where you can test any software you’d like. It doesn’t support dragging and dropping, but you can simply copy and paste any installers or other files you’d like to run in the sandbox. Use it to test software that you don’t trust on your main system.

When you’re done, close the sandbox like you would any other app. Note that doing so will completely destroy everything inside, so you’ll have a fresh box next time you start it up.

Notably, the sandbox provides an always-updated environment. This is much more streamlined than a virtual machine, which requires regular updating.

Less Pressure With Windows Update

While Microsoft releases new versions of Windows 10 roughly every six months, it still supports older versions for 18 months from their release. For example, the Windows 10 October 2018 update released in November 2018 and will receive support until May of 2020.

Thanks to changes in version 1903, it’s now easier stay on an older version if you want to. Instead of forcing you to install these major updates shortly after they launch, you now have a choice in doing so. If you want to stay on a prior version, you’ll only have to upgrade after the 18-month support period passes.

For people who prioritize stability and don’t care about the latest features, this is a welcome option. Additionally, the Home edition of Windows 10 now lets you pause Windows Update for a few weeks. In the past, this required the Pro edition.

Enter the Light Side

There’s been a lot of hype lately around dark themes, which Windows 10 already includes. But if you tend to prefer the opposite, you’ll be happy to discover the new light theme in Windows 10. This sets many display elements to use a lighter tone.

To enable it, head to Settings > Personalization > Colors. Under Choose your color, you can select the new Light theme, Dark, or Custom. If you pick Custom, you can set separate options for your Windows mode and app mode. This lets you set Windows elements to dark while leaving apps in light mode, or vice-versa.

Split Search and Cortana

For a long time, Windows 10 combined Cortana and desktop search. This meant that when you opened the search panel, you’d see Cortana and her list of features. That’s a bit frustrating if you don’t care about Cortana, or would rather use both features separately.

Now, you can do just that. Windows 10 features separate icons for Cortana and searching on the Taskbar. To change how they appear, right-click an empty space on the taskbar and choose Show Cortana button to toggle that. And under Search, you can select Hidden, Show search icon, or Show search box.

The search bar now only looks for files on your PC and web results. You can use the tabs at the top to filter by the kind of data you’d like to find. As a result, Cortana is now relegated to voice searches.

Combined with disabling all the Cortana options at Settings > Cortana > Talk to Cortana, you can essentially hide her from your view without any Registry hacks.

Enhanced PC Searching

Speaking of searching, the built-in Windows 10 search now gives you more options. Head to Settings > Search to find them.

Under Permissions & History, you’ll find options to filter explicit content in web results and what content to search from your connected Microsoft accounts. The most interesting options, however, are on the Searching Windows tab.

Here, you can select a new Enhanced search mode. Before this, Windows 10 would only search your file libraries and desktop, where files are often stored. But if you select this option, Windows search will look at your entire PC. This is a handy option if you don’t keep files in libraries or just like to search everything.

You can set folders to exclude from these searches below.

Miscellaneous Tweaks

As it turns out, the Windows 10 May 2019 Update doesn’t have a lot of headline features. Most of the changes are tweaks to existing tools. We detail some of the most notable ones below.

Spectre Speed Fixes

The awful Spectre and Meltdown exploits were a big topic in 2018. Those problems caused a lot of computers to run more slowly, but the latest update claims to make improvements to this thanks to some optimizations.

Time will tell if it makes a difference.

Improved Game Bar

The Windows 10 Game Bar is a utility that collects many handy gaming options in one place. In the latest edition of Windows 10, it received an upgrade. You can now manage music playing from Spotify from the Game Bar, in addition to creating memes.

Uninstall More Default Apps

One of the first tasks most people do with a new system is uninstall Windows 10 bloatware apps. In the May 2019 Update, you can uninstall more apps than previously allowed. Now you can chuck Mail, Calendar, Movies & TV, and other apps.

Some still won’t uninstall this way, like the Microsoft Store and Edge. But being able to remove more apps you’ll never use is a welcome change.

Log In Without a Password

You can now create a Microsoft log in without a password. By providing your phone number, Microsoft will text you a login code every time you sign in. You can use this method to sign into Windows 10, then use a Windows Hello authentication method like a PIN or fingerprint for future logins.

This is supposedly to combat password theft, so we’ll see if it becomes more mainstream.

Start Menu Refinements

A minor change that only affects new installs or accounts is a cleaner Start menu. It features fewer tiles, making it less cluttered. You can also now unpin groups of tiles, allowing you to remove all the obnoxious ads in one go.

The October 2018 Update

If you don’t want to update to the latest version of Windows 10 just yet, here are the coolest new features in the October 2018 update (version 1809).

Your Phone App

After its failed Windows Phone platform, Microsoft has embraced Android (and iOS to a lesser extent) with apps and cross-platform compatibility with Windows. The Your Phone app in Windows 10 takes this even further.

It allows you to text and access photos on your Android phone (7.0 or later) right from your PC. You can even drag a photo from your phone onto your PC to open it in an app. iPhone users don’t get all that functionality, but they can still send webpages from their phone to computer.

While you have many third-party options for connecting Android and Windows, seeing more built-in tools is always welcome.

Improved Screenshot Tool

The basic Snipping Tool handles simple screenshot needs, but it’s lacking any power user features. In the October Update, you can check out the new Snip & Sketch tool as a replacement.

Press Win + Shift + S to bring up the window and capture a screenshot. At the top, you can switch between the rectangle and freeform capture modes, or grab a full-screen shot. Once you capture an area, it’s available immediately on your clipboard.

Click the resulting notification, and you can make basic edits to your screenshots like drawing and cropping. From there, you can save it, copy to your clipboard, or open it in another app for further edits.

File Explorer Dark Theme

Windows 10 has included a dark theme for some time, but it was previously limited to Store apps. Now, enabling the Dark mode at Settings > Personalization > Colors also gives your File Explorer a dark makeover.

It’s not quite as amazing as macOS Mojave’s dark mode, but it’s a welcome option if you like dark themes or often use your PC at night. Enabling this also makes your right-click menu in File Explorer and desktop dark.

Improved HDR Support

As 4K monitors with more powerful display options become mainstream, Windows 10 is making it easier to enable HDR if you have compatible hardware. Windows 10 has supported HDR in the past, but it wasn’t always convenient to set up.

Now, you can head to Settings > System > Display and click Windows HD Color settings to configure HDR. You’ll see whether your connected displays support HDR features and can adjust them if so.

Start Menu Search Improvements

The search function on the Start Menu has always been a quick way to find apps, files, settings, and more on your PC. In the latest update, it’s even easier to get to the content you want quickly.

When you search for something, the menu will display a preview panel that illustrates the best results for your search. This might be Bing results for a web search, options like opening as administrator if you search for software, or previews of documents.

Clipboard Improvements and History

A new shortcut for the clipboard in Windows 10 lets you copy and paste across devices without any extra apps. Just press Win + V and you’ll see the new clipboard window.

This gives you a native clipboard manager, letting you paste something you copied even if it’s not the most recent item. You can also pin clips you use often for easy access. Plus, Windows links your clipboard across any devices you use running the October 2018 Update or later.

To configure this, take a look at Settings > System > Clipboard.

Power Usage in Task Manager

If you want to get more battery life out of your Windows laptop, you might wonder how much power apps pull. Now in the Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), you can see a Power usage entry on the Processes tab.

This, along with the Power usage trend field, lets you know how much energy apps use. Limit how often you keep them open, and you should see improved battery life.

Bluetooth Battery Levels

You can now see the battery life of connected Bluetooth devices (if supported) at Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices.

Override Regional Settings

Windows 10 sets some display options, like the date format and first day of the week, based on your region. Now you can override these if you like. Visit Settings > Time & Language > Region and click Change data formats to adjust them.

Make Text Bigger

Windows 10 now allows you to increase the size of text across the OS without scaling. Open Settings > Ease of Access > Display and drag the Make text bigger slider as you wish.

Better Windows Update Automation

Windows Update tries to detect when you’re not using your PC and automatically installs updates during those times. In prior versions, this wasn’t too smart and would sometimes install an update when you simply stepped away for a moment.

Thankfully, the October 2018 Update makes this smarter. Windows will now better understand when you’ve stepped away for a short time or longer period now. This should result in fewer inopportune updates.

Game Bar Improvements

Windows 10’s Game bar is now its own app and comes with some improvements. In the latest version, you can adjust audio options right from the bar. Plus, you can see a chart showing game stats like FPS along with CPU and other hardware usage.

Enable the Game bar at Settings > Gaming >Game bar.

The Fall Creators Update

If you’re using Windows 10 version 1709, here are the features to look out for.

People App

Microsoft is ramping up its social game with the People application. A new addition to the Taskbar, People allows you to contact individuals via email and Skype directly from the Taskbar. To enable, right-click the Taskbar and check the Show People button option.

You can use the People app to share fun content with family and friends or to manage business contacts and projects. Whether it’s a document, PowerPoint presentation, picture, or video, just drag and drop content directly from your PC to a specific contact.

Perhaps the most useful component of the People app is cross-application communication, meaning you can view communication across multiple chats and messages within a single desktop app. While only a few select applications are available for the People app (namely Xbox, Email, and Skype), Microsoft has laid the groundwork for possible Facebook and Twitter integration as well. That makes People a potentially fantastic default app.

Mixed Reality

In the original Fall Creators Update, Microsoft teased 3D editing and 3D smartphone camera modeling. Now, it’s expanded this 3D program into an entire mixed reality platform for Windows 10.

How? Windows 10’s Edge browser was the first to fully support WebVR which allows users to access and interact with virtual reality projects online via the Edge browser. While this may not seem all that impressive, it’s really forward thinking from Microsoft: in some circles, the future of web development exists in 3D space.

Not interested in VR projects? Why not browse Edge on a VR room wall using Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Portal (MRP)? MRP allows users to integrate a 3D experience into their desktop using Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Microsoft has also developed an answer to the growing popularity of social media’s AR (augmented reality) integrations, most notably Snapchat’s face filters and 3D World Lens technology. Don’t want to spring for the HoloLens? Enjoy Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Viewer, where all you’ll need is a webcam to enjoy the augmented reality goodness Windows 10 has to offer. Simply click on your Start Menu, type mixed reality, and select the Mixed Reality Portal option to get started.

It’ll be interesting to see where a tech behemoth like Microsoft will take this new form of media.

OneDrive On-Demand

While OneDrive is installed by default on most Windows 10 machines, few utilize its full potential. That may change with Windows 10’s On-Demand Sync. While most online repositories only allow you to upload and download files using your account, One-Drive now allows users to save files locally, upload them to the cloud, and share view links by default.

That means you can upload, delete, edit, and download a variety of files and formats using OneDrive cloud storage. This saves precious local storage space and provides you peace of mind about the status of your most important documents.

Phone Link

In this age, cross-device interaction (phone to PC, TV to phone, etc.) is absolutely paramount. Microsoft has decided the close the gap even further, now providing users with the ability to link iOS and Android devices to their Windows 10 machines.

To enable phone linking, type link phone into your Start Menu and click the Link your phone option. Then, enter your phone number in the following window.

Linking your phone currently only allows you to share websites from your smartphone’s Edge browser to your PC via the browser’s share option. Additionally, in case you didn’t know, you can also choose to view phone notifications on your Windows 10 desktop using Cortana’s smartphone app!

Though the phone notification feature was released before the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, these two quiet features show Microsoft is devoted to closing the gap between mobile and desktop.

Emoji Panel

That’s right: Windows 10 is now finally equipped with its own default emoji keyboard. You can access your emoji keyboard in Windows 10 using the keyboard command Windows key + Period (.) or Windows key + Semicolon (;).

While somewhat unexpected, kudos to Microsoft for giving users the Windows emoji feature they’ve long desired.

The new emoji keyboard isn’t without its failings, though. For now, it only allows users to input one emoji at a time before exiting by default. Let’s hope Microsoft recognizes that and fixes this issue in the updates to come.

Microsoft Edge Improvements

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update packs a lot into Microsoft Edge’s feature list. For one, pinning websites is as easy as heading to the website and selecting the Pin this page to the Taskbar option in your Edge browser settings panel. You can also pin websites to your Start Menu using the same process.

Other aspects of Edge not previously available before include: PDF text-to-speech, enhanced PDF editing, managing permissions, bookmark importing, editing favorite (bookmark) URLs for easier lookup, and browsing on your phone and continuing on with your PC.

While Edge’s new features aren’t exactly shock-and-awe, they do show Microsoft is still committed to creating a serious contender for the browser market. If Microsoft keeps this up, Edge may even become your new browser of choice.

Story Remix

Microsoft is venturing into the world of movie making (yet again) with its latest experiment, Story Remix. Story Remix is a feature in the Windows 10 Photos application which lets users create, edit, and score short films using pictures and video clips of whatever they desire.

Like most other features in the Fall Creators Update, this is for both personal and professional use. Run a dog-grooming business and want to send customers a custom-made video of their dog’s grooming process? All you have to do is create a folder of images and videos using your Photos app and Windows will create a fantastic short film in seconds with minor interaction. Best of all, it requires no video editing knowledge!

This may sound like your run-of-the-mill automatic video creating service, but it’s not. Microsoft has taken steps in integrating AI and deep learning within Story Remix, allowing advanced options like featuring select people from an aggregate selection of videos automatically. You can also add text or drawings to these videos for an added personal flair.

Not only can you add flat text to a video; you can also integrate 3D models into videos as well. The most impressive part about Story Remix is its integration of 3D objects and animations into the captured video. Story Remix allows you to integrate 3D models (most of which Microsoft released) seamlessly into your video, allowing users to edit and create quasi-CGI short movies without any 3D modeling or video editing experience.

While not the most well-documented feature of the Fall Creators Update, it’s marvelous to note Microsoft isn’t simply giving users 3D capabilities. It’s allowing users the ability to play with and learn about 3D modeling and AG integrations.

GPU Stats

If you’re an overclock aficionado, you know how vital the performance of your PC components is. Microsoft understands this, and has taken a small step in appeasing tech geeks by having the beloved Task Manager provide real-time GPU stats.

Keep in mind, you won’t be able to modify functions like fan speed via your Task Manager. You can, however, view your GPU’s utilization percentage, memory stats, driver versions, and more.

Fluent Design

Users have long awaited a Windows 10 UI overhaul. Slowly but surely, the wait is coming to an end. Say hello to the humble beginnings of Microsoft’s Fluent Design System, a sleek and subtle UI design project hinted at in the recent Fall Creators Update.

Fluent Design promises to offer users a different type of UI experience, bringing with it such features as subtly blurred window transparency, interactive window sections, light-based color schemes, and an overall sleeker program/controller relationship.

Scale, Depth, Light are the ways in which Microsoft chooses to brand the new design. Judging from what little has released, it seems Microsoft is moving on to bigger, better, smoother, and more integrated UI design.

As it stands, you can already view a few aspects of the UI in the latest version of Windows, with small apps like the Windows 10 Calculator and the newly released People app.

Linux Integration

In another big move for Microsoft, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update now allows users to install Linux distributions directly from the Microsoft Store and onto their Windows machines.

Keep in mind, this feature doesn’t equal a dual boot. You won’t be able to use the mouse and keyboard version of Ubuntu, for example. Instead, the Fall Creators Update allows users to run Bash commands using different Linux distros directly within the Windows 10 environment.

To install Ubuntu on Windows, click the Start Menu and type windows features. Then click on the Turn Windows features on or off option. In the following window, locate and check the Windows Subsystem for Linux option.

Click OK. You’ll be prompted to restart your PC. Once restarted, head to the Microsoft Store by clicking the Start Menu, typing store, and selecting the Microsoft Store option. Search for linux within this window. You’ll see a prompt mentioning Linux distributions. Click Get the apps and proceed to install your favorite.

That’s it—you’re officially running a full-fledged Linux distribution right alongside Windows 10.

Windows 10 Is Always Improving

Now you’re aware of all the cool features to check out in the latest Windows 10 version. Microsoft makes a lot of tweaks with every update, so it’s worth updating when you’re ready for something new. We’ll update this resource each time a new major update to Windows 10 releases.

For more, check out the most overlooked Windows 10 features you should know about.

Image Credit: realinemedia/Depositphotos

Read the full article: The Best New Windows 10 Features in the May 2019 Update

Read Full Article

What Is Guided Access on iPhone and How Do You Use It?

The 5 Best Bluetooth Keyboards for Smartphones and Tablets

How Xod Helps You Build Arduino Robots Without Coding

Buy Cheap Apple Watches With These Deal Finding Tricks

The Apple Watch is an incredibly useful gadget, and it’s only getting better with time. However, it’s not exactly affordable, especially when buying brand-new. If you’re looking to buy a cheap Apple Watch, you have to be vigilant.

We’re here to help you shop. Here are a few tricks to buy an Apple Watch at a price you’re comfortable with.

Which Apple Watch Are You Looking For?

Before you start looking for deals, it’s good to have an idea of what model Apple Watch you want to buy. If you’re just looking for whatever is available, it can make choosing the right deal more difficult.

Those looking for an Apple Watch Series 4 will have the hardest time finding a deal since it’s the newest model. Keeping that in mind, the Apple Watch Series 3 and other watches are easier to find at a discount now that they’re no longer top of the line.

Sites to Keep an Eye on for Cheap Apple Watches

One resource to keep in mind is Mac of All Trades. It doesn’t always have Apple Watches in stock, but when it does, you’re likely to get a good deal on them. We’ve previously mentioned this site as one of the best places to sell your old Apple devices.

You should also keep in mind the Refurbished section of Apple’s website. Its prices generally won’t be as good as Mac of all Trades, but you will find Apple Watches for sale more often.

Deals on Apple Watch Series 4

The most recent model is always the hardest to find a deal on. Right now, you’re not all that likely to find an Apple Watch sale that includes the Series 4. They occasionally appear on the Apple Refurbished site, but Mac of all Trades doesn’t even have a section for this model yet.

The Apple Watch Series 4 is available in 40mm and 44mm sizes, and comes with 16GB of storage. You have a choice of whether or not to opt for cellular service. It features wireless charging, packs up to 18 hours of battery life, and has an IP rating of IPX7. This means you can safely immerse it in around three feet of water.

If you’re looking for a discount on an Apple Watch Series 4, your best bet is to keep an eye out on major shopping holidays. You might find a store-wide Apple Watch discount that could include the latest model.

Deals on Apple Watch Series 3

The Apple Watch Series 3 is a prime target for deals now, as the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 4 saw prices drop for the previous model. Both Mac of all Trades and the Apple Refurbished Store frequently have this one on sale.

While the Series 3 isn’t a major upgrade over the Series 2, it does have some neat features. This model introduced cellular connectivity and GPS, both of which are great for people who want to stay connected on a run without carrying their phone. It’s available in 38mm and 42mm sizes.

You’ll find deals on the Apple Watch Series 3 year-round, on both the standard and LTE-equipped models. Still, shopping holidays may get you the best deals if you’re willing to hold out.

Deals on Apple Watch Series 2

The Apple Watch Series 2 was the first to really focus on fitness. While the first Apple Watch had some fitness tracking features, the Series 2 doubled down. Now that the Apple Watch Series 4 is out, you’ll be able to find it cheaper than ever, making it a good Fitbit alternative.

Despite its age, the Apple Watch Series 2 runs the latest version of watchOS. Onboard storage is 8GB, but it can only hold 2GB of music and 75MB of photos. Battery life, like the Apple Watch Series 4, can range up to 18 hours.

You’ll also find this one through Mac of All Trades, though the Apple Refurbished Store only sells Series 3 and Series 4 models. Keep eBay in mind, as plenty of people are looking to sell their Series 2 watches to upgrade to a newer version. If you’re looking for a cheap Apple Watch that still has plenty of features, this may be your best bet.

Deals on Apple Watch Series 1

If you don’t need or want the fitness features baked into the Apple Watch Series 2, the older Series 1 could work fine for you. As it’s an older model, you’ll get the lowest prices here, and a cheap Apple Watch is still better than many other smart watches.

Just beware of the limitations with this. This is the only model without the IPX7 certification, as it’s only splash-proof. You might be safe taking a shower with it on, but you probably shouldn’t, just to keep it safe. Like the others aside from the Apple Watch Series 4, this comes in 38mm and 42mm options.

Deals on Apple Watch Series 0

This is the original Apple Watch, and frankly, it’s not really worth buying these days. Yes, it might the easiest Apple Watch discount to find, but you’ll probably pay a similar price as the Series 1.

If you’re looking for one of these, you can still find them via Mac of All Trades. You can get them via eBay too, but watch out. Because these devices are years old, you could end up buying one that barely holds a battery charge.

Deals on Apple Watch Bands and Straps

The above deals only apply to the actual watch body of the Apple Watch. Don’t forget that you’ll probably want to have a few bands to choose from. Fortunately, these are much easier to find a deal on thanks to multiple third-party band suppliers.

You’ll usually want one fancier watch band for special occasions, but this won’t cut it everywhere. For one, it probably won’t do you any favors on a run—you don’t want to sweat all over it.

New bands come out on retailers like Amazon all the time, and they’re usually cheap. Just keep an eye out for a specific type or color you have in mind, and you’ll find it before long. We’ve rounded up some great Apple Watch sports bands for you to check out.

Make the Most of Your Apple Watch

With a bit of patience and the right timing, you can purchase a cheap Apple Watch that you’ll love. But once you have the device, there’s a lot to learn in order to make the most of it.

To unlock your watch’s full potential, check out some of the Apple Watch’s killer tricks.

Read the full article: Buy Cheap Apple Watches With These Deal Finding Tricks

Read Full Article

How to Add a Power Button to Your Raspberry Pi

Ulysses adds split view on the iPad and support for Ghost blogs

Writing app Ulysses has been updated with a few nifty feature additions. On the iPad, you can now split the editor into two side-by-side editors — this feature alone opens up a lot of possibilities. Ulysses also now supports the option to publish your writing directly to a Ghost blog.

Ulysses is currently available on macOS, the iPad and the iPhone. It’s a Markdown editor with a library of texts that automatically stays in sync across your devices. You can export one or multiple texts in many different formats, including Markdown, HTML, rich text, PDF, ePub, DOCX and a blog.

In addition to Medium and WordPress, Ulysses now supports blogs built using Ghost, an open source CMS platform. If your website is built on Ghost, this should be a nice addition.

But I’m more excited about the ability to open two editors at the same time on the iPad. While the iPad is a great device if you’re looking for a focused writing environment, iOS still thinks “one app = one document”. Sure, you can open two Safari tabs side by side, but most apps only let you open one document at a time.

Ulysses now lets you open two documents at once. You can drag a document from the sidebar and drop it on the right side of the screen to split the screen into two panels. This way, if you’re translating a document, if you need to look at some references, you can scroll through a second document while you write in the main document.

But Ulysses doesn’t stop there. You can also open a second editor from the editor settings to look at different parts of the same document. And if you long press on the export button, you can also open a live preview of the document you’re currently working on.

For instance, you can see what your text will look like before you publish on your blog — headers, images, links and footnotes included. If you edit your text, Ulysses automatically refreshes the preview after a second.

Opening and closing documents is a fluid experience and this split view feature is well implemented. There have been rumors that Apple has been working on improvements at the iOS level to let you open multiple documents using the same app. Today’s Ulysses update is a good example of such a feature and how it would make the iPad even better.

Read Full Article

Qualcomm and Lenovo reveal the first Snapdragon-powered 5G PC

Qualcomm announced during its Computex press conference today that it will launch the first Snapdragon-powered 5G PC with Lenovo. The two companies describe the PC, called Project Limitless, as “the world’s first 7nm platform purpose-built for PCs that offers 5G connectivity.”

Qualcomm and Lenovo unveil the first Snapdragon-powered 5G PC at Computex in Taipei

The laptop runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform, which is designed to support both 5G and 4G connections, combines the Qualcomm Adreno 680 GPU with the Qualcomm Kryo 495 CPU and has a battery that Qualcomm claims can last for several days per charge. The platform uses the Snapdragon X55 5G modem, which has download speeds of up to 2.5 Gbps.

Project Limitless’ release date and pricing haven’t been revealed yet.

Read Full Article

Nvidia announces its Studio line of laptops to compete against the MacBook Pro

During its press conference in Taipei a day before Computex starts, Nvidia announced a new line of laptops that will run its RTX graphics processing units, as well as a new software platform called Studio, with SDKs and drivers to make graphics rendering and other tasks faster. The units are targeted to creative professionals, like video editors, photographers and graphic designers, and meant to compete with the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

One of Nvidia’s new Studio laptops, meant to compete against the MacBook Pro

The series will include seventeen laptops made by Nvidia’s manufacturing partners (including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, MSI and Razer). The laptops will begin retailing in June, with prices starting at $1,599.

The 17 laptops will be equipped with Quadro RTX 5000, 4000 or 3000 GPUs or GeForce RTX 2080, 2070 and 2060 GPUs. Nvidia claims they can perform up to seven times faster than the MacBook Pro. Studio laptops with Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs will have 16GB of graphics memory, and some of the devices will also have 4K displays and Nvidia’s Max-Q tech for building thin and lightweight laptops.

The Nvidia Studio suite includes the CUDA-X AI platform for automating tasks like color matching videos or tagging photos.

Read Full Article

AMD unveils the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X, at half the price of Intel’s competing Core i9 9920X chipset

AMD CEO Lisa Su gave the Computex keynote in Taipei today, the first time the company has been invited to do so (the event officially starts tomorrow). During the presentation, AMD unveiled news about its chips and graphics processors that will increase pressure on competitors Intel and Nvidia, both in terms of pricing and performance.

Chips

All new third-generation Ryzen CPUs, the first with 7-nanometer desktop chips, will go on sale on July 7. The showstopper of Su’s keynote was the announcement of AMD’s 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900x chip, the flagship of its third-generation Ryzen family. It will retail starting at $499, half the price of Intel’s competing Core i9 9920X chipset, which is priced at $1,189 and up.

The 3900x has 4.6 Ghz boost speed and 70 MB of total cache and uses 105 watts of thermal design power (versus the i9 9920x’s 165 watts), making it more efficient. AMD says that in a Blender demo against Intel i9-9920x, the 3900x finished about 18 percent more quickly.

Here’s an exclusive #COMPUTEX2019 look at the newest edition to the Ryzen family, the 12 core/24 thread 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor. https://t.co/OgLHoqWv9T pic.twitter.com/75FzfpdiKx

— AMD Ryzen (@AMDRyzen) May 27, 2019

Starting prices for other chips in the family are $199 for the 6-core, 12-thread 3600; $329 for the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 3700x (with 4.4 Ghz boost, 36 MB of total cache and a 65 watt TDP); and $399 for the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 3800X (4.5 Ghz, 32MB cache, 105w).

GPUs

AMD also revealed that its first Navi graphics processor units will be the Radeon RX 5000 series. Pricing is being closely watched because it may pressure Nvidia to bring down prices on competing products. AMD announced that the GPUs will be available in July, but more details, including pricing, performance and new features, won’t be announced until E3 next month in Los Angeles.

Introducing the world’s first “Navi” gaming GPU family based on the all new RDNA gaming architecture: the AMD Radeon RX 5700 series. Learn more from #COMPUTEX2019: https://t.co/xwexmdDMin pic.twitter.com/rY2dAsq52l

— AMD (@AMD) May 27, 2019

Data processors

AMD announced that its EPYC Rome data center processors, first demoed at CES in January, will launch next quarter, one quarter earlier than previously anticipated, to compete with Intel’s Cascade Lake. AMD says that during a benchmark test, EPYC Rome performed twice as fast as Cascade Lake.

AMD CEO @LisaSu just gave the first public competitive demonstration of a 2nd Gen AMD #EPYC server platform outperforming the competition in a NAMD Apo1 v2.12 benchmark test by more than 2x. #COMPUTEX2019 https://t.co/ZHmrqBigjB pic.twitter.com/HQI5EPLmFf

— AMD EPYC (@AMDServer) May 27, 2019

Read Full Article

These ‘microbe-grown’ headphones could be the future of sustainable electronics

The culture of planned obsolescence in electronics produces a huge amount of toxic waste unlikely to go anywhere but a landfill for the next millennium or so. Nature produces some of the strongest and most versatile substances we’ve ever encountered, so why not use them instead? That’s what Finnish design house Aivan has attempted with this concept pair of headphones made from fungus, bioplastics, and other natural materials.

The idea was to replace everything they could with naturally-derived materials, of which there’s a great variety — but some can be a bit difficult to get your hands on.

As Dezeen reports, the Korvaa headset, everything you see here is natural in origin, although that doesn’t mean they just picked it up in the forest.

The main structure of the headphones is 3D-printed, using a bioplastic created as a byproduct of yeast processing lactic acid. The polylactic acid polymer is strong but flexible enough to be used as the crown and cup shell.

The padded earpieces are made from a protein known as hydrophobin that, like artificial foam, is made up of many tiny bubbles — but these are produced by a fungus and reinforced with plant cellulose. They’re covered with mycelium, another fungus-derived material that’s leathery and flexible.

And on top of those would be a mesh created by spinning out synthetic spider silk — something Bolt Threads is trying to do at scale for ordinary garments.

To be clear, these headphones don’t work — they’re just a prototype or concept product right now. But the point wasn’t to create a fully functioning replacement for your existing headphones. Rather the idea is to show that those headphones don’t need to be made, as they are now, entirely of non-biodegradable materials.

“This was certainly only a surface scratch into where biology-engineered materials are going, and what we can do with them in the future,” one of the group’s designers, Thomas Tallqvist, told Dezeen.

The headphones will be on display at a couple design shows in Finland — here’s hoping someone from Audio Technica or Sennheiser drops by and gets inspired.

Read Full Article

This is one smart device that every urban home could use

Living in a dense urban environment brings many startup-fuelled conveniences, be it near instant delivery of food — or pretty much whatever else you fancy — to a whole range of wheels that can be hopped on (or into) to whisk you around at the tap of an app.

But the biggest problem afflicting city dwellers is not some minor inconvenience. It’s bad, poor, terrible, horrible, unhealthy air. And there’s no app to fix that.

Nor can hardware solve this problem. But smart hardware can at least help.

For about a month I’ve been road-testing a wi-fi connected air purifier made by Swedish company, Blueair. It uses an Hepa filtration system combined with integrated air quality sensors to provide real-time in-app feedback which can be reassuring or alert you to unseen problems.

Flip to the bottom of this article for a speed take or continue reading for the full review of the Blueair Classic 480i with dual filters to reduce dust, smoke and pollen   

Review

If you’re even vaguely environmentally aware it’s fascinating and not a little horrifying to see how variable the air quality is inside your home. Everyday stuff like cooking, cleaning and changing the sheets can cause drastic swings in PM 2.5 and tVOC levels. Aka very small particles such as fine dust, smoke, odours and mite feces; and total volatile organic compounds, which refers to hundreds of different gases emitted by certain solids and liquids — including stuff humans breathe out by also harmful VOCs like formaldehyde.

What you learn from smart hardware can be not just informative but instructive. For instance I’ve switched to a less dusty cat litter after seeing how quickly the machine’s fan stepped up a gear after clearing the litter tray. I also have a new depth of understanding of quite how much pollution finds its way into my apartment when the upstairs neighbour is having a rooftop BBQ. Which makes it doubly offensive I wasn’t invited.

Though, I must admit, I’ve yet to figure out a diplomatic way to convince him to rethink his regular cook-out sessions. Again, some problems can’t be fixed by apps. Meanwhile city life means we’re all, to a greater or lesser degree, adding to the collectively polluted atmosphere. Changing that requires new politics.

You cannot hermetically seal your home against outdoor air pollution. It wouldn’t make for a healthy environment either. Indoor spaces must be properly ventilated. Adequate ventilation is also of course necessary to control moisture levels to prevent other nasty issues like mould. And using this device I’ve watched as opening a window almost instantly reduced tVOC levels.

Pretty much every city resident is affected by air pollution, to some degree. And it’s a heck of a lot harder to switch your home than change your brand of cat litter. But even on that far less fixable front, having an air quality sensor indoors can be really useful — to help you figure out the best (and worst) times to air out the house. I certainly won’t be opening the balcony doors on a busy Saturday afternoon any time soon, for example.

Blueair sells a range of air purifiers. The model I’ve been testing, the Blueair Classic 480i, is large enough to filter a room of up to 40m₂. It includes filters capable of filtering both particulate matter and traffic fumes (aka its “SmokeStop” filter). The latter was important for me, given I live near a pretty busy road. But the model can be bought with just a particle filter if you prefer. The dual filtration model I’m testing is priced at €725 for EU buyers.

Point number one is that if you’re serious about improving indoor air quality the size of an air purifier really does matter. You need a device with a fan that’s powerful enough to cycle all the air in the room in a reasonable timeframe. (Blueair promises five air changes per hour for this model, per the correct room size).

So while smaller air filter devices might look cute, if a desktop is all the space you can stretch to you’d probably be better off getting a few pot plants.

Blueair’s hardware also has software in the mix too, of course. The companion Blueair Friend app serves up the real-time feedback on both indoor air quality and out. The latter via a third party service whose provider can vary depending on your location. Where I live in Europe it’s powered by BreezoMeter.

This is a handy addition for getting the bigger picture. If you find you have stubbornly bad air quality levels indoors and really can’t figure out why, most often a quick tab switch will confirm local pollution levels are indeed awful right now. It’s likely not just you but the whole neighbourhood suffering.

Dirty cities 

From Asia to America the burning of fossil fuels has consequences for air quality and health that are usually especially pronounced in dense urban environments where humans increasingly live. More than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas — with the UN predicting this will grow to around 70% by 2050.

In Europe, this is already true for more than 70% of the population which makes air pollution a major concern in many regional cities.

Growing awareness of the problem is beginning to lead to policy interventions — such as London’s ultra low emission charging zone and car free Sundays one day a month in Paris’ city center. But EU citizens are still, all too often, stuck sucking in unhealthy air.

London’s toxic air is an invisible killer.

We launched the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone to cut air pollution. Since then, there have been on average 9400 fewer polluting vehicles on our streets every day. #LetLondonBreathe #ULEZ pic.twitter.com/0mYcIGi1xP

— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) May 23, 2019

 

Last year six EU nations, including the UK, France and Germany, were referred to the highest court in Europe for failing to tackle air pollution — including illegally high levels of nitrogen dioxide produced by diesel-powered vehicles.

Around one in eight EU citizens who live in an urban area is exposed to air pollutant levels that exceed one or more of the region’s air quality standards, according to a briefing note published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) last year.

It also said up to 96% of EU urban citizens are exposed to levels of one or more air pollutants deemed damaging to health when measured against the World Health Organization’s more stringent guidelines.

There are multiple and sometimes interlinked factors impacting air quality in urban environments. Traffic fumes is a very big one. But changes in meteorological conditions due to climate change are also expected to increase certain concentrations of air pollutants. While emissions from wildfires is another problem exacerbated by drought conditions which are linked to climate change that can also degrade air quality in nearby cities.

Action to tackle climate change continues to lag far behind what’s needed to put a check on global warming. Even as far too little is still being done in most urban regions to reduce vehicular emissions at a local level.

In short, this problem isn’t going away anytime soon — and all too often air quality is still getting worse.

At the same time health risks from air pollution are omnipresent and can be especially dangerous for children. A landmark global study of the impact of traffic fumes on childhood asthma, published recently in the Lancet, estimates that four million children develop the condition every year primarily as a result of nitrogen dioxide air pollution emitted by vehicles.

The majority (64%) of these new cases were found to occur in urban centres — increasing to 90% when factoring in surrounding suburban areas.

The study also found that damage caused by air pollution is not limited to the most highly polluted cities in China and India. “Many high-income countries have high NO₂ exposures, especially those in North America, western Europe, and Asia Pacific,” it notes.

The long and short of all this is that cities the world over are going to need to get radically great at managing air quality — especially traffic emissions — and fast. But, in the meanwhile, city dwellers who can’t or don’t want to quit the bright lights are stuck breathing dirty air. So it’s easy to imagine consumer demand growing for in-home devices that can sense and filter pollutants as urbanities try to find ways to balance living in a city with reducing their exposure to the bad stuff.

Cleaner air

That’s not to say that any commercial air purifier will be able to provide a complete fix. The overarching problem of air pollution is far too big and bad for that. A true fix would demand radical policy interventions, such as removing all polluting vehicles from urban living spaces. (And there’s precious little sign of anything so radical on the horizon.)

But at least at an individual home level, a large air purifier with decent filtration technology should reduce your exposure to pollution in the place you likely spend the most time.

If, as the Blueair Classic 480i model does, the filtration device also includes embedded sensors to give real-time feedback on air quality it can further help you manage pollution risk — by providing data so you can better understand the risks in and around your home and make better decisions about, for instance, when to open a window.

“Air quality does always change,” admits Blueair’s chief product officer, Jonas Holst, when we chat. “We cannot promise to our consumers that you will always have super, super, clean air. But we can promise to consumers that you will always have a lot cleaner air by having our product — because it depends on what happens around you. In the outdoor, by your neighbours, if you’re cooking, what your cat does or something. All of those things impact air quality.

“But by having high speeds, thanks to the HepaSilent technology that we use, we can make sure that we always constantly fight that bombardment of pollutants.”

On the technology front, Blueair is using established filtration technology — Hepa and active carbon filters to remove particular matter and gaseous pollutants — but with an ionizing twist (which it brands ‘HepaSilent’).

This involves applying mechanical and electrostatic filtration in combination to enhance performance of the air purifier without boosting noise levels or requiring large amounts of energy to run. Holst dubs it one of the “core strengths” of the Blueair product line.

“Mechanical filtration just means a filter [plus a fan to draw the air through it]. We have a filter but by using the ionization chamber we have inside the product we can boost the performance of the filter without making it very, very dense. And by doing that we can let more air through the product and simply then clean more air faster,” he explains.

“It’s also something that is constantly being developed,” he adds of the firm’s Hepa + ionizing technology, which it’s been developing in its products for some 20 years. “We have had many developments of this technology since but the base technical structure is there in the combination between a mechanical and electrostatical filtration. That is what allows us to have less noise and less energy because the fan doesn’t work as hard.”

On top of that, in the model I’m testing, Blueair has embedded air quality sensors — which connect via wi-fi to the companion app where the curious user can see real-time plots of things like PM 2.5 and tVOC levels, and start to join the dots between what’s going on in their home and what the machine is sniffing out.

The sensors mean the unit can step up and down the fan speed and filtration level automatically in response to pollution spikes (you can choose it to trigger on particulate matter only, or PM 2.5 and tVOC gaseous compounds, or turn automation off altogether). So if you’re really not at all curious that’s okay too. You can just plug it in, hook it to the wi-fi and let it work.

Sound, energy and sensing smarts in a big package

To give a ballpark of energy consumption for this model, Holst says the Blueair Classic 480i consumes “approximately” the same amount of energy as running a lightbulb — assuming it’s running mostly on lower fan speeds.

[gallery ids="1832416,1832420,1832418,1832422,1832423"]

As and when the fan steps up in response to a spike in levels of potential pollutants he admits it will consume “a little bit more” energy.

The official specs list the model’s energy consumption at between 15-90 watts.

On the noise front it’s extremely quiet when on the lowest fan setting. To the point of being barely noticeable. You can sleep in the same room and certainly won’t be kept awake.

You will notice when the fan switches up to the second or, especially, the third (max) speed — where it can hit 52 dB(A)). The latter’s rushing air sounds are discernible from a distance, even in another room. But you hopefully won’t be stuck listening to level 3 fan noise for too long, unless you live in a really polluted place. Or, well, unless you run into an algorithmic malfunction (more on that below).

As noted earlier, the unit’s smart sensing capabilities mean fan speed can be set to automatically adjust in response to changing pollution levels — which is obviously the most useful mode to use since you won’t need to keep checking in to see whether or not the air is clean.

You can manually override the automation and fix/switch the fan at a speed of your choice via the app. And as I found there are scenarios where an override is essential. Which we’ll get to shortly.

The unit I was testing, a model that’s around two years old, arrived with instructions to let it run for a week without unplugging so that the machine learning algorithms could configure to local conditions and offer a more accurate read on gases and particles. Holst told us that the U.S. version of the 480i is  “slightly updated” — and, as such, this learning process has been eliminated. So you should be able to just plug it in and get the most accurate reads right away. 

The company recommends changing the filters every six months to “ensure performance”, or more if you live in a very polluted area. The companion app tracks days (estimated) remaining running time in the form of a days left countdown.

Looks wise, there’s no getting around the Blueair Classic 480i is a big device. Think ‘bedside table’ big.

You’re not going to miss it in your room and it does need a bigger footprint of free space around it so as not to block the air intake and outlet. Something in the region of ~80x60cm. Its lozenge shape helps by ensuring no awkward corners and with finding somewhere it can be parked parallel but not too close to a wall.

There’s not much more to say about the design of this particular model except that it’s thoughtful. The unit has a minimalist look which avoids coming across too much like a piece of ugly office furniture. While its white and gun metal grey hues plus curved flanks help it blend into the background. I haven’t found it to be an eyesore.

A neat flip up lid hides a set of basic physical controls. But once you’ve done the wi-fi set-up and linked it to the companion app you may never need to use these buttons as everything can be controlled in the app.

Real-time pollution levels at your fingertips

Warning: This app can be addictive! For weeks after installing the unit it was almost impossible to resist constantly checking the pollution levels. Mostly because it was fascinating to watch how domestic activity could send one or other level spiking or falling.

As well as PM 2.5 and tVOC pollutants this model tracks temperature and humidity levels. It offers day, week and monthly plots for everything it tracks.

The day view is definitely the most addictive — as it’s where you see instant changes and can try to understand what’s triggering what. So you can literally join the dots between, for example, hearing a street sweeper below your window and watching a rise in PM 2.5 levels in the app right after. Erk!

Though don’t expect a more detailed breakdown of the two pollutant categories; it’s an aggregated mix in both cases. (And some of the gases that make up the tVOC mix aren’t harmful.)

The month tab gives a longer overview which can be handy to spot regular pollution patterns (though the view is a little cramped on less phablet-y smartphone screens).

While week view offers a more recent snapshot if you’re trying to get a sense of your average pollution exposure over a shorter time frame.

That was one feature I thought the app could have calculated for you. But, equally, more granular quantification might risk over-egging the pudding. It would also risk being mislead if the sensor accuracy fails on you. The overarching problem with pollution exposure is that, sadly, there’s only so much an individual can do to reduce it. So it probably makes sense not to calculate your pollution exposure score.

The app could certainly provide more detail than it does but Holst told us the aim is to offer enough info to people who are interested without it being overwhelming. He also said many customers just want to plug it in and let it work, not be checking out daily charts. (Though if you’re geeky you will of course want the data.)

It’s clear there is lots of simplification going, as you’d expect with this being a consumer device, not a scientific instrument. I found the Blueair app satisfied my surface curiosity while seeing ways its utility could be extended with more features. But in the end I get that it’s designed to be an air-suck, not a time-suck, so I do think they’ve got the balance there pretty much right.

There are enough real-time signals to be able to link specific activities/events with changes in air quality. So you can literally watch as the tVOC level drops when you open a window. (Or rises if your neighbor is BBQing… ). And I very quickly learnt that opening a window will (usually) lower tVOC but send PM 2.5 rising — at least where I live in a dusty, polluted city. So, again, cleaner air is all you should expect.

Using the app you can try and figure out, for instance, optimal ventilation timings. I also found having the real-time info gave me a new appreciation for heavy rain — which seemed to be really great for clearing dust out of the air, frequently translating into “excellent” levels of PM 2.5 in the app for a while after.

Here are a few examples of how the sensors reacted to different events — and what the reaction suggests…

Cleaning products can temporarily spike tVOC levels:

 

Changing bed sheets can also look pretty disturbing…   

 

An evening BBQ on a nearby roof terrace appears much, much worse though:

 

And opening the balcony door to the street on a busy Saturday afternoon is just… insane… 

 

Uh-oh, algorithm malfunction…

After a few minutes of leaving the balcony door open one fateful Saturday afternoon, which almost instantly sent the unit into max fan speed overdrive, I was surprised to find the fan still blasting away an hour later, and then three hours later, and at bedtime, and in the morning. By which point I thought something really didn’t seem right.

The read from the app showed the pollution level had dropped down from the very high spike but it was still being rated as ‘polluted’ — a level which keeps the fan at the top speed. So I started to suspect something had misfired.

This is where being able to switch to manual is essential — meaning I could override the algorithm’s conviction that the air was really bad and dial the fan down to a lower setting.

That override provided a temporary ‘fix’ but the unnaturally elevated ‘pollution’ read continued for the best part of a week. This made it look like the whole sensing capacity had broken. And without the ability to automatically adapt to changing pollution levels the smart air purifier was now suddenly dumb…

 

It turned out Blueair has a fix for this sort of algorithmic malfunction. Though it’s not quick.

After explaining the issue to the company, laying out my suspicion that the sensors weren’t reading correctly, it told me the algorithms are programmed to respond to this type of situation by reseting around seven days after the event, assuming the read accuracy hasn’t already corrected itself by then.

Sure enough, almost a week later that’s exactly what happened. Though I couldn’t find anything to explain this might happen in the user manual, so it would be helpful if they include it in a troubleshooting section.

Here’s the month view showing the crazy PM 2.5 spike; the elevated extended (false) reading; then the correction; followed finally by (relatively) normal service…

 

For a while after this incident the algorithms also seemed overly sensitive — and I had to step in again several times to override the top gear setting as its read on pollution levels was back into the yellow without an obvious reason why.

When the level reads ‘polluted’ it automatically triggers the highest fan speed. Paradoxically, this sometimes seems to have the self-defeating effect of appearing to draw dust up into the air — thereby keeping the PM 2.5 level elevated. So at times manually lowering the fan when it’s only slightly polluted can reduce pollution levels quicker than just letting it blast away. Which is one product niggle.

When viewed in the app the sustained elevated pollution level did look pretty obviously wrong — to the human brain at least. So, like every ‘smart’ device, this one also benefits from having human logic involved to complete the loop.

Concluding thoughts after a month’s use

A few weeks on from the first algorithm malfunction the unit’s sensing capacity at first appeared to have stabilized — in that it was back to the not-so-hair-trigger-sensitivity that had been the case prior to balcony-door-gate.

For a while it seemed less prone to have a sustained freak out over relatively minor domestic activities like lifting clean sheets out of the cupboard, as if it had clicked into a smoother operating grove. Though I remained wary of trying the full bore Saturday balcony door.

I thought this period of relative tranquility might signal improved measurement accuracy, the learning algos having been through not just an initial training cycle but a major malfunction plus correction. Though of course there was no way to be sure.

It’s possible there had also been a genuine improvement in indoor air quality — i.e. as a consequence of, for example, better ventilation habits and avoiding key pollution triggers because I now have real-time air quality feedback to act on so can be smarter about when to open windows, where to shake sheets, which type of cat litter to buy and so on.

It’s a reassuring idea. Though one that requires putting your faith in algorithms that are demonstrably far from perfect. Even when they’re functioning they’re a simplification and approximation of what’s really going on. And when they fail, well, they are clearly getting it totally wrong.

Almost bang on the month mark of testing there was suddenly another crazy high PM 2.5 spike.

One rainy afternoon the read surged from ‘good’ to ‘highly polluted’ without any real explanation. I had opened a patio on the other side of the apartment but it does not open onto a street. This time the reading stuck at 400 even with the fan going full blast. So it looked like an even more major algorithm crash…

Really clean air is impossible to mistake. Take a walk in the mountains far from civilization and your lungs will thank you. But cleaner air is harder for humans to quantify. Yet, increasingly, we do need to know how clean or otherwise the stuff we’re breathing is, as more of us are packed into cities exposed to each others’ fumes — and because the harmful health impacts of pollution are increasingly clear.

Without radical policy interventions we’re fast accelerating towards a place where we could be forced to trust sensing algorithms to tell us whether what we’re breathing is harmful or not.

Machines whose algorithms are fallible and might be making rough guestimates, and/or prone to sensing malfunctions. And machines that also won’t be able to promise to make the air entirely safe to breathe. Frankly it’s pretty scary to contemplate.

So while I can’t now imagine doing without some form of in-home air purifier to help manage my urban pollution risk — I’d definitely prefer that this kind of smart hardware wasn’t necessary at all.

In Blueair’s case, the company clearly still has work to do to improve the robustness of its sensing algorithms. Operating conditions for this sort of product will obviously vary widely, so there’s loads of parameters for its algorithms to balance.

With all that stuff to juggle it just seems a bit too easy for the sensing function to spin out of control.

10-second take

The good

Easy to set up, thoughtful product design, including relatively clear in-app controls and content which lets you understand pollution triggers to manage risk. Embedded air quality sensors greatly extend the product’s utility by enabling autonomous response to changes in pollution levels. Quiet operation during regular conditions. Choice of automated or manual fan speed settings. Filtration is powerful and since using the device indoor air quality does seem cleaner.

The bad

Sensing accuracy is not always reliable. The algorithms appear prone to being confused by air pressure changes indoors, such as a large window being opened which can trigger unbelievably high pollution readings that lead to an extended period of inaccurate readings when you can’t rely on the automation to work at all. I also found the feedback in the app can sometimes lag. App content/features are on the minimalist side so you may want more detail. When the pollution level is marginal an elevated fan speed can sometimes appear to challenge the efficacy of the filtration as if it’s holding pollution levels in place rather than reducing them.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for a smart air purifier the Blueair Classic 480i does have a lot to recommend it. Quiet operation, ease of use and a tangible improvement in air quality, thanks to powerful filtration. However the accuracy of the sensing algorithms does pose a dilemma. For me this problem has recurred twice in a month. That’s clearly not ideal when it takes a full week to reset. If it were not for this reliability issue I would not hesitate to recommend the product, as — when not going crazy — the real-time feedback it provides really helps you manage a variety of pollution risks in and around your home. Hopefully the company will work on improving the stability of the algorithms. Or at least offer an option in the app so you can manually reset it if/when it does go wrong.

Read Full Article