The Best Laptops for Music Production for All Budgets

Recording music used to mean paying thousands of dollars or more to go to a professional recording studio. Now, if you’ve got a computer, all you need is a few other pieces of hardware, and you’ve got a studio of your own. If you’re creating electronic music, you may need even less hardware.

Of course, not all computers are created equal. You can record music on almost any computer, but you’ll be able to do more with something more powerful. Picking the right laptop will make getting your ideas from your head to listeners much easier.

Here are the best laptops for music production suitable for all budgets.

Best Overall MacBook:
MacBook Pro 15-inch

MacBook Pro 15-inch MacBook Pro 15-inch Buy Now On Amazon $2,197.92

Walk into a pro studio, and you’ve got a very good chance of seeing a Mac, though it will likely be an iMac or Mac Pro. Windows computers are gaining popularity in the sector, but you’ll still see Macs quite often. There are only two options for MacBooks, with the MacBook Pro being the more powerful of the two.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro offers not just a larger screen than the 13-inch model, but more powerful hardware, too. You get a choice of an Intel i7 or i9 CPU, and the base model offers 16GB of RAM. Ideally, you’ll want to go for 512GB of storage rather than the 256GB in the base model. Fortunately, the 2019 edition has an updated keyboard that Apple says doesn’t have the reliability issues that plagued the last few years’ models.

Best Budget MacBook:
MacBook Air

MacBook Air MacBook Air Buy Now On Amazon $1,224.92

The MacBook Air wasn’t updated for many years, but also received a refresh in 2019. The new MacBook Air is not as powerful as the MacBook Pro, but if you don’t require those high-end specs, the Air will suit you well. We recommend opting for the version with 16GB of RAM, but if you want to bring the cost down further, you could probably get away with selecting the 8GB editing instead.

Similarly, you’ll be working with large audio files, so the more storage, the better. However, if you want to keep costs down, select the 256GB internal SSD, and purchase an external drive to go alongside it. The 2019 MacBook Air comes with Apple’s Retina display, although you are still limited to the relatively small 13-inch screen.

Most Adaptable Windows Laptop:
Microsoft Surface Book 2

Microsoft Surface Book 2 Microsoft Surface Book 2 Buy Now On Amazon $2,491.97

Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 is the perfect choice if you want a laptop that can run Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software without a hitch. The hardware also makes it perfect to use as a composition tool, too. Touchscreen support is hit and miss depending on the software you’re using.

However, it’s getting better, with tools for electronic musicians evolving quickly. The Surface Book 2 is no slouch in the hardware department, though. The laptop ships with a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. You also get up to 17 hours of battery life. This makes it the ideal laptop for recording in a remote location and you don’t have easy access to power.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop:
HP Spectre x360

HP Spectre x360 HP Spectre x360 Buy Now On Amazon $1,625.00

The HP Spectre x360 is a great 2-in-1 alternative to the Surface Book 2. Where Microsoft’s offering can detatch from the keyword to enter tablet mode, the Spectre x360 rotates on its hinges to create the same effect.

You get a six-core Intel i7 CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a 512 NVMe SSD. The 15.4-inch display is 4K, meaning things will remain super sharp when you zoom in to edit audio in your DAW software. Editing software-based instruments with the Spectre x360’s touchscreen also makes the experience more immersive.

Best Budget 2-in-1 Laptop:
Lenovo Yoga 730

Lenovo Yoga 730 Lenovo Yoga 730 Buy Now On Amazon $629.00

If you’re looking for a 2-in-1 but don’t want to spend too much, the Lenovo Yoga 730 might be right for you. These laptops are very configurable, so you should be able to find something that fits your budget. Still, the more RAM and storage space you can manage, the better off you’ll be.

If you want to keep the price low, select the Core i5 model, which is still powerful enough for most music production needs. You also get 12GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.You can also increase storage space by adding an external drive, too. So long as you aren’t using too many plugins or track freezing, then you’ll get by just fine.

Best Mobile Workstation:
HP ZBook Studio

HP ZBook Studio HP ZBook Studio Buy Now On Amazon $1,950.00

Many of us would rather have the power of a desktop computer, but the portability afforded by laptops is hard to resist. They don’t offer the same hardware upgradability, but a mobile workstation-class laptop can offer the best of both worlds. The only downside is that many of these aren’t as sleek or slim as other laptops.

One of the best mobile workstations for music production is the HP ZBook Studio. This laptops comes equipped with a 2.8GHz Intel Xeon CPU, unlike the other laptops on this list which usually have a Core i7 or similar. This model also has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Plus, there’s an Nvidia Quadra M1000M graphics card, which you’ll find in many pro multimedia rigs.

Best Budget Mobile Workstation:
Lenovo ThinkPad P52s

Lenovo ThinkPad P52s Lenovo ThinkPad P52s Buy Now On Amazon $1,199.00

Mobile workstations aren’t generally cheap, so even a budget device is going to cost you a good chunk of change. That said, the Lenovo ThinkPad P52s offers plenty of power for the price. The base configuration uses a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, packs 16GB of RAM, and has a 512GB SSD.

On the downside, the 15.6-inch display is only 1920×1080, which feels a little dated compared to the high-resolution displays you’ll find on some similar laptops. Despite these slight shortcomings, the Lenovo ThinkPad P52s is easily the best budget mobile workstation for music production.

Best 17-inch Laptop:
LG Gram 17-inch

LG Gram 17-inch LG Gram 17-inch Buy Now On Amazon $1,484.00

Whether you’re mixing a large number of tracks or editing audio across various tracks, you generally need all the screen you can get. Most laptops you’ll find these days are either 13-inch or 15-inch models. However, you might find that’s just not enough for you, which is where the LG Gram 17-inch comes in.

While it does clock in at more than a gram, despite the large screen, the LG Gram is thin, light, and easily portable. The laptop has a 2560 x 1600 resolution as well. This model uses an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 and has 16GB of RAM and a 512 SSD. Though, for more money, you can get a model with a 1TB SSD.

Best Budget 17-inch Laptop:
ASUS VivoBook Pro 17

ASUS VivoBook Pro 17 ASUS VivoBook Pro 17 Buy Now On Amazon $689.99

If you’re willing to sacrifice some power for a large screen, the ASUS VivoBook Pro 17 might be right up your alley. Though not quite as sleek as the LG Gram, this model is still fairly sleek, plus it offers an 85 percent screen-to-body ratio, meaning it’s almost bezel-less too.

They’ve got to lower the price somehow, which means you only get an Intel Core i5 CPU. Similarly, you’re limited to 8GB of RAM. The hard drive have very little SSD storage space, at just 128GB. This would typically be a deal-breaker, but ASUS also included a 1TB HDD inside for additional space to store your audio files.

The Best Laptop for Music Production

If you’ve already got DAW software you like, you’ll want to pick your computer based on what you have. Logic will only run on a Mac, for example. Windows gives you more options, but most of the most popular DAWs also run on Mac.

If you need software, you’ll want to make sure to pick something that works well with your laptop. It’ll need to work on your operating system, but you also want to meet the system requirements. If you need help choosing software, we’ve got a roundup of the best music production software.

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5 Ways to Display a Ruler on Your Computer Screen

You might think of a ruler as something only kids in school or carpenters use. But occasionally, everyone has a need for an old-fashioned ruler. If you don’t have a real ruler handy, why not use a computer ruler?

While they won’t help you draw a straight line, you can use these on-screen rulers to make small measurements. Let’s look at some useful options you can use on your desktop and phone.

A Quick Note on Using Computer Screen Rulers

Though these sites are simple, the rulers will look different depending on your device’s screen size and resolution. They attempt to calibrate themselves automatically, but this won’t always work out right.

Thus, while screen rulers are convenient when you have no other options, there’s no guarantee that they’re perfectly accurate. We therefore don’t recommend using these tools for any kind of precision jobs. Use a real measuring tool that you trust for more serious work.

You may wish to double-check these rulers for accuracy before you use them. It’s easy to do this using a common object with a standard measurement, like a dollar bill. A US bill is 2.61 inches tall, which you can use to test the ruler.

1. iRuler

iRuler is a classic PC ruler site that’s still around today. Visiting the site grants you access to a simple ruler right on your screen. It displays both inches and centimeters.

The site automatically detects your monitor size and resolution in order to display the ruler at the right dimensions. If it doesn’t get it right, click the select your monitor dimension text to fix this.

That’s all there is to using this easy tool, as it doesn’t offer much in the way of extras.

2. PiliApp Actual Ruler

This alternative monitor ruler offers a few additional tools compared to iRuler.

When you first visit the page, it will ask you to confirm your detected monitor size. If it’s not correct, you can pick a different option or specify your own value. It also lets you choose I don’t know what monitor size is for a calibration tool.

With this, you can match up the size of a dollar bill, credit card, or iPhone with one on the screen to figure out your monitor size.

Once you’re done, you’ll have another ruler to utilize. This site has the centimeter and inch rulers on different pages, which makes it a little cleaner. You can also click the drag it button to put the ruler image in its own window and move it wherever you like on the screen.

3. FreeOnlineRuler

You might think that all rulers on your computer would be the same, but this one offers a few features that the above don’t.

First, you can click and drag to move the ruler around wherever you want it. This site also lets you hold Ctrl and drag the ruler to rotate it, which is handy if you want to measure an irregular object.

At the bottom of the page, you can uncheck centimeters or inches if you only want to show one of them. And the flipped option reverses the ruler, so you can measure from right to left.

FreeOnlineRuler also has a calibration tool. Click Please calibrate your ruler (or Calibrate if you’ve opened this before) at the bottom of the screen to open it. Here you can pick to measure a credit card, dollar bill, or sheet of paper to calibrate the ruler.

If you don’t have any of these, the site also helpfully lets you specify your own object measurement for calibration.

4. Ruler by Xalpha Lab

The above tools are great for desktop use, but they don’t work too well on a mobile device. If you need a ruler on your phone, perhaps to visualize one inch on the screen, then you should use a dedicated app.

For Android, we like the aptly titled Ruler. It’s a highly rated app that lets you make small measurements on your phone. Drag the height and width lines to display the dimensions of the object you’re measuring.

Tap anywhere on the screen to open the menu at the top. Here you can swap to the dark theme, change units, adjust the subdivisions, or calibrate it using a coin or credit card.

Of course, since your phone’s display isn’t as large as a computer monitor, you can’t measure objects as long. But as a quick electronic ruler, it’s handy to have. Even better, the app features no ads or in-app purchases.

If you need to measure larger objects, you should check out Google’s Measure app, which is one of the best toolbox apps on Android.

Download: Ruler for Android (Free)

5. Ruler by Tue Nguyen Minh

If you use an iPhone, you’ll find plenty of ruler apps available as well. This one goes by 3-in-1 Ruler, and offers a basic ruler as well as an AR measuring tool and option to print a ruler. Like the above, it has no ads or in-app purchases.

When you start the app, it will ask you for access to your camera. It needs this for the AR measuring feature, which uses your camera to measure the dimensions of actual objects. Pull down from the top to access the standard ruler, which measures up to roughly four inches/10 centimeters.

Modern iPhones also include a first-party Apple app called Measure, which allows you to measure objects using AR. Give that a try if you need to measure something larger than a few inches.

We’ve looked at the best ruler and distance measurements tools for iPhone before, so check those out for more options.

Download: 3-in-1 Ruler for iOS (Free)

Which Computer Ruler Will You Use?

We’ve looked at solid monitor ruler options for your desktop as well as your iPhone or Android phone. Whether you just need a quick visualization of a centimeter or need to measure something in a pinch, these will help you out. Just remember that they’re not perfectly accurate.

Looking for bigger measurements next? Check out how to measure area and distance on Google Maps and Google Earth.

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You Can Now Use Google Maps in Incognito Mode

Google is rolling out Incognito mode for Google Maps. Incognito mode for Google Maps is now available on Android, with iOS also getting the feature in the future. Which means you no longer have to worry about Google knowing your whereabouts.

What Does Incognito Mode Do?

Incognito mode has been a staple of Google Chrome for many years. Once enabled, it means you can browse the web privately, without other people who use the same device from being able to see your online activity.

This doesn’t offer VPN-levels of online privacy, so your ISP, the websites you visit, and your employer will still be able to see what you’re doing online. However, it prevents Chrome from saving your browsing history, cookies, and information entered in forms.

Google Launches Incognito Mode for Google Maps

Now, Google Maps has its own Incognito mode. Once Incognito mode has been enabled, Google Maps won’t save your activity to your Google account. This includes the places you search for, and the destinations you ask for directions to.

We’re always working to keep your data private and secure. Today we’re expanding our easy-to-use privacy controls to products like the Assistant, Maps and YouTube and announcing new ways of protecting your data online. https://t.co/F5QDKKjQIY

— Google (@Google) October 2, 2019

According to Google Maps Help, turning on Incognito mode means Google will not “save your browse or search history or send you notifications, update your Location History or shared location, if any, or use your personal data to personalize Maps.”

How to Turn On Incognito Mode in Google Maps

To turn on Incognito mode in Google Maps, open the Google Maps app on your Android device. Then, tap on your profile picture. Then tap “Turn on Incognito mode”. You can turn it off again in the same way when you want to get a more personalized experience.

You can read more about Google Maps’ Incognito Mode in a post on The Keyword. Google also discusses expanding its Auto-delete feature to YouTube, using Google Assistant to control your privacy settings, and how to use Google’s Password Checkup tool.

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10 Gift Ideas for the Arduino Tinkerer in Your Life

Wondering what to get the tinkerer in your life for their birthday or the holiday season? Whether they are a budding young inventor or a lifelong hardware hacker, Arduino boards and accessories are perfect gifts.

So, we’re going to look at some Arduino-themed gift ideas. Whether the person you are buying for is a total beginner or a microcontroller expert, you’ll find something here to suit them.

1. Arduino Starter Kit

Arduino Starter Kit Arduino Starter Kit Buy Now On Amazon $17.99

There’s not much point reading our list of Arduino gift ideas if the person you’re buying for doesn’t own any Arduino hardware to begin with.

Arduino starter kits come in many forms. Some contain little more than a controller board and a few wires, resistors, and LEDs. Others cost a lot more money and include a greater number of parts, tutorials, project ideas, and more.

If your gift recipient is a total novice, you shouldn’t over complicate things. It’s better to buy a simple kit and add more parts to it as their confidence increases. We suggest the official Arduino Starter Kit as it comes with a 170-page tutorial.

2. Programming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches by Simon Monk

Programming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches by Simon Monk Programming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches by Simon Monk Buy Now On Amazon $9.33

You can find dozens of great Arduino books for all skill levels. But we recommend Simon Monk’s Programming Arduino book. Monk—who has a Ph.D. in software engineering—has written several programming titles covering topics such as Raspberry Pi and hacking electronics.

Programming Arduino is one of the bestselling Arduino books on Amazon. It’s ideal for both programmers and non-programmers as each chapter focuses on a new section of code to compile and upload. It does not cover circuit building or applications in any detail, though.

3. An Arduino Case

Arduino Mega 2560 Case Arduino Mega 2560 Case Buy Now On Amazon $9.99

When you buy an Arduino board, it’s just that—a board. All the electronics are exposed to the elements. That obviously dramatically increases the risk of damage; split liquids, dust, and kids can all wreak havoc on your painstakingly created project.

It’s wise, therefore, to pick up a case to protect the circuitry. They don’t cost more than a few bucks and come in a variety of styles and designs. Just make sure you buy a case that matches the model of the Arduino that the recipient owns. We’ve included an Arduino Mega 2560 Case above, but you’ll need to check to find the right model for your giftee.

4. HUABAN Soil Hygrometer Humidity Detection Module

HUABAN Soil Hygrometer Humidity Detection Module HUABAN Soil Hygrometer Humidity Detection Module Buy Now On Amazon $7.50

Rather than just aimlessly buying Arduino accessories as a gift, take a step back and consider what other hobbies and interests the gift recipient has.For example, if they are a keen gardener, you could consider buying the HUABAN Soil Hygrometer Humidity Detection Module.

It can monitor the soil moisture around plants, then hook up to an Arduino-powered automatic watering system. It has adjustable sensitivity and can be made to produce both analog and digital readings. The box includes five individual monitors and a 3 x 1.6cm PCB board. However, we don’t recommend this gift for someone who is a complete beginner.

5. Ximimark Digital Barometric Pressure Sensor Board

Ximimark Digital Barometric Pressure Sensor Board Ximimark Digital Barometric Pressure Sensor Board Buy Now On Amazon $7.49

In a similar vein, weather fanatics might enjoy the Ximimark Digital Barometric Pressure Sensor Board. Clearly, it can measure the atmospheric pressure in your location, but it has some other exciting uses for advanced Arduino owners. For example, you can use it to convert the pressure into altitude, thus providing height readings for Arduino-powered planes or rockets.

Or you could take it on a hiking trip to keep an eye on your elevation above sea level. The sensor board is low-powered; it only needs 0.3?A. As such, it can easily be used with battery-powered Arduino projects. It has an eight-pin chip that connects to a processor via I2C.

6. UCTRONICS Smart Bluetooth Robot Car Kit

UCTRONICS Smart Bluetooth Robot Car Kit UCTRONICS Smart Bluetooth Robot Car Kit Buy Now On Amazon $49.99

If you’re buying an Arduino gift for a child, there’s no point in buying fancy accessories or starter packs—it won’t enthuse them. Instead, try to think of gift ideas that they’ll want to get stuck into. The UCTRONICS Smart Bluetooth Robot Car Kit is one such idea.

It comes with all the parts you need to make the car a reality, including a complete set of modules, an UNO R3 board, an ultrasonic sensor, a motor drive board, a battery, and a charger. The car is controlled using the accompanying Android app. Unfortunately, iOS is not supported.

In practice, we’d only recommend buying this gift if one of the child’s parents is at least semi-competent with Arduinos and/or programming. They’ll probably need some assistance to get the project up and running.

7. Green Light Optical Fingerprint Reader

Green Light Optical Fingerprint Reader Green Light Optical Fingerprint Reader Buy Now On Amazon $24.99

Some men think of their garage or garden shed as their personal fiefdom. No one can enter without permission. Sound familiar? Then perhaps you should buy a Green Light Optical Fingerprint Reader for the Arduino addict in your life. The simple scanner can permit or deny entry to a room based on a fingerprint scan.

Up to 162 different fingerprints can be added to the flash memory. The prints are added using the accompanying Windows software or with an Arduino Sketch. During use, all fingerprints are hashed and sent to the microcontroller for processing. Again, this is not a beginner-level project.

8. SunFounder Arduino Robotics Kit

SunFounder Arduino Robotics Kit SunFounder Arduino Robotics Kit Buy Now On Amazon $58.99

For many people, robots are the coolest things in the world, and these people are clearly correct. The SunFounder Robotics Kit is a two-legged robot suitable for beginners. The Dancing Sloth stands on two legs and is easy to program using visual programming blocks.

Sold as a complete kit, including the Arduino board and a guide, it covers many fundamentals of robotics. As well as moving, the distance sensor in the kit adds another dimension of sensing and control. Better yet, the project is easy to scale up in complexity as the person’s skills improve.

9. SainSmart 4-Channel Relay Module

SainSmart 4-Channel Relay Module SainSmart 4-Channel Relay Module Buy Now On Amazon $9.99

Smart homes are gaining in popularity, with devices appearing in hardware stores and popular culture. One of the strengths of microcontrollers, such as the Arduino, is that they allow anyone to affordably create DIY smart home systems.

At its simplest, a home automation setup requires a relay to allow control over larger powered items (such as lights, wall switches, and appliances), and a way of accessing these things via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. For a few bucks, you can buy a SainSmart 4-Channel Relay Module. It can be accessed from a smartphone to control almost anything.

10. Straight Outta Arduino Coffee Mug

Arduino Coffee Mug Arduino Coffee Mug Buy Now On Amazon

You don’t have to buy technical presents for Arduino lovers. After all, for non-users, it can be hard to know exactly what the person needs, wants, or already has.

A simple solution? Buy them an Arduino coffee mug. Easy!

The Best Arduino Gift Ideas

The 10 ideas in our Arduino gift guide should put you on the right track towards choosing a present for the geeky DIYer in your life.

If time has caught up with you, and you won’t be able to get these gifts to your recipient in time, then you may want to choose one of these last-minute digital gifts instead.

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The 8 Best Smartphone Camera Lenses for Taking Better Pictures

Even if you don’t have the latest and greatest smartphone camera, you can still make your photos come out just as amazing. Simply attaching a lens to your smartphone camera will let you shoot wide-angle, macro, and even fisheye photos.

The following smartphone lenses will have you taking professional-looking photos from your phone in no time.

1. Xenvo Pro Lens Kit

Xenvo Pro Lens Kit Xenvo Pro Lens Kit Buy Now On Amazon $39.99

The Xenvo Pro Lens Kit offers a macro and wide-angle lens, along with an LED light and a travel case. The lenses are compatible with just about every phone model, including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and Huawei phones.

Just clip the lens onto your phone’s camera and you can start snapping pictures. The wide-angle lens boasts high-quality optical glass that helps prevent any reflections and vignetting. Once you attach the wide-angle lens, you can capture 45 percent more of your photo.

The 15x macro lens is just as impressive for the price. With this lens, you can shoot highly-detailed photos of any subject. The included LED light also attaches anywhere to your phone, providing you with ample lighting when you need it.

2. Moment Wide Lens

Moment Wide Lens Moment Wide Lens Buy Now On Amazon $119.99

If you want reliable, professional wide-angle shots, go with the Moment Wide Lens. It’s a little pricey, but it’s worth it. You can use this lens with your iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, or OnePlus phone. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to purchase the Moment-M series case for your phone to mount the lens properly.

Not only is this lens made of aerospace metal and several layers of cinema-grade glass, but it can help you get twice the amount of content in your photos. This makes it great for wide shots of landscape, architecture, and group photos.

3. AQwzh Telephoto Lens

AQwzh Telephoto Lens AQwzh Telephoto Lens Buy Now On Amazon $13.90

If the zoom on your phone just doesn’t cut it, try attaching the AQwzh Telephoto Lens. This 12x telephoto lens allows you to get long-distance photographs of concerts, events, and nature. It’s a great alternative to lugging a heavy digital camera around.

To use the lens, just clip it on your phone’s camera, and adjust the lens to get the clearest photo possible. You can use this lens with almost every type of iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and other Android smartphones.

4. MACTREM Phone Camera Lens Kit

MACTREM Phone Camera Lens Kit MACTREM Phone Camera Lens Kit Buy Now On Amazon $29.98

The MACTREM Phone Camera Lens Kit offers four different lenses and a smartphone tripod for a budget-friendly price. In this kit, you’ll find a 20x telephoto lens, 205-degree fisheye lens, 0.5x wide-angle lens, as well as a 25x macro lens. It’s a great value for someone interested in mobile photography.

Each lens comes with a ten-layer green coating. This allows for accurate colors in your photos. The kit also comes with an adjustable universal lens clip, making it useable on your phone’s front lens, rear lens, as well as dual or single cameras.

5. Anazalea Wide Angle and Macro Lens Kit

Anazalea Wide and Macro Lens Anazalea Wide and Macro Lens Buy Now On Amazon $19.99

The Anazalea Wide Angle and Macro Lens Kit comes with one clip that works for most new phone models. To swap from the wide-angle to the macro lens, simply screw the wide-angle lens off of the clip, and twist on the macro lens.

With the 15x macro lens, you can capture in-depth photos at a length of one inch away from the subject. The 0.45x wide-angle lens is just as good, as it allows you to take pictures of a large area, with no dark corners. Like the other lenses on this list, both are crafted with high-quality glass for superior photo quality.

6. Moment Anamorphic Lens

Moment Anamorphic Lens Moment Anamorphic Lens Buy Now On Amazon $149.90

Moment is one of the best smartphone lens brands, which is why we’ve included it on this list twice. Like its wide lens, the Moment Anamorphic Lens also requires that you have an M-Series Phone Case or the Battery Photo Case to mount it.

The anamorphic lens is perfect if you like taking amazing videos from your smartphone. Anamorphic lenses horizontally stretch an image without affecting its vertical length. It produces a widescreen look, and also allows for horizontal lens flares. That’s why anamorphic lenses are so commonly used in cinema—the raw, classic look is unbeatable.

7. Olloclip Essential Lens Kit

Olloclip Essential Lens Kit Olloclip Essential Lens Kit Buy Now On Amazon $99.99

The Olloclip Essential Lens Kit is another flexible kit that adapts to any smartphone. If you find that the multi-device clip doesn’t fit right, you can always adjust it to suit your phone.

In addition to coming with a fisheye, super-wide, and macro lens, the kit also contains a handy Bluetooth remote. With the remote, you can take wide-angle group or landscape photos from up to 30 feet away from your phone. Just pair it to your phone and click it when you’re ready to snap a picture.

8. Black Eye Pro Lens Kit

Black Eye Pro Lens Kit Black Eye Pro Lens Kit Buy Now On Amazon $149.99

When you’re serious about smartphone photography, you’ll want to try Black Eye Pro Lens Kit. The kit comes with a wide-angle, fisheye, and portrait telephoto lens. Each lens is made of optical glass and has a color coating that won’t dull out your pictures. You can choose to mount the lens using the included clips, or you can purchase the Black Eye Photo Lens Case and mount it to that.

The wide-angle lens lets you capture a 120-degree view with no distortion. You can count on the fisheye lens and telephoto lens to capture eye-catching photos as well. While the portrait telephoto lens lets you zoom in two and a half times closer, the fisheye lens gives you a stunning 175-degree shot.

Take Your Smartphone Camera to the Next Level

Many travelers, hobbyists, and photographers have started using their smartphone as a camera. A smartphone doesn’t carry the same weight as a DSLR camera, and some can even produce the same high-quality photos.

If you really want to achieve amazing photos, you’ll want to get one of the above lenses. Plus, they’re light enough to carry around all day. Once you start taking pictures with your new lens, you’ll definitely want to show them off. Share your photos on one of these Instagram alternatives for smartphone photographers.

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The 7 Best Sites to Securely Download Safe Mac Apps

Mac software is not immune to security problems. Third-party apps can harbor malware, spyware, adware, ransomware, and numerous other security-based threats.

As such, you need to make sure you only download Mac apps from safe, secure, and trustworthy websites. Here are some of the safest sites to download Mac software.

Analyzing Site Security

When we looked at the safest free software sites for Windows, we ran each site through two reputation checkers—Web of Trust (WOT) and URLVoid.

We’re going to apply the same philosophy in this article. Web of Trust provides a trustworthiness score out of 100 while URLVoid grades each site out of 36.

1. MacUpdate

WOT Trustworthiness: 91/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

MacUpdate is one of the most popular websites to download Mac software safely. It has a library of more than 40,000 apps. By comparison, the official Mac App Store only has about 15,000 apps available.

All the apps in the library have been hand-picked by the site’s team of experts, so you can be confident they’ve all gone through a full vetting process.

MacUpdate can also save you money. Every day, there’s an “App of the Day” with a 50 percent discount. Occasionally, you can find discounts that run as high as 90 percent.

Navigating the site is easy; all the apps are divided between 10 well-defined categories. They are Internet, Utilities, Drivers, Games, Education, Home, Business, Multimedia Design, Development, and Graphics and Design.

2. Softpedia

WOT Trustworthiness: 93/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Softpedia is one of the largest software download sites on the web. Unsurprisingly, it has an entire section dedicated to Mac apps.

The download files are updated every day, so you can be sure you’re always getting the latest available version. Using up-to-date versions is critical for avoiding security bugs and flaws.

Many apps are also tagged with the “Softpedia Secure Download” label. It means the download is coming directly from Softpedia’s servers, all of which are regularly tested for viruses and other malware.

Softpedia also has user reviews for many of the available apps. They can provide insight on any issues you may encounter during use.

3. Pure Mac

WOT Trustworthiness: 92/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

If you can look past the slightly dated visuals, Pure Mac is another of the most secure sites to download Mac software and apps.

The site boasts one of the most extensive selections of categories; there are more than 80 to choose from. The large number of groups means the site is excellent for finding a Mac app to perform a particular function.

On the downside, Pure Mac does not run its own download servers. All the downloads on the site are direct links that the app’s publisher or developer has provided. Remember, using one of the best anti-virus apps for Mac can help to catch any malware-laden downloads you encounter.

4. CNET Download

WOT Trustworthiness: 90/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

CNET’s Download.com is another of the web’s largest collections of apps. Like Softpedia, it covers all the major operating systems, including macOS. In total, the site offers more than 150,000 free downloads.

All the Mac software on the site goes through a rigorous testing procedure to check for malware and other viruses.

Download.com also bans any apps that:

• Don’t have easy-to-read end-user license agreements.
• Modifies default browsers, search-engine home pages, or other security settings.
• Send information about your computer usage habits to the developer without prior notification.

Because it’s part of CNET, many of the Mac apps you can download have editorial reviews, accompanying blog posts, and how-to articles. They combine to make sure that not only is the initial download safe, but that you also use the software in a safe and secure way once it’s on your system.

5. MacApps

WOT Trustworthiness: Not Ranked
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

If you’ve ever bought a new Windows machine, you may be familiar with Ninite. It provides a comprehensive list of many of the most popular Windows apps across a range of categories. You can choose the ones you want, then download them in bulk via a custom installer. It can save hours during the system setup phase.

Sadly, Ninite does not provide a solution for Macs—but there is an alternative: MacApps. The software is divided into seven categories: internet, Productivity, Developer, Tools, Utilities, Multimedia, and Messaging. There are download links for all the apps you probably use every day, including Spotify, GitHub, Docker, Evernote, Firefox, Chrome, and many more. In total, there are more than 120 apps to choose from.

To use the tool, select the apps you want from the list, and MacApps will provide you with a custom Terminal command. Paste the command into the Terminal app, and the download will begin.

6. Mac App Store

WOT Trustworthiness: 92/100
URLVoid Rating: 36/36

Of course, if you want to avoid third-party Mac software sites entirely, you could just head to the official Mac App Store. In theory, it has highly robust processes to prevent malicious apps from finding their way into the listings.

But contrary to popular belief, the Mac App Store isn’t bulletproof from a security standpoint. Some bad stuff does sneak through.

For example, in September 2018, Malwarebytes discovered multiple apps were collecting sensitive user data and uploading it to servers controlled by the developer. In many cases, the servers were in China. Amazingly, one of the apps—Adware Doctor—was number one in the chart for paid utilities until the research was made public.

7. Download Directly From the Developer

It’s easy to understand why sites which curate libraries of Mac app downloads are popular. They save time, offer unbiased reviews, and allow you to download older versions of software to get rid of unwanted new features.

But none of the sites we’ve looked at are perfect. If Apple can’t even keep bad actors out of its own store, you can be sure that some malicious software makes its way onto the other platforms as well.

The most reliable way to safely and securely download Mac apps, therefore, is to head to the developers’ own sites and download the file directly. Just beware of phishing attacks for the most popular software!

Learn More About Downloading Safely

As long as you take reasonable precautions while downloading Mac apps, you should be safe. All the usual advice applies— don’t download pirated or cracked apps, don’t use unknown mirrors, don’t use third-party installers, and run an anti-virus at all times.

If you’d like to learn more about safely downloading from the web, make sure you read our article on the safest places to download free apps.

Read the full article: The 7 Best Sites to Securely Download Safe Mac Apps

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Reaction Engines’ Mach 5 engine is just the tip of the new aerospace boom

Imagine a hypersonic passenger aircraft that would cut the journey time between London and New York to around two hours. At Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, the aircraft would complete a trip across the Atlantic in around 120 minutes. Mach 5 is more than twice as fast as the cruising speed of Concorde and over 50% faster than the SR-71 Blackbird – the world’s fastest jet-engine powered aircraft. A flight across the Pacific would take roughly three hours. Flight times from London to Sydney could be 80% shorter. Who needs Elon Musk?

Reaching these speeds would require an aircraft engine that has never previously existed. But last week, the world got a glimpse of a new future via a project which has been germinating for 30 years.

Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by three propulsion engineers from Rolls Royce: Alan Bond, Richard Varvill and John Scott Scott. Their idea was that in order for an engine to reach hypersonic speeds, the air going into it would have to be rapidly cooled, otherwise the engine would melt. Reaction’s breakthrough was inventing a “precooler” or heat exchanger which can take the air down to minus 150 degrees centigrade in less than a 20th of a second.

These ultra-lightweight “heat exchangers” would enable aircraft to fly over five times the speed of sound in the atmosphere. Thus the SABRE – Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine – was born. The Sabre engine “breathes” air to make 20 per cent of the journey to orbit, before switching to rocket mode to complete the trip.

Last week, Reaction Engines passed a significant milestone. It successfully tested its innovative precooler at airflow temperature conditions representing Mach 5.

The ground-based test at the Colorado Air and Space Port in the US, saw the precooler successfully operate at temperatures of 420ᵒC (~788ᵒF) – matching the thermal conditions corresponding to Mach 3.3 flight.

But this technology wouldn’t just be applicable to hypersonic flight. The precooler technology, developed by Reaction Engines, would significantly enhance the performance of existing jet engine technology, along with applications in automotive, aerospace, energy and industrial processes. Reaction Engines has attracted development funding from the British government, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the European Space Agency. It’s also raised over £100m from public and private sources and has secured investment from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Boeing’s venture capital arm HorizonX. Reaction is expected to start building and testing a demonstrator engine next year.

The success of Reaction Engines to date is a sign that the ‘AerospaceTech’ sector is now booming. It is most certainly not alone.

Last month, Boeing and the UK government launched a £2m accelerator program to look for new innovations in this area. Boeing’s HorizonX is backing the initiative.

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Waymo’s UX challenge: getting people to enjoy the ride

Google has been working on autonomous vehicles — one of the biggest challenges in AI — for more than a decade, but it’s learning that the hardest part might just be getting people to enjoy the ride.

“This is an experience that you can’t really learn from someone else,” Waymo’s Director of Product Saswat Panigrahi told TechCrunch, while explaining the work he oversees on user experience (UX) development. “This is truly new.”

The sheer novelty of designing a UX for driverless mobility has drawn Waymo away from hard science-based technologies where tech giants often feel most comfortable. In the place of data, sensor and neural net development, Waymo finds its driverless development gated by painstaking research into human factors and behavioral psychology. Despite making critical decisions to avoid delving into the mysteries of human behavior and interactions, Waymo is finding that such research is an unavoidable challenge on the road to driverless mobility.

“User research has always been a big part of the development process,” said Ryan Powell, the company’s head of UX Research and Design.

In 2012, when the Google Self-Driving Car program was “dogfooding” a highway-only driver assistance system called “AutoPilot,” its in-car cameras found that employees were over-relying on the limited automation in dangerous ways. As a result of videos showing Googlers putting on makeup, using multiple devices and even falling asleep while using the system that they’d been told required constant observation, the decision was made to cancel AutoPilot product plans and focus on fully autonomous driving. “That was a big moment for the user research team because we had a big impact on the work that we were doing at Waymo in terms of making that commitment to Level 4 autonomy,” Powell recalls.

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Mario Kart Tour will test real-time multiplayer in December

The mobile version of Nintendo’s iconic racing franchise, Mario Kart Tour, will soon support multiplayer races, bringing the game closer to its competitive roots. A limited multiplayer beta test is planned for December, just in time for holiday laziness, but only for paying subscribers — the rest of us will have to wait.

Mario Kart has had a focus on multiplayer since its first (and best, in my opinion) appearance on the SNES, with multiple modes available pitting players together in real time. So despite Mario Kart Tour’s general excellence as far as gameplay and variety, players have been disappointed by the lack of that core aspect of the game.

Sure, you can post high scores and best times, but that’s nothing compared with the feeling of coming from behind in a hard-fought race and beating out half a dozen tough competitors.

Well, players will soon have that opportunity — if they happen to be Gold Pass subscribers. That’s the subscription tier that gives access to extra content in the “free to start” game, and will be a requirement to join the beta

Naturally this will provoke ire among players who feel they are owed not just a free game, but a free game that gives them everything they want for free. And in fact they may eventually get that, but it’s probably smart for Nintendo to limit this experience at first to paying customers so they can stress-test, balance gameplay, and so on. A subpar multiplayer experience is a good way to turn off otherwise interested players.

Still, this feeds into a larger dissatisfaction among gamers with Nintendo’s online and multiplayer strategy. The subscription service required for many popular games on the Switch comes with a selection of Nintendo and Super Nintendo Games, but beyond that the benefits are minimal and features standard on other platforms for years — voice chat, for instance — are absent or long in coming.

At only $20 a year it’s hardly a big investment, but subscription fatigue is growing among tech-savvy consumers and they are cutting things out where they can. Hopefully Nintendo’s offering will solidify and survive.

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Can a combined Google/Fitbit take on the Apple Watch?

In January 2014, Google announced plans to acquire Nest for $3.2 billion; the acquisition was completed the following day, but since then, Nest’s integration has been a controlled burn. Initially, the company existed as a subsidiary of the newly-formed Alphabet Inc., but in early 2018, Google tightened its grip and integrated it directly into its hardware division.

Over the next year and a half, Nest became the face and name of Google’s smart home offering, a division that’s grown quickly as Google Home/Google Nest has become one of the top two players in the U.S. smart home category, rivaled only by Amazon’s Alexa/Echo offerings.

All the while, wearables have been an also-ran: Google has clearly had an interest in the category, launching Android Wear in 2014. The company partnered with some of consumer hardware’s biggest names, including Motorola, Asus, Sony, Huawei and LG, but to little fanfare. A year ahead the release of Android Wear (now Wear OS), Apple brought its own smartwatch to market, effectively leaving the competition in the dust.

The Apple Watch would soon eclipse the rest of the wearable industry; numbers from Canalys in August 2019 show Apple at 37.9 percent of the total North American wearable band market. Fossil, the only Wear OS partner to crack the top five, is in a distant fifth, with 4.1%.

Google’s Fitbit purchase could reshape its healthcare ambitions

Samsung and Garmin have found success with their own offerings, but both are far behind Fitbit at second place. Founded in 2007, Fitbit would eventually become synonymous with fitness trackers. A humble startup when it showcased its first product (an eponymous 3D pedometer) on stage at our TC50 event in 2008, Fitbit’s rise has been an unqualified success.

Fitbit predicted and eventually came to define the wearable zeitgeist, finding itself at the forefront of the next big wave in consumer electronics after the smartphone. As the mobile category has plateaued, wearables continue to grow at an impressive pace. Let’s take a moment to appreciate what has been an impressive run.

The last few years, however, have been far rockier as Fitbit stumbled and sputtered. By CEO James Park’s own admission, the company failed to embrace smartwatches quickly and fully enough, and as it has so many times in the past, Apple entered and dominated the space, leaving Fitbit reeling with an uncertain future.

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Google’s Fitbit purchase could reshape its healthcare ambitions

Google has reached into parent company Alphabet’s $121 billion cash reserves to spend $2.1 billion on Fitbit, a move into the key consumer health market that places them in more direct competition with rival Apple.

For more than a year, Ftibit and Google have partnered on healthcare applications; last April, Fitbit announced that it would work with Google’s application programming interface to connect data with electronic medical records via Google’s Cloud Healthcare API. That move followed Fitbit’s February 2018 acquisition of Twine Health, which gave the wearables company a consumer health platform which complied with existing federal regulations.

Can a combined Google/Fitbit take on the Apple Watch?

“Working with Google gives us an opportunity to transform how we scale our business, allowing us to reach more people around the world faster, while also enhancing the experience we offer to our users and the healthcare system,” said Fitbit CEO and co-founder James Park at the time of the 2018 Google partnership.

Companies throughout the healthcare industry are pushing to get closer to patients, and wearables have opened a new window into their health. Additionally, the technology can potentially encourage patients to pursue preventive healthcare measures, rather than seeking care after they’re ill.

“All of us… we’re pursuing the same thing,” said a prominent healthcare executive at a multinational medical device manufacturer. “We see a healthcare system that’s highly inefficient with a lot of waste that is very much episode-related, where we all know health is dynamic and continuous.” Gaining “better insight into health and disease drivers and interventions at the right place and the right time is the holy grail.”

Privacy concerns abound

The biggest challenge for Alphabet and Google with this acquisition is privacy; the company has already faced massive criticism for its push into healthcare in the U.K. regarding concerns about how it would handle sensitive health information. The technology industry’s habit of releasing minimum viable products doesn’t work in an industry where complications can literally become a matter of life and death.

Sensing inevitable concern around Google’s upcoming access to a bevy of health data, Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP for devices and services, offered that the company will not use user information for advertising. “We will never sell personal information to anyone,” he wrote. “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads. And we will give Fitbit users the choice to review, move, or delete their data.”

Competition with Apple

Those privacy concerns stand in direct contrast to the obvious competitor driving this acquisition forward — Apple. The Cupertino-based king of consumer hardware has set itself apart from other consumer tech companies through its professed emphasis on privacy, a position that Apple will likely leverage further as it continues to make deeper forays into health.

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The next software revolution: programming biological cells | Sara-Jane Dunn

The next software revolution: programming biological cells | Sara-Jane Dunn

The cells in your body are like computer software: they're "programmed" to carry out specific functions at specific times. If we can better understand this biological process, we could unlock the ability to reprogram cells ourselves, says computational biologist Sara-Jane Dunn. In a talk from the cutting-edge of science, she explains how her team is studying embryonic stem cells to gain a new understanding of the biological programs that power life -- and develop "living software" that could transform medicine, agriculture and energy.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Daily Crunch: Google is buying Fitbit

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

1. Google is acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion

Google will pay $7.35 per share for the wearables company — an all-cash deal that values Fitbit at $2.1 billion.

While Google has invested plenty in its own in-house development, buying Fitbit represents a step-change, and the opportunity to take advantage of years of effort focused specifically on the wearables category.

2. Apple TV+ now live, with one year free for new iOS, Apple TV and Mac purchases

At launch, you’ll find “The Morning Show,” “See,” “For All Mankind,” “Dickinson,” “Snoopy in Space,” “Ghostwriter” and “Helpsters,” as well as the documentary feature “The Elephant Queen” and the talk show “Oprah’s Book Club.” Some of these offer the first three episodes at launch, while others include the full season.

3. Sidewalk Labs (Alphabet’s grand experiment in smart cities) will move forward with Toronto project

Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto (the regulatory body overseeing the project) have come to an agreement that will limit the scope of the Sidewalk development — intended as a proving ground for the latest thinking in sustainable design — and make the company work more closely with oversight agencies on the construction of the 12-acre parcel.

4. Altria writes down $4.5 billion from its investment in Juul

That’s roughly one-third of the $12.8 billion that the tobacco giant had invested into Juul a little less than one year ago.

5. EHang, maker of autonomous flying shuttles, files for $100 million IPO

The company, which has been flying demonstration flights with passengers on board for a while now, is gearing up to launch its first commercial service in Guangzhou after getting approval from local and national regulators to deploy its drones in the area.

6. Japanese instant-credit provider Paidy raises $143 million from investors, including PayPal Ventures

This is the largest investment to date in the Japanese financial tech industry, according to data cited by Paidy, and brings the total investment the company has raised so far to $163 million.

7. Announcing TechCrunch’s new commenting system

There are a bunch of new features that you can read about in the post, but what I’m really hoping is that this makes a big dent in the spam.

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