YouTube’s ‘G Funk’ chronicles a key piece of hip-hop history
Today, YouTube released an official trailer for its original documentary G Funk. The film, which will be available starting July 11th for YouTube Premium subscribers only, follows the story of 213 -- producer Warren G, rapper Snoop Dogg and singer Nate Dogg. The aim of the documentary is to catalog G Funk's impact on hip hop and pop culture.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/youtube-g-funk-documentary-hip-hop-snoop-dogg/
Adidas warns US customers about a possible data breach
Adidas announced this week that its systems might have suffered a data breach and that millions of customers' data could have been exposed. The company became aware of the issue on Tuesday and on Thursday, it reported that "an authorized party claims to have acquired limited data associated with certain Adidas consumers." Those potentially affected are believed to be customers who made purchases on Adidas' US website. Contact information, usernames and encrypted passwords might have been exposed, according to the company's preliminary investigation, but as of now, credit card and fitness information aren't thought to be included in any stolen data.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/adidas-us-customers-data-breach/
The best smart garage-door controller
Who should get this
A smart garage-door controller is an add-on that works with your existing garage-door opener, letting you control the door from anywhere through an app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It does not replace your existing garage-door opener or prevent other devices that open your garage door—such as visor clips, push buttons, and keypads—from working as before.
A smart garage-door controller is an excellent security and access tool for your home, vacation home, or rental property. An estimated 71 percent of American homeowners use the garage door as the main entry point to their home, and being able to open and close it remotely is very convenient.
How we picked and tested
We scoured Amazon, Google, and tech-review sites to compile a list of the smart garage-door controllers currently available. We came up with five models to test and put through their paces using four garage-door openers:
- Chamberlain MyQ Garage (MYQ-G0301; Chamberlain and LiftMaster MyQ controllers are the same thing)
- Garageio
- GoControl/Linear Z-Wave Garage Door Opener Remote Controller
- Gogogate2
- Iris Z-Wave Garage Door Controller
You'll also find a few Bluetooth smart garage-door openers, including gLink and SecuRemote. But Bluetooth's range is limited, so with these controllers you can control your garage door only from within or near your home, as you do with your regular garage-door remote.
All of the smart garage-door controllers we tested performed well in opening and closing the doors remotely, offered notifications if we left the door open, and allowed us to close the door through the companion app. We focused our testing on how easy each controller was to work with, both in installation and setup and in everyday use.
Not all smart garage-door controllers will work with all garage-door openers. And contrary to what you might normally expect with technology, the newer your door opener is, the less likely it is to work with the majority of replacement garage-door controllers.
Our pick
The Chamberlain MyQ Garage (MYQ-G0301) is the leading smart garage-door controller available, largely due to the huge popularity of Chamberlain garage-door openers (and those sold by its professional install brand, LiftMaster). The MyQ was the first smart garage-door controller to be manufactured, and it's one of the simplest smart-home devices to install and set up. If you are looking for a way to control your garage door remotely and check on its status, and would like integration with major smart-home systems such as HomeKit, Wink, IFTTT, and Google, the MyQ Garage is the best option.
In our tests, the install took under 15 minutes, with the only pain being drilling some screws into the garage ceiling for the mounting bracket. First, we mounted the door sensor to the door itself, using the included Velcro strips (you can use screws if you prefer), after which we attached the bracket for the main unit to the ceiling (near the door and near an outlet) using screws. We then slid the MyQ Garage into the bracket, plugged in the power supply, and proceeded to connect it to Wi-Fi with a smartphone and the free MyQ app. It really is a plug-and-play device, and it's the only model we tested that doesn't require any wiring, so you have no need to mess with your breaker. You will need a smartphone, Android or iOS, to set it up, and if you have poor Wi-Fi reception in your garage, you may need to purchase an extender, but the MyQ Garage does a pretty good job with a weak signal. We contend that anyone can set up the MyQ Garage in 15 minutes, as long as they're handy with a drill.
Once installed, the MyQ Garage lets you open and close the door through its app from wherever you are.The device also emits warning beeps and flashes an LED light when the door has been triggered to close remotely (but not when opened). This feature is important for alerting someone in the garage when it is being closed remotely, and is a UL requirement for "unattended operation" of garage doors.
Within the app you can create as many customized alerts as you want for when the door is open and closed, and when you are alerted about it via push notification or email. Two especially useful alerts can notify you if the door has been left open for longer than a specified amount of time and inform you of the status at a particular time—say, between 7 p.m. and midnight.
A feature-packed upgrade
Though the MyQ Garage will suit most people very well, if you have an older Chamberlain/LiftMaster door opener, or a different brand, and you're looking for a bit more functionality than just opening and closing remotely, consider the Gogogate2. It is the most feature-packed garage-door controller we tested. It also has the best app interface, keeping you fully informed about what's going on in your garage courtesy of clear, bright graphics, a temperature reading, and even a live visual of your garage door (if you choose to add an IP camera to your setup). And as the name implies, it also works with powered gates.
For smart-home enthusiasts
The GoControl/Linear Z-Wave Garage Door Opener Remote Controller may have the least catchy name ever, but it does what it says on the box very well and with no restrictions, if you choose the right home-automation system to pair it with. It's a great choice for a smart-home enthusiast who enjoys setting up routines and integrating the control of their garage door with all their other Z-Wave smart-home devices (of which there are many—here's a PDF list of some compatible GoControl ones). It is not a good choice if you just want to open and close your garage door remotely, as you need a separate home-automation hub for it to function, and no stand-alone app will work with the GoControl device by itself.
This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/the-best-smart-garage-door-controller/
Apple is fixing Maps using its own data
It's building the data set using two main sources of info. You know those Apple Maps vans (and now drones) that have been roaming around for years? They've been contributing to the new Maps all along, and use "beefed up" GPS, LiDAR, camera arrays and a physical measuring tool to generate both positional data as well as a 3D map that can categorize objects like signs, traffic lanes and buildings. Higher-resolution satellite images help as well, and Apple can more vividly describe content like vegetation, foot paths and (new to Maps) swimming pools. However, Apple is also generating map info using the iPhone in your pocket. It's using passive Maps vector data from every iPhone to provide representations of both road and pedestrian traffic. It promises much improved real-time traffic data, not to mention clearer indications of when construction or walkway changes have taken place.
Apple is promising that these methods won't impinge on your privacy. Its own data collection workflow is designed to be sure that data gatherers only ever see "sanitized" data without sensitive info, while the iPhone collection is completely anonymized to the point where Apple can't even identify a specific trip, let alone users. And in case you're wondering: no, this won't eat into your battery life.
On top of all this, Apple has been creating new tools to help human editors quickly interpret and make changes to data. In addition to allowing for faster corrections, this lets them add specific access points (say, a driveway or building entrance) and edit the geometries of specific buildings, such as recognizable skyscrapers. The team has even produced replicas of road signs, licensed fonts for mass transit systems and put line numbers in the same order as you'd see them at the station.
You'll first see the new Maps data in service next week with the next iOS 12 beta, although it will only cover the San Francisco Bay Area at first and will extend to Northern California by the fall. The new data will soon be available in every version of iOS that uses Maps, though, and there's no doubt that Apple eventually plans much wider coverage. It could be a long time before you can regularly take advantage of the new map data, but the very fact that it exists is important -- it's an acknowledgment that Apple needs to make Maps a higher priority if it's going to give you a better reason to skip Google's offering.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/apple-maps-data-revamp/
Fans are mad at one of the biggest ‘League of Legends’ teams
On June 13th, Cloud9 benched three of its best players: Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi (AD carry), Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen (mid-laner) and Andy "Smoothie" Ta (support). The team had placed fifth in the regular spring split standings and lost to Team Liquid in their quarter-final playoff. By Cloud9 standards, it was a poor start to the season. Since 2013, the organization has won multiple North American (NA LCS) titles and competed at every international World Championship. To qualify again, the team would need to play better and place higher in the summer split.
Sneaky, Jensen and Smoothie were swapped with three players from Cloud9's development-focused academy side: Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer (mid-laner), Yuri "Keith" Jew (AD carry) and Tristan "Zeyzal" Stidam (support). Jack Etienne, founder and CEO of Cloud9, said the incoming trio had earned their chance to play after working hard at the academy level. "These players are our best players to put on stage," he explained in a YouTube video. "They are performing better than our old roster was. And they have put in the hard work and effort to get to where they are."
But Cloud9 fans were furious.
One YouTube commenter said: "LMAO! 90% of Cloud9 fans are here for either Sneaky or Jensen!" Another replied: "Who gave these guys meth?" A third chimed in with: "You're playing with fire. You bench your best three players who all have a ton of options." At the time of writing, the video has 6,600 'thumbs down' reviews and 1,700 'thumbs up' approvals.
In the announcement video, Etienne added: "The main goal here is to make sure that we have players who are extremely passionate about playing and winning. This change has had a dramatic improvement in the players' desire to get better and push themselves to a higher level. So you are going to see a team that has a new sense of fire and passion to do well on stage." The comments suggest that the players' attitude and behavior, rather than their win-rate or in-game performances, were the reason for the switch.
That same day, Sneaky tweeted: "Me Jensen and smoothie are benched :D." Jensen wrote "benched xD" and Smoothie posted "Outside chillin with the boys #benched" and attached a photo of the group sat on a garden bench. (He followed up with: "In all seriousness, goodluck to @C9Goldenglue @Zeyzal and @keithmcbrief on week 1 LCS should be fun to watch.")
Outside chillin with the boys #benched pic.twitter.com/0oNptPyKb2
— Andy Ta (@Smoothie) June 13, 2018
Cloud9 lost to Clutch Gaming and beat OpTic Gaming during the opening weekend of the summer split. Again, the fans weren't happy. The hashtag #NOTMYC9 started spreading on Twitter, along with messages like: "Bench Sneaky and Jensen then lose more hmm coincidence?" and "I hate to jump on this bandwagon but this wasn't ever fun to watch at any point."
Etienne tried to explain the decision in an interview with League of Legends reporter Travis Gafford: the existing LCS roster just was not working. "Their teamwork was off, their synergy was off," he said. "They didn't seem to be hungry to really learn as much as they should be. And the academy team was making strides at the same time."
Cloud9 lost to Golden Guardians and 100 Thieves during week two of the summer split. They currently sit joint-bottom of the table with FlyQuest.
Supporters are still furious. Since the roster switch, the Cloud9 subreddit has been inundated with threads criticising Etienne and Reapered, the team's coach.
The roster switch has exposed a problem in esports fan culture. Cloud9 doesn't represent a town, city or nation like a regular sports team. (Etienne's Overwatch League team does, however.) It's a brand with a carefully constructed image. Some people will become diehard fans and support the team regardless of their performances and roster changes. Many, though, are realizing that they're fans of the players first and the organization second. If those competitors disappear and the team starts losing, they have little reason to keep watching.
"I think that Jack is naive if he looks at the Cloud9 fan base and thinks of them in the same way that traditional sports franchises do," one user wrote on Reddit. "Our ties are far more fragile and disrespecting the personalities we value is the shortest route to chasing us away." Another user replied: "Pretty much feel the same way. I wanted the team to do well regardless of the roster but after two weeks of this I'm not that excited for the games this weekend."
"Disrespecting the personalities we value is the shortest route to chasing us away."
Player-based fan culture does exist in physical sports. I'm sure there's at least one person who started supporting PSG (or at least following them) once the soccer star Neymar moved from Barcelona. And with one-on-one sports, like tennis, golf and boxing, people usually root for the individual regardless of the company that's sponsoring their shoes, jersey or equipment.
The Cloud9 situation stems from the industry's push to raise the profile of individual esports players. League of Legends needs stars that are likeable and recognizable -- they create passionate followings, and rivalries, that boost interest in the larger league. Players are interviewed after games and profiled in team-produced documentary videos. They're encouraged to stream on YouTube or Twitch, partly to build interest in themselves and the team, but also to create an alternative career for when they retire as an esports player.
Some fans have spent hundreds of hours watching Sneaky, Jensen and Smoothie on their personal streams. They see them as good people and top-tier players -- they've watched them chat on Twitch and play League of Legends at an absurdly high level for years. So when a team owner says their favorite player lacks motivation, or doesn't want to improve, it can be tough to accept. Especially when the player is dropped before the summer split has even begun.
Cloud9 says its new roster is performing well in practice, otherwise known as scrimming. Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, an AD Carry player for Team Liquid, supported the claim in an interview with Invenglobal. "If C9 played the way they play in scrims on stage, they would be just god tier," he said. Fans, though, aren't able to watch scrims. They can only judge the team based on their NA LCS performances, which have been underwhelming over the first two weeks. Goldenglue has played relatively well but both Keith and Zeyzal have struggled on stage.
Cloud9 has a choice to make. Etienne and Reapered can support the new roster and hope their performances improve. If the team starts winning some of the fan outcry will likely disappear. As the new players close in on Worlds qualification, they will likely gain the support and approval of the fans. Should the new roster continue to lose, however, there's a good chance that the Cloud9 fanbase will be riled up even further. It's possible that some will stop supporting the organization altogether. That would be catastrophic for a brand that wants to build a large following and compete in the NA LCS for years to come.
Hey fans, in light of recent events, I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about scrims and rosters. I (cont) https://t.co/Z5QuKAhvK4
— Reapered (@Reapered) June 26, 2018
Alternatively, the organization can reinstate its old players. Whatever the reason -- perhaps the attitude of the veterans has improved under the academy setup -- it would be interpreted as buckling to fan pressure. Most supporters would be thrilled with the outcome, though you can argue either way that their reinstatement would boost the team's performances and likelihood of qualifying for the World Championship.
A reversal seems likely after Keith and Zeyzal played in the Cloud9 academy squad yesterday. That would suggest their veteran counterparts, Smoothie and Jensen, are being considered for the NA LCS side this weekend. Sneaky's position, though, remains unclear for now.
Supporters now have a decision to make too: are they fans of Cloud9, or the players? Can they be both if Sneaky, Jensen and Smoothie remain on the academy team, or eventually transfer to a rival organization?
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/cloud9-na-league-legends-esports-fans/
Microsoft might still be working on a pocket-sized Surface
The Verge reports that Microsoft describes the Andromeda as "a new pocketable Surface device form factor." While actual details are thin on the ground, the device has been rumored to rely on a notebook app that will connect to OneNote and have a page interface that works like an analog notebook. You may also be able to run apps like Edge and Photos, and it may have built-in cellular support. Of course, as The Verge notes, the project is still a work in progress and could be canceled at any time. Case in point: the already developed and then killed Surface Mini.
If you're wondering what the new device might look like, The Verge points to this tweet:
@zacbowden @h0x0d @windowscentral #Surface Andromeda Render according to the latest patents pic.twitter.com/CmbvlfETtU
— David Breyer (@D_Breyer) December 18, 2017
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/microsoft-pocket-sized-surface-andromeda/
Qualcomm’s latest chip will power affordable wireless earbuds
Per Qualcomm's press release, its new chip offers improved connectivity between each earbud and to their paired smartphone, as well as good audio quality. It also better balances power distribution of the two buds, which should lower consumption for longer battery life. The company intends to make the chip's designs available to device manufacturers in the second half of 2018 so they can make their own earbuds, but one has already put it to work. Oppo is using the QCC3026 in its O-Free, and as The Verge reports, those wireless earbuds will be bundled with the Lamborghini edition of the company's flagship Find X smartphone. The O-Free will be available on its own in August for 699 Yuan (about $106).
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/qualcomms-latest-chip-will-power-affordable-wireless-earbuds/
‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie’s villain could be played by Jim Carrey
The Sonic movie that's in development from Deadpool director Tim Miller might just have its villain. According to reports from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, Jim Carrey is in "final negotiations" to join the cast of this live-action/CGI feature as the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik. James Marsden (Westworld) is already attached to star along with Tika Sumpter (Ride Along, Southside With You). The reports reference Carrey's 1994 turn in The Mask as an example of what his comedy, combined with CGI effects, could be like in the movie.
It's hard to tell where we are in the Sonic Cycle, but Sega fans can look forward to Sonic Mania Plus next month and Team Sonic Racing later this year, while productions based on Altered Beast and Streets of Rage are still pending. There's no date listed for the movie yet, but it's a little further along than Nintendo's animated Mario flick so there's plenty of time left for either one to disappoint the video game-to-movie genre.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/29/jim-carrey-sonic-hedgehog-movie-robotnik/
Light’s multi-lens camera tech is coming to a phone
Light showed the publication various concept phones and prototypes that had between five and nine lenses incorporated onto their backs. And the company claims its design can capture 64-megapixel shots, can take better photos in low light and offers advanced depth effects. Light says a smartphone with its multi-lens design will be announced later this year, but it will be interesting to see how those lenses affect the cost. As the Washington Post notes, priced at $1950, the L16 certainly isn't cheap.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/30/lights-multi-lens-camera-tech-phone/
Vivo’s all-screen NEX S is a frustrating glimpse of the future
Beyond that, they're often -- and obviously -- tied to service that are of little use outside the NEX's home country. I don't know about you, but I'm hardly ever struck by the urge to buy something off of Taobao. (That said, watching videos through China's iQiyi streaming service has been educational, to say the least.) The lack of Google Play services on this version of the phone is tricky too. While you can link your Gmail account to the preloaded Mail app, you'll have to sideload most of the apps you'd actually want to use since the included Vivo Store remains incomprehensible to foreigners.
There's more. Despite the fact that this VIVO has top tier components like a Snapdragon 845 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, it doesn't feel nearly as fast as other phones I've tested this year. At this point, I can only blame Vivo's overwrought Funtouch OS. It's derived from Android 8.1 Oreo, but Vivo layered a ton of of extra stuff on top. It's worth noting that Funtouch's interface also takes a lot of design cues from iOS, to the point where it's almost laughable. If you're going to build a phone this unique, wouldn't you want a interface that didn't feel like a laggy copycat of something else?
I don't mean to take anything away from Vivo by saying these things -- on a technical level, the NEX S is a remarkable machine, and it gives me hope that the brand will continue to break new ground. Vivo is slowly expanding its global presence too, so one day we Americans might actually be able to pick up one of the company's curious phones without the hassle of dealing with overseas sellers. For now, though, you shouldn't feel too bad it's honestly one of those devices that's much more fun to admire from afar than use everyday.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/30/life-with-the-vivo-nex-s/