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Review: The BenQ ScreenBar is a really neat Mac/monitor desk light that takes up no space
Many years ago, I used a desk striplight with a clamp. I clamped it to the back of my desk, then adjusted the angle arm so it was just above and in front of my monitor. That way, it lit the desk, didn’t cast any light onto my monitor, and effectively took up no space.
It took some time to find a suitable light, and a fair amount of messing around with clamp positions and angles until I had what I wanted. Now BenQ has created a product that achieves the same result in a really neat fashion: the ScreenBar …
Now you can play Mario Kart in Fortnite … kind of!
When Epic Games created Playground Mode in Fortnite, allowing an hour of safe play to familiarize yourself with the environment, they probably never imagined someone would use the time to do this …
Unriddled: New Transparency Efforts (And Woes) for Facebook, Amazon’s Big Week, and More Tech News You Need
Welcome one, welcome all to another Wednesday: the day that marks the halfway point — almost — to the weekend.
Over in our Cambridge, Massachusetts HQ, we’re celebrating the U.S. July 4th holiday today. If you’re celebrating, too, we hope you have a great holiday — and, we’ll keep this week’s “Unriddled” quick.
It’s our Wednesday tech news roundup, and we’re breaking it down.
Unriddled: The Tech News You Need
1. The Latest From Facebook
Even during a season that’s supposed to make us slow down, take time for ourselves and our loved ones, and spend more time outside — it seems that there’s never a dull moment for Facebook.
Over the past week, the social media has experienced a number of ups and downs, starting with the announcement of new transparency efforts that allow users to view a Page’s active ads, as well as additional information about the Page (even if it isn’t running any ads). Read full statement >>
But not long after that, Facebook was hit with an alleged bug that “unblocked” users that had been blocked by others — allow the previously blocked people to see content from and communicate with the person who blocked them on Facebook and over Messenger. This came on the same day the company announced updates for developers on its Platform.
“The big issue here,” writes Kurt Wagner of Recode, “is that, little by little, Facebook keeps eroding user trust.” Read full story >>
The company, meanwhile, also announced that it would be shutting down three apps due to “low usage”: Moves, tbh and Hello. Read full statement >>
2. Amazon’s Big Week
First came the announcement that Amazon would be acquiring PillPack: the company behind the pharmacy-on-demand model that delivers packs of, well, pills for those who need to take multiple medications each day. But it’s not as simple as another step along Amazon’s path toward commerce domination — and it could have a significant impact on major players within the retail pharmacy industry, like Walgreens, which CNBC says was “clobbered” by Amazon’s acquisition. Read full story >>
The next day, writes Recode‘s Jason Del Ray, Amazon took “another big step toward” building its own vast network for delivery logistics, positioning it as a potential competitor to large freight carriers like FedEx and UPS.
But here’s the thing: Amazon is framing this new system as a way to support entrepreneurs who want to “start, set up and manage their own delivery business.” And according to the official announcement, no experience is necessary — “Amazon will empower hundreds of new, small business owners to hire tens of thousands of delivery drivers across the U.S., joining a robust existing community of traditional carriers.” Read full statement >>
3. California’s Major Data Privacy Legislation
Late last week, California lawmakers passed The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018: legislation that Colin Lecher of The Verge calls “one of the toughest data privacy laws in the United States.” The new bill will require companies storing significant quantities of personal data — for instance, Facebook — to add even more transparency around what data is collected, along with potential new consumer opt-out rights. Read full story >>
4. Fun With Virtual Reality
The companies behind VR are trying to make it a mainstream technology — but can it ever be? To get there, more people need to understand the experience, so our team spent a day doing just that. Here’s what happened. Read full story >>
That’s all for today. Until next week, feel free to weigh in on Twitter to ask us your tech news questions, or to let us know what kind of events and topics you’d like us to cover.
Featured image credit: Facebook
How to Use Instagram Stories to Drive Traffic to an Opt-In Form
Want to grow your email list using Instagram? Wondering how to generate email leads with an Instagram story? In this article, you’ll discover a step-by-step plan to drive traffic to your opt-in form using Instagram Stories. #1: Develop an Offer to Exchange for Opt-Ins Instagram Stories has the power to help convert viewers into leads. […]
The post How to Use Instagram Stories to Drive Traffic to an Opt-In Form appeared first on Social Media Examiner.
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Hands-on: iOS 12 beta 3 changes and features [Video]
The third iOS 12 developer beta has been released for eligible iPhones and iPads, and we’ve taken it for a test drive to uncover what’s changed. Watch our video walkthrough for the hands-on details and comparisons.
Senior Apple Siri director to lead machine learning talk at upcoming AI Frontiers conference
Apple’s senior director of Siri, Alex Acero, will be speaking at the upcoming AI Frontiers conference this fall. The event is slated to take place from November 9th through November 11th at the San Jose Convention Center in California…
HQ Trivia adds new Streaks feature to reward regular players w/ extra lives
HQ Trivia is today rolling out a new feature that it hopes will improve user retention. In a tweet, the popular live trivia game show announced support for Streaks – a new feature that rewards users for playing in consecutive games…
Netflix reportedly mulling new ‘Ultra’ plan, cutting ‘Premium’ streams from 4 to 2
Netflix appears to be planning its most expensive streaming tier yet. Currently, the company offers three different tiers, starting at $7.99 per month and maxing out at $13.99. That could soon change, however…
How to update macOS in Mojave
In macOS Mojave, Apple has moved the location for updating your Mac’s operating system. With the revamped App Store, Apple has moved updating macOS, among other system updates to a new location.
iOS 12: How to use the animated Activity app stickers in Messages
TweetDeck focuses on accessibility as it rolls out support for image descriptions
TweetDeck today is rolling out a notable update that it says empowers people to “make their tweets accessible to the widest possible audience.” With today’s update, users can now add descriptions, or alternative text, to images they share in tweets…
Geekbench benchmark hints at new MacBook Pro with 28W Intel CPU on the way
A Geekbench benchmark has surfaced that appears to reveal an upcoming MacBook Pro revamp. Note that Geekbench scores can be fabricated relatively easily, so this isn’t confirmation of an imminent revamp — but it’s certainly fuel on the fire.
The new MacBookPro15,2 model features an Intel Core i7-8559U Coffee Lake CPU. This CPU runs up to 28W and is yet to ship in any product, so it would represent a modern update to Apple’s MacBook Pro line. The quad-core CPU has a 2.7GHz base frequency and can turbo up to 4.5GHz …
macOS Mojave developer beta 3 for Mac now available
macOS Mojave developer beta 3 is now available for testing. As always, we’ll dig through the latest beta version and highlight all the changes between the first beta and the latest beta below.
Best 4K USB-C displays for MacBook and MacBook Pro for July 2018
It’s been a while since we took at look at the best 4K USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 displays available for MacBook and MacBook Pro. While we’re still waiting to hear more about Apple’s upcoming pro display, and if it will work with other Macs besides the next-gen Mac Pro, there are some notable new display options on the market. Follow along after the break for a look at the best 4K USB-C displays.
Fluid, the app that converts websites into Mac apps, gets a major overhaul with support for WebKit2
Fluid, the app that transforms basic web apps into full on Mac apps, is getting a major update today. Coming in form of a beta, the new update adds a handful of notable changes.
Video: Gavin Williamson hilariously interrupted by Siri during statement to Parliament
We’ve all had it happen before, Siri going off when your iPhone thinks it heard the “Hey Siri” command when nothing remotely close was mentioned.
iOS 12 developer beta 3 for iPhone and iPad now available
Two weeks after the second beta, iOS 12 beta 3 has arrived. We’re hoping to see some useful bug fixes and stability improvements as well as the first roll out of Apple’s in-house mapping data for the Bay Area in Maps.
watchOS 5 developer beta 3 for Apple Watch now available
watchOS 5 developer beta 3 for Apple Watch is now available for testing. As always, we’ll dig through the latest beta version and highlight all the changes between the previous beta and the latest beta below.