At a glance 6-12 month battery (without solar panel) Two-way audio Infrared LEDs for night vision Pros Easy to install, with most tools included Wireless design means more mounting options Cons No way to schedule quiet hours Cloud recording will cost you an extra $30/year Stick Up is simple The Ring Stick Up Cam‘s greatest virtue is the simplicity of the wireless design –… Read More
When Google first announced Allo, its newest chat app, there was some controversy around why the service didn’t use end-to-end encryption by default and only in its Incognito mode. The reason for this, Google has always said, was that it needed access to your messages in order to offer services like the Google Assistant and smart replies, all of which depend on knowing what you are… Read More
Another school year is now in full swing, which for many kids means reconnecting with friends and learning. It also means a start of another data collection cycle that is neither visible nor truly optional for the majority of the students. Over a third of US middle and high school students use school-provided laptops or tablets. Even more kids are required to adopt a wide range… Read More
Surprise! You thought you were done with iOS 10 beta for a while? Apple already released the iOS 10.1 beta 1 for developers. This beta has one new feature in particular — the Portrait mode that takes advantage of both cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus. If you remember Apple’s press conference on September 7, the company talked about a really neat feature for the iPhone 7 Plus camera. If… Read More
Tinder today is launching a new application for social polling. The company announced the debut of “Tinder Stacks,” an app for iMessage users that will let you use the “swipe to like” gesture the dating app popularized for anything you want – whether that’s polling your friends which photo should be your new profile picture, what outfit you should wear… Read More
It’s a software feature that uses the two lenses of the iPhone 7 Plus to create the look and feel of an image shot with portrait settings on a camera with a telephoto lens. Simply put: a pleasing blur that separates the foreground (person) from the background (other junk). I’m going to get a bit wonky in this piece because I feel the context will be sorely lacking once this… Read More
As any Etsy seller will tell you, photography is up there with the top most important parts of your sales listing. And yet, there’s a load of sellers who are great at making doo-dahs, but who post photos that are, frankly, embarrassing. Orangemonkie fixes that with smart and easy-to-use lightboxes and turntables, making photography fool-proof for online sellers. Read More
As the debate over kids and screen time rages on, Amazon offers up a happy medium of sorts. The online retail giant is selling a bundled version of its Kindle focused specifically on young readers. The package features the latest version of the company’s base-level e-reader, coupled with some extras, including a free cover – which is apparently family friendly thanks to a… Read More
Agriculture tech startup BrightFarms has raised $30.1 million in Series C funding to bring its high-tech greenhouses, and fresh produce, across the U.S. The company is on a mission to make all fresh fruit and vegetables locally, rather than require them to be hauled from long distances or imported from overseas before they are sold at groceries. Taking a page from the playbook of solar… Read More
Whether in the once-sizzling pages of Valleywag or on the screen of HBO, most of SV can, at the very least, tolerate a good roast.
Either way, we’d better all be ready.
The next roast is coming soon in the form of SOMA, The Musical. SOMA is a new comedy about SV’s worst offenders — the breathless founders, the sleazy venture capitalists and yes, even the touchy tech media. Read More
The EpiPen, a spring-loaded device full epinephrine, of has entered the pantheon of modern pharmaceutical chicanery of late after its maker raised its price to $600 a unit. Now, however, you can make your own EpiPencil for about $30. The EpiPencil is a project by the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, a group of pharma hackers who are trying to loosen medicine from its arguably necessary… Read More
Developers call it “growth hacking.” Recipients call it spam. The latest app to engage in the less-than-wholesome practice of asking users to text invite links to your entire contact list is Everalbum. The fast-growing photo-sharing and backup service climbed to the top of the iOS charts earlier this year ahead of launching on Android, but later decided that organic growth and… Read More
There’s a new digital team at the American of Society of Composers, Authors, and Performers. ASCAP is a nonprofit organization that helps songwriters track and get paid for performances of their work. (It says it has 585,000 members, with 2015 revenues topping $1 billion.) The organization hasn’t exactly ignored the online world before this — for one thing, it hired… Read More
The shoes you’ve been waiting for since roughly 1989 finally have a release date. After months of teasing the HyperAdapt 1.0, Nike is finally ready to bring its self-lacing shoes to the mass market. A PR rep for the company took to Twitter to announce that the wearables (we can call them that, right?) will arrive on November 28th. The shoemaker has been playing around with the idea for… Read More
Earlier this month, YouTube launched its own social network of sorts with the debut of YouTube Community; now it’s enlisting help from viewers to help moderate it, along with other content on the video-sharing site. The company has announced the launch of a new, crowdsourced moderation program called “YouTube Heroes,” which asks volunteers to perform tasks like flagging… Read More
Apple, the tech company, is negotiating with McLaren, the car manufacturer, according to the Financial Times. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. These negotiations have been ongoing for months and could lead to an acquisition, or at least a strategic investment.
More precisely, Apple is talking with McLaren Technology Group, the parent company of all things McLaren, including McLaren… Read More
Here is an audio version of the below article as how it should be read. (Play it while you read for an extra special experience) The spot was Magic Mountain, California. It was a hot summer day — much like the days my grandfather endured when he toiled under the sun, laying asphalt in the jungle. A day when you could sip ice-cold lemonade and it would offer a reprieve like no other –… Read More
You could go in for the full-throated nostalgia of an instant printer like the Fujifilm Instax or that new dealie from Leica, or you can pick up one of these things and let your smartphone do all of the heavy lifting. HP’s new Sprocket is a pint-sized affair, priced at $130 — $70 less than the long-awaited Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 and about the same as the company’s… Read More
Z Cam just launched its S1 camera. Aimed at the VR crowd, it captures four perfectly synchronized 4K streams for high-end 360 video recording. The company is gunning for GoPro’s $15k Odyssey rig. Z Cam’s team claims that its sleek four-eyed beast can match Odyssey’s video quality at a tenth of the price, with far shorter post-processing times and the option for real-time… Read More
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk just revealed that the 8.0 update which includes big Autopilot improvements will begin going live for Model S and Model X owners later tonight. The over-the-air update brings a host of improvements, which add up to what Musk calls “a major overhaul on almost every level compared to V7.” V8.0 starts downloading tonight. Release will be gradual to… Read More
