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Can Samsung's new TV steal the spotlight from OLED?

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The Pros

Beautiful from every angle

Samsung is one of the TV companies that puts extra focus on TV design—very successfully, I might add—and as the company’s 2018 flagship, the Q9FN is kind of a peacock. It’s designed to be supremely sleek and minimal, and it pulls it off.

Despite being a full-array local dimming set, the Q9FN’s panel is still compact and fairly thin. The almost bezel-less screen has a seamless, unibody feel: it’s not overly heavy, but still feels extremely durable.

Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
Our Q9FN’s included center stand features smooth, brushed metal that’s heavy enough to secure the TV panel without taking up much tabletop space.

One neat thing about the Q9FN is that you can get it with a variety of stands. Our loan unit came with the standard rectangular bar prop that fastens in the middle of the TV, but Samsung also has a “Studio” stand, “Gravity” stand, and a unique wall-mount solution called the “No Gap Wall Mount.”

The Q9FN also includes the OneConnect box, which adds heavily to its minimalist aesthetic. The OneConnect box is an external house for all of the TV’s ports that connects to the rear of the TV’s panel via a single “invisible” cable (this all makes a lot more sense when you see it in person).

Q9-Side
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
The Q9FN is a bit thicker than the 2017 QLEDs because it uses a full-array LED backlight.

This year’s OneConnect box is a big one, too, but for a good reason. It not only houses the TV’s four HDMI inputs, three-USB port hub, coaxial, LAN connection, etc., but also serves as a power supply. So while it’s definitely bulkier this year, it’s also finally living up to its namesake.

The OneRemote continues to be about as stripped down as possible while still serving as a functional clicker. Its curved shape and few-as-possible buttons lend to the TV’s air of finely-tooled, premium design. You can also control the TV though Samsung’s “SmartThings” app, if you’re so inclined.

Q9-OneConnect
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
The Q9FN’s OneConnect box, which connects to the TV via a long, “invisible” ten-foot cable. The box also provides power to the TV, so definitely don’t lose it.

Even more beautiful when you’re watching it

The first thing TJ and I did when this TV got dropped off was build it, run through the initial setup, and immediately start watching Thor: Ragnarok on Netflix (which is just delightful, if you haven’t seen it).

Q9-HDR-Plus
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
The TV’s normal picture (left) and the effect when “HDR+” is turned on (right)

At first, I turned on the Q9FN’s “HDR+” mode, a picture setting that basically gives any content an “HDR” appearance. More literally, it amps up the TV’s brightness and color, while scaling the non-HDR content so that it doesn’t look too oversaturated or unnatural. It also adds a sharpening effect that every now and again looks a little wonky.

But this was a bit much: both TJ and I were left wincing and shielding our eyes from the Q9FN’s unrelenting brightness.

Q9-PQ-1
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk

So I switched to Movie mode, turned all the Auto Motion Plus settings off, switched Audio to “Optimized” (during the “Immigrant Song” bit, which is also delightful), set the backlight to the room lighting, and turned the color space to “Auto” to take advantage of those sweet, colorful quantum dots.

And then I totally forgot I was supposed to be reviewing a TV and got sucked right in by Chris Hemsworth’s chiseled… performance.

Q9-PQ-2
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
In Movie mode but with the TV’s color space set to “Native,” Thor had a crisp, natural look with a welcome amount of extra color.

My point is, this TV looks great. It’s got enough brightness and color vivacity for a bright room, meaning you can scale it back for dedicated viewing environments, and then pick and choose which aspects to augment or diminish.

The 16:9 black bars were impressively dark, and even the viewing angle—though it looked atrocious during the Netflix boot screen—seemed better than average for an LED TV. The TV’s native color rendered everything with a pleasing vividness. Of course, these were all just first impressions.

Q9-Viewing-Angle
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
For a TV with full-array local dimming, the Q9FN has a better horizontal viewing angle than average. It’s still not an OLED, but you can wall-mount it without concern.

As I expected, though, our lab tests corroborated the initial experience. The Q9FN evinces excellent contrast and motion performance—its black levels are especially impressive for an LED TV, and some of the HDR brightness numbers we measured had me seriously considering leaving a pair of sunglasses down in the lab.

Relevant Data (Movie mode)

  • SDR Contrast: 199.90 / 0.022 nits
  • HDR Contrast: 865.8 / 0.09 nits
  • HDR APL%: 2%: 343.3 / 10%: 1,617 / 20%: 1,579 / 40%: 1,513 / 50%: 1,246 nits
  • HDR DCI-P3: 97% coverage
  • Viewing Angle: 46.50° or ±23.25° from center to either side of the screen

Clean, sensible extras

The Q9FN is also equipped with some extra features worth jawing about. The menu interface hasn’t changed much from the past couple years. When you hit the “home” button on the remote, the smart features and settings pop up along the bottom quarter of the screen. This is where you’ll access apps like Netflix and Spotify; the TV’s picture, audio, and network settings; and switch source inputs. It’s intuitive enough for anyone to make use of, in my opinion.

Q9-Menu-Interface
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
The menu and smart features haven’t changed much from last year, but they’re still very reliable. We especially like how easy it is to identify and control HDMI devices.

One thing that Samsung’s gotten better at year over year is providing TV software that allows the TV to be the center of your home theater or living room, from a device perspective. Plugging in any number of DVD or Blu-ray players, game consoles, and so on prompts the TV to identify the device and then label it within the input list.

For many devices, you’ll also be able to automatically control them with the remote one they’re identified, which is pretty handy. You might want to keep the original remote nearby though—the OneRemote has so few buttons, it’s not always the most robust control option for source devices.

Q9-Ambient
Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk
New for 2018, “Ambient mode” allows the TV to display an image, or information about weather or news headlines while it’s technically off in a low-power mode.

Finally, the Q9FN TVs have an “Ambient mode” that allows them to display an image and the time or weather while the TV is off. This uses a minimal amount of electricity, but allows the TV to contribute aesthetically to the room it’s in, rather than becoming a lifeless black rectangle while you’re not using it. It’s a simple little addition to the 2018 smart features, but I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to use it, either.

11 things we can't live without in the summer

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— Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA TODAY’s newsroom and any business incentives.

Summertime is possibly our favorite season here at Reviewed. With longer days, warmer weather, and vacations planned, things just seem a little happier around the office. That being said, there are still a few summer struggles we all deal with. Namely, the heat and the humidity.

Thankfully, there are plenty of products that we use each summer to survive the heat and elevate our trips. From our favorite sunscreen to throwaway sunglasses, these are the products we can’t live without in the summer.

1. Sunscreen that actually works

“When it came to sunscreen, I used to use whatever I could find for the cheapest price. But after trying Sun Bum, I’ll never go back to average sunscreen again. I find that it works the best for me, doesn’t have that terrible sunscreen smell, and has some of the best packaging for sunscreen I’ve ever seen.” – Courtney Campbell, Ecommerce Writer (that’s me!)

Get the Sun Bum Original Moisturizing Sunscreen Spray at Amazon for $13.40

2. The ultimate beach chair

“I can’t speak highly enough about the Tommy Bahama backpack cooler chair for the beach. My dad goes to Costco and buys two or three new ones each year because we love them so much. It has a small cooler, a big pouch, a cupholder, a head pillow, and backpack straps to carry it all. I can literally fit a six-pack of beer, a sub, a book, snacks, and sunblock all in the chair, throw my towel over it, and carry it down the beach on my back with ease.” – Connor Whooley, Editorial Coordinator

Get the Tommy Bahama Backpack Cooler Chair at Amazon for $54.88

3. Water bottles that actually stay cold

“We take our Klean Kanteens to the beach. Packed with ice water and still cold six hours later. Double-wall insulated for the grown-ups and a 12-ounce sippy for the kid.” – David Kender, Editor in Chief

4. Gorgeous towels for the beach


“I need new beach towels this summer, pretty ones that are comfy to lie on, catching a few rays. The pattern I’ve fallen in love with is this one. And at under $15, I can buy a few of them.” – Cindy Bailen, Senior Staff Writer

Get the Palm Leaves Beach Towel at Bed Bath and Beyond for $14.99

5. The best way to repel mosquitoes

“In some of the places I go hiking in the summertime, the mosquitoes swarm up so thick you’d swear they were storm clouds on the horizon. I like to bring a Thermacell with me. It creates a 15-foot bubble around me. Sprays sometimes get diluted by your sweat, or you miss a spot, and the Off! brand is real hit-or-miss with me. I lost mine a while back, and thinking about this list makes me want to get another one.” – Jonathan Chan, Senior Lab Technician

Get the Thermacell Portable Mosquito Repeller at Amazon for $22.45

6. A humidifier that can save your guitar

“This Dampit guitar humidifier was recommended by my teacher in undergrad, and I’ve had it for seven years. While not every guitar needs daily humidifying, higher-end acoustic instruments definitely do—and they never need it more than on hot summer days.

Humidifying isn’t just a good idea if you want a better sound: guitars that dry out too much can warp or crack. The same goes for violins, cellos, and so on. At around $25, my Dampit cost me about $3.50 a year, so I’d say it was a good investment.” – Lee Neikirk, Editor

Get the Dampit Guitar Humidifier at Amazon for $24.44

7. Sunglasses you won’t mind losing

“Cheap sunglasses! I usually buy either 1-2 pairs of cheap wraparound sunglasses, or you can get more basic ones in bulk. I always try to have at least two pairs of cheap sunglasses. That way, when they inevitably get scratched/broken/sat upon/eaten by an alligator, it’s not the end of the world.” – Julia MacDougall, Senior Scientist

8. A cart to lug everything to the beach

“If you’re a dad, your job is to lug countless amounts of unnecessary stuff to the beach. It makes no sense, but you do what you have to do. Having a beach cart makes this job significantly easier. You can stuff toys, umbrellas, balls, frisbees, and all the other stuff your kids won’t actually play with at the beach into one cart that moves pretty well on sand. It also has some compartments for your wallet, phone, and whatever else you may need to get through the day.” – Chris Lloyd, General Manager

Get the Rio Brands Deluxe Wonder Wheeler at Amazon for $82.35

9. An ambient lamp that can travel with you

“This light has proven its worth for four summers so far. It sits in our living area most of the year, providing soft ambient light. But just lift it by the handle and you have an instant cordless lantern that you can take out onto the deck. It’s a gorgeous design, has 5-10 hours of battery life, and it’s weather resistant.” – David Kender, Editor in Chief

Get the Luau Portable LED Lamp at Design Within Reach for $169.15

10. Powder for summer relief

“In a future home, I want an entirely separate bathroom designed specifically for Gold Bond applications. In said room, I want a velvet rope with gold-plated tassels to hang from the ceiling. When I pull the rope, I want four gallons of Gold Bond Extra Strength to dump from the ceiling, all over my awful body. This daily ritual will be accompanied by a Gregorian choir that chants the words ‘Gold Bond’ in Latin, and a cage full of doves released at the exact same moment that the powder hits my face.” – Michael Desjardin, Senior Staff Writer

Get Gold Bond Medicated Powder at Amazon for $20.91

11. A solar-powered charger that goes where you do

“Every year, I spend a week on a lake doing absolutely nothing. And I couldn’t do it right without this dual-USB solar-powered charger. As long as the sun is shining, it can give your devices a juice boost so you have one less thing to worry about. The panels make it a bit large compared to rechargeable chargers, but it folds flat so it doesn’t take up too much room in your suitcase.” – Samantha Gordon, Managing Editor of Ecommerce

Get the Anker 21W Dual USB Solar Charger on Amazon for $89.99

Prices are accurate at the time this article was published, but may change over time.

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Brace yourself: you're about to see lot more Facebook flashbacks

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LOS ANGELES — If you like those endless reminders from Facebook about how long you’ve been online friends with someone or what you did on this day in history, you’ll love Memories, a new feature that’s being added to the social network.

If, however, you find it annoying or uncomfortable to get updates about people who have died or photos from a now-defunct marriage, for instance, you might not be so keen.

Facebook has had an “On this Day” feature since March 2015, and it’s visited by 90 million people daily. This is a place where reminders about friends made, posts posted and the like have been available for viewing.

Now, the page is being updated and rolled out globally over the coming weeks. It is getting additional features such as the “single place on Facebook to reflect on the moments you’ve shared with family and friends, including posts and photos, friends you’ve made, and major life events.”

The new page adds reminders about friends made on this day, recaps of memories and updates of Facebook-generated videos from the last seven days for people who might not have logged onto the social network in awhile.

While Facebook says this feature is popular, when we reached out to our Facebook friends, that sentiment was not shared.

Bill Wilson, a Facebook user from the Atlanta area, says he needed to do some “extensive work” to block these notifications from popping up.

“As a man who was divorced after a 23-year marriage, there are certain memories I’m no longer interested in seeing,” he says.

Anna Yan, a Los Angeles publicist, said the memories feature was “cute” when it originally came out. “Time for a new gimmick!”

Gail Roberts, another Los Angeles publicist, summed it up in two words: “So annoying.”

However, Rick Broida, a Michigan-based writer, is a fan. “Truthfully, this is the stuff I like about Facebook. What good is it if not to help you revisit fond memories?

In the blog post announcing the new page, Facebook admitted some memories would not be positive. “We try to listen to feedback and design these features so that they’re thoughtful and offer people the right controls that are easy to access.”

Specifically, if you don’t want to see a dead friend show up in your memory pile or relive times with an ex, Facebook says you can fix that, but it will take some work.

If the dead friend is “memorialized,” he or she will not show up there. If they are not memorialized, you can filter out their name in the settings, without unfriending them.

You’ll be able to find the Memories page on the left of the News Feed or in the “more” tab of the mobile app. They will also show up via notifications or by going direct to http://facebook.com/memories.

Follow USA TODAY’s Jefferson Graham (@jeffersongraham) on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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This Bubble Artisan Might Blow Up, But She Won’t Go Pop

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The first thing you notice when you walk into the theater is the smell of soap, followed by a faint stickiness on the carpeted floors, and a tacky coating on the armrests of the seats.

When the lights come up at the Gazillion Bubbles Show, it quickly becomes clear what’s going on. Powerful fans blow tiny soap bubbles into the audience by the thousands. Little kids giggle; bigger kids scream. And like a magician, 27-year-old Melody Yang pulls out her wands.

She uses water-based vapor (she calls it “smoke”) to create bubbles that erupt like volcanoes, and some that launch into the air like rockets. She brings kids on stage and makes huge, tubular bubbles that can encase five of them inside.

“People love it. It’s just something that is so universal,” she says. “It’s something that takes you back to your childhood because a lot of the times when we see a bubble we see it when we’re very young, and we’re just like ‘what is that?’ You know, it puts us back in the moment.”

Yang grew up on this stage. Her parents, Fan and Ana, have been performing together for decades, and over the years they brought Melody and her brother, Deni, into the act as well.

“Me and my brother would walk on stage and he’d put us in a bubble,” Melody says of her father, “and then he would slowly teach me and my brother the routine.”

Now, the Yangs take turns performing in New York, where they share a space with the Tony Award-winning musicals Avenue Q and Jersey Boys, and in venues around the world.

The family has set more than a dozen world records, for everything from Encasing the Largest Land Mammal in a Bubble (an elephant) to fitting the Most People Inside a Bubble (181 was their record) to making the world’s Longest Soap Bubble Wall (a 166-foot, 11-inch bubble), a record that still stands. Their records not only prove that the Yangs are bubble experts, but also that there’s a record for just about everything.

Watch the video above to see the incredible bubbles Melody makes—and to learn some of her tricks for making them at home.

More Great WIRED Stories

Here are the 5 best Amazon deals right now

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— Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA Today’s newsroom and any business incentives.

With Father’s Day just five days away, you’ve still got some time to find Dad the perfect gift to show him how much he means to you. Every day, we seeks out the top deals that are actually worth your time on Amazon, and today’s best offers all make excellent gifts for papas, padres, pops, poppops, grandpas, and daddy-os. They’re also great if you’re buying for yourself, for an upcoming wedding, or any other event that calls for a gift for a grownup (sorry kids).

1. Under $150:The best non-Apple favorite true wireless earbuds

It’s no secret that Apple makes the best true wireless earbuds. But if you’re not a fan of the brand or just want a different style, Jabra makes the second best pair we’ve ever tested, and they’re back down to the lowest price ever, making them a hair more affordable than Apple’s wireless headphones. We love how comfortable they are, their long battery life, and the fact that they’re more water/sweat resistant than Apple’s AirPods ($159).

Get the Jabra Elite 65t Alexa-Enabled True Wireless Earbuds for $149.99 (Save $20)

2. Under $100: The best Kindle e-reader

Just in time for Father’s Day, Amazon’s discounting a bunch of their devices, including our favorite Kindle. After putting all the Kindles to the test, the Paperwhite proved to be the best of the bunch. Its bright white display is perfect for reading in bed, at the beach, on the bus, or anywhere really.

Although more expensive models offer a few more bells and whistles like the Oasis’s waterproof design or the Voyage’s auto-brightness, the Paperwhite offers the best balance of features and affordability. Right now, you can save an extra $20 and pick up the e-reader for $99.99. It’s a great gift for dads, grads, moms, sisters, significant others, friends, family, bosses… Do you see where I’m going with this?

Get the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader for $99.99 (Save $20)

3. Under $75: Our favorite affordable bagless vacuum

Spring and summer tend to generate a lot more dust and debris around the house. From pollen blowing through open windows to dirt dragged in on shoes, it’s practically a full-time job to keep the floors clean. If you’re sick of sweeping or using an inefficient vacuum, why not upgrade?

Not only is this vacuum super affordable (especially with a sale price a few cents more than the lowest we’ve ever seen), but it’s also the best affordable bagless upright vacuum we’ve ever tried. It didn’t excel at any one thing, but it delivered an above average performance in every test we put it through.

Get the Bissell CleanView Vacuum with OnePass for $68.22 (Save $11.77)

4. Under $50: The most affordable Amazon Echo

Right now, you can get an Echo Dot for 20% off. While it’s not the best price we’ve ever seen, it’s still a great discount if you need a gift for a Father’s Day (or a birthday or a wedding or what have you). And even if you’ve wanted to try Alexa yourself or want to add her to a less-used room, this is an excellent price point to give it a shot without making too big an investment.

Get the Echo Dot for $39.99 (Save $10)

5. Under $50: Amazon’s streaming devices

Trying to convince Dad to cancel his expensive cable and switch to streaming services? Give him an offer he can’t refuse: A Fire TV that he can use to watch everything from Netflix and Amazon Video to ESPN and HBO. The Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD as well as the Fire TV Stick are both discounted right now. If Dad doesn’t have a 4K TV, get the Stick for $10 less.

Prices are accurate at the time this article was published, but may change over time.

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7 gifts for dad that he'll actually want

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1. A set of steak knives worthy of a high-end steakhouse

Credit: Wüstof / Amazon

The dad(s) in your life almost assuredly already own at least a couple of knives used specifically for steak, poultry, and everything in between, but here’s the thing about knives: If you love food, there’s almost always room on the shelf for something better.

This set of six 4.5-inch steak knives from Wüstof are close to being the be-all and end-all choice for carnivores, omnivores, and anyone who enjoys an elevated eating experience. They’re certainly not the cheapest cutlery in the cooking store, but Wüstof is a brand of legend, and one that’ll back its products up with a limited lifetime warranty.

If dad spends a lot of the time in the kitchen, these’ll surely be appreciated.

Buy the Wüstof steak knives set for $109.95 via Amazon

2. A head-turning duffle bag for work or weekend getaways

Filson Medium Duffle Bag

Credit: Filson / Nordstrom

Anyone who’s studied the Official Manual of Dad Complaints will no doubt recall Common Dad Complaint #208: luggage angst.

Dads tend to have three bags: a couple of suitcases for vacation and some sort of briefcase-type number for work. When it comes to packing for a weekend excursion or a last-minute camping trip, the options are limited.

Filson doesn’t mess around, especially when it comes to its luggage. This medium-sized duffle bag is designed to last a lifetime while never going out of style. Don’t let the price tag scare you away—you’re paying for top-shelf quality. Skeptical? Just ask anyone you know who owns a Filson bag (trust me—you know at least one).

You could certainly buy a cheap bag instead, but why would you? Get dad one that’ll last a lifetime.

Get this Filson medium-sized duffle bag for $395 via Nordstrom

3. An entire laundry care kit for dads who enjoy looking their best

Laundress Care Kit

Credit: Laundress / Saks Fifth Avenue

There are few things cooler than a dad who gives a damn about fashion, and any gift that empowers a person to look and feel their best is a positive force for good, as far as I’m concerned.

Think of this collection of laundry aids as an easy-to-use toolkit for common, everyday laundry issues, like wrinkled wardrobes, staticky shirts, and unstarched collars. Because no one—and I mean no one—makes it to the dry cleaners as often as they’d like.

Buy this laundry care kit from Laundress for $97 via Saks Fifth Avenue

4. One of our favorite meat thermometers

Lavatools Javelin Meat Thermometer

Credit: Lavatools / Amazon

We recently spent hours upon hours painstakingly testing some of the most popular digital meat thermometers on the market, and the Lavatools Javelin was one of the few that rose to the top of our ranks. It’s fast (averaging just five seconds in its temperature readings), easy to operate, and considerably less expensive than some of the other models we tested.

I’ll admit that a new meat thermometer isn’t exactly the most dazzling gift in the world, but if the dads in your life are anything like my own, there’s a good chance you’ll be rescuing them from the clutches of their hard-to-read analog meat thermometer.

Get your dad the Lavatools Javelin for just $24.99 via Amazon

5. The handsomest edition of Scrabble your dad has ever seen

Winning Solutions Scrabble Deluxe

Credit: Winning Solutions / Amazon

A game as timeless and beloved as Scrabble deserves the best possible treatment—and your dad deserves to have it on his shelf.

This high-class version of the game features a swiveling wood cabinet design with mahogany finish, matching tiles, and an unspoken promise that you’ll never be satisfied with another plastic, rinky-dink version of Scrabble ever again.

As a gift, it’s both a safe bet and a thoughtful one—the gift-giving equivalent of making a classy toast at a party.

Buy this deluxe wooden edition of Scrabble for $109.99 via Amazon

6. A hammock (because dads love hammocks)

Vivere Hammock

Credit: Vivere / Amazon

You don’t have to be a dad to enjoy a good hammock. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy an afternoon spent swaying in a summer breeze, occasionally catching whiffs of a nearby neighborhood barbecue?

Hammocks have been helping people finish pulpy paperbacks for centuries. When it comes to lazy, Sunday afternoon naps, the hammock is the sultan of somnolence. Dads love hammocks because everyone loves hammocks.

This affordable model from Vivere is one of the best-reviewed hammocks on Amazon. It’s easy to assemble, comes in a ridiculous amount of color combinations, and doesn’t require the support of two properly spaced trees like you’re Fred Flinstone or something.

Give your dad the gift of stepping up his summer game—he’ll thank you in August.

Get the Vivere hammock for $119.99 via Amazon

7. An entry-level telescope for dads who won’t stop posting science memes

Celestron NexStar Telescope

Credit: Celestron / Amazon

If you’ll allow it, I’d like to get really lame for a second and talk about how cool space is. OK, here goes: Space is like, really crazy, folks.

I didn’t really appreciate the act of star gazing until I spent some time at an observatory here in Boston, witnessimg the surface of the moon, the rings of Saturn, binary star systems up close (or at least, closer than I ever had before).

An entry-level telescope isn’t the most affordable gift idea out there, but as far as returns on investment go, you’d be hard-pressed to find something more rewarding.

The Celestron NexStar 130SLT is widely considered one of the best entry-level telescopes in the game. It’s astonishingly approachable in its design and features fully computerized hand controls.

If you’re looking to blow your dad’s mind this year, get your siblings, grandchildren, aunts, or uncles to chip-in on an easy-to-use telescope that’ll stay in the family for generations.

Buy the Celestron NexStar 130SLT for $384.86 via Amazon

Furbo Dog Camera Review: Remotely Amuse Your Pets

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Dog owners will go to crazy lengths to make sure that their fur-babies are entertained during the long, boring workday. I’ve frozen wet dog food in red rubber Kongs, or stuffed them full of peanut butter. I’ve hired dog walkers and pet sitters. I’ve turned on DogTV on my Roku. But my dogs were bred to herd cattle or sheep all day, and they still get bored. It’s not like they can read a magazine.

While cameras with two-way microphones, like the Nest IQ, are good at freaking out your dog, the Furbo is built specifically to let you check in on your pets when you’re gone. When you set up the camera and download the companion app, you can enjoy a wide array of pet-friendly features.

You can speak to your pups, watch a live feed, or toss them treats. With a Premium account, you can also save video footage, take pet selfies, set barking alerts, and keep an eye on any humans coming and going.

Nowadays, I work from home and have two young kids, so arguably my dogs now have a little too much stimulation. But if I didn’t, I would love the Furbo. It offers a very high level of remote doggy interaction.

Pretty Paw-lease

The Furbo is a gorgeous device. It’s smooth and white, a little under nine inches tall, and wouldn’t look out of place in a much better-decorated home than mine.

Finding a good place for it did take a little thought. It has to be plugged in—there’s no way to use it with a battery—and in a spot with a strong Wi-Fi signal. The Furbo has to be set low enough for your dog to see it, and if you want to use it to identify visitors, it would ideally face your front door. Eventually, I made a little shrine to the Furbo on a stepstool in my living room.

With every device that shows the interior of your home, you need to make sure that the data is protected. Furbo uses secure 2048-bit RSA private-key encryption. The footage is also deleted from both the cloud and the app at midnight every night, and you can go into Furbo’s settings and turn off the camera entirely.

Setup is simple. Plug it in and wait for the status light at the bottom to turn green. Yellow means it’s on standby; blue, that it’s in use; and purple, that the Wi-Fi connection has dropped out. Once it’s on, download the Furbo companion app and follow the instructions.

Unfortunately, I hit a hitch shortly after completing the setup. Neither the sweet potato soft treats, nor dog biscuits, that I had in my dog drawer fit in the Furbo’s treat tosser. Furbo does recommend that the treats be under 0.4 inches in diameter, and the app links directly to suggested treats on Amazon (my pups were partial to the peanut butter mini Zuke’s).

However, since they’re both battling a little weight problem (sorry, guys), I ended up filling the treat reservoir with ordinary kibble. The treat reservoir has a half-cup capacity, so the Furbo will only work as an auto-feeder if your dog is really, really small.

It does take awhile for your dogs to figure out what Furbo is all about. The app has a training video that shows you how to teach your dog to respond to it. It took me a day of sitting next to the Furbo and tossing them a treat by hand at the same time that I triggered the tosser. But once they learned what it meant, they parked themselves in front of it all day long.

It has a pretty good arm, too. Sitting a foot off the ground, it can fling treats up to around eight feet away. I caught my spouse using a second tester Furbo to hurl Cheerios for my infant to chase, and it did pretty well on double duty.

The Furbo also seems quite sturdy, and the bamboo top is spill-proof. If your over-enthusiastic dogs knock it over a few times by scrabbling at it excitedly when they hear your voice, there’s no harm done.

It’s Paw-some

Even though it has a lot going for it, a few things about the Furbo were annoying. You can’t log into your Furbo online or even turn it on or off without the app, so software glitches can be a huge problem. Once, I updated the firmware on the app and the Setting tab went MIA. I was stuck uninstalling and reinstalling the app a few times until it reappeared.

Then there’s a few camera quirks: the Furbo has a 160-degree wide-angle lens that you can digitally zoom, but you can’t pan around or rotate the image. So, your dog knocks the Furbo over, you might as well turn it off or give yourself vertigo.

If you have two or more dogs, the Furbo might also be of limited utility. One of my dogs is pretty shy, and the other more aggressive. Even though you can create multiple dog profiles, my boss dog ended up snagging most of the treats.

But for a seemingly simple device, the Furbo’s software was sophisticated. The app informed me that subscribing to premium alerts is currently free. With premium alerts activated, the Furbo kept a timeline of the day’s events. It sent me a push notification whenever it detected a person, a dog moving, or barking (my dogs bark a lot, so I eventually turned barking alerts off).

The Furbo identified everyone who walked by, no matter their shape, size, or activity. It identified my infant rolling around, and even just a flash of adult foot or a pant cuff.

Adorably, it also automatically takes pictures of your dog when they gaze into the camera. Someone better at dog training than I am—or maybe with slightly more responsive dogs—could probably train their dog to gaze into the camera when the signal light turns blue, since blue is one of the few colors that dogs can see. When the selfie feature worked, it was utterly hilarious.

You can set the video resolution at either 360p, 720p, or 1080p. The 1080p resolution was remarkably clear (and looking at high-resolution pictures of my carpet made me realize I need to vacuum more). You can also record your own voice and use it for the snack call, instead of the clicker. My dogs did recognize the voice as mine. On the live camera, I could watch their heads swivel as they looked from the Furbo to my office door, and back again.

Live Long and Paw-sper

Every dog owner leaves their house with a little trepidation. Dogs are intensely social creatures, selected by nature, and our own desires, to be as cuddly and appealing as possible. It’s hard to leave them behind sometimes.

While $200 might seem expensive, the Furbo is simple, effective, and comparably priced to some of the other interactive pet cameras available. It’s also cheaper than constantly replacing shoes and pillows destroyed by lonely doggos.

Since I work from home, I can pet my dogs whenever I want. But my spouse works in an office. In the weeks that we had the Furbo, he developed a habit of feeding them a few pieces of kibble before he starts his commute.

Every day at around 5 pm, I hear the Furbo’s mechanical click-click. The dogs sit in front of the Furbo expectantly, and oddly enough, my toddler, too. When she sees the dogs move, she starts singing, “Daddy! Daddy!” and dances in front of the camera.

Even when your dogs are sufficiently fed, cared for, and entertained, my spouse ended up using it. And the Amazon reviews of hospitalized or overseas Furbo-owning pup-parents are enough to make any softhearted dog owner tear up. It’s an easy, small way to connect, for the pet parent who just can’t wait to get home.

E3 Game Deals: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (2018)

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While you’re ogling all the new games at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) this week, you might want to take a look at these old ones, too. Rivals Sony and Microsoft are each holding massive game and console sales this week, presumably in a bid to outdo each other and gain momentum. There are even a few Nintendo game deals going on. Details on each E3 week game and console deal are below, along with a few particularly good game deals we found.

Pre-Order New E3 Games

Amazon has a roundup of big E3 games that you can pre-order now. Some of the games may include perks to pre-ordering, but do keep in mind that these games haven’t been reviewed yet, and most won’t come out for months. But if you know you’re gonna play a game, it never hurts to pre-order it early. View Amazon’s Full E3 Pre-Order List.

PS4 E3 Sale (Ends June 18)

To celebrate E3, Sony is having what it calls a Days of Play Sale with deals on PlayStation 4 consoles and games on a bunch of retailers. The sale ends June 18.

PS4 Hardware on Sale

Sony

PS4 Game Sale Highlights

Xbox E3 Sale (Ends June 23)

Microsoft

Not to be outdone by Sony, Microsoft is holding an even bigger and longer game and hardware sale on Xbox One consoles and games during E3 and after. It includes the first decent deal price we’ve seen on the Xbox One X (which earned our WIRED Recommends seal of approval) since it’s debut. The sale ends June 23.

Xbox One Hardware on Sale

Xbox Subscriptions on Sale

Xbox Game Sale Highlights

Nintendo E3 Sales

Nintendo

There aren’t yet many E3 deals on Nintendo products, but Best Buy does have a few 3DS games on sale. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is also on sale this week on Amazon and other retailers. Be sure to check out our Best Switch Bundle Deals and Best Switch Accessories to scan for any other discounts going on this week.

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The World Cup cord-cutter's guide: How to watch the soccer championship without cable

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SportsPulse: Martin Rogers believes the World Cup group stage is filled with plenty of drama, potential Cinderella stories and star-studded matchups. So much so you’ll forget the U.S. isn’t in it. USA TODAY Sports

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Millions of fans across the country are getting ready to watch the World Cup. When the action begins Thursday, you don’t need traditional pay TV to score.

The growth in streaming services gives cord cutters multiple strategies for watching the every-four-year soccer contest wherever they are. Their mobile apps are aimed at what’s expected to be a record number of watchers viewing the games on the go.

“We expect app usage to skyrocket around the games globally and in the U.S.,” said Danielle Levitas, App Annie’s senior vice president of research.

Low-tech: Watch with an antenna

If you’re watching on the big screen, you could get over-the-air signals.

Fox, which paid more than $400 million for the 2018 and 2022 English-language rights, will broadcast 38 matches on its Fox broadcast network and 26 on Fox Sports 1.

That means if you have an antenna to receive over-the-air TV signals, you could see more than half of the matches including the semifinals and finals from your local Fox station.

Also available to some via antenna: matches on Telemundo. The NBC Universal-owned network wrested the Spanish-language rights from Univision for a reported $600 million. Telemundo plans to have even more on-site announcers in host country Russia than Fox and will air 56 matches with sister channel Universo getting eight.

Most major streaming services offer Fox and Fox Sports, while some have Telemundo and Universo, too. Meanwhile, some Net TV subscriptions let you stream games on the Fox Sports app on mobile and home devices, just as those with pay-TV subscriptions can. That could come in handy as the Fox Sports app will also have additional feeds for each match including a tactical overhead view.

YouTube will have video highlights from broadcasters across the world, including from Fox and Telemundo in the U.S., and the BBC in the U.K. Twitter has teamed with Fox Sports for a daily live show and plans to tweet out every goal scored during the World Cup. And Snapchat will also deliver daily World Cup highlights and analysis coverage.

But if you want to see full games, here’s some strategies to streaming World Cup competition over the next month:

•FuboTV. This streaming service originally focused only on soccer, but now offers a growing list of sports, entertainment and news channels (more than 75), including local stations from CBS, Fox and NBC, with Fox coverage in 91% of U.S. households including 50 of the top 50 and 136 markets total. FuboTV also has FS1, Telemundo and NBC Universo, which will broadcast games, too.

New subscribers can get their first month of fuboTV free ($44.99 after that; there’s also a seven-day free trial) with the purchase of a Roku streaming device. You can get the Fox Sports bonus feeds from inside fuboTV, too. You can use its cloud DVR to record games. That could come in handy because Moscow is seven hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, while some other host cities are eight or nine hours ahead.

More: 11 compelling reasons to watch the World Cup

More: World Cup: Ranking all 32 teams, from hopeless to hopefuls

More: World Cup: Cristiano Ronaldo tops list of top 50 players to look out for in Russia

More: FIFA World Cup 2018: Complete schedule of games, how to watch

•DirecTV Now. AT&T’s service (one week free trial) has local Fox channels for more than 75% of the U.S., as well as Telemundo signals in 17 markets. You can check for local channel availability on directvnow.com. Also in that $35 monthly, you get FS1; opt for the $60 “Go Big” package and you can also get Universo among its 100-plus channels. With DirecTV Now, you can log into the Fox Sports app to watch and a cloud DVR lets you record 20 hours. That feature, already available on Apple, Amazon, Android and Google devices and browsers, just arrived for Roku devices, too.

•Hulu. Hulu’s Live TV service ($39.99 monthly, free seven-day trial), which has live Fox channels for more than 96% of the U.S., also includes FS1 and Telemundo. Hulu has a DVR, too, and if the 50 hours included isn’t enough, you can bump it up to 200 hours for $14.99 monthly. And you can use your Hulu credentials to watch the Fox Sports app, too.

•PlayStation Vue. Sony’s streaming service (playstation.com/vue), viewable on lots of devices beyond PlayStation consoles, has Fox and FS1 in its $39.99 monthly Access package (5-day trial). PS Vue has a local Fox broadcast in 24 markets, while 34 get a national Fox feed with the live soccer games. You can add Universo for $4.99 monthly in the Español Pack. Other nice features? Vue comes with a cloud DVR for recording and, in addition to watching Vue on mobile, you can sign into the Fox Sports app, too. There’s also a multiview feature, so you can watch three channels at the same time, so you can track more than one match or sport.

•Sling TV. Launched by Dish Network three years ago, Sling TV has Fox in 17 major markets — go to Sling.com to check availability — and Fox Sports 1 in its $25 monthly Sling Blue plan. You can also add Universo, which is part of Sling’s Best of Spanish TV extra package for $5 monthly. Fox Sports’ bonus feeds will be available inside the Sling TV app. Sling Blue subscribers can log into the Fox Sports app to watch, too. Sling also lets you add a cloud DVR for $5 monthly, available to subscribers on most devices.

•YouTube TV. Launched just more than a year ago, YouTube’s subscription TV service ($40 monthly) has Fox local broadcasts in 84 of the 99 markets its available in and a national Fox feed in 14. YouTube TV also has FS1, Telemundo and Universo among its 60-plus channels. And you can use the cloud DVR feature to record matches you can’t catch live. You can have six separate accounts and three simultaneous streams, and log into the Fox Sports app.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

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AT&T-Time Warner decision will set stage for Hollywood's future

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The AT&T and Time Warner merger could mean plenty — or nothing — to consumers, depending on a federal judge’s decision. USA TODAY

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A media merger of super hero proportions is about to be settled.

A federal judge is expected to decide Tuesday whether AT&T should go ahead with its planned $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, home to DC Comics’ heroes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as CNN and HBO, the premium network where Game of Thrones resides.

The deal will have far-reaching repercussions for consumers, bringing together the nation’s largest telecommunications company and owner of DirecTV with Time Warner’s entertainment library. An AT&T victory is likely to bolster the variety and number of streaming services competing for Americans’ wallets and time as they ditch traditional options such as cable. But according to the Trump administration, it could raise costs for consumers.

Either outcome will send up the equivalent of a bat signal to other communications and entertainment companies, alerting them to whether they should push forward with their own acquisitions aimed at bolstering their competitive position against companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple.

Efforts by AT&T to buy Time Warner started 20 months ago. But the Department of Justice sued, arguing AT&T — whose reach extends to pay-TV, wireless and Internet broadband — would have the leverage to force rival pay-TV providers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more annually per year for the right to distribute Time Warner’s networks. Those higher costs would be passed on to consumers, the government said.

AT&T has countered that the deal would actually help consumers, allowing the bigger company to better compete with a growing roster of online video competitors. Revenues have stagnated in the saturated wireless industry, as have traditional pay-TV revenue from AT&T’s DirecTV satellite service and U-verse fiber-delivered TV service.

Suspense about the outcome has been building since a six-week trial ended April 30. A new twist emerged in early May: the revelation that the telecom giant paid President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen $600,000 for consulting services at the time the company was seeking regulatory approval for the merger.

HBO’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ host John Oliver. HBO is one of the plum assets that would come with Time Warner if AT&T succeeds in buying the entertainment juggernaut.(Photo: Eric Liebowitz/HBO)

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said hiring Cohen for insights into the new administration was legal but “was a big mistake.”

President Trump, dating to before his election, has opposed the deal, saying it would concentrate too much market power in a single company. His animosity against Time Warner’s CNN also is well-known.

In fact, prior to the DOJ’s case going to court in March, AT&T sought records to buttress a legal argument that the Trump administration’s opposition to the merger was politically motivated. But a judge denied the legal move.

Now it’s decision time. An approval of the deal by Judge Richard Leon will act as a “green light” to other mergers and acquisitions, such as Disney’s bid for a collection of 21st Century Fox assets including the movie and TV studios, UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote in a recent note to investors.

Also expected as a result of approval of the AT&T-Time Warner merger: an attempt by Comcast to outbid Disney for the Fox assets.

More: China’s Huawei says it hasn’t collected Facebook user data

More: AT&T takes partnership play to new arena: esports

More: Could the Sprint-T-Mobile merger mean higher bills for Boost or MetroPCS customers?

More: What could a Comcast-Disney duel for Fox mean for you … and the Marvel Universe?

“The battle royale between Comcast and Disney for the Fox assets is heavily tied to the AT&T-Time Warner case with the long-standing belief that Comcast will only pursue the Fox deal if antitrust issues and the judge rule in favor of the AT&T deal,” said Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer and head of technology research for marketing and consulting firm GBH Insights.

If the judge rules against the deal or approves it only with the forced divestiture of DirecTV or the Turner networks, AT&T and Time Warner are expected to appeal.

Most Wall Street analysts expect the deal to be approved, perhaps with some conditions that limit behavior by the bigger company. During the trial, AT&T and Time Warner committed to not removing Time Warner content from competing pay-TV services and pledged to follow an arbitration process for any programming conflicts.

In a possible foreshadowing of the potential sniping that may follow if the deal goes through, last week a small discount wireless company — Mint Mobile — accused AT&T of anti-competitive behavior when AT&T’s DirecTV refused to sell it airtime for commercials because AT&T was a competitor. AT&T then told USA TODAY it had changed its policy to accept advertising “competitive to our internal brands.”

Brian Wieser, a senior analyst with Pivotal Research Group in New York, says it’s not uncommon for broadcast networks to decline to run ads for their competitors, though it usually depends on the business unit reporting lines. But with this situation, “Certainly the optics are bad. …They recognize what looks good and what doesn’t look good.”

Contributing: Edward Baig in New York City.

 

 

 

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Twitter CEO slammed for Chick-fil-A tweet during Pride Month

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is getting slammed for tweeting about Chick-fil-A! Rob Smith (@robsmithonline) has all the details. Buzz60

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey started a social media firestorm and then apologized after he tweeted that he ordered food from Chick-fil-A.

Critics jumped on Dorsey for supporting Chick-fil-A during the month of June, which is Pride Month for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) community.

Chick-fil-A came under fire from gay rights supporters in 2012 because of comments made by the fast food chicken chain’s CEO, Dan Cathay, expressing opposition to same-sex marriage. The company had also donated millions to anti-gay groups.

The controversy spurred angry protests at stores by activists as well as supporters who came to rally behind the the company.

Boost ⁦@ChickfilA⁩ pic.twitter.com/W03oKeGgGT

— jack (@jack) June 10, 2018

Dorsey’s tweet reignited the debate. The backlash included comments like:

“Why is Twitter boosting a notoriously anti-gay company during #PrideMonth”

“Wow, I thought better of you @jack Way to support a homophobic company during Pride month.”

“Did your meal come with a side-order of homophonic bigotry or did you pay extra for it?”

FACES OF PRIDE: Memebers of the LGBTQ community and their allies sound off from all 50 states

Dorsey acknowledged the situation after former CNN host Soledad O’Brien tweeted :”This is an interesting company to boost during Pride month, @jack.”

Dorsey responded in a tweet: “You’re right. Completley forgot about their background.”

You’re right. Completely forgot about their background

— jack (@jack) June 10, 2018

Not all the responses were negative as some on social media rushed to support Dorsey and Chick-fil-A.

“Don’t give in to these people and their complaints. I’m gay and I LOVE ChickfilA. Ridiculous. Go on and eat that ChickfilA and post as much as you want about it!”

“I don’t let politics dictate my food choices. The LGBTQ community is free to make equally tasty and “hate-free” chicken. Until it happens, there’s Chick-fil-a.”

“This just shows what a sad world we live in…when a guy feels he has to apologize for eating a chicken sandwich?!”

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This teen, who attempted suicide seven times, builds apps that saved her life and others

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On average, there are 123 suicides per day in the United States. If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. USA TODAY

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Sitting alone in a lifeguard tower watching the sun sink below the horizon, Amanda Southworth had a decision to make.

This Los Angeles teen, gripped by depression and anxiety, could continue on as she had, not eating, addicted to painkillers and attempting repeatedly to kill herself, or she could grab a lifeline and use her love of coding to save her own life and others.

On that chilly summer evening in 2015, she hatched the idea for AnxietyHelper, a mobile app that offers the resources she herself needed and embarked on a journey of healing and recovery that has led to a career in the tech world.

“I can honestly say that technology has saved my life,” Southworth said. She says she hasn’t harmed herself or attempted suicide since. “When I found something greater than myself, I realized that I am not just a person with a life. I am a person who has something to contribute.”

Now 16, she has dropped out of high school and last month started her own company — but not the way most young technology entrepreneurs do. Astra Labs is a software nonprofit funded by donors and a $25,000 grant from the TOMS Social Entrepreneurship Fund. She spoke to USA TODAY from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, on Friday.

Southworth’s commitment to creating mobile apps and other software that help others was reinforced this week. The deaths of designer Kate Spade and chef and television host Anthony Bourdain were grim reminders of the toll of suicide, the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States and one of three that is increasing, particularly for teens.

The suicide rate for white children and teens ages 10 to 17 rose 70 percent between 2006 and 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although black children and teens kill themselves less often than white youth do, the rate of increase was higher, 77 percent.

Southworth estimates she has been mentally ill for more than half her life. She says she attempted suicide at least seven times.

The bottom fell out when, as a nerdy kid, she moved to a new town for middle school, where she had no friends and felt like an outsider. Southworth used to send her future self emails that reflected her feelings of isolation and worthlessness: “I hope you’re not alive to get this email.” She daydreamed at school about killing herself. She’d wake up in the morning and cry that she was still alive.

More: Anthony Bourdain highlights the rising suicide rate among middle-aged adults

More: Suicide warning signs: Here’s what to look for when someone needs help

More: ‘We’re so extremely busy:’ More calling suicide prevention hotlines since celebrity deaths

More: A friend’s Facebook, Instagram post may be a suicide warning sign. Here’s what to do next

What saved her: a sixth-grade robotics club in 2011, which introduced her to the possibilities of technology and inspired her to soak up knowledge about web development and artificial intelligence from the internet and textbooks.

Her first app, AnxietyHelper, a mental health resource guide, debuted in the app store in September 2015 duringherninth-grade Latin class. Her excited classmates downloaded it, and she finished the day with 18 users. Even that small achievement gave her belief in her own power and a sense of purpose, Southworth says.

“I was always very destructive toward myself. Coding is the opposite. It’s about creating. It’s about taking different characters on a keyboard and transforming them into something bigger than you,” she said.

In May 2017, she launched a mobile app called Verena for the LGBTQ community after friends were bullied in the tense political climate around the presidential election. Verena, which means protector in German, locates hospitals, shelters and police stations and users can create a list of contacts to be alerted in an emergency.

“Everything in my life has shown me that both good and bad things in this world will continue to happen and that’s out of our control. But it’s what we do with the things that happen to us that can make all of the difference,” she said in a TedX talk last November in Pasadena, California. “My name is Amanda Southworth, I’m 15 years old, a junior in high school and I’m still alive.”

Building apps relieves stress and helps her cope and problem solve, she says. And helping others has helped her heal herself.

“The more I work, the more I do what I love, the better I feel,” she said.

Until she started Astra Labs, Southworth bootstrapped her apps, working random tech jobs. The apps are free, and she runs no ads and does not collect user data. “My core philosophy is that people should not have to pay for something if their life would be ended without it,” she said.

Three more apps are in the works: one to help turn handwritten class notes into study guides and practice tests, another to help people follow political and social issues they care about and a third that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help those with schizophrenia determine when they are experiencing hallucinations.

People come up to Southworth and say: Your app stopped me from killing myself. One user told her the app helped her after a rape. A facilitator at a tech summit confided that if her friend had had the Verena app, that person might still be alive.

Stories of suicide, like that of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, whose music helped Southworth through dark passages in her life, still haunt her.

“Maybe if I worked a little harder on this,” she said. “I could have gotten help to him or to someone else thinking about suicide.”

Follow USA TODAY senior technology writer Jessica Guynn on Twitter @jguynn

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Motorola Moto G6 Review: Affordable Excellence

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In my time writing about tech, I’ve spent untold hours using expensive smartphones. You know, the really nice ones that can sometimes cost upwards of a grand these days. For your money, you’ll get metal and glass components that feel and look great, eye-popping cameras, brilliant screens…the works.

But, after spending a weekend in Nashville with the $250 Motorola Moto G6, I began to wonder why anyone would pay more than that for a phone. That’s not to say that I haven’t felt the effects of Motorola’s penny pinching—I have. But are those momentary bouts of frustration balanced out by the low, low price? That’s a good question and, well, it depends.

A Blast of Glass

I don’t remember an edict coming out that all phones must come covered in fragile glass, but since the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones began coating themselves in the latest Gorilla Glass, every phone maker has followed them into the shimmer of Shatter City. And so the Moto G6 has a similar polished metal frame and glass back (curved up on the sides) that’s currently en vogue.

The G6 is comfortable to hold and doesn’t slip out of your hand (or slide off the table) too badly, but all the negative qualities of glass are here. Motorola is using Gorilla Glass 3, which is a few years older than version 5 that you’ll find on high-end phones, which means it’s not as durable if it takes a tumble. It does a decent job repelling fingerprints, but if you’re like me, you’ll notice them anyway. Bottom line, you’ll want to invest in a good case for this phone.

On the front is another 2018 design trend. Motorola (owned by Lenovo) kept the G6’s dimensions about the same, but stretched the screen real estate vertically to make it taller—cramming the fingerprint sensor below and crowding the selfie camera and sensors up top. There’s no unneeded notch cutout on the screen, but the net result is more screen space. The 5.7-inch LCD is HD (2,160 x 1,080 pixels), which is more than adequate, and hardly distinguishable from premium, expensive phone screens.

There are a few other perks, too. Moto has added USB-C quick charging, which complements the 3,000mAh battery that’ll probably last you a little more than a day per charge, depending on your use. It also packs in a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroSD slot for more file storage (MicroSD cards have gotten quite affordable). The MicroSD slot lets Moto get away with equipping it with only 32 GB of storage, which isn’t much these days. The G6 even has some protection against water, touting a “nano-coating” that’s supposed to keep the phone dry. It’s not up to the IP67 standard of pricier devices, but it’s better than nothing.

Rounding out the internals are 3 GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, which delivers consistent enough performance for most apps, but isn’t the best choice for intensive 3D gaming. It’s a few years behind the performance of top-notch 2018 phones in our benchmark tests.

Plan Your Shots

My Moto G6 hasn’t had any major slow spells. Like the Moto X4, it’s always a tick slower than the most expensive phones on the market. Not a tick tock—just a tick, and its consistency makes the difference. Unless you’re taking photos.

The 12-megapixel rear camera on the G6 has an f/1.8 aperture, and even included a second 5-megapixel rear camera for “Portrait mode” and a few other features that blur the background and mess with depth-of-field effects. Like a lot of Android phones, none of these extra features work particularly well, but the main camera and 8-megapixel selfie cam do take decent photos in auto mode—just be sure to stand still and give the camera a little extra time.

Nashville, I learned, is known as the “Athens of the South” and is so proud of that Greek connection that it has a complete replica of the Parthenon, which looks amazing on a sunny day. Below are some shots I took around town.

The camera app was a full second behind my shutter button presses, at times. The lag meant I missed shots of many crazy people doing weird things on the streets of Nashville (seriously—this place is nuts!). It was particularly hard to nail a good, sharp shot in a moving car, and as the sun went down and the Honky Tonk bars lit up, I did wish I had a slightly better camera that could capture the lights or streets without blowing out one or the other. I did manage to take some beautiful outdoor photos during the day. My indoor shots were far more hit or miss, especially in more dimly lit bars and concert halls.

These problems aren’t, by any means, unique to the Moto G6. Many affordable phones have slower cameras that just can’t handle tricky lighting conditions very well, but the shutter lag is something Motorola needs to work on.

Some (not all) fancier phones would have delivered crisper photos, faster and more reliably. But they wouldn’t have been leagues better. At the end of the trip, I still have a camera roll full of fantastic memories.

Gotta Love These Gestures

Despite such a cheap price, Motorola has packed Google’s new Android Oreo (8.0) operating system into the G6. My unit was still running the March 2018 monthly security patch in June and hadn’t gotten the 8.1 update. Hopefully Motorola will keep up with updates as the year proceeds.

The G6 interface mostly looks like Google’s standard Android OS, but the Moto Actions app is still present. It has a bunch of gestures and other small, harmless little add-ons that you can enable if you like. I love Moto’s one-handed gestures for turning on the flashlight (move the phone up and down like you’re using an axe) and camera (twist the phone a few times). The one-handed, screenless Android navigation is fun, too. It lets you swipe left on the fingerprint sensor for Back and swipe right on it for the Recent Apps menu. It saves a hair of screen space by hiding the on-screen button bar so why not give it a try?

Fly Like a G6

The Moto G6 camera leaves much to be desired, and it’s not the speediest phone around, but it does behave consistently, which is important. For $250 this is, as most Moto Gs are, an excellent, affordable phone—in fact, probably the best Android phone you can buy in its price bracket. The Moto G6 won’t survive a swim, but it can handle an accidental dunk, and it has a headphone jack, which is more than I can say about many Android phones that cost hundreds more. Plus, it’s compatible with your current carrier or, if you want to make the leap to Google Fi, it can do that too.

Seriously, this phone is right in the sweet spot. It’s hard for me to recommend a cheaper, weaker device than this in good conscience. If you want to splurge on a killer deal, the OnePlus 6 is a $530 option that’s as powerful as anything on the market.

The Moto G6 isn’t flashy because it’s kind of above all that nonsense. It’s for the smart, frugal tech buyer that values their experience as much as their dollars.

Meater Wireless Meat Thermometer Review: A Recipe for Mediocrity

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On paper, it’s pretty slick, but I had some reservations. Most notably, there are no physical controls or a base station with temperature readouts à la the Smoke or iGrill 2. While some people don’t mind that connected kitchen devices pass things like controls and readouts entirely to the app, I can’t stand it. App connectivity and embellishments should be a perk, not a requirement for a thermometer’s basic functions; If I’m out back grilling, I want to concentrate on what I’m cooking and/or have a beer with friends, not fiddle around with, or be distracted by, my phone.

That said, I started testing the Meater and it worked pretty well! I made thick pork chops and they came off the grill with that perfect pinkness in the center. The estimated time remaining displayed on the app was pretty helpful, and the app can guide you to pull the meat off just a bit earlier than you might otherwise, allowing the built-up heat in the cut to bring the internal temperature to the finish line, aka “carryover cooking.” My brother-in-law Ben was impressed by those features and as someone who’s used to temperature probes at the end of cables, I liked how maneuverable the meat was without them. Like the iGrill 2 and the Smoke Gateway, the time-temperature charts Meater’s app created were helpful in understanding what was happening as I cooked.

While my ThermoWorks probe can withstand temperatures from -58 to 572 degrees Fahrenheit, the Meater is much more fragile.

Things went a little sideways, though, when I tried to make brisket. I didn’t have all day—a time commitment many briskets require—but I found a lovely-sounding recipe that called for a wet roast in the style of Michael Ruhlman’s fantastic Thanksgiving turkey. Here, the Meater was of limited use. It was able to monitor only the internal temperature as this brisket cooks under a foil wrap, meaning the temperature under the foil wasn’t representative of the oven temperature. I just ignored the ambient sensor reading.

Cooking this recipe brought up two issues. First, I got a warning message at 209 degrees Fahrenheit saying that the internal temperature of the brisket was “above safe level” and that I should “remove from heat immediately to avoid damaging the product.”

Wait…”safe level” for the meat or for the Meater? Which “product?” Brisket in this style is a long, slow cook that can get hotter than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps not ideally, but it’s not out of the question, particularly if you’re waiting for the tougher sections of the brisket to become fork tender.

While my ThermoWorks probe can withstand temperatures from -58 to 572 degrees Fahrenheit, the Meater is much more fragile.

I double-checked with a company rep, asking if the internal probe might break if exposed to temperatures over 212 degrees for more than 10 minutes.

“Correct,” came the response.

Yikes. That’s horribly restricting over the life of a thermometer. At some point, you’re going to mess up, and 212 degrees is an awfully low bar.

Making this meal also showed how restrictive it is to have the ambient probe attached to (and right next to) the internal probe. At first glance, it seemed exceedingly clever—two probes in one!—but in practice the arrangement requires a lot of workarounds.

The Meater team has apparently run into a version of this problem too, referring in its FAQs to the “cool air bubble” around larger pieces of meat in an oven or on the grill. In short, the meat you’re cooking is cooler than the oven it’s cooking in, creating a “bubble” of cool air around it. With a separate probe, this isn’t a problem, but for the Meater—especially for larger cuts with more thermal mass—you’ve gotta figure out probe placement that gets to the core of the meat, but keeps the ambient temperature sensor the recommended two inches from the food.

Plus, if I’m going to use a probe of some sort to tell me the temperature inside my oven or grill, I want to know that information before I put my meat in it; Meater doesn’t offer that possibility.

Fuss! Fuss! Fuss! Undaunted, I cooked a boneless leg of lamb on my grill. I used the low-and-slow method, cooking it over indirect heat until the internal temperature came up to a little past rare, then pulled it off the heat, cranked the grill, let the grates get screaming hot, then seared the meat’s exterior. The process worked pretty well as long as I didn’t stray too far—12 feet and a wall were too far for Meater’s Bluetooth, but the ThermoWorks Smoke’s radio remote had no trouble with this. The lamb was fantastic.

Since we’re here, let’s keep talking about the connection. To connect the app to the probe, you use Bluetooth—which is pretty slick considering how tiny the setup is. If you want a little more range and bought a single probe model (its only product currently on the market), Meater suggests connecting through the cloud by using a second smart device, which you would then leave near your grill or oven. Good grief! Or you could wait for the release of the $269 Meater Block with its four probes and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options. (Considering the Meater’s delay-laden production history, though, you may wish to hold off until the Block is officially on the market.)

Did you keep up with all that connection stuff? It’s a lot to hold in your head. Still sure wireless-ness is that important?

4 Weekend Tech Deals for Father’s Day Gifts

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Father’s Day is coming up soon! While we’ve handpicked eighteen great gifts for the dad-ly figure in your life, we’ve also worked with our friends at TechBargains to find great deals on other gift-worthy gadgets that we adore. Does your traveling dad need a compact iPad? We’ve got you covered! Or does he want the best robot vacuum that can be had for love or money? We’ve got you there, too. Happy shopping!

$200 Off The Best Robot Vacuum Ever

The iRobot Roomba 980 is our favorite robot vacuum. It’s fast and effective; it has iRobot’s Dirt Detect system, and a rubber roller that doesn’t collect fuzz nuggets. It’s also unbelievably expensive, and never on sale, except now.

Snap up the iRobot Roomba 980 for a mere $699 (was $899).

Three Other Great Tech Deals

When you buy something using the retail links in our stories, we earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.

At Festival of the Impossible, Artists Augment Reality to Tell Fresh Stories

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Walking into the new art exhibit centered around augmented reality and virtual reality storytelling, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the alternate dimensions that had been built.

The exhibit, Festival of the Impossible, is showing at Minnesota Street Project galleries in San Francisco, California, through this weekend. The show features new works by artists breaking boundaries in these relatively new digital mediums.

Learning that the artists were given these VR and AR platforms to stage their concepts made me believe the creations were meant to show off the hardware and software innovations, and to demonstrate the potential of the new tech. After experiencing each artists’ work, however, I realized the creations were not just technology demos, but that they gave the artists a chance to express their own ingenuity with technology in a way that’s never been this easy, nor this real.

Step Inside

Each artist in the exhibit gets their own open space where the audience can wander into their imagination. Some artists told stories on iPads using augmented reality, with the screen showing the view through the camera transformed, in one case, to show the room on fire or drenched in rain.

In another artist’s space, I pointed the iPad’s camera at small, 3-D printed beds. The view in AR showed Sims-like figures sleeping with their realistic dreams playing out above them. Some dreamed of giant spiders; others, the nightmare of a computer that won’t stop buffering.

Some of the artists made their work more personal. Judit Navratil used AR to revisit her childhood home through a video that incorporated her deepest memories, including talks with her grandmother. With just about every installation, it would have been easy (and fascinating) to spend way too much time exploring every detail.

New World, New Tools

Every time a new technological medium comes along, the art world asks: How can we use this for storytelling? The art world will adapt to these new mediums, but someone has to test the waters first.

That’s where Adobe comes in. Just this week, Adobe, in partnership with Apple and Pixar, launched the augmented reality authoring tool Project Aero. This new piece of multi-platform software is intended to let designers and developers create AR experiences in a simple, standardized environment. Project Aero integrates with tools with which creators are already familiar, such as Adobe Photoshop CC and the 3-D design tool Adobe Dimension CC. Project Aero aims to give people of different backgrounds and disciplines the freedoms to bring others into their worlds through AR, telling stories and presenting ideas in a fresh way.

Adobe is a sponsor of Festival of the Impossible, and the event coincides with the launch of the new software and with Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, which happened this week in San Jose, California.

This box sucks pure water out of dry desert air

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For many of us, clean, drinkable water comes right out of the tap. But for billions it’s not that simple, and all over the world researchers are looking into ways to fix that. Today brings work from Berkeley, where a team is working on a water-harvesting apparatus that requires no power and can produce water even in the dry air of the desert. Hey, if a cactus can do it, why can’t we?

While there are numerous methods for collecting water from the air, many require power or parts that need to be replaced; what professor Omar Yaghi has developed needs neither.

The secret isn’t some clever solar concentrator or low-friction fan — it’s all about the materials. Yaghi is a chemist, and has created what’s called a metal-organic framework, or MOF, that’s eager both to absorb and release water.

It’s essentially a powder made of tiny crystals in which water molecules get caught as the temperature decreases. Then, when the temperature increases again, the water is released into the air again.

Yaghi demonstrated the process on a small scale last year, but now he and his team have published the results of a larger field test producing real-world amounts of water.

They put together a box about two feet per side with a layer of MOF on top that sits exposed to the air. Every night the temperature drops and the humidity rises, and water is trapped inside the MOF; in the morning, the sun’s heat drives the water from the powder, and it condenses on the box’s sides, kept cool by a sort of hat. The result of a night’s work: 3 ounces of water per pound of MOF used.

That’s not much more than a few sips, but improvements are already on the way. Currently the MOF uses zicronium, but an aluminum-based MOF, already being tested in the lab, will cost 99 percent less and produce twice as much water.

With the new powder and a handful of boxes, a person’s drinking needs are met without using any power or consumable material. Add a mechanism that harvests and stores the water and you’ve got yourself an off-grid potable water solution.

“There is nothing like this,” Yaghi explained in a Berkeley news release. “It operates at ambient temperature with ambient sunlight, and with no additional energy input you can collect water in the desert. The aluminum MOF is making this practical for water production, because it is cheap.”

He says there are already commercial products in development. More tests, with mechanical improvements and including the new MOF, are planned for the hottest months of the summer.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Apple’s WWDC Was About Using iPhone Less, and Also More

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Apple’s annual developers conference was this week, so naturally, our podcast conversation this week had to be about Tim Cook’s new Memoji.

Not really: We talked about all the things we can expect to see when iOS 12 comes to iPhones this fall, why Apple decided to launch “digital wellness” features, how walkie-talkie on the Apple Watch could make it more useful, and what iOS apps on Mac mean. Will Apple ever make a touchscreen laptop? Right now, the company says no…but it has a history of saying “no” before it goes and makes that exact thing.

Podcast

Some notes: You can read all about the top news announcements out of WWDC here. Also, Arielle (who is on vacation the next two weeks) wrote about the paradox of Apple’s “screen time” efforts, while Lauren had the exclusive interview with Apple software chief Craig Federighi about how iOS apps will port to the Mac. Also mentioned in this podcast was the new Sonos Beam; check out our deep dive into the product’s development.

Recommendations this week: We didn’t have time to talk about smart speakers nearly as much as we wanted to this week, but we still had music on the brain: Mike’s recommendation this week is LIVE Quadrophonic, a 180-gram vinyl pressing of Suzanne Ciani’s 30-minute live electronic music performance. (Mike warns that it’s both abstract, and totally worth it.) Lauren thanks you in advance for indulging her in her shamelessly promotional recommendation of her brother Gerald’s new album, Rocket Ship.

Send the Gadget Lab hosts feedback on their personal Twitter feeds. Lauren Goode is @laurengoode, and Michael Calore is @snackfight, and Arielle Pardes is @pardesoteric. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. Our theme song is by Solar Keys.

How to Listen

You can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here’s how:

If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts, and search for Gadget Lab. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed.

If you use Android, you can find us in the Google Play Music app just by tapping here. You can also download an app like Pocket Casts or Radio Public, and search for Gadget Lab. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed.

We’re also on Soundcloud, and every episode gets posted to wired.com as soon as it’s released. If you still can’t figure it out, or there’s another platform you use that we’re not on, let us know.

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Behind the Scenes With the Stanford Laptop Orchestra

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The Stanford Laptop Orchestra meets to rehearse every Wednesday night in the spring from 7:30 to 10:30 pm (The late hours are a remnant of Wang’s night-owl habits as a graduate student.) It’s a for-credit course at Stanford—Music 128, cross-listed in the computer science department as CS 170—but getting in isn’t easy. The group of 15 students includes those with computer science credentials, and those with more traditional music backgrounds, but neither is enough to become a great laptop orchestra player. The most important thing is curiosity. “We’re unified by this interest to make music together with computers,” says Wang, “and to figure out what that means.”

Wang likes to call SLOrk a kitchen of sound. “We can go to a restaurant, order delicious food, and enjoy that,” he says. “But there’s a special joy in going back into the kitchen with raw ingredients and being able to concoct your own dish. The process of making—and eating—your own creation carries with it its own satisfaction.”

Every orchestra member gets a MacBook, propped up on an Ikea breakfast tray, with a meditation pillow beside it.

In the ten years that SLOrk has existed, it’s composed over 200 original works and created almost as many new instruments. Most of these works have little in common, but they all start with the same set-up: Every orchestra member gets a MacBook, propped up on an Ikea breakfast tray, with a meditation pillow beside it. The laptop connects to a homespun hemispherical speaker, made by adding car speaker drivers and high-efficiency amplifiers to Ikea salad bowls. (From far away, they look a bit like Minions.) Wang created the speakers during the first year of SLOrk, with an aim to add an acoustic element to an otherwise machine-heavy ensemble. “We want the computer instruments to seem more like acoustic instruments where the sound isn’t coming from a PA system around you but from the artifact itself,” he says. While the MacBooks and cables have been replaced a few times, the hemispherical speakers are the same ones SLOrk used ten years ago.

Every station also includes a GameTrak, a game controller with a retractable cable. GameTraks were originally used in golf simulation video games, where they could turn someone’s virtual golf swing into data points. It was a commercial flop, but computer music researchers immediately saw the appeal. “We bought no less than 100 of them at massively discounted prices,” says Wang.

The Stanford Laptop Orchestra uses a range of noise-makers, from game controllers and physical instruments to, yes, laptops.

Ge Wang

Kimberly Juarez-Rico gets tuneful.

Ge Wang

The device maps movement in three-dimensional space. For a laptop orchestra, that means turning fluid movement into sound value. “It opens up the infinite space of human music, and the dancelike qualities of musical performance,” says Matt Wright, a longtime SLOrkian and one of the orchestra’s instructors. “You can put one in someone’s hands and say, ‘Here. Make an instrument out of this.'”

In past performances the ensemble has used GameTraks to operate video-games that translate into melodic compositions, or finger-plucked the cable like a traditional string instrument. One composition in SLOrk’s upcoming show introduces a new instrument, created by hanging GameTraks upside down on a beam and weighting them with various wooden blocks. Performers push them like swings on a playground to create the song. The performance is wildly playful, like watching kids on a playground discover the delightful sounds of their own laughter for the first time.

One student used a face-tracking program called FaceOSC to turn facial movements into sound.

During the SLOrk term, each student creates their own instruments, composes their own scores, and performs them with the class. There are virtually no rules, other than the limits of imagination and programmability. One student, Kunwoo Kim, used a face-tracking program called FaceOSC to turn facial movements into sound. He and fellow SLOrk member Avery Bick stared into their laptop web cams while opening their eyes wide, or raising their eyebrows, or stretching their mouth to scream, to control the pitch and tempo of the face-tracking instrument.

“Using a face as a controller was a very interesting concept for us,” he says. “We wanted to deliver a human message that uses human parameters.”

Kim came to Stanford after earning a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a master’s in electrical engineering. He joined CCRMA because he wanted an interdisciplinary program that would let him continue engineering while also studying music; when he heard about SLOrk, he figured he’d give it a shot.

“I had no idea what was going on,” he says about his first day in the orchestra.

Soon, though, things started to click—and Kim found something in SLOrk that he’d never found before in his engineering coursework. The point of SLOrk isn’t to have a direction. It’s to find a direction.

“The engineering that I have been doing was about solving problems,” says Kim. “But in SLOrk, there’s no problem to solve. We try to cover more of the sentimental side of human beings. And I think that’s very interesting. You’re actually trying to say something about humanity through the computers.”