Evan Killham - page 12

Home automation, specifically Apple’s HomeKit framework and its compatible accessories, is the latest Thing We’re Supposed to Get Excited About™. And it has a lot of promise for convenience, time-saving, and just generally feeling like you live in the future.

The first HomeKit-compatible smartplug is upon us, courtesy of iHome. The ISP5 SmartPlug is a $40 device that plugs into your wall outlet and lets you run whatever you plug into it from your iPhone, using either Siri or the companion app.

It does everything it says it will: You can set up rooms and zones, and control individual appliances or whole groups of them with a tap or quick voice command. It also lets you build “rules” to make your stuff turn on and off without your input. All of this is cool, but when you actually have one, you might struggle to think of useful ways to use it.

We don’t have any major problems with the Apple Watch charger that comes in the box with the device — although nobody has been able to give me a solid answer as to why the cord has to be so damned long. But one design company thinks it isn’t quite portable enough.

InnovationBox has its own idea to get power to an Apple Watch, and it will fit in your pocket without you having to whip out a twist tie.

Apple’s Marc Newson is one of the best designers in the industry. His plane-inspired Lockheed Lounge chair was reflective, smooth and looked incredibly uncomfortable. And we’re still enjoying the look and feel of our Apple Watches, even if the other night a drunk girl at a bar made fun of me for wearing mine in public. And that was hurtful.

But Newson isn’t just about shiny devices and even shinier chairs. He’s recently teamed up with luxury accessory designer Montblanc to create the Montblanc M, a classic fountain pen that looks like it came from the future.

A 14-year-old modder has apparently managed to replace his Apple Watch’s bubbly default home screen with something a little boxier and more classic: iOS 4.2.1, which launched all the way back in 2010.

Billy Ellis, a self-described “iOS app and tweak developer,” posted a video of his project on YouTube. Check it out below:

Guests of the boutique Aloft Silicon Valley hotel might be a little surprised to see its newest employee.

It might be his height or his odd way of moving around, or it might be the basket of towels where its head should be. But mostly, it’s going to be weird because the new guy is a robot, and that’s just inherently strange at this point in history.

We have a bit of a digital-assistant war brewing in the tech world. In addition to Apple’s Siri, we have Google Now, Microsoft’s Cortana and, eventually, Facebook’s MoneyPenny. Everybody’s out to provide users with the most helpful fake secretaries imaginable, and even productivity app Slack is getting in on the action.

But while touting upcoming improvements to the chat platform’s helper, Slackbot, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield had some strong words about its rival in your iPhone or Apple Watch.

We don’t even know for sure what the unrevealed iPhone 6s is going to look like, but that isn’t stopping one company from opening up preorders for ridiculously expensive and extravagant custom versions of Apple’s upcoming handset.

Luxury design company Brikk will pre-sell you blinged-up versions of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and if you have $206,000 or so lying around that you’d love to spend on a phone you haven’t even seen yet, they have a model for you.

Siri typically works pretty well when you’re just sitting around at home — or at least, it can usually hear you just fine. Whether or not you get the results you need is another question, but a prototype device created by engineers at Duke University could one day help Apple’s digital assistant understand you just as well if you’re in a crowded room or a car.

It’ll just have to get a little smaller first.

We already knew that Apple has taken an interest in how its third-party partners present their wares in the Apple Store, but a leaked memo is describing just how seriously the company is taking this new initiative.

Other than the clean white background that it’s so fond of, Apple is also asking vendors to pay attention to the typefaces they use and even the angles from which they photograph their products.

So it turns out Apple is controlling and particular. Who knew?

I like strategy games as much as the next person, but they’re all missing something. Like maybe they could use a pink bunny that tickles opposing pieces to death, or a little, blue, tentacled … thing that can distract enemies with its soothing singing voice. And for good measure, maybe they could throw in a green guy who can fire deadly shots out of his head and an orange monster that eats lightning and fireballs.

Picorama has all those things, and it’s as weird, silly and fun as it sounds. But the iOS game’s innocent art and adorable characters belie a title that will quickly test your strategic and problem-solving skills and have you staring at your iPhone or iPad trying to plan your next move.

Are you tired of your Instagram feed being low on sponsored posts from companies trying to sell you things? If so, here comes the best news you’ve ever heard.

The company has opened up its advertising code to make it easier than ever for partners to get ads all up in the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app.

A lot of products promise to help you lose weight without requiring you to do any extra work. And here’s another one.

Thin Ice is a line of smart clothing, and its creators say that it will melt fat by tricking your body into thinking it’s colder than it is. And that’s it; that’s how they say it works. You can learn more in the occasionally awkward video below.

It’s usually a question of when, not if, your charging cable is going to start wearing around the point where the cord meets the connector. And maybe you’ll try to make it work for a little while, but sooner or later your denial will wear off and you’re going to have to drop the cash on a new one. And then the whole sad process starts over.

One company is hoping to break the cycle with a leather cable that is not only tough but also aims to be the best-working cord you’ve ever bought.

Google Glass has returned to keep looking like a really lame version of the future, according to reports. The company is rolling out a new, office-ready version of its augmented-reality wearable to businesses that aims to correct some of the problems of the earlier model.

The new hardware features a smaller form factor, prolonged battery life, and a faster processor.

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If you’re taking your iPhone 6 Plus on vacation with you, and you anticipate being near a large body of water like, say, the Pacific Ocean, it’s a good idea to take precautions. One kayaker’s ounce of prevention worked out for the best when his iPhone ended up at the bottom of the damned sea.

Months later, a scuba diver found the phone and returned it, and they could do that because both the waterproof bag the owner had bought and the phone inside of it were still working perfectly.

If you’re going to own a Mac, you should maybe put it away somewhere if you’re expecting a visit from Clippy.

Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon learned that lesson the hard way when he was talking up the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft’s latest OS last night. As is his wont, Microsoft Word’s built-in assistant appeared at random, and everything was cordial until the talking paper clip spotted the MacBook on Fallon’s desk.

You can check out the rest of the clip below.

The Internet has gone crazy for selfie sticks ever since a couple of Twitter users posted modified images of Hollywood’s toughest characters with their guns swapped out for the hated tech accessories.

The Photoshop swap really has a way of removing all the menace from a person — especially if their new phone has a ladybug case on it. You can see some examples below (as well as some we put together because we just couldn’t help ourselves).

Apparently, it isn’t enough that our phones, appliances, TVs, thermostats and light bulbs are getting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections so we can control them remotely and teach them our habits. No — some enterprising souls are looking at their stuff and just gasping at how dumb all of it is.

And so, things that we may never have thought of slapping the “smart” prefix on are getting all wired up and clever. Here are a few of the more interesting ones.

Everybody likes to get a good chuckle out of Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant. But we really have to call its brand neutrality into question.

Despite all of the doom and gloom we’ve been hearing since the Apple Watch launched in April, including the company’s own reluctance to let us know how well the device is selling, it looks like our favorite digital helper has decided that it’s a winner.

Asking Siri “What is your favorite watch?” or “What do you think of the Apple Watch?” will get you some enthusiastic endorsements of Apple’s latest gizmo. And this is our surprised face.

Home security system manufacturer Uniden just released a swanky new system that can store 120 days’ worth of data and, if you want one, you’ll have to go directly through the manufacturer or Apple.

The Uniden Wireless DVR HDD comes with two cameras and a 1TB drive for storing your home movies like so many unwatched episodes of Psych. And it could lead to some bad news for smart-thermostat maker Nest’s own security offering.

We hope that the designer of this cute Apple Watch stand doesn’t get an adorable little cease-and-desist letter in the mail.

The WatchMe stand bears an uncanny resemblance to the stars of some despicable memes scattered across the Internet like salt, but it isn’t a complete rip-off. They don’t have arms, after all. And luckily, the Apple Watch, which the stand wears like a monocle, isn’t round.

So it’s a toss-up, really.

If you have plans this weekend to saunter into your local Apple Store and pick up a Nest thermostat for your increasingly connected home, we have bad news for you: The company is no longer offering the device for sale in either its retail or online stores.

But could Apple interest you in an Ecobee?

Remember when Google announced, probably from within a heavily fortified and Skynet-proof bunker, that its artificial neural networks were “dreaming”? And then we saw the above picture of a squirrel ravaged by a computer’s best and most terrifying guesses at what things look like, and we all peed a little?

Well, the company has released that code to the public, and now some Scarecrow-esque villain has provided us with Dreamscope, a way to turn your beloved pictures into extensions of a neurotic computer’s twisted psyche.

When it comes to smartwatch mind share, Apple Watch is killing the competition.

That’s just one of several key takeaways from an interesting new study that digs into the public’s perception of smartwatches in general and Apple’s wearable in particular.

We aren’t going to find out what the next iPhone looks like until Apple shows us (probably in September), but that isn’t stopping designers from dreaming up some concepts.

Here’s a pretty bold one that imagines the next Apple smartphone as a mix between a Samsung Galaxy Edge and a Club Cracker. You can check it out in the video below.