Evan Killham - page 5

Pet owners like to pretend their animal friends can speak with human words. Some even do a little voice when they’re projecting emotions and motivations on to their buddies. It’s okay — I do it, too. But an upcoming device might make your role as Puppy Lorax unnecessary because it will do the talking for you.

It’s called the Kyon Pet Tracker, and that simple and almost cold name belies its really impressive functionality: Not only does it tell you where your best dog (or cat) friend is at all times, but it can also warn you when they’re in danger or lost. And it does so with a cool app and an adorable onboard LED display.

Check it out in action in the video below, but be warned that the part where the collar saves the dog from drowning is really sad.

Saying that Apple’s refusal to help an FBI investigation puts the company “on the side of terrorists,” Maricopa County, Arizona’s county attorney’s office will no longer issue iPhones for official use.

Prosecutor Bill Montgomery issued the public statement today after privately communicating the new policy to “applicable staff” on Sunday.

In an interview with ABC News tonight, Apple CEO Tim Cook described the code the FBI is asking the company to make to crack San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone as “the software equivalent of cancer.”

Cook sat down in his office with World News Now anchor David Muir to explain why the tech giant is defying the U.S. government. And while he does sympathize with those directly affected by December’s mass shooting, which left 14 people dead and 22 injured, he emphasized that the issues under debate right now are bigger than this one case.

If you can’t wait to see Apple CEO Tim Cook’s talk with ABC News anchor David Muir in a few hours, the network has released a couple of interesting previews ahead of the airing.

In them, Cook addresses both the difficulty of the company’s refusal to the FBI’s demands to unlock a terrorist’s phone and his less-than-satisfactory dealings with the Obama administration and the Justice Department.

Check out the clips below.

If Apple loses its encryption battle with the FBI over the data contained on a terrorist’s phone, it will make Manhattan’s district attorney and police commissioner very happy.

Despite the federal government’s claim that the updated version of the iPhone’s operating system will only be used on this case, D.A. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. sees a government victory as a sure way to get Apple to unlock a bunch of other devices his office is sitting on. And by “a bunch,” we mean hundreds of phones that the company could suddenly be compelled to compromise.

It’s been a crazy day for news in the case of Apple v. the federal government in the battle over the data contained on a mass-shooter’s iPhone, and some surprising facts are emerging between the two side’s shots at each other.

Today, we saw the Justice Department double down on the original court order, some predictable antics from presidential candidate Donald Trump, and Apple’s responses to both. But we’re also picking up some interesting details that make this already complicated issue even murkier. And things aren’t quite as simple as either side is claiming.

Here are some of the most surprising aspects of this case that have come out in the past few days.

Apple doesn’t seem terribly concerned with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call for a boycott of its products. If anything, it seems pretty proud to have drawn the controversial frontrunner’s ire.

During a phone conversation with reporters shortly after Trump’s call went out, senior Apple executives made their feelings about the campaign known — and their feelings are pretty funny.

The U.S. Department of Justice think’s Apple’s hard public stance on encryption in the San Bernardino shooting case is nothing but a marketing scheme.

The agency said as much in a filing today that implored the court to “[compel] Apple to comply with its order.” It also cites the company’s past cooperation with law-enforcement investigations as evidence that its position has more to do with looking good to its customers than any actual inability to help authorities access the device.

Online petitions can seem like screaming into a hole sometimes, but that isn’t stopping a crop of them from emerging in support of Apple’s stance on phone encryption.

In fact, our survey of signature-calls about Apple’s current refusal to provide the FBI a way to access the data on a locked phone belonging to one of the assailants in last year’s San Bernardino shooting turned up exactly none that demand the iPhone maker to give the government what it wants. And this is something, considering we also turned up one petition that called for a pair of tortoises to stop having to carry around iPads at the Aspen Art Museum and another that demanded that the United States legalize cockfighting.

Opinions are all over the place, is what we’re getting at, but people seem pretty sure that they don’t want Apple to unlock its phones. Here’s a quick look at some of the petitions going around.

Super-elaborate, open-world games with stats, exploration, or an engrossing storyline are great, but sometimes you just want to put your foot in some ninjas’ faces. And that’s where Kick or Die really delivers.

This mobile title has been out for a couple months, but it’s just received an update that adds some new challenges and bosses. We didn’t play the earlier versions, but the new one is a fast-pased, dead-simple kickstravaganza that will keep your thumbs on their toes, even though that sounds completely stupid and impossible.

The game’s fun, though.

A couple of new iPhone 6s ads play up the time-saving powers of 3D Touch and the time-travel abilities of Live Photos.

Apple just posted the videos to its YouTube account, and if you’re a fan of the quantifiable measurement of change, you’ll find a lot to like in the 30-second spots. Check them out below.

The battle for phone encryption is hitting the streets, as iPhone owners are going to gather at the Apple Store in San Francisco tonight in a show of solidarity for the company’s refusal to budge on security.

The bulk of protests will occur next Tuesday, February 23, exactly one week after a court ordered the device maker to allow the FBI access to an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. But digital-rights group Fight for the Future is stepping up the timetable and hosting its first rally in less than an hour, at 5:00 p.m. PT.

An intrepid Apple Watch developer has managed to make a simulation of OS X Yosemite that runs on his wearable device.

15-year-old developer Billy Ellis revealed a quick preview of his latest project on his YouTube page. The program launches from his Apple Watch’s home screen and includes icons for the Finder, Launchpad, Settings, the App Store and Trash. You can see the demo in its entirety below.

Best List: iClever BoostCube 3-port wall charger

I have a bit of an embarrassing problem: Part of my device-charging setup in my bedroom includes a power strip that sits on the floor next to my bed. It isn’t the worst thing ever, but it’s ugly, and sometimes I trip over it. But I may have found a solution in the 3-port iClever BoostCube. It will save my pride, and some space in my bag when I travel, and that’s just good news all around.

Plus, the ports glow an eerie blue when it’s plugged in, and that’s really cool-looking.

We may be a small step closer to the robot wars thanks to former Apple designer Mike Matas.

Matas’ previous work includes user interfaces for Apple’s Maps, Photos, and Camera apps, as well as the Nest smart thermostat. And he showed off his latest creation, an artificial brain called (appropriately enough) The Brain, via a quick demo on YouTube. It’s a neural network that with an expectedly sharp and clean interface, and in the video, he shows how he can teach The Brain to spit out emojis based on different shapes that he draws.

Check it out below.

Gadget maker Elgato has been churning out HomeKit-compatible devices like crazy, and it’s just dropped another that takes the smartplug concept one further.

Eve Energy became available for sale in the U.S. today after a European launch. It plugs into your wall, and then a device of your choice plugs into it. You’ll be able to turn the thing off and on with your phone either through Elgato’s app or with Siri, and plenty of things on the market already do that. But Energy will also tell you how much power the thing plugged into it uses, which adds a new layer of functionality to the gadget.

We’re always keeping our heads up for the best new apps coming to our iOS devices and Apple TVs. We’re like prairie dogs that way, only we’re not as cute, and our homes are only metaphorical holes.

Every week, we round up the coolest new apps (or awesome updates to existing ones) that have hit Apple’s digital storefront in the past seven days. And if you’re spending your Valentine’s Day browsing the App Store for some new utilities, we have you covered. Also, we’re sorry that that is how you’re spending your Valentine’s Day.

Check out our weekly picks for apps of the week below.

Maybe moviegoing audiences didn’t completely fall in love with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs, but we liked it a lot. And if you also enjoyed it — or are just looking to score yourself a free copy — keep reading.

An upcoming update to the iPhone’s Remote app will let it completely control your Apple TV.

We’re looking forward to this because while we love the Siri Remote that comes with Apple’s latest streaming box, it has a few problems. First, it’s tiny, and we’ve discovered it wedged inside the absolute farthest and darkest corners of our couches far too often. It’s also covered in glass, and while we know that it’s really strong glass, we’re slightly afraid of breaking it because see Point 1: It’s just a little thing.

Third, if the worst happens and we do lose or break our Siri Remote, a replacement costs $79, and then the anxiety starts all over again.

In other words, bring on the update, Apple.

In a court letter today, Apple is insisting that the legal system make up its mind on mobile encryption.

This is a bit of a surprise, and it’s hardly necessary anymore for the case at hand. The defendant has entered a guilty plea since the question of whether law enforcement could induce Apple to access encrypted information on its devices first arose. But in its two-page letter, Apple wants a decision anyway for “efficiency and judicial economy.”

It might also clear up a bunch of its own headaches.

An earlier ruling in the Facebook nudity case has prevailed as a court has ruled that the social-media giant can be sued anywhere in the world.

Facebook had appealed last year’s decision, which said that the company was incorrect to suspend a French art teacher’s account that included a picture of a nude painting. The California-based company argued, unsuccessfully, that users could only sue it under the laws of that state.

Misunderstandings and repeated requests are among the hurdles that everyone who uses Siri — or any digital assistant, for that matter — have to deal with to run things with their voice, but some groups have it even harder than others.

If I want to make the smartbulb in my bedroom lamp turn white, for example, Siri always interprets “Make the Bedroom white” as “Make the Bedroom light,” and I can’t even imagine why I would be saying that. I can say, “Make the Bedroom green” or any other color, and it will work. But in order to get that direct-sunlight jam happening, I have to be more specific, like, “Make the bedroom light white.” And that’s not the worst problem to have with miraculous future-tech, but it is kind of hard to say.

But it could be worse; I could belong to one of the groups that have difficulty having even the most basic of interactions with Siri. And their problems don’t stem the program’s occasional deafness but rather its inherent incompatibility with how they speak.

We’re talking about Texans, y’all.

Simon Pierro, the “iPad magician,” thought he should find an appropriate way to ring in the Chinese New Year. And it’s the Year of the Monkey, so the obvious call was to perform his feats of tech-assisted illusion for a bunch of increasingly aggravated chimpanzees, even though they aren’t actually monkeys?

Alright, so they don’t really get that mad, considering Pierro has the intelligence and sense of self-preservation to actually give them some peanuts after cruelly magic-ing them away. But the tension is real.

Check out the full video below.

Apparently some kind of sportsball contest is going on this weekend, but that’s no reason to put your phone down — we still have plenty of cool stuff for you to try out in our apps of the week roundup.

Whether you’re looking to organize your daily thoughts, start your day off with a cartoonish weather forecast, or really feel like paying for parking with your Apple Watch, we have you covered. And maybe we have something about football, too. Who knows?

Only one way to find out.

A new search engine wants to keep App Store reviews honest and accurate by completely ignoring the ones that may come from paid shills or through developers’ relentless badgering of users.

As of this writing, the system claims it has audited over 17 million reviews and ignored 1.1 million of them. And if you’re wondering if the hot new game or feature-filled calendar app you’re about to download is really worth your time, you might want to check this site out.