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Technology
Mobile web browsing is all about finding what you need quickly and with as little hassle as possible — well, in theory, anyway. In the real world, the act of surfing sites from your smartphone is often anything but efficient.
From sites that have not-so-friendly mobile interfaces to browser commands that take far too many steps to execute, hopping around the World Wide Internuts from a handheld device can frequently leave something to be desired.
Fear not, though, my fellow finger-tappers: There are plenty of tricks you can learn to make your mobile web journey more pleasant and productive. Try these next-level tips for Google's Chrome Android browser and get ready for a much better mobile browsing experience.
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This local business has its own print shop — and a big boss whoa world-class skinflint. The print shop is needed because the business does a lot of custom printing of promotional materials, the really big kind that you can hang at a festival and will be noticed above the sea of humanity. The skinflint buys a rather ramshackle warehouse, in which the print shop is also installed. Budget for building improvements: $0.
The print shop is like a data center in that it is crammed with electronics that need to be kept cool. Unlike a data center, it also has a huge laminator that throws off a lot of heat. Throw in a scorching climate, and even the tightfisted boss knows air conditioning is needed. But why pay for extra BTUs — or even an adequate number of BTUs? Naturally, the A/C is overstrained, to the point that even the big boss realizes something has to be done.
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DJI is easily the leading brand when it comes to camera drones, but few companies have even attempted a ground-based mobile camera platform. The company may be moving in that direction, though, if this patent for a small off-road vehicle with a stabilized camera is any indication.
The Chinese patent, first noted by DroneDJ, shows a rather serious-looking vehicle platform with chunky tires and a stabilized camera gimbal. As you can see in the image above, the camera mount is protected against shock by springs and pneumatics, which would no doubt react actively to sudden movements.
The image is no simple sketch like those you sometimes see of notional products and &just in case& patents — this looks like a fleshed-out mechanical drawing of a real device. Of course, that doesn&t mean itcoming to market at all, let alone any time soon. But it does suggest that DJIengineers have dedicated real time and effort to making this thing a reality.
Why have a &drone& on the ground when there are perfectly good ones for the air? Battery life, for one. Drones can only be airborne for a short time, even less when they&re carrying decent cameras and lenses. A ground-based drone could operate for far longer — though naturally from a rather lower vantage.
Perhaps more importantly, however, a wheeled drone makes sense in places where an aerial one doesn&t. Do you really want to fly a drone through narrow hallways in security sweeps, or in your own home? And what about areas where you might encounter people? It would be better not to have to land and take off constantly for safetysake.
Itlikely that DJI has done its homework and knows that there are plenty of niches to which they could extend if they diversified their offerings a bit. And like so many situations where drones have become commonplace, we&ll all think of these robot-powered industries as obvious in retrospect. For instance, the winner of our Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin, Scaled Robotics, which does painstaking automated inspections of construction sites.
In fact DJI already makes a ground-based robotic platform, the RoboMaster S1. This is more of an educational toy, but may have served as a test bed for technologies the company hopes to apply elsewhere.
Whether this little vehicle ever sees the light of day or not, it does make one think seriously about the possibility of a wheeled camera platform doing serious work around the home or office.
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Read more: DJI patents an off-road rover with a stabilized camera on top
Write comment (99 Comments)Social media influencers have been known to promote events around the world for the right price — decisions that sometimes prove to be mistakes. Bella Hadid, who promoted the failed Fyre Festival by vacationing in the Bahamas with other models for a video designed to sell tickets, later apologized for her involvement.
Not everyone is apologizing for whatwidely seen as a new misstep in the world of influencer marketing: the paid attendance of celebrities and other social media stars this past weekend to the three-day-long MDL Beast Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event, billed by the country as its largest arts, culture and music festival, was visited by models Alessandra Ambrosio and Romee Strijd; actors Ryan Phillippe, Wilmer Valderrama and Armie Hammer; DJ Steve Aoki; and social media stars Sofia Richie and Scott Disick, among others. All were photographed at the event. Some also posted pictures to Instagram and other social media outlets, singing the regionpraises and including the hashtag #mdlbeast.
The entire affair aimed to promote the efforts of its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS), to reform the conservative kingdom, which is well-known for its oppression of womenrights and ethnic and racial minority rights. The country has been aggressively trying to polish its image amid growing concern over the years-long, Saudi-led civil war in Yemen that has led to mass starvation and more than 100,000 fatalities; the gruesome, state-directed assassination of Saudi Arabian dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was reportedly dismembered with a bone saw; and the kingdommany other efforts to stifle dissent.
In just one example of how far the kingdom is willing to go, it staged the first-ever WWE womenmatch in Riyadh on Halloween, an effort that Amnesty Internationaladvocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa called &sportswashing.& The MDL Beast Festival is yet attempt to highlight how progressive Saudi Arabia has ostensibly come.
Some have pushed against the kingdomcharm offensive. Hip-hop star Nicki Minaj canceled a planned performance in Saudi Arabia in July at a separate new international music festival there, after the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation asked her to back out of the gig. At the time, Minaj issued a statement, saying, &I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, [but] after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression.&
Model Emily Ratajkowski also turned down a paid invitation to attend this weekendfestival, citing Saudi Arabiahuman rights record. &It is very important to me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, freedom of expression and the right to a free press. I hope coming forward on this brings more attention to the injustices happening there.&
Philippe is meanwhile defending on Instagram his decision to accept the trip to this past weekendextravaganza. Ae writes, &i had a magical day with wonderful people. i love travel. i love different cultures. i love how we can find ways to connect through our human oneness, the pure desire for love and freedom. no matter where in the world. hoping those connections help to bring even more positive change and progress.&
Ita decision thatlikely to earn Phillippe — and other high-wattage attendees — more bad publicity in the coming days. While more than a year ago, the CIA concluded that MBS ordered Khashoggiassassination, the kingdom has continued to deny any involvement in his murder, alleging instead that it was a last-minute decision by Saudi agents on the ground. (This narrative &contradicts ample evidence that the agents came with an intent to kill and the tools to do so,& notes the New York Times.)
Now, in a court today in Saudi Arabia, following a trial that was shrouded in secrecy, five men were sentenced to death and three others to prison terms totaling 24 years over Khashoggikilling, while a former top adviser to MBS and a former deputy intelligence chief were both cleared.
The sentences are subject to appeal, notes the Times, which separately notes that in Saudi Arabia, death sentences typically involve beheadings in public squares. Either way, the sentencing seems poised to further complicate Western relations with the kingdom — for influencers and a lot of others in the position of having to decide whether or not to accept its money. In a statement that echoes the concern of many human rights groups, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty InternationalMiddle East research director, earlier today called the verdict a &whitewash.&
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Write comment (99 Comments)Welcome to TechCrunch2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We&re here to help! We&ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December.You can find our other guides right here.
WHOOPS. You forgot to buy a gift for someone on your list.
Maybe you&ve been too busy at work. Maybe you just found out that the cousins are coming to Christmas this year after all. It happens.
ItDecember 23rd. Ittoo late to order things online, and brick-and-mortar stores are either closed for the week or absolutely slammed. So what can you do?
Subscriptions!
Subscriptions and subscription boxes are super-solid last-minute options: you can order them from your phone, itokay (expected, even) if they start arriving after Christmas and therea subscription service for… pretty much everything at this point.
Need some ideas? Here are some of our favorites services right now:
YesPlz
YesPlz is a coffee subscription with a fun twist: each weekly delivery comes paired with a magazine put together by the YesPlz team, featuring everything from comics to deep dives on music, art and, of course, coffee. &Beans and Zines,& as they put it.
Price:$17 per delivery, with options for delivery 1-4 times per month
PipSticks
Stickers! A semi-random but always wonderful allotment of stickers, delivered regularly.
Ita great one for kids — but italso an awesome one for teachers, bullet journalists or stationary geeks.
Price: Starts at around $12 per month
Succulent Studios
Got a friend who loves plants but can&t keep &em alive? First of all, thatme. Second, succulents!
Succulent Studios drops off two fledgling succulents each month, with all sorts of fun varieties in the mix. I subscribed to this one for quite a while, stopping only when we… pretty much ran out of room for more succulents. The few times I had a succulent arrived damaged, they helped me nurse it back to health or replaced it.
Price: Around $17 per delivery
Lootcrate
Lootcrate sends out a constant stream of geeky goods, many of them exclusive to the service.
They&ve got hyper-themed boxes for fandoms from Harry Potter to Hello Kitty, broader boxes for anime/horror/sci-fi fans or their namesake all-encompassing &Loot Crates& that bring in goodies from any and all walks of geek fandom.
Price:Around $20-$25 per delivery
Piquant Post
Ever bought a spice for a single recipe only to have the vast majority of the jar sit in a cabinet getting crusty for a thousand years?
Piquant Post brings the fun of playing with new spices without taking over your spice cabinet. They send out 3-4 spices per month, along with a handful of recipes specially tuned to use up pretty much all of what they send. Each delivery focuses on a specific region or country, so you&ll get a pinch of culture with each box.
Price:Starts at around $10 per delivery
Mubi
&Netflix for independent movies& sort of explains Mubi, but not quite. Mubi is a super-carefully curated but always rotating collection of 30 indie flicks, all streaming on demand. They introduce one new indie film to the service each day, but it leaves after a month.
Price: $11 a month
Try the World
For the adventurous eater in the family. Try the World searches the world for local gourmet favorites, packaging seven or eight items into each box. The only downside? If you fall in love with something, getting more of it can be kind of a pain in the butt.
Price: $30-$40 per month, depending on frequency
Disney+
Disney finally launched its own streaming service this year… and despite some issues at launch, itreally good. Itgot the vast majority of Disney/Pixar (and Marvel! and Star Wars!) movies that have shipped over the years, plus a growing catalog of original content — including The Mandalorian, which is just fantastic and is one episode away from the end of its first season.
Price: $70 per year
Book of the Month
The name says it all. They pick five books per month, and you pick the one you want to read. If your backlog starts to get a bit intimidating, just hit the pause button.
Price: Starts at $16 per month
Rent the Runway
Keeping up with the latest fashion trends can get wildly expensive — especially if you&re into high-end brands and like to change things up often. Rent the Runway, while not cheap,definitely makes it a bit more affordable. Users can rent four items at a time, picking from more than 15,000 items from top designers. The base plan lets you swap out items once a month, while the pricier plan lets you swap things as often as you&d like.
Price: $90 a month for the base plan, $160 a month for the &Unlimited& plan
Nintendo Switch Online
For anyone who might be getting a Nintendo Switch this Christmas, NintendoSwitch Online service is an absolute must have. It enables online play for games that have it, but also comes with a fantastic catalog of NES/SNES classicsandlets you backup game saves to the cloud in case the Switch goes missing, gets stolen or gets busted. Given the grab-and-go portability of the Switch, it happens.
Price:$20 per year for an individual plan… or for houses with multiple Switches, the $35 per year family plan grants online access to eight devices for a year
Apple Arcade
Launched just this year, Apple Arcade is the companytake on a Netflix-for-games style service. One subscription gets you access to over 100 games, each playable across iPhones, iPads, Macs and AppleTVs. There are no ads, no in-app purchases to worry about and one subscription works for up to six family members.
Price: $5 per month, or $50 per year
Xbox Game Pass
Similar to Apple Arcade above, but just for Xbox and/or PC games. All-you-can-eat access to a rotating set of around 100 games, including all of Microsoftnew first-party titles like Gears of War 5, Psychonauts 2 and Halo Infinite. The Ultimate plan also includes Xbox Live (enabling online play in games that offer it), which most Xbox One owners will want anyway.
Price: $4.99 for PC, $9.99 for Xbox One or about $15 per month for the Ultimate plan that includes PC games, Xbox games and Xbox Live
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SpaceX is closing out the year with an achievement that should help it keep on track to fly astronauts on board one of its spacecraft next year. The Elon Musk-led space company finished its tenth consecutive successful parachute system test yesterday, an important safety system milestone that should be a good indication that the latest design is just about ready for use with astronauts on board.
The parachute system is whatused to slow the descent of SpaceXCrew Dragon commercial astronaut spacecraft on its return trip to Earth, once it enters the atmosphere. The current design is the third major iteration of SpaceXparachute for Crew Dragon, featuring upgraded materials and improved stitching for the best possible reliability and durability during flight.
Earlier this year, at an event hosted at SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, Calif., Musk told media and fans in attendance that the Mark 3 parachute system would need at least 10 successful tests in a row before the company would feel confident about using it for actual crewed flights. At the time, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine also said he believed SpaceX could achieve all 10 before the year was out, and now it has indeed hit that mark.
Currently, SpaceX plans to fly its next major step toward crewed flight on January 11: Thatthe current target for its &in-flight abort test,& a required launch that will test the emergency safeguard system that can be triggered mid-launch to carry the crew away from the launch vehicle and to safety in case of anything going wrong that might potentially put them in danger.
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