Austin Mann and Apple’s new iPhone 8 Plus

After shooting 100 portraits or so, I can easily say Studio Light is my favorite of the effects. It emulates a gold bounce card as if it is just outside of the frame, bouncing nice warm light into the face and eyes of the subject. It does a nice job of making the face subtly pop from the rest of the background without doing anything too dramatic.

If there is one feature that I am excited about on the new iPhones, it’s Portrait Lighting’s new Studio Lighting. Every year Apple really does come up with features that do make you want to upgrade.

If you’re a photographer of any kind, they say the best camera is the one in your pocket. There is no excuse for anything less than the iPhone 8 Plus (at least until the new iPhone X comes out in a month and a half.)

iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review

The Apple iPhone 8 Plus is the best-performing mobile device camera we have ever tested. Its overall DxOMark Mobile score of 94 sets a new record, beating out the 90 points for both the Google Pixel and the HTC U11, as well as the 92 that its sibling iPhone 8 just scored. Its Photo score of 96 is also a new record, blowing past the Pixel’s 90. For Video, its score of 89 is among our highest, but tied with the HTC U11 and slightly below the Pixel’s 91. Of course, the Pixel is nearly a year old now, so it makes sense that Apple’s new flagship is breaking new ground.

The king returns as the best of the best.

An Insight to Apple's Spaceship

We go upstairs, and I take in the view. From planes descending to SFO, and even from drones that buzz the building from a hundred feet above it, the Ring looks like an ominous icon, an expression of corporate power, and a what-the-fuck oddity among the malls, highways, and more mundane office parks of suburban Silicon Valley. But peering out the windows and onto the vast hilly expanse of the courtyard, all of that peels away. It feels … peaceful, even amid the clatter and rumble of construction. It turns out that when you turn a skyscraper on its side, all of its bullying power dissipates into a humble serenity.

For the next two hours, Ive and Whisenhunt walk me through other parts of the building and the grounds. They describe the level of attention devoted to every detail, the willingness to search the earth for the right materials, and the obstacles overcome to achieve perfection, all of which would make sense for an actual Apple consumer product, where production expenses could be amortized over millions of units. But the Ring is a 2.8-million-square-foot one-off, eight years in the making and with a customer base of 12,000. How can anyone justify this spectacular effort?

I'd love a tour of this architectural marvel. Anyone?

Garmin's New Tri Watch

Even with Garmin's latest iteration in their running / triathlon sports watches 935, Apple's Watch keeps on drawing me back in.

Check out Ray Maker's "In-Depth Review". If you ask me, $499 is a little steep. For now, I'll wait for the Apple Watch 3.

Razer's Blade Is Tempting

In a lot of ways, the Razer Blade is almost like the MacBook Pro that Apple should have made: the latest powerful hardware, both USB 3.0 ports and a USB-C jack, an HDMI port, and a proper black color, rather than the slate gray Touch Bar models. And it supports VR, which no Apple machine, laptop or desktop, is certified for (although the Blade still can’t charge over USB-C, using a legacy barrel port to actually charge the battery).

If it wasn't for Windows, I would have happily bought a Razer Blade already. The specs obliterate Apple's latest and newest MacBook Pro w/ TouchBar. Granted the mess of ports and not being able to charge via USB-C on the Blade is silly and a disappointment but it's still an awesome machine.

Bottom line: I've been contemplating making the switch back, but I'd miss too much of the daily apps I use on my MacBook Air. #ecosystem

Republicans Getting Bought →

A look at eight of the country’s largest providers, as well as five of the trade groups that signed a letter in January in favor of overturning the rules, show that in the last six years, they gave a total of at least $1,726,288 to those 22 senators — an average of more than half a million dollars per election cycle.

Idiots. We should probably harvest their internet browsing history and share it with their constituents. Idiots. It's our political system and if this isn't a form of corruption, I don't know what is.

via 9to5mac

Charge and Play Your Switch →

The takeaway from all of this is that while this is by no means an exhaustive test, what I’ve found is that any good power bank designed to power tablets will be sufficient to power the Switch. So long as a bank can deliver 5V @ 2A or better, then it can power Nintendo’s console.

It's amazing that the AC Adapter that comes with the Nintendo Switch is actually more powerful than the one that's included with Apple's 12" MacBooks. But, nonetheless, if you want to charge and play, Anandtech currently is recommending RAVPower's 26800 mAh Power Bank. I'm sure that Anker's PowerCore+ 20100 USB-C will also the trick, but then again, I'm a little partial to them since that's all I'm been privy to.

A 3D Printed Granny Flat →

Definitely could use one of these in the backyard! And for "only" $10k plus furnishings, definitely doable.

Zelda's Nintendo Switch →

As a “Zelda”-playing machine, the Switch works well. Nintendo is selling the latest chapter of its Hyrule saga, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, as a launch title alongside the system. With its gorgeous cel-shaded visuals that look like something out of a Studio Ghibli movie, the game is impressive. But at times, the Switch has trouble handling so many enemies and effects on the screen at once.

In terms of size and scope, “Breath of the Wild” dwarfs previous titles and makes the world of “Fallout 4” look like quaint region compared to the expansive continent of this reimagined Hyrule.

It's quite an expensive game at $299.99 + $59.99 but here's hoping for the a future pleathora of releases and continued "fun-factor!" Mario Kart 8 Deluxe up next on April 28, 2017 and much more!

Splatoon 2 & Super Mario Odyssey both tagged for December 29, 2017, which, I know is so far away, but Snipperclips is going to be downloadable on Friday!

And if you're with Amazon Prime, all those games I mentioned above are 20% off when you pre-order. Best Buy might price match but I know that Gamestop cannot.

BioLite's New CampStove 2

Taking my family camping last month was amazing. With another trip on the horizon, charging our iPhones and iPads ahave become essential. I carry Anker's PowerCore which has done beautifully for a day or two but today, with the ability to charge your portable devices and burn wood AND a larger lithium battery, Biolite presents you their new CampStove 2 = WIN WIN!

The award-winning BioLite CampStove's latest upgrade features 50% more power, an integrated battery, and an updated LED dashboard for improved control and feedback. Burning only wood, the CampStove 2's fan creates a smokeless fire that can cook meals and boil water in minutes while turning its heat into usable electricity. Compatible with the KettlePot and Portable Grill, cook up wood-fired meals and charge devices using only the sticks around you.

If you're all about minimalist get the things you carry, this is a new essential!

New York AG Sides with the Consumers Against Time Warner Cable

“When connecting wirelessly,” Schneiderman writes, “subscribers on the 300 Mbps plan typically received 15% of the promised speed; subscribers on the 200 Mbps plan received 20% of the promised speed; subscribers on the 100 Mbps plan received 39% of the promised speed; and subscribers on the 50 Mbps plan received 58% of the promised speed.”

To use the analogy of a public water main, Spectrum promised customers gallons of water and then knowingly leased them a faucet that was only able to produce drops at a time.

Now, I hope our new FCC Chairman does one better and goes after these telecom companies for the sake of all US Citizens. One can only hope.

The Right Continues to Misfire on Technological Advances

Ingraham is now the National Chairman of the organization that just launched the campaign against Musk and his companies.

They market themselves as being against “the entire culture of corporations making billions of dollars off of the American people for almost zero return to the consumer”, but they target very specific industries.

For example, they say they are against “Big Energy” in their manifesto, but in the section about ‘Big Energy’ they only attack the solar industry because they receive tax breaks. Does the solar industry really represent “Big Energy”? If your goal is really to attack energy subsidies, solar and renewable energy subsidies should be your last target considering their share of federal subsidies: Fossil Fuels.

Politics like this I cannot stand. Relentless idiocracy. Utterless stupidity. So what, we continue to run on gas? Idiots. // *frustrated.

New MacBook Pros Still Lack Elite Gaming Graphics

If you really want to do some gaming on your new MacBook Pro, there is one option available to you. The high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro (starting at £2,350) can be configured to use the Radeon Pro 460 for an additional £180. The Pro 460 will get you up to 1080p @ 60FPS in some games, with higher quality settings.

It's really unfortunate that NVidia couldn't get their new amazing mobile chipset out in time for the new MacBook Pros.