How the Stream Deck Rose from the Ashes of a Legendary Keyboard Back in 2005, a small firm offered a tantalizing vision of the future of computer keyboards. What if your keyboard was filled with tiny screens that showed you exactly what any given press would do, each built into a crystal-clear key? The keys would morph and shift as you needed, transforming from letters and numbers to full-color icons and app shortcuts, depending on what you were doing. Readers and tech bloggers adored the idea. “It’s about time someone shook up this stagnant keyboard market,” declared Engadget. “The concept is fantastic,” wrote Gizmodo. Slashdot lit up. The keyboard was just a concept, dreamed up by Art Lebedev, a Russian design firm, and it was an ambitious idea at that:…

Von Aqara mit HomeKey und HomeKit: Türschloss und Video-Türklingel im Prime Day Wir vergleichen nebenher gerade die im Jahresverlauf von uns berücksichtigten und für gut befundenen Produktneuvorstellungen mit den aktuellen Prime Day Angeboten und melden euch, wenn wir über inzwischen lieb gewonnene Alltagsbegleiter stolpern, die heute besonders günstig zu haben sind. Zu diesen gehört die G4 Video-Türklingel und das smarte U200 Türschloss von Aqara. Zwei Geräte mit vollwertiger HomeKit-Integration, die wir in zwei recht ausführlichen Besprechungen vorgestellt haben: Aqara Video-Türklingel G4: Videotürklingel ausprobiert Aqara U200: Smarthome-Türschloss mit HomeKey Vor allem das Türschloss ist mit seiner HomeKey-Integration, einem virtuellen Schlüssel, der im Apple Wallet des iPhones gespeichert wird, einer der Vorreiter in seiner Kategorie und erst seit wenigen Tagen überhaupt am Markt erhältlich. Aqara Video-Türklingel G4 Die Aqara Video Doorbell G4…

Phone Mirroring on the Mac Might Change How You Use Your Phone Phone Mirroring on the Mac Might Change How You Use Your Phone It’s your phone. On your Mac. That’s really the whole thing. Image: David Pierce / The Verge One of the surprise hits of Apple’s WWDC 2024 was a new feature for desktops and laptops. In Sequoia, the new operating system due this fall and now in public beta, you can mirror your phone to your Mac. I’ve been testing the new feature for a bit, and it really is what it sounds like. You open up the phone mirroring app, and it presents you to… your iPhone. Rounded corners and everything. You click on the bottom bar to go home and click and drag to go…

RCS on the iPhone is Almost the Solution to Our Green-Bubble Nightmare The photos aren’t blurry! As a longtime iPhone user married to a longtime Android user, I’ve spent years sending and receiving photos that come through both postage-stamp small and about as sharp as a pointillist painting. But a few minutes after I installed the iOS 18 beta on my iPhone 15 Pro, I asked Anna to send me a photo, and what came through was the blissfully high-res photo I’d hoped for. That, right there, is what I call an upgrade. RCS support is just one of the new things coming in iOS 18, of course. At WWDC a few weeks ago, Apple talked a lot about homescreen customization, improvements to Siri, a revamped Photos app, and more.…

Best Headphone and Earbud Deals for Amazon Prime Day 2024 Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I don’t know how people wear headphones in the summer heat. I’m strictly in earbuds mode when the temperatures climb this high. But no matter your preference, Amazon Prime Day is a great opportunity to upgrade your aging gear (and declining battery life) with the latest and greatest from Bose, Samsung, Sony, and plenty of other brands. For Prime Day 2024, expect plenty of deals that’ll have you considering an impulse purchase. Many of our favorite earbud and headphone picks are on sale at some of their lowest prices yet during the two-day event. Some products (like Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Max) are due for a refresh in the coming months, but there’s…

Porsche Expands Macan EV Lineup with Rear-Wheel Drive Models Porsche Expands Macan EV Lineup with Rear-Wheel Drive Models Porsche has announced two new rear-wheel drive versions of the forthcoming Macan electric SUV, including a higher-powered, lighter-weight 4S model. Porsche stated that deliveries are expected to begin later this year. When it was initially announced earlier this year, Porsche said the Macan EV would come in two trims: the Macan 4 and the Macan Turbo, both of which feature dual motors for all-wheel drive. Now, the company is adding two more versions in hopes of widening its appeal. The RWD Macan will have only one motor located in the rear axle. It’s the same motor as the one used in the Macan 4, with an output of 250kW, or 335 horsepower.…

Aufgepasst bei Microsoft 365: Einer der Office-Bestpreise hat einen Haken Nutzer des Bürosoftware-Paketes von Microsoft haben sich in den zurückliegenden Jahren bereits an das Microsoft-365-Abomodell gewöhnt. Die Lizenzkosten für ein Jahr werden vorab entrichtet, anschließend hat man auf Mac, iPhone und iPad Zugriff auf alle Office-Anwendungen. Unschlagbare Familien-Preise Wer sich für eines der Familien-Abonnements entscheidet, kann dieses mit bis zu fünf anderen Anwendern teilen und den Jahrespreis so drastisch reduzieren. Die einzelnen Beteiligten zahlen so in der Regel weniger als einen Euro pro Monat für die komplette Office Suite. In regelmäßigen Angebotsaktionen wird der Jahres-Zugriff meist zu Preisen zwischen 50 und 60 Euro angeboten – zu Weihnachten, am Prime Day und zu ausgewählten Anlässen ist es dann manchmal noch ein wenig günstiger. Die meisten Office-Anwender warten also entsprechend, bis das…

Apple is finally embracing Android’s chaos Apple is finally embracing Android’s chaos For years, I’ve kept a pretty spare iOS homescreen. Two or three rows of icons on the top of the screen, sometimes arranged in such a way that the app icon colors complement each other, and three apps in the dock. Because of Apple’s resistance to letting its users muck with the homescreen’s look and feel, I haven’t been able to make things quite as simple as I would like. I’ve looked at more customizable Android homescreens with jealousy. I’ve had an iPhone since the day the first one came out, and while Apple’s smartphones have since become wildly more powerful, capable, and larger, the company has forced me to organize my apps starting from the top of…

Prime Day Deals for Power Stations and Balcony Power Plants When we introduced the Jackery Explorer 1000 Pro in a hands-on review about a year ago, the selling price for the power station was a hefty 1,200 euros. Meanwhile, this price has halved. As part of Jackery's Prime deals, you can currently get the compact power storage for 599 euros. The smaller Jackery Explorer 500 is now available for 299 euros. Please note that these are end-of-life models that do not include app control and do not yet use the more robust LiFePO4 battery technology. Regardless, the Explorer Pro is regularly in use here mainly because it has a convenient form factor and is very comfortable to transport. However, note that Jackery relies on proprietary solar inputs, and if you…

Uber Adds Fare and Wait Time Info for Different Cities Uber Will Let You See Average Fares and Wait Times for Different Cities Uber rolled out a new update that lets users search average fares and wait times for planned trips in other cities. The company said it wants to give people who are planning trips or vacations more visibility into how much it will cost to book Uber rides when they get there. The update will give people access to fare and wait time details in approximately 10,000 cities globally, Uber says. The change rolls out starting on Tuesday, July 16th. To find these insights, you select the “destination” box in the “plan your trip” tab and scroll down to “search in a different city.” There, it will autofill…