Joule

Joule – Cook Meat Right EVERY TIME!

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The Joule Sous Vide is an absolute godsend for the home based chefs out there. It’s designed to help people cook better food and have fun whilst doing so. If you’re ever anxious about under or overcooking food, the Joule Sous Vide is here to help! All you need to do is to season your food. Bag your food. Drop it in water for the perfect cook. Furthermore it’s a really small device!

Joule Sous Vide

Joule Sous Vide

How well done is my food? Is a question that we all ask. Well with the Joule Sous Vide + App you’ll be able to see exactly how! It’s called the Visual Doneness feature and will show you exactly how you food will turn out. Even before you cook it. There’s even 100+ easy to use cooking guides. Which are developed by Joule’s in house chefs!

You don’t even need lots of equipment either, just a smartphone, food grade freezer style bag, a pot and some water. Connect the Joule via bluetooth or even remotely with the WiFi feature.

You can cook absolutely anything too, meat, eggs and even tacos! Now it is even easier to make professional grade dishes at home with the help of a smartphone app, as not everyone has the knowledge of a top grade Chef!

While you’re thinking of what dish to make. Why not purchase the Joule Sous Vide by clicking here!

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CRAZY Facetime HACK

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This is an incredible flaw, it’s amazing yet incredibly scary at the same time. (Don’t worry Apple have since stopped this from happening & are working on a permanent fix)

What the issue was, was, a user could start a group Facetime with someone & add themselves into the call before the other person has picked up or accepted the call. Consequently the original caller can now hear EVERYTHING from the other end. It’s like they actually answered the call. Therefore effectively eavesdropping on the other person.

The problem was that a user could listen in to another iPhone users conversations! Even if they hadn’t answered the call! Scary stuff indeed! If users were running 12.1 of Apple’s iOS then this would be possible.

New York authorities are even looking into Apple, citing if Apple did enough to warn people of the issue.

Apology

Apple swiftly apologised:

“We have fixed the Group FaceTime security bug on Apple’s servers and we will issue a software update to re-enable the feature for users next week. We thank the Thompson family for reporting the bug. We sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected and all who were concerned about this security issue. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we complete this process.

Apple continued….

We want to assure our customers that as soon as our engineering team became aware of the details necessary to reproduce the bug, they quickly disabled Group FaceTime and began work on the fix. We are committed to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible. We take the security of our products extremely seriously and we are committed to continuing to earn the trust Apple customers place in us”

While an update to prevent this from happening again is due out next week. While there is no immediate fix for the flaw, Apple have since disabled Group Facetime on their serves. Therefore the feature is unusable for anyone, whilst the fix is being made. Once this flaw has been fixed, the feature will be available to all again.

14 Year Old Discovery

However, it has since been reported by the BBC that a young man and his mother tried to warn Apple of the flaw sometime ago but were ignored!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ms Thompson, a lawyer, started contacting Apple on 20 January, but was unable to get a hold of anyone at Apple, days after contacting them about the huge security flaw. Apple, like many other tech companies, offer money for users who discover bugs in their products.

However, Kevin Beaumont who is a security researcher. Told the BBC that Apple are probably dealing with loads of bug reports all the time. Which may take significant amount of time to look through and prioritise.

“Many companies typically aim for 90 days to resolve reported security issues, and much of that time can be spent reaching the right people and setting the right priorities…..It appears the mother and son attempting to report this issue were passed around departments by Apple. That isn’t ideal, and something Apple needs to work on.”

(BBC, 2)

Listen to Marcus and Jon Bentley of The Gadget Show discuss this here!

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Pure StreamR

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What's in the box? Pure StreamR

The Pure StreamR carries a bit of weight behind it and for good reason. The sound on this little device is very very impressive! It has a HUGE kick in the bass and we love that!

Posted by How To Kill an Hour on Thursday, 16 January 2020

We love our music here at How To Kill An Hour, so we’re always on the lookout for fantastic pieces of kit. One of which is portable speakers. We’re huge fans of Pure, so when we saw the Pure StreamR it was a speaker we just had to check out.

Upon taking it out of the box, we discovered it is a very small device. But it is hefty. It carries a bit of weight behind it and for good reason. The sound on this little device is very very impressive! It has a HUGE kick in the bass and we love that! It’s the perfect speaker to take out and about with you.

It’s portable so has Bluetooth streaming on it, so you can play all of your favourite music from Apple Music or Spotify. Furthermore, why not play your favorite podcasts while on the go? *cough cough*

Not only that the Pure StreamR has digital DAB radio built in as well as Alexa voice technology! Furthermore the speaker is 360 degrees, so wherever you’re sitting you will enjoy powerful, crystal clear sound. The StreamR is one of the few bluetooth speakers to offer Alexa too. The onboard microphone connects to the Pure Home App on your smartphone via bluetooth. Then it will connect to Alexa using Wifi or mobile data. Therefore allowing you to have access to Alexa, wherever you are! Ask her for the weather, your schedule or even play a playlist.

With the Pure Home App you can also customise your speaker settings and be notified of software updates. So you’ll never miss a beat!

Pure have also added an aux-in cable, so for those not wanting to use bluetooth, this is the speaker for you! The Aux cable also acts as an antenna for the digital radio! How cool is that?!

The sound fills the room and sounds just as good outdoors and with a 15 hour battery life, you simply cannot go wrong.

(Pure)

Pure Home app: Apple / Android

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miwhip

miwhip – Cool Uber Competition

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Uber has some competition at it’s doorstep. It’s called ‘miwhip’ and will give users the chance to ride in a supercar mini-cab for Londoners who download and use the app from today! It’s the first of it’s kind to hit the streets of London. How cool does this sound? A guaranteed supercar surprise for every 100 rides!

miwhip Supercar Lottery

The miwhip supercar experience is given to riders on a lottery basis, where 1 in every 100 rides booked on the app will for the exact same price as a regular ride, be given a supercar to travel in. However, this doesn’t sound like it’s “guaranteed” does it? Well, there’s more! For loyal users of the miwhip app, riders will get the chance to secure a suprise supercar rude for their 100th booking.

The cars available are:

  • Lamborghini Aventador
  • Ferrari 488
  • Rolls Royce Ghost II
  • Mercedes G Wagon 
  • Mclaren 720s 

Rides

Single rider bookings which are pick up and drop off in Zone one for £5 a journey, if they book one of miwhip’s old liveried smart cars called ‘the mione’

miwhip are looking to increasing their market share by recruiting 5,000 of London’s existing private hire drivers on the miwhip app and are hoping for 10,000 drivers by the end of the year.

But why would they join?

Well drivers who use the luxury ride sharing app, will recieve the lowest rates of commission at a fixed rate for life of 15%. Other operators run at 25%, therefore drivers who opt to drive on the app will be earning 10% more for each ride. Daily payouts are also available, drivers can also track their earnings with full transparency with a wage calculator which is on the drivers app.

Luxury

The app is funded by the family founders of some major London success stories! Such as sneaker care protect brand Crep Protect, Presented By and KLEKT one of Europes leading sneaker platforms.

What set’s them apart?

Riders using miwhip, whether they’re tourists or Londoners will be able to see different areas of London! Through the social aspect of miwhip called ‘nearby’. It will suggest locations near to the user places to shop, eat and entertained!

 “London is one of the most glamorous, cosmopolitan, exciting cities in the world. This is about putting a bit of magic into London lives. We are creating EPIC rides in EPIC cars for all Londoners to enjoy. What better way to experience our phenomenal city and all it has to offer than riding in an exclusive and surprisingly wonderful gold supercar mini-cab.” Amerah Ahmed, Co-owner of miwhip Ltd

So, why not give it a go? Download miwhip: iOS / Android

(miwhip can download and use the app from today and is available to use over the next 6-8 weeks)

Juice Pop Out Bluetooth Speaker

Juice Pop Out Bluetooth Speaker

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Ever want a portable speaker that’s cheap and has great sound? Always been priced out when looking for a speaker to use out on the road or at the beach? Well, we have found an incredible little speaker to save you all the trouble of exploring the internet for a perfect portable speaker. The Juice Pop Out Bluetooth Speaker. It has some of the best sound that we have heard from bluetooth speakers here at the studio. From a device this small, you cannot go wrong!

The Juice Pop Out Speaker, isn’t just a name. It’s a feature. The speakers literally pop out from the sides of the speaker. When you turn it on the speakers slowly reveal themselves from either side of the device. Allowing you access to all the important buttons such as play/pause and volume. The Juice Pop Out Bluetooth Speaker has an amazing battery life of 10hours. Making it ideal for when you are away from home for a weekend. For example the beach or a festival! The speakers are a small but punchy 6watt providing you with some crystal clear audio. Furthermore using the device is a breeze.  Simply press the power button and then connect it to any mobile device. Be that via bluetooth or the included 3.4mm AUX cable.

Purchase a Juice Pop Out Bluetooth Speaker by clicking here!

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Ztylus M6 Revolver

Ztylus M6 Revolver iPhone Case

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As smartphone cameras get better and better, there is always something that can make them that little bit more impressive. That is lenses. As many keen photographers will let you know, many cameras are great, but it is the lens which undoubtedly makes the image so much more impressive. This is where the Ztylus M6 Revolver iPhone case steps in. Prepare to upgrade your iPhone photography with this incredible product!

The case has a magnetic back, a magnetic back in a very specific place. Near the camera. Why? Well there’s a special attachment which connects to it, this attachment holds a multitude of lenses. Therefore helping your photography work and helps users be a lot more creative! The attachment is light weight and is slim and is spring loaded, allowing for quick access to all the different lenses! What lenses we hear you ask! Well, there’s Macro, Super Macro, TelePhoto, Wide Angle and Fish Eye!

What we love about the Ztylus M6 Revolver case is that the lenses are protected when they’re not in use. They stay inside the mechanism, yet, they’re super easy to use next time as they have QuickFlip technology allowing the lenses to flip out and automatically align with your iPhone’s lens!

The embedded metal plate allows for quick attachment of accessories. We are developing more and more accessories to expand your phone’s capabilities

(Ztylus)

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Google Home Hub

Google Home Hub: Incredible Home Assistant

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The Google Home Hub brings all the cool stuff about Google Home and repackages it into a small yet very powerful device with a 7″ display to help you get even more from Google Home. The Google Home Hub brings visual help to all the questions that you ask it. Use your voice to help set reminders and control a vast array of smart devices. However, with this particular device you get a visual aid, for example, see asking Google “How to tie a bow tie’ will present you with a helpful YouTube video, alongside a plethora of other YouTube videos available. YouTube you see on any other device is the same YouTube on Google Home Hub!

The device is incredibly well built, it is compact and can fit anywhere in the house and does not look out of place. Either in the kitchen, the bedroom or the living room! Google Home Hub has an inbuilt Ambient EQ Light Sensor too, so will adjust the screen to the colours and lighting in it’s environment. Therefore photos on the Google Home Hub will blend into the home decor!

Features

The device will show you a whole range of things, such as YouTube videos, Google Calendar so you can see what you have planned or Google Maps so you can see what your commute is like! Ask Google what the weather is like and get a visual aid, ask Google for recipes and be shown a step by step guide in either text or video form!

 

 

Photos

Google photos look beautiful on the Home Hub and you can use your voice to pull down the images from Google photos to be displayed on the gorgeous screen. Even set the screen to display your most favoured images when the Home Hub is not in use as a screen saver! Machine Learning will pull down the best photos too, therefore avoiding any duplicates or blurry images.Google Home Hub can also show shared Google Photo albums automatically on the device of the person you’re sharing them with, therefore avoiding any upload hassles!

Smart Home

The device is also a very powerful smart home hub, consequently easily connecting to the hundreds of smart devices already available. Such as lights, thermostats or security cameras. Control it all via the Google Home App on your smart device, no need to be next to the Google Home Hub to manage all of your devices. Even manage them away from the home! So you can monitor and manage devices easily—including compatible lights, cameras, TVs, speakers you are always in control of your home! (Android / iOS)

Kitchen

One popular feature is the that the Google Home Hub can help you in the Kitchen! As Google Assistant can understand conversational speech, simply ask the device to convert various measurements and it will tell you! Completely hands free and at a glance! If you’re not too sure when reading a step by step guide on how to cook a particular recipe, simply ask! For example, “Hey Google, show me how to dice an onion” will show you a video on how to dice an onion!

 

 

Google Home Hub works with other ‘Made by Google’ devices too, such as Chromecast, Nest Doorbells, Nest Thermostats, Google Home Speakers. Furthermore Spotify works on Google Home Hub too!

(Google Press Release)

For more information on how Google’s Home Hub can help you at Christmas please click here!

Available in four colours from the Google Store—Chalk, Charcoal, Aqua, and Sand, Google Home Hub is £139 and available from the ​​Google Store​​!

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Can Google’s Home Hub Make Christmas Less Stressful?

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Christmas is right around the corner! Wrapping, presents, parties, lots of organisation and STRESS?!? But, Can Google’s Home Hub Make Christmas Less Stressful? Some new research has been commissioned by Google which found how stressed Brits get at Christmas time.With nearly 2/3 of Brits finding Christmas at home and 1/3 of Brits wanting to hide in the bathroom to get some away from it all, furthermore 1 in 10 of us would rather swim naked with sharks than spend Christmas with the in-laws. It can be said that Brits find Christmas very stressful indeed!

Stress at Christmas

Google’s findings were very interesting indeed with wrapping weirdly shaped presents making up 20% of those surveyed worries. Putting on weight made up another 20%, while financial worries made up the most of peoples worries with 24% of those surveyed.  Furthermore Google even found that people would do their best to get away from people at Christmas time, for a bit of alone time. 45% of those surveyed would go to their bedroom and 8% would head to the pub! What Google found whilst undertaking this survey that a crazy amount of Brits do find it stressful over the festive period, a whopping 65%! The survey was conducted to find how people will be using Google’s home Hub to ease the stress. With Google’s Laurian Clemence stating:

“Google Home Hub was made for times like Christmas. Having family round over the festive season can be overwhelming, and this device is designed to fit in with your life by being your personal little helper when you really need it; from using recipes for sprouts while managing not to burn the turkey, to videos for wrapping oddly shaped gifts, to setting timers, entertaining the family and controlling the heating. As it’s powered by the Google Assistant, it works with a simple voice command – meaning that you can juggle all the different elements of Christmas at the same time, easily and seamlessly.”

The Stress Table

Below is a table of all the things that Google found were the most stressful around Christmas time, however, there was some that missed out! Finding things for the kids to do made up 7%, running out of alcohol 5% and having to play games with the family 10%.

Top Ten Reasons for a Festive Freak-Out

1

Finances

24%

2

Not having any time for yourself

22%

3

Cooking the Christmas dinner

22%

4

Wrapping weirdly shaped presents

20%

5

Putting on weight

20%

6

Spending time with the in-laws

16%

7

Pretending to like a present that you really don’t

14%

8

Buying presents for people you rarely see

11%

9

Decorating the house

10%

10

Untangling the Christmas lights

10%

BONUS:

The table above shows that Christmas dinner is third on the Stressmas list, the Home Hub can actually give you some help, (well we all know that!) but, there’s something special that you may not! Google have teamed up with Gordon Ramsay to create a hidden feature, you can find out what he likes to eat at home by saying ‘OK Google what does Gordon Ramsey eat at home?’ That’s not all either! Hidden content is also provided to you if you ask Google about prima ballerina Misty Copeland, famed for her performances in the festive ballet The Nutcracker, answering ‘OK Google, when did Misty Copeland start dancing?’ If you like to sing Christmas songs, you can ask Google for help with that too! Asking Google, ‘OK Google, how to sing like Nick Jonas?” will get you tips from the pop star himself!

(Google Press Release)

For more information on Google Home please click here!

Google Home Hub is £139 and available from the ​​Google Store​​!

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DRIVEN BY INTUITION: CAR BY LEXUS

LEXUS ES – DRIVEN BY INTUITION: CAR BY LEXUS

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Car companies release new cars on a semi regular basis. The way that car companies promote them do vary on the ‘cool’ scale. However, the Lexus ES has perked our interest. Why? As the film for the car was created and scripted using AI! Created in partnership with The&Partnership London and Visual Voice. It’s called Driven By Intuition and was created by Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald ( The Last King of Scotland, Whitney, One Day in September). The interesting thing is that the AI that was used to create this film was developed by IBM Watson. Using multiple data sources too! Such as past award-winning luxury adverts and intelligence on human emotional responses.

This way of producing content is a world’s first and highlights the ways in which humans and machines can work together. Consequently, in this fashion, it was done in perfect harmony. Highlighting the importance of intuition in the relationship between Man and Machine. Helping to promote the responsive features of the new Lexus ES.

Driven By Intuition is not just an ‘advert’ it is a minute long drama. It tells the story of a Lexus takumi master (Takumi is a Japanese word meaning artisan) craftsman. A craftsman who complete’s his painstaking work and releases a brand new Lexus ES to the world. However, it is taken away and threatened with destruction. Ruining all the hard work that he put into it. Yet, the car’s automatic emergency braking system cuts in to save the day. So to demonstrate the effectiveness of the intuitive tech that’s built into the Lexus ES.

How it was made: AI

Lexus’ creative agency The&Partnership London collaborated with technical partner Visual Voice to create the AI scriptwriter. Utilising IBM Watson to analyse a whole range of external audio, text and visual data. The AI then used this data to create a script. Which was not only emotionally intelligent. But entertaining as well! Then Kevin MacDonald was brought on to bring it to life.

The AI was fed with 15 years worth of car and luxury advertisements. Not just any advertisements either. These advertisements have won the prestigious Cannes Lions international awards for creativity! Unruly, a video marketplace, also fed the AI with emotional intelligence data. Consequently the AI knew and understood what moments in an ad connected most strongly with audiences. Therefore understanding how how actions, objects, locations and emotionality are used. Specifically, in different combinations & sequences to communicate the desired messages.

However, you would think that this would just produce a ‘copy cat’ style advertisement. To prevent this, data on Lexus as a brand was fed as a guideline. Thus keeping the script ‘on brand’ to what Lexus is about. AI was coached even further! With intelligence from MindX, the applied science division of the University of New South Wales in Australia. The data included important information, such as what makes humans intuitive! Plus how specific humans with an higher level of intuition respond to car adverts.

The result

The AI generated script is rich in genuine human emotion. However it does introduce some unexpected details. The AI script gives the car some sentience and emotional depth, while appearing to treat human behaviour differently. For example the habit of watching disasters unfold from behind a screen. Yet with a degree of healthy cynicism.

(Lexus)

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Behind the scenes:

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED

Check out in depth detail about the Lexus ES please click here!

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iStorage diskAshur2

iStorage diskAshur2 PIN Encoded HDD: how to secure your hard drives data!

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Ever worried about keeping your data secure if you were ever to lose your hard drives? Even after putting on a password on to the hard drive? We have found the solution with the iStorage diskAshur2! This device is incredibly secure as instead of having a software based password that you have to input into the computer. The password, or should we say PIN! Is built right into the device itself! Therefore creating some of the best security devices we have seen!

Furthermore, the device is easy to use hard drive is ultra secure and is PUN authenticated. Providing some of the best data protection available today. Including real-time AES 256-bit XTS hardware encryption. The iStorage diskAshur2 has incredible data transfer speeds as well. As the hard drive has USB 3.1 capabilities. The PIN is inputted into the device with an easy to use keypad, enabling you to securely access the drive. The PIN has a 7-15 digit PIN and works across all operating systems. Such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Chrome and more! It will work on almost any device with a USB port!

Unique

The iStorage diskAshur2 is GDPR compliant too and has dedicated hardware based secure microprocessors, which employ built in physical protection mechanisms. So, these are designed to defend against any external tamper and bypass attacks. Therefore, the iStorage diskAshur2 is very unique as it reacts to an automated attack by entering a deadlock frozen state. The drive will simply not work unless the PIN is entered. There is literally no way around it!

So, what are you waiting for? Purchase your own iStorage diskAshur2 by clicking here!

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