Apple iPad Pro Smart Folio is the best damn keyboard on the go

Apple iPad Pro Smart Folio is the best damn keyboard on the go

Essentials Week spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better.


When Apple unveiled its Smart Keyboard Folio alongside its latest and priciest iPad Pro models in late 2018, the peripheral barely registered on my radar. Little did I know it would become my constant companion, one of the most loved and most essential Apple products I’d ever bought. 

Sure, I’d been a huge iPad fan, and a sucker for the latest model, ever since nabbing the first model the day it launched in 2010. And yes, I was forever hunting for the best not-on-screen keyboard solution for my iPads. I’d long been jealous of Microsoft Surface users, who used keyboard covers to turn their tablets into tiny ultraportable laptops. But Apple’s version seemed more like a full-on keyboard case, which often name themselves Folios. I had no need to protect the back of my iPad (c’mon, Apple, it’s pretty durable) so I dismissed the option out of hand.  Read more…

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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ gets a high-flying new poster

'Top Gun: Maverick' gets a high-flying new poster

Top Gun: Maverick takes to the skies on June 26, 2020 and here’s a brand new poster to help get you in the mood.

'Top Gun: Maverick' gets a high-flying new poster

Image: paramount pictures

That’s not all, either. Paramount released the poster on Sunday ahead of a new trailer that will be coming on Monday morning. The end of the year is always blockbuster trailer season, and Top Gun: Maverick promises to be one of the biggest hits of summer 2020.

SEE ALSO: James Bond ‘No Time to Die’ trailer gives first look at Rami Malek’s creepy villain

The long-awaited sequel brings us back into the life of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, though it’s not clear exactly how or why. The first trailer made it clear that Maverick’s career pretty much stalled after the events of Top Gun, but it seemed to be much more about setting a mood. This next trailer should gives us a better sense of the story.  Read more…

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Hackers are getting really good at hacking Ring cameras and the results are terrifying

Hackers are getting really good at hacking Ring cameras and the results are terrifying

In case you needed another reminder of the potentially terrifying downside of having a Wi-Fi-connected security camera in your home, consider this: it’s surprisingly easy for hackers to gain access to them.

Hackers have created software that essentially streamlines the process, and are selling and sharing it on internet forums, Motherboard reported. The exploit is possible not because of any one vulnerability in Ring’s software, but rather how it takes advantage of insecure passwords in order to get into the accounts in question. 

This is much more than a theoretical vulnerability. There have been reports all around the country of people encountering strangers on the other end of their in-home security camera.  Read more…

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Vudu offers ‘rental redos’ in case you hate a movie

Vudu offers 'rental redos' in case you hate a movie

We’ve all done it: you start a movie only to realize partway in that it’s actually terrible. If you’re streaming on Netflix or somewhere else, this is no big deal because you can just switch to something else. 

But if you’ve paid to rent the movie, it’s much more of a bummer. Now, not only do you have to find something better, you’re also out the rental fee. 

Walmart-owned streaming platform Vudu has a solution: “rental redo,” which gives users a 30-minute window to bail out on movie rentals without having to pay the fee. 

“Rental Redo is just like having a gift receipt for your movie,” the company explains. “If you decide your rental is not for you within the first 30 minutes, we’ll give you a ‘redo’ so you can find another movie to fit your mood.” Read more…

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‘Fortnite’ x Star Wars was a giant technical mess. But also, now there are lightsabers.

'Fortnite' x Star Wars was a giant technical mess. But also, now there are lightsabers.

On the one hand, Fortnite x Star Wars is such an outlandish and untested idea, you have to admire the sheer chutzpah of Epic Games. On the other, the actual technical experience sucked for an awful lot of people.

First, the good: J.J. Abrams debuted a new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker clip inside Fortnite on Saturday. The reveal was preceded by an epic sky battle between the Millennium Falcon and some pursuing TIE Fighters. All the while, a whole, entire fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers sat higher up in the sky watching everything unfold.

After the Falcon fended off its attackers and landed, Abrams popped out of the ship – literally, a Fortnite avatar of the famed filmmaker – to vamp for a little while before revealing the clip. Geoff Keighley was there, too, dressed in a Stormtrooper skin.  Read more…

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Texting on Android is finally more like iMessage, but the green bubble remains

Texting on Android is finally more like iMessage, but the green bubble remains

Good news, green bubbles: Google has finally flipped the switch on an update that makes texting on Android more like iMessage. 

If you live in the U.S, Google’s Messages app should now officially support “chat” features like read receipts, typing indicators, and better support for photo and group messages. The update is the result of a years-long effort by Google to ditch SMS, which was created decades before the first smartphones changed how we think about text messaging.  

Google announced in November that it was upgrading its Messages app to support Rich Communication Services (RCS), a newer standard that allows messages to be sent via Wi-Fi, along with all the other “chat” features you expect from a messaging app in 2019. But Google being Google, this update wasn’t actually available to everyone until Thursday.  Read more…

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Taylor Swift’s cat birthday cakes are both cute and concerning

Taylor Swift's cat birthday cakes are both cute and concerning

It’s official: Taylor Swift is 30, flirty, and thriving.

The singer celebrated her milestone birthday on Friday, and spent the night singing at iHeartRadio’s 2019 Jingle Ball and celebrating with friends.

After her performance, radio host Elvis Duran came on stage to present Swift with a giant cat-covered birthday cake, and he asked all the fans in Madison Square Garden to sing her “Happy Birthday.”

The cake has three cat faces on it, which likely signifies Swift’s own cats: Benjamin Button, Olivia Benson, and Meredith Grey. Aww. Duran’s three-tiered cat cake was gorgeous and genuinely impressive, but it wasn’t Swift’s only cat cake this birthday. Read more…

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‘The Rise of Skywalker’ stars explain Star Wars to Stephen Colbert’s crew

'The Rise of Skywalker' stars explain Star Wars to Stephen Colbert's crew

If you’re looking for news, J.J. Abrams does admit here that “we don’t really get into Midichlorians in” Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Congrats to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for landing that scoop!

The stars of the final chapter in the so-called “Skywalker Saga” (aka the reason Star Wars exists) spent a little time recently putting them all through a “Just One Question” gauntlet. The result is a hilarious mix of skewered Star Wars stereotypes, fresh (and less-than-fresh) takes on tired gags, and  – the real highlight – an epic Star Wars explainer for anyone who’s never seen these movies. Read more…

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Google Earth now covers more than 98% of the world’s real estate

Google Earth now covers more than 98% of the world's real estate

Google sees everything. Well, almost everything.

On Friday, the company revealed in a blog post that Google Earth now covers more than 98 percent of the world, and has captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery.

To put those numbers in perspective, Google shared that the distance of 10 million miles would wrap around the globe more than 400 times, and that Google Earth lets users browse more than 36 million square miles of satellite imagery, aka A LOT.

“While these stunning photos show us parts of the world we may never get a chance to visit, they also help Google Maps accurately model a world that is changing each day,” the post reads. Read more…

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Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta had a ‘Grease’ reunion, costumes and all

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta had a 'Grease' reunion, costumes and all

Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson are back, baby.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, who played the beloved on-screen couple in 1978, recently reunited for a Grease sing-along in Florida. 

It’s been more than 40 years since the two starred in the iconic musical rom-com together, and they got back into costume for the first time since making the movie for the exciting fan event.

On Friday, Newton-John shared a photo of her and Travolta looking cool as ever, walking hand-in-hand at the event. Needless to say, we got chills and they instantly multiplied.

View this post on Instagram

First time in costume since we made the movie ! So excited!!

A post shared by Olivia Newton-john (@therealonj) on Read more…

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