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Smartphone cameras have come a long way, but can you ever take images that rival a "real" camera? According to Google software engineer Florian Kainz, the answer is yes. Using a custom camera app and some post-capture editing , Kainz shows what the camera sensors in the Pixel and Nexus 6P can do in low light situations.

Kainz says his little project was inspired by a chat with Google's Gcam team, which focuses on computational photography.

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Google posts truly incredible night images captured by the Pixel and Nexus 6P was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 Over a year ago, Spotify inked a deal with music annotation startup Genius to provide the backstory to the songs you’re streaming through a feature called “Behind the Lyrics,” which pops up additional commentary as you’re listening to tracks on the service. Today, the company says the feature is finally making its way over to Android, where it will initially be… Read More

Jimmy Wales changed encyclopedias and news while he was at it. And now he’s at it at it again, announcing a crowdfunding campaign to start Wikitribune, a collaborative news platform with “professional journalists and community contributors working side-by-side to produce fact-checked, global news stories. The community of contributors will vet the facts, help make sure the language is factual and neutral, and will to the maximum extent possible be transparent about the source of news posting full transcripts, video, and audio of interviews.” The content will be free with monthly patrons providing as much support as possible, advertising as little as possible.

I’m excited about this for a few reasons:

First, I see the need for innovation around new forms of news.

Next, I want some news sites to break the overwhelming and constant flow of news and allow us in the public to pull back and find answers to the question, “What do we know about…?” We already have plenty of streams of news; we also need repositories of knowledge around news topics. As Jimmy explained this to me, it will have the value of a wiki (and Wikipedia) in a new platform built to purpose.

Finally, of course, I am delighted to see news services that respect and collaborate with the public.

I am listed as an adviser, personally. (I am not compensated and have no equity; just helping a good cause.) You can sign up here.

The post Jimmy Wales’ new Wikitribune appeared first on BuzzMachine.

“The horror of the void became once again its own inverted retort.” ― Gellu Naum

(Thanks, Matthew!)

 Facebook may have the generalist social network on lockdown, but when it comes to communities based around special interests, the playing field remains full of promise. Today, a U.K. startup called LoveCrafts, aimed at knitters and other home craft makers with a platform that is part social network and part e-commerce marketplace, is announcing a significant growth round to seize that opportunity. Read More

 Dialpad, a cloud-based business communications platform announced a new Amazon Echo integration this week that enables you to perform a number of business phone tasks by asking Alexa. So for example you could ask, “Alexa, do I have any messages on Dialpad?” or “Alexa call Liz Green with Dialpad.” Dialpad sees this integration as part of a general push to make phone… Read More

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.

Featured App

Paralign - Aligning Thoughts

Today's roundup is presented by Paralign - Aligning Thoughts from Paralign.me.

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11 new and notable Android apps from the last week (4/18/17 - 4/24/17) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

For a long time now, people on your local WiFi network have been able to mess with your Chromecast session, and it’s all thanks a shared Cast notification feature that started showing up for users last year. This has resulted in plenty of hijinks where users have had their cast sessions annoyingly messed with in certain situations, like when inviting guests over for parties.

Now, it seems Google is aware of this annoyance and is taking some baby steps to help…

more…

 Apple just sent an email to members of the App Store affiliate program saying that App Store commissions will be reduced from 7 percent to 2.5 percent on May 1st — that’s a 64 percent cut. While this change will have no effect on App Store users, it has some implications on the App Store ecosystem. Many websites from the Apple community link to App Store downloads with a unique… Read More

Have you ever noticed that some people just seemed hard-wired to be stressed out? Maybe you feel like you’ve been dealt an anxious hand yourself. According to psychology professor Daniel Keating, how we deal with stress and anxiety may have been determined while we were still in the womb.

Listen above or find us in all the usual places where podcasts are served, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, and NPR One. Please subscribe, rate, and review!

This Week’s Discussion

In his new book, Born Anxious: The Lifelong Impact of Early Life Adversity - and How to Break the Cycle, Daniel Keating examines some of the biological underpinnings of stress. There’s new evidence to suggest that if you’re faced with some sort of adversity in your first year of life or even in utero, that can actually affect how you deal with stress later in life. (Adversity in this sense can mean many things; even if your mother was particularly worried about money or other factors of modern life while carrying you, for example, that might have an effect on how you regulate stress.)

It’s a matter of epigenetics. Epigenetics is the study of how the same genes can express themselves in different ways. In other words, that stress in your first year of life won’t change your DNA but can affect how you develop. Early life adversity can potentially cause “stress dysregulation,” essentially a slight mismanagement in your body’s ability to deal with stress.

So what can those of us who are destined to be anxious do to deal with our predilections towards anxiety?

You’ve probably already heard the answers: Exercise. Talk therapy. Surround yourself with people who support you. And of course, seek out professional help if you need to. Listen to our discussion with Daniel Keating for a more thorough explanation of the science of stress, epigenetics, and more.

Our Upgrades of the Week

Every week we like to round out the show with the little upgrades we’ve made in our own life.

• Andy: Spring arrived in New York last weekend. It was a little too much spring, in fact, leading me to a life-changing decision: I’m going to buy an air conditioner for my apartment before summer arrives. Summer in New York is very gross and I deserve some relief.
  
• Melissa: Melissa has been priming her morning exercise routine by arranging everything the night before. That way there’s nothing to set up and no barrier to entry, so to speak. Also, the Baggu carry-on bag she mentioned last week actually turned out to be way too big. Baggu too biggu.
  

How Do I Submit a Question?

There are two ways to send in your question:

• Call (347) 687-8109 and record a question. Calls are awesome! We like them, and may play yours on the show!
• Email your question to upgrade@lifehacker.com.

Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they’ll apply to more people. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you.

Few are scandalized by the BBC adding sound effects to documentary footage, as it's somewhat obvious and the intent is to bring the viewer to a truth that might otherwise be obscured. A lot of other storytelling magic is at hand, though, not all of it so ostentatious. Simon Cade illustrates some of the techniques, among which editing is among the most powerful.

Redshirts Aren't Likeliest to Die

The reason it's hard to open jar lids is because the vacuum seal is pulling the lid tightly against the jar. Once in a while, the vacuum seal is so strong that I can't open it. That's when I grab my Jarkey, a $6 plastic lever that effortlessly breaks the seal, making it easy to open. I always try to open jars with my bare hands, then use the Jarkey after I strain my wrist. My wife goes straight for the Jarkey, because she's smarter than I am.

 Farmdrop, a farmer-friendly online grocery platform based in the U.K., has raised £7 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is Atomico, the London VC fund founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström. Read More

Incredibly satisfying to watch.

In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, some total moron designed, financed and constructed a large coastal wall right where a ferry was headed.

Videos and photos of the accident appeared quite serious, although no injuries have been reported.

The ship involved was the Volcan de Tamasite and, according to information received by The Canary, 140 passengers were on board at the time, though nobody seems to have been seriously hurt, some reports have mentioned up to four people with minor injuries.

Every Map You've Ever Seen Is A Damn Lie

John Deere has turned itself into the poster-child for the DMCA, fighting farmers who say they want to fix their own tractors and access their data by saying that doing so violates the 1998 law's prohibition on bypassing copyright locks. (more…)

 Samsung and Google today announced a new partnership that will make Google Play Music the default music player and music service including on new Samsung phone and tablets worldwide, starting with the launch of the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The deal comes with an added bonus for Samsung users – they’ll be able to upload up to 100,000 of their own songs to Google Play Music for free. This… Read More

Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter Anthony Hamilton and his background singers The Hamiltones perform the most beautiful billy goat serenade I’ve ever heard.

The Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, Australia has fashioned a cloth pouch for their orphan joey named Terri, who is very excited to hop in.

 French telecom company Orange is launching a bank this Summer in France. Orange CEO Stéphane Richard listed some of the features behind Orange Bank this morning at a press conference. And let’s just say that it doesn’t sound as groundbreaking as the company thinks. Just like N26, Revolut and others, you’ll be able to control your payment card directly from your phone. Read More

 Mastercard is trialling a Chip and PIN bankcard that includes an embedded fingerprint reader, introducing a biometric authentication layer for card payments — and taking a leaf out of the book of Apple Pay et al in the process. The thinking here being: why pay by entering a PIN when you can stick your thumb on it? Read More

Using a password manager is basically internet security 101 these days, but that doesn’t make them any less intimidating. If you’ve never used a password manager, they’re annoying, cumbersome to use, and baffling at a glance. 1Password is one of the easiest to use options around, but that doesn’t mean you don’t some help setting it up.

Password managers create strong passwords that are difficult to crack, they keep track of those passwords so you don’t have to remember them, and they make it easy to change your passwords after a hack. You have a ton of great choices for password managers, but for this guide we’re concentrating on 1Password. With 1Password, you can sync your password across your devices using their cloud service. Dropbox, or iCloud, and it works on every major operating system. Unlike 1Password’s biggest competitor, LastPass, your passwords can also be stored locally instead of in the cloud. Which password manager you use is a matter of preference and depends on what you need; none are perfect, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Regardless, assuming you’re here because you have 1Password already, let’s go ahead and get started using it.

Decide Which Payment Plan You Want and Create an Account

While 1Password has a trial version you can check out free for 30 days, it is a paid service after that. You can choose between two different payment models, a subscription or a one-time purchase. The one-time purchase is $65 and only works for Mac. You do not get password syncing between devices (like your phone and your desktop computer) with this purchase, though you can manually sync passwords between devices using Dropbox or iCloud.

Otherwise, you have two subscription options: $3/month for yourself, or $5/month for a family plan. The family plan includes up to five people. With a subscription plan, you get syncing using 1Password’s servers. Most people will likely want to go with the subscription plan.

Once you’ve made your choice, head to 1Password’s site and create your account. This takes a few steps, including verifying your email and downloading a special PDF file. That PDF is important for setting up 1Password, so don’t lose it. It includes a QR code you’ll need to add any apps to your 1Password account and your “Secret Key,” which is the only way to recover your 1Password account if you lose your password.

Download and Set Up 1Password for Your Computer, Browser, and Phone

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Now that you’ve decided which payment option to use, it’s time to actually install your software. This process is a little different than what you’re probably used to.

1. Download 1Password for Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android.
2. Sign into your account.
3. Click or tap Scan Account Details.
4. Scan the Setup QR code in the PDF you downloaded when you created your account. If you don’t have it, you can get it on the 1Password web app.
5. Download the 1Password browser extension for your browser. This is how you’ll actually use 1Password most of the time.

You’ll have to go through this process for each app on each operating system. Once it’s all set up, you can actually get to using 1Password.

Start Browsing and Save Your Login Information for Every Site

While you might feel inclined to go out of your way to add different login information to 1Password, the easiest thing to do is just use the internet as you normally do, and save your passwords as you log into each new site. This way, the 1Password browser extensions do the work for you. It’s a pretty simple process:

1. When you arrive at a site, log in as you normally would.
2. When 1Password prompts you, click Save Login.

That’s it as far as daily usage. Though, it’s worth remembering that one of the main reasons to use a password manager is to create new, strong passwords, so it’s worth thinking about changing your passwords as you go along as well.

Likewise, when you create a new account at any time in the future, you can let 1Password create the password for you by clicking the 1Password icon in your browser, then Password Generator. Once you fill in your new password, 1Password automatically detects and remembers the new password.

Use 1Password to Log Into Sites on Mobile Devices

While you probably don’t create a ton of accounts from your smartphone, you likely log into plenty of them. 1Password makes this pretty easy to do. You have a couple of different ways to do this.

With both Android and iOS, you can always simple copy/paste passwords from the app to your browser of choice. iPhone users can also use an extension to log into a site directly in Safari. When you’re on a log in page in Safari, just tap the share button, then 1Password, then select the login information to use. You may have to manually enable this button first by tapping the share button, then more, then tapping the 1Password toggle.

On Android, you’ll use the 1Password Keyboard to do this. Open 1Password, then tap Settings > Filling. Tap Enable Keyboard. Now, when you’re on a login page in any browser, switch over to the 1Password Keyboard by tapping the keyboard button, then tap the Fill Username and Fill Password buttons to enter in your login information.

Use 1Password to Audit Your Crappy Passwords

1Password includes a security audit feature that’s really worth checking out after you’ve got the bulk of your passwords entered in. The audit can check for duplicate passwords, weak passwords, and even lets you know if any site you have an account at has been breached.

In the 1Password app, click on Security Audit in the sidebar. Here, you’ll find another list. Watchtower is probably the coolest thing here. Click Watchtower, then click the Enable button to turn it on. Watchtower monitors for website vulnerabilities and alerts you if a problem is found. So, for example, if eBay was hacked, Watchtower would let you know that it’s time to change your eBay password. If this happens, you’ll see a red bar pop up on the page. You can click that to get more information about the hack, or just head off and change your password.

The security audit sections includes a few other different lists, including weak passwords, duplicate passwords, and old passwords. Click on any of these and 1Password will show you where to change your password. This is really helpful when you’re first starting out with a password manager, because you probably have a lot of duplicate or weak passwords. While it’s cumbersome at first to go through and fix all of these, it’s worth going through here and adding better passwords where need be. Eventually, once all your passwords are updated, the whole security audit section should be empty.

Add Personal Info for Quick Form Filling

On top of passwords, 1Password can also store a ton of other information. This includes auto form fill information on sites, like credit card numbers or your address, as well as a place to store any other personal information you want to keep handy.

Click on Identities in the sidebar, then click Edit. Here, you can add your address, phone number, birth date, and whatever else. Once you do, 1Password will be able to automatically fill out those details on web forms when you come across them. Likewise, if you click on Credit Cards in the sidebar, you can add in different credit card numbers so you don’t have to type those out every single time you buy something.

You can also use 1Password to store other personal information that you might need at any given point. In the desktop app, click File > New Item to find a dropdown menu for adding in details like your driver’s license number, software licenses, wireless passwords, and more. This is totally optional and doesn’t really help with the security of your passwords, but it is a handy way to keep a lot of your personal information handy.

The folks at Sunflower Farm Creamery in Cumberland, ME just posted this super cute pajama party of 10 baby Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Soon they will have 50 kids romping around, so keep your eyes out. No matter how your day is going, this video will make it more delightful.