If 49" is big enough for your needs, you’d be hard pressed to find a better TV deal than this. The LG 49UJ7700 includes a 4K panel, Dolby Vision HDR (the good one), and even an IPS screen for better viewing angles. $579 is over $200 less than you’ll find it elsewhere, but we don’t expect it to last long.

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These are grim times we are living through, but that doesn’t mean Landon Meier’s Hyperflesh—creators of terrifying rubber masks—can’t have some fun with them.

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The Horns want to prove they are not a 5-7 team.

The Texas football team wants to show Tom Herman some toughness.

Is Herman our second coming?

Herman, 41, worked wonders during his short stint at Houston and before that he helped Ohio State win a national championship under Urban Meyer. His challenge isn’t just wins and losses, but changing the culture surrounding Longhorns football.

Is the defense ready to put the past failures behind them?

The players want to prove they are not a 5-7 team.

The baseball team lost to Texas State.

“It’s very frustrating for the simple fact that I thought we were very prepared,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “Our kids played hard. It’s an offensive park and we were very offensive tonight. I thought (UT starting pitcher) Nick Kennedy was outstanding again. We got punched a little bit in the first. He got settled in and really had his best stuff, as far as a three-pitch mix.”

How did Texas Tech and Texas get dragged into the Congressional hearings on the Trump’s administration possible ties to Russia?

Aydın Büyüktaş has continued his Flatland project with more of these photographic panoramas folded over on themselves. Looks like he’s gotten better at picking good subjects and stitching these together…love these. (via colossal)

Tags: Aydin Buyuktas   photography

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No more entitlement for the Horns.

Said Davis, “We want to stay positive, as much as we can. it’s the postseason. Like coach said, we’re 0-0. We can dictate our own future.”So, we’re not Texas anymore.

The only way the Longhorns will win games again is if they stop believing victories are owed to them. And during his first few months in Austin, that has been the central part of Herman's message to his new team.

It’s all about the basics.

“Today was all about practice habits,” Herman said. “We’ve got to learn how to run full-speed to the whistle, we’ve got to learn how to take the field, we’ve got to learn how to jog off the field. We’ve got to learn everything that’s important in winning.”

Tom Herman is not afraid to push the player’s buttons.

Herman has high praise for Chris Warren.

Herman added that he hasn’t been around a back like the 250-pound Warren who can move the way he does.

Shaka Smart is learning on the job.

He’s recruiting different players from the ones he sought at Virginia Commonwealth, going into living rooms of five-star players and McDonald’s All-Americans. He’s coaching in a conference that will eat you alive if you’re not mentally tough and maybe even if you are. He’s working in a win-now atmosphere at brand name U instead of at a mom-and-pop operation by comparison, or, as one pundit put it, “He is freaking McDonald’s where he had been P. Terry’s at VCU, and that’s kicking his butt.”

The men’s basketball gets a fresh start at the Big 12 tournament.

Said Davis, “We want to stay positive, as much as we can. it’s the postseason. Like coach said, we’re 0-0. We can dictate our own future.”

Most VR machines I’ve seen recently are elaborate and high-tech (here and here, for example). This one, however, is different.

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The D-League standout is on track to get a shot in the NBA sooner rather than later.

Undrafted after forgoing his final season with the Texas Longhorns, Rio Grande Valley Vipers point guard Isaiah Taylor signed a three-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Houston Rockets on Monday, according to multiple reports.

Taylor will remain with the Vipers for the near future, according to ESPN’s Calvin Watkins.

Despite missing a significant amount of time due to a leg injury, the 6’2, 170-pounder has been a standout in the NBA Developmental League this season, averaging 21.1 points and 6.1 assists in 31.1 minutes per game.

Most notably, the career 29.2 percent three-point shooter in college has significantly increased his range since the end of his junior season, hitting 19-of-46 threes with the Vipers, good enough for 41.3 percent.

Based on the highlights, help defense and shot blockers at the rim are in short supply in the NBDL, so Taylor won’t be able to score as many easy baskets when he gets his shot with the Rockets, but if he can continue to emerge as a credible outside shooter, he could end up making an impact in the NBA.

Right now, instead of leading Shaka Smart’s team this season, Taylor is still “damn near Mexico,” as he texted his coach at one point. However, he’s also one step closer to getting back to the town where he finished his high school basketball career.

Taylor spent the summer league with the Rockets and had a previous contract that was partially guaranteed and now has a greater commitment from the franchise.

“I think we all know Isaiah is talented enough to play in the NBA, he just needs to continue getting better,” Smart said in January. “Isaiah is smart. I think he’s really, really smart, so I’m pulling for him. If he was a stock, I would bet on him.”

Video games are a lot of fun, but they can also be frustrating. From time to time, you may even get frustrated enough that you want to throw something. Good news! Your controller is right there in your hand.

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Did you know that Mario’s last name is also Mario? He’s not alone. Apparently, it’s an ongoing gag spanning multiple games over at Nintendo HQ, where they jokingly give characters silly full names.

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Apple Pay is now accepted by 36 percent of merchants in the United States, according to research conducted by retail consulting firm Boston Retail Partners and shared by NFC World. That's up from 16 percent last year.

Boston Retail Partners derived its information from a survey of more than 500 top North American retailers.


22 percent of retailers who don't currently support Apple Pay said they plan to accept the payments service within the next 12 months, while 11 percent plan to do so in the next one to three years. 31 percent plan to take a "wait and see" approach before implementing Apple Pay support.

PayPal was the next most widely accepted payments service at 34 percent, while MasterCard's PayPass came in third with 25 percent. 24 percent of merchants claimed support for Android Pay, while 18 percent said they accept Samsung Pay. Given that many of these technologies are all NFC-based and accepted anywhere NFC payments are available, it seems merchants may be referring to "official" support or may be unaware of the way contactless payments work.

"PayPal has been bumped out of its top spot in this year's survey, with Apple Pay now being accepted at 36% of the retailers participating in the survey. This is up significantly from 16% last year, and signals a growing acceptance by retailers and customers."

"This year, fewer retailers are adopting a wait and see approach for Apple Pay and PayPal -- likely because of the growing support from the payment software ecosystem and the acceptance for these mobile payments by the public."

During Apple's recent first quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple Pay usage had tripled over the course of 2016. Transaction volume was up more than 500 percent year-over-year, and according to Cook, more than two million small businesses now accept Apple Pay.


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In 2012, physicist Frank Wilczek speculated that it would be possible to make a crystal whose lattice repeats in four dimensions, not just three.

Wilczek thought it might be possible to create a similar crystal-like structure in time, which is treated as a fourth dimension under relativity. Instead of regularly repeating rows of atoms, a time crystal would exhibit regularly repeating motion.

Many physicists were sceptical, arguing that a time crystal whose atoms could loop forever, with no need for extra energy, would be tantamount to a perpetual motion machine — forbidden by the laws of physics.

Now, a team at Berkeley have succeeded in making time crystals, publishing a method that two other teams have already successfully followed.

For Yao’s time crystal, an external force — like the pulse of a laser — flips the magnetic spin of one ion in a crystal, which then flips the spin of the next, and so forth, setting the system into a repeating pattern of periodic motion.

There are two critical factors. First, after the initial driver, it must be a closed system, unable to interact with and lose energy to the environment. Second, interactions between quantum particles are the driving force behind the time crystal’s stability. “It’s an emergent phenomenon,” says Yao. “It requires many particles and many spins to talk to each other and collectively synchronise.”

Tags: Frank Wilczek   physics   science   time

Conference foes believe the ‘Horns are getting some help on offense at critical positions.

Every year, ESPN releases a feature that draws on the recruiting knowledge of Big 12 coaches and staffers who thoughts on their favorite recruits in the classes of conference rivals.

For the Texas Longhorns in the 2017 class, quarterback Sam Ehlinger and tight ends Cade Brewer and Reese Leitao all made the list:

Texas TE Cade Brewer: “Brewer can run and get vertical. He can do a lot. A gifted, athletic big guy.”

Texas TE Reese Leitao: “He's an incredible kid with a ton of ability to play in every offensive set. His dad is a coach. He has the ability to line up as an attached tight end and flex out. Good balance of power and speed.”

Texas QB Sam Ehlinger: “He’s got everything you need in a championship-level quarterback. He’s got all the physical tools, really competitive, tough, smart, a leader. He’s got some moxie to him. These are all clichés, but it’s true.”

Texas quarterback moxie alert!

Aside from any flashbacks to the term that became cliche after such liberal application to Case McCoy during his days in burnt orange, the Big 12 coach/staffer hits on what makes Ehlinger such an appealing prospect — he checks all the boxes.

Those are the reasons why head coach Tom Herman is already in love with him.

The inclusion of Brewer on the list is interesting because he’s ranked as the fourth-lowest signee in the class among the position players, but has a larger value to the class as a future H-back who can also split out wide and create mismatches against linebackers or smaller nickel backs.

“Really, really athletic,” head coach Tom Herman said of Brewer on National Signing Day. “He's undersized right now. If we had to play a game tomorrow, he would not be physically ready. But tremendous ball skills; tremendous athleticism. You can see the frame is there to carry the weight necessary.”

Listed at 210 pounds by the school, Brewer will spend the coming months working on adding the strength necessary to compete at the college level.

Unfortunately, he won’t be on campus to work with strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight. Fortunately, he does have good facilities at Lake Travis and can get on the same workout plan that McKnight is using with current Longhorns.

Leitao is not a surprising addition to the list, even though he’s ranked as a mid three-star prospect. After committing to football as a junior, he made a big leap as a senior, which vaulted him up the rankings before the recruiting process closed with his signature.

Like Ehlinger, he has a lot of intangible qualities that make him a special prospect, including intelligence and maturity on top of his immense physical skills.

As Herman pointed out on National Signing Day, Leitao is also a player who was formerly committed to Nebraska, a school that knows how to evaluate tight ends.

“We're excited about both those guys. Because the tight end in this offense is very, very critical,” Herman said.

The ‘Horns will benefit from former assistant Jeff Traylor’s East Texas haul.

An offer from the Alabama Crimson Tide couldn’t keep Hooks safety Montrell Estell from signing with the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, fulfilling his longtime pledge to the state’s flagship university.

The 6’2, 180-pounder originally committed to former tight ends coach Jeff Traylor in May, more than two months after receiving his offer from Texas. The two-way standout was also coveted by the Aggies and held offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Notre Dame, and others.

Despite initially expressing some interest in visiting other schools, Estell remained firm through the coaching change before solidifying his commitment with an official visit in January.

Ranked as a consensus four-star prospect, Estell is the No. 250 player nationally, the No. 11 athlete, and the No. 40 player in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite ranking.

Despite that ranking as an athlete, Estell will play safety for the Longhorns, the position at which he has the most long-term upside, because while he is a dynamic player with the ball in his hands, his range and ball skills make him a potential NFL prospect at safety if he can fulfill his potential.

Because he’s from a small school, he also has some athletic upside once he gets into the Texas strength and conditioning program, which will add some muscle to his rangy frame.

As a junior, Estell filled up the stat sheet with 412 rushing yards and four touchdowns, 490 receiving yards and five touchdowns, 69 tackles, and six interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns.

With Johnson set to pair with Malik Jefferson as anchors of Texas’ defense, the Longhorns linebacking corps should be a problem for opposition in 2017.

Todd Orlando’s debut season as the Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator was already on pace to feature one of the nation’s premier linebacking corps, which officially received a another significant addition on National Signing Day as top-ranked JUCO inside linebacker Gary Johnson put pen to paper.

In a 2017 class that Tom Herman and his staff to scrambled to complete in just three months, Johnson’s immediate value and importance simply can’t be overstated. A former Alabama commit, the Johnson-to-Texas momentum kicked in quick and lasted a mere matter of weeks.

After picking up a Texas offer on Jan. 4, Johnson scheduled an officially visit to the Forty Acres for Jan. 20, but switched visit weekends with Oregon, which was set to host the elite JUCO product on Jan. 13. Johnson’s visit to Texas then produced raving reviews and the following week, the nation’s No. 6 JUCO prospect pulled the trigger and committed to the Longhorns on Jan. 20 — he then canceled his pending visits to Oregon and USC, becoming the most likely 2017 starter from Texas’ 2017 recruiting haul.

As Orlando brings his 3-4 defense to Austin, Johnson bolsters the second line of defense as a legitimate option to become a day one starter alongside of bevy of talent and experience.

A physically elite middle linebacker, Johnson was simply too much to handle at Dodge City C.C. In his two seasons, Johnson produced 215 total tackles, along with 11.5 sacks, 27.5 tackles for loss, nine forced fumbles and five interceptions; three of which were returned for touchdowns.

Now, as the Alabama native takes his talents from Kansas to Austin, Johnson fits as a perfect piece in a linebacking corps that features junior-to-be Malik Jefferson, who should be able to slide into his more natural role as a weak-side edge rusher, along with 2016’s two leading tacklers in juniors-to-be Breckyn Hager (65) and Anthony Wheeler (60). Not to mention, Orlando will also have a bevy of young talent to fill out his depth chart with Jeffrey McCulloch, Malcolm Roach and Erick Fowler returning and a pair of hybrid pass rushers in four-star K’Lavon Chaisson?????? and three-star Marqez Bimage incoming.

Johnson, a likely starter among a multitude of talent, recently expanded on what he brings to the Longhorns defense, per Lone Star Sports Radio:

“I’m just going to say this: When I’m on the field I’m relentless,” Johnson told Lone Star Sports Radio. “I feel like there is no stopping me no matter what you throw at me or who you put in front of me. That’s something they’re just going to get out of me every game is that mentality that I can’t be stopped and you can’t stop me.”

“Just put the game and the team on my back,” Johnson said. “That’s just what type of player I’ve always been and I plan on being that player at Texas.”

A freakishly physical and aggressive presence with a recorded 4.26 40 yard dash and a 39.4 in vertical leap, there’s likely not many athletes capable of slowing Johnson down among the college ranks. Whether it’s against the run or pass, Johnson consistently displays incredible instincts and has remarkable striking ability. He habitually puts himself in the right position at the right time and often explodes through the ball carrier or quarterback in blitz situations, which Orlando plans to utilize plenty of next season.

Despite Texas’ talent and depth, expect Johnson to emerge as a focal point of the Longhorns defense in 2017.

Here’s another evaluation of Johnson from Ian Boyd of Inside Texas:

How he fits at Texas: Johnson could be one of the most important recruits of the 2017 class. He’s ultra-quick playing in the box and can scrape laterally as well as anyone on the roster but with a much better idea of what he’s trying to accomplish. This is what an ideal, modern inside linebacker looks like. Johnson is quick and smart enough to handle option or spread passing schemes but also sturdy enough to fill inside and handle lead run schemes. He would probably start at mike linebacker immediately for Texas, pushing Orlando to get creative with guys like Ed Freeman and Malik Jefferson.

A consensus four-star prospect with 28 offers, Johnson chose the Longhorns over a host of Power 5 programs including Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, TCU, and USC.

Nanoleaf started out in 2013 as small company offering a Kickstarter project for an energy efficient light bulb, which led to the launch of the HomeKit-enabled Nanoleaf Smarter Kit, a set of three standard-style bulbs connected by a hub.

Nanoleaf's first HomeKit accessory worked well but was rather ordinary, something that can't be said about its newest product, the Aurora Smarter Kit. Inspired by the aurora borealis phenomena, the Aurora is like no other HomeKit product -- or lighting product -- on the market.


Priced at $199, the Aurora Smarter Kit is a set of modular mood lights that can be arranged in hundreds of ways. Each triangle-shaped light can be set to a different color using the Aurora app, and movement patterns are used to create a dynamic lighting setup that's essentially interactive art.

Design and Setup

The Aurora Smarter Kit includes nine plastic triangles with LEDs in each corner, a main connector that plugs into one of the triangles and into a standard wall socket, adhesive strips, and connectors to connect and power each triangle.


While one triangle needs to be attached to the power source (which can power up to 30 triangles), the others triangles draw power through the main triangle using small plastic connector tabs that can be placed on any side of each individual triangle. That means the triangles can be arranged in an endless number of patterns, and triangles beyond the additional nine can be added to the design.


Triangles need to be connected to one another for power, so there's no way to split the triangles up unless you have two kits with two power panels. Some of Nanoleaf's imagery shows the Aurora split across two walls or connected at a 90 degree angle -- this is not possible at the current time. Nanoleaf tells me that flexible connectors that will allow the triangles to be placed around corners are in the works and will be released in the summertime.


Each triangle measures in at about 9.5 inches long and 8 inches on the sides, so a set of nine takes up a good amount of space on the wall depending on the arrangement. A single wire will need to snake up the wall, connecting the power panel to an outlet.

Nanoleaf recommends setting up all of the panels and testing them before attaching them to the wall, so mine went on the floor first while I picked a layout. With the Aurora, you're going to want to invest some time in arranging the triangles into a suitable shape, because these go up on the wall using 3M adhesive strips. Once up, they're not moving without some serious effort.

Testing the panels on the floor
I made a design on the floor and used paper guide triangles, included in the packaging, to mock it up on the wall so I could get the proper alignment. Again, with that adhesive, this is a measure twice stick once operation.

Each panel attaches to the wall using three 3M adhesive strips, one in each corner of the triangle. Hanging them on the wall took about a half hour from arranging the paper triangles to the finished product. The panels snap together as described above with the connectors, so it's just a matter of lining everything up and pressing down to make sure it's adequately adhered to the wall.


The triangles are made of a lightweight opaque plastic, so with three adhesive strips, they are well and truly stuck. The triangles aren't going to slip off the wall or come down in an earthquake, and while mine have only been up for two weeks, I suspect if one strip begins to fail, the other two strips will keep it attached.

Paper mockup
All of this adhesive makes it a hassle to rearrange the panels, which is a shame. I would love to be able to change my design on a regular basis to keep it from getting stale, but unsticking the panels from the wall is a huge pain (not to mention the 3M strips can damage some paint).

On the plus side, using adhesive for attachment makes for a clean, futuristic look with just a single wire connecting the entire setup to a power source.

I started out with 12 triangles (the main kit and an extra kit Nanoleaf sent) but once I set them up on the floor, I loved the look enough that I went to Best Buy and bought another expansion kit. A week later, I bought another, so now I have 18 triangles.

Expansion kits are priced at $60 for three panels, and while that's far from cheap, it's on par with other lighting kits like Philips Hue. I think most people will want to buy at least one expansion kit for the Nanoleaf Aurora -- nine panels feels like too few.


On the main power piece that connects to one of the triangles, there's a power button and an additional button that allows you to manually swap through different pre-set scenes that have been established in the app. This allows the Aurora to be controlled sans iPhone, but it's the only manual control available.

Light Output

The base Aurora module doesn't quite put out enough light to be used as a main light source in a room (unless the room is fairly small), but it works well as a nightlight, and it does get bright enough that it can be paired with a standard lamp or two for sufficient room lighting. It's also the perfect amount of light for watching movies or playing video games.

Because I was only expecting the Aurora to provide mood lighting, I was surprised at how bright it can get. The colors are super rich and vibrant with the brightness cranked up, or more muted and soft with the brightness turned down. I keep the brightness at about 25 percent, which is comfortable enough to provide a little light without being obtrusive.


Light output will change with the number of panels. Nine isn't enough to light a room, but 18 goes a lot further at maximum brightness depending on the color it's set to. I have a fairly large office and I'd compare the 18-panel Aurora setup to a standard lamp based on the amount of light output. It won't light my office on its own, but paired with one or two lamps, it's a good amount of light.

Maximum brightness at top, 50% brightness at center, 25% brightness at bottom
You can see the three LEDs in each corner of the Aurora panels, with the light very clearly radiating from those areas. At dimmer settings and with some color rotation patterns there's also a noticeable flickering as the lights shift colors, most apparent when the Aurora is dimmed. It's a little distracting, but not a deal breaker. It doesn't appear to flicker the same way at maximum brightness, or if it does, it can't be seen because it's so vibrant.


Several times, I've noticed bright flashes of light coming from the Aurora, almost like one of the LEDs is flaring. This is definitely a bug and an irritating one -- it happens at least once a day, but it doesn't seem to impact the functionality of the light.

I leave my Aurora panels turned on all the time except for at night. They're LED so they don't use a lot of energy and they don't get warm. When off, it just looks like a bunch of white plastic triangles on the wall, which isn't as appealing as the bright colors. That's something to keep in mind if you don't plan to have the Aurora turned on permanently.

App and HomeKit Features

Over the last two years, Apple's HomeKit has improved quite a bit. Adding new devices to HomeKit is almost always simple and error free, and the Aurora Smarter Kit was no exception. Setting it up consisted of powering it on, connecting to it directly via WiFi, inputting the password for my WiFi network, and scanning the HomeKit hardware code using the Nanoleaf Aurora app (the Home app - or any other HomeKit app - can also be used for this process).

It should be noted that the Aurora only works with a 2.4GHz WiFi network, so you will need to make sure you have that option set up on your router. Though the Aurora needs to connect to the 2.4GHz network, I can still control it with my iPhone connected to the 5GHz network. It works when away from home too, thanks to the HomeKit integration and an Apple TV hub.

In the early days of HomeKit, I used to have a lot of issues with new accessories causing problems with my setup, resulting in a lot of resets or inexplicable connection issues, but I haven't had that happen in the last year. HomeKit isn't perfect, especially when it comes to getting Siri to recognize voice commands, but it's better than it used to be.

Siri's interaction with the Aurora is similar to any other HomeKit-enabled light. You can use Siri to change the lights on, off, to a specific color, or to a pre-defined scene created in the Nanoleaf Aurora app.

Siri can only turn the Nanoleaf a specific color, unless you're using scenes
Unfortunately, there's no way to create light shows or multi-colored light setups with the Aurora outside of scenes, so you will need to use the dedicated app a lot of the time rather than Siri or Apple's Home app.

Third-party app makers don't always do a great job with their apps, and while Nanoleaf's app isn't terrible, it could use some improvement. A lot of the time when I open the Nanoleaf app I get a connection error that says the Aurora can't be reached. This seems to be an app problem rather than an internet problem because five seconds later, the connection is fine.

The Nanoleaf app's interface is neat. It displays a real-time view of the Aurora lights in the arrangement you've created and with the colors you've set.


Controlling the Aurora revolves around choosing a pre-existing color palette or creating a new one. Any color can be picked and added to a palette, and then that palette is used to assign a color to each triangle.

Tap a color, tap a triangle, and it shows up right on the wall. When a color palette is set, there's an option to add several light effects to switch between the colors of your palette in various patterns.

Options include Random (randomly changes the colors of the triangles), Flow (slowly transitions between colors), Wheel (a continuous shifting gradient of colors), Highlight (like random, but with a focus on the left side of the palette), Fade (all the triangles shift between each color), and Burst (triangles shift colors from the middle out).


Brightness, movement speed, transition smoothing, and direction are also options that can be set.

All palettes can be saved as scenes that can be activated via Siri or through the Scenes section of the app. Like other HomeKit apps, the Nanoleaf app can control other HomeKit-enabled accessories, but it is limited to lights. To have the lights turn to specific scenes at pre-set times, a Schedules feature can be used.


Siri and Apple's Home app can be used to turn the Aurora off and on, dim it, set a single solid color, or activate a scene. Individual triangles can't be controlled via Siri or in the Home app.

Bottom Line

At $200, the Aurora Smarter Kit isn't cheap, but its uniqueness, vibrant colors, HomeKit support, and customizable design make it worth the price. It's almost more art than light, and while it won't light up an entire room, it's a perfect accent light or night light. It can be the centerpiece of a room or a subtle background accent depending on the colors and the brightness.

Not everyone is going to feel like a $200 light is a worthwhile purchase, but if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind shelling out a couple hundred dollars for a futuristic tech toy or a neat lighting solution, I can guarantee you're not going to be disappointed with the Aurora.


I do wish adhesive wasn't the solution for mounting the Aurora because it makes it difficult to rearrange panels at will (and this kind of adhesive always has the potential to damage walls), but there doesn't seem to be an alternative option so it's a shortcoming that has to be lived with. And it's a downside I don't mind tolerating for the benefits of the Aurora.

There are also some bugs and connection issues with the Nanoleaf Aurora that potential buyers should be aware of, but none of the bugs I ran into severely impacted functionality.

The Aurora is pricy, but Nanoleaf has some additions in the works like sound integration and new panel shapes, so this seems to be a system that's going to last for long time and provide years worth of value. I'd happily use the Aurora without HomeKit integration, so that it works with Siri and the rest of my smart home products is a bonus.

Pros:

• Modular


• Expandable


• Super bright


• Can control each triangle


• HomeKit compatible

Cons:

• Requires 2.4GHz network


• Connectivity problems


• Odd LED flashes


• Flickering color transitions at low brightness

How to Buy

The Aurora Smarter Kit can be purchased from the Nanoleaf website for $199. It's also available from Best Buy's website and retail stores for the same price.

Nanoleaf provided MacRumors with a Nanoleaf Starter Kit and one expansion set for the purposes of this review. The author also purchased additional expansion sets.


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Punching Nazis is something of a time honored tradition in the United States. So is making memes. It seems natural then that the Internet wouldn’t waste any time in making a video of white supremacist and neo-Nazi Richard Spencer getting punched in the face go viral.

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Kellyanne Conway is dressed like a bad Assassin’s Creed character. The former campaign manager for and current Counselor to the President is dressed in a $3,600 Gucci ensemble and it’s just a whole lot.

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January 26 shall be known as the day the taco shell changed forever, or at least the day Taco Bell started folding up fried chicken patties and calling it a Naked Chicken Chalupa.

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Venessa Wong / BuzzFeed News

Back in September, a small number of Taco Bell customers were introduced to a new concept: a taco shell made of fried chicken, use to make was then dubbed the "Naked Crispy Chicken Taco." It was the Tex-Mex chain's response to KFC's Double Down, a sandwich that uses fried chicken filets for buns.

This creation was offered only as a small test in Bakersfield, California. It later made its way to restaurants in Kansas City in mid April.

And it's not over yet.

Taco Bell told BuzzFeed News that the product — renamed the "Naked Chicken Chalupa" following the successful launch of the Quesalupa earlier this year — hasn't been approved for a national launch yet, but things are looking good. It's still in test mode, but "the results and consumer feedback are very encouraging," according to a spokesman.

"We're just planning what's the right the timing," Kat Garcia, Taco Bell's senior manager of marketing, said.

The 5.5-inch, 4-ounce chicken shells arrive at the restaurants seasoned and breaded. They get fried into a taco shape using this contraption, which has also been used to shape other things at Taco Bell, like the Waffle Taco.

Venessa Wong / BuzzFeed News

The idea for the chicken shell goes back to 2013, when Taco Bell Senior Director of Innovation Heather Mottershaw — better known as the mastermind behind the Waffle Taco — imagined a taco shell made from chicken milanese.

But senior managers, including Chief Marketing Officer Marisa Thalberg, were not instantly on board. "They really weren't into it because it is so different," Garcia said.

"Think of all the crazy firsts that have existed in time and civilization," Thalberg told BuzzFeed News. "Dare we say even the creation of the wheel probably seemed a little odd at first until someone said, 'Ah, that's really a good thing!"

The dream of a fried chicken shell may have never been realized if not for the diligence of Steve Gomez, Taco Bell's manager of product development. He calls it "a passion project," and made it his mission to get other employees to try it. Looking back, he says he "was probably borderline annoying" in efforts to spread the word.

To even get to the test phase in 2015, the team had to shop the product to executives in headquarters, and then work with suppliers and stores to explore the viability of offering it at a larger scale.

This is what the fried poultry shell looks like if you unfold it.

Venessa Wong / BuzzFeed News

The challenge, according to Garcia, is assuring consumers that the chicken shell isn't weird fair food or "jestery." "We wanted to make sure people took it seriously," she said.

"When you explain it to someone they create a visualization in their mind, but it you put it in front of someone and say, 'Try it,' then it's like, 'Okay, I get it,'" Gomez said.

The meaty new chalupa, in fact, basically just tastes like a fried chicken wrap without the wrap. And it's spicy, and stuffed with lettuce, tomato, cheese and avocado ranch sauce.

Taco Bell has found in the test that the vegetables somehow manage to give the meaty, deep-fried chalupa a "health halo" in the eyes of consumers. "We were getting feedback like, 'Its so healthy. It's so fresh," said Garcia. "That really surprised us because it's fried chicken."

Venessa Wong / BuzzFeed News

"We're not going to market it as a health food item — I promise," said Thalberg.

If the Naked Chicken Chalupa does well, there will likely be other versions of it down the road. "Every year the benchmark gets higher and higher for new, big taco innovation ideas," said Gomez.

Taco Bell's approach to product innovation typically is focused on new product lines that it can expand with variations and flavors, such as the Doritos Locos Tacos, but with a deep fried chicken shell, "It really feels like you're at the end of the innovation line. What do you do next?" said Garcia. "We will think of something of course."

Everything You Need To Know About Taco Bell’s New Fried Chicken Taco Shell

Taco Bell Is Getting A Makeover, Exposed Brick And All

Taco Bell’s Quesalupa Is Really A Glorified Chalupa

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The annual list of media errors and corrections by Poynter is always worth a read. Some favorites:

Because of an editing error, an article on Monday about a theological battle being fought by Muslim imams and scholars in the West against the Islamic State misstated the Snapchat handle used by Suhaib Webb, one of Muslim leaders speaking out. It is imamsuhaibwebb, not Pimpin4Paradise786.

No wonder people think the NY Times is untrustworthy. Another from the Times:

An article on March 20 about wave piloting in the Marshall Islands misstated the number of possible paths that could be navigated without instruments among the 34 islands and atolls of the Marshall Islands. It is 561, not a trillion trillion.

This one was only slightly wrong:

CORRECTION: Boris Johnson’s award-winning limerick about the Turkish president referred to Erdogan as a wanker who performed a sex act with a goat. A previous version of this article included the prompt for the poetry contest, which included a different sex act, also with a goat.

When in doubt, blame technology:

Correction at 9:58 a.m. on 3/09/2016: Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase “Someone With Tiny Hands” when this story originally published.

Tags: best of   best of 2016   journalism   lists

AT&T today announced Call Protect, a complimentary service aimed at protecting its users from automated phone calls, also referred to as robocalls. The service debuts five months after the U.S. Federal Communications asked wireless companies to offer free robocall blocking services.


The service offers two solutions to stop robocalls. It can automatically block numbers suspected of fraud at the network level, preventing them from reaching your phone entirely, or it can deliver the call from a suspected number with a fraud warning on the display. The latter feature requires the user to be in an area with HD Voice support.

AT&T customers can activate the feature via their MyAT&T account or by downloading the AT&T Call Protect app. The app allows users to look at call details, receive spam warnings, block specific numbers and turn on and off Automatic Fraud Blocking.

The service requires an iOS or Android smartphone eligible for HD Voice. AT&T also warns that automatic blocking may block wanted phone calls, which means users would potentially have to manually whitelist certain numbers to make sure they aren't blocked.

In August, it was reported that Apple was one of over 30 companies that joined the "Robocall Strike Force," a join effort aimed at stopping robocalls. At the time, the FCC said that most of the complaints it receives are regarding robocalls. The U.S. has other measures in place to prevent robocalls, including companies having to ask permission before calling and allowing people to add their number to the FTC's Do Not Call list.

AT&T Call Protect is available on the App Store for free [Direct Link]


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Honda has announced its 2017 CR-V, compatible with CarPlay and Android Auto, goes on sale today at dealerships in the United States. The fifth-generation SUV has a suggested starting price of $24,045.


CarPlay and Android Auto are available on a 7-inch touchscreen built into the dashboard on select trims. The 2017 CR-V joins the 2016 and later Accord, 2016 and later Civic, 2016 Clarity Fuel Cell Sedan, 2017 Pilot, and 2017 Ridgeline among Honda's CarPlay-supported vehicles in the United States.

CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps, such as Spotify, to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software platform can be controlled with Siri and your vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It is compatible with iPhone 5 and later models.


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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe already gets to roll around in a sweet, possibly V12 Toyota Century, but what makes it even better is this maximum-baller way he merges into traffic. It involves at least three white-gloved guys riding halfway out of a car like a dogs on their way to the park.

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