Quitbit Lighter Helps Curb Your Smoking Habit

LAS VEGAS—Sin City isn't the first place you think of when you think about kicking a nicotine habit. But the Quitbit lighter definitely caught my eye at the Consumer Electronics Show. It's a smart lighter designed to help you quit smoking. It'll light your cigarettes for you, but it also keeps track of your smoking habits to make it easier to put the pack down for good.

The first thing you should know about the Quitbit is that it's an actual lighter, though it doesn't use an actual flame. Instead, it uses a powerful heating element similar to a car lighter, so there's no need for gas or butane. That's pretty convenient, but you'll need to charge the battery every 100 lights, or roughly once a week.

Physically, the Quitbit looks like something of a cross between a Zippo lighter and the face of Samsung smartwatch. Beyond the actual lighter element, the Quitbit has a built-in display that shows information like the amount of cigarettes you've smoked for the day, your goal amount, and the amount of time since you last puffed. It automatically tracks every time you have a cigarette, and it doesn't record multiple smoking events in a few-minute time window, so it won't count relighting your cigarette as smoking a whole new one. It works as a standalone product, with all of the above information displayed on the Quitbit itself, but you get a much more detailed look by connecting it to an Android or iOS device.

This Lighter Can Help You Quit Smoking

The Quitbit wirelessly syncs your data via Bluetooth, allowing you to view how much you smoke across a graph, which makes it easy to see what parts of the day, week, or month you smoke the most. You can also use the app to customize how the Quitbit works, setting new targets and goals as you go along. And if you don't actually trust yourself to stick to the plan, you can even set limits for how often or when the device can work as lighter. There's a social aspect as well, that allows you to share your progress with others, as well as the Quitbit community.

The US$99 Quitbit is available for preorder and is expected to ship in March. That's a pretty steep price to pay for a lighter, but Quitbit points out that even if you start smoking one cigarette less a day, it will pay for itself in a year. I've used my fair share of activity trackers, and they've definitely made me more conscious about the number of steps I take per day. I can see how this same sort of logic can be applied to smoking, but I'm curious to see how well it works. So for all the smokers out there: Let me know if you think this might help more than the patch or e-cigs in the comments below.

Zuckerberg: 99% of Facebook Content Is 'Authentic'

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, acknowledged that hoaxes and fake news occasionally show up on his social network, but that it is 'extremely unlikely' they changed the outcome of the recent US presidential election.

Zuckerberg's comments, posted to Facebook last Saturday, echoed those he made last week when asked about Facebook's role in the election and how it resulted in a historic win for President-elect Donald Trump.

"Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99% of what people see is authentic," Zuckerberg wrote. "Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. The latter that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics."
Facebook has faced repeated criticism following its decision in August to replace the human editors that once curated its 'Trending Topics' section with computer algorithms. Since the change, multiple fake news stories have appeared in the trending section.

Facebook Vice President, Adam Mosseri, acknowledged in August that fake news on Facebook is a problem and has confirmed that the company relies on users to identify it. Zuckerberg hinted that the social network would roll out more tools for users to flag hoaxes and fake news in the near future.

"We have already launched features that enable our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here," he wrote. "We have made progress, and we will continue to work on this to improve further."

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Zuckerberg: Fake News Swaying the Election Is 'Crazy Idea'
Citing sources with direct knowledge of the company's decision-making, Gizmodo also reported how an update to the Facebook News Feed that enables it to detect fake news had been shelved earlier this year after it disproportionately impacted right-wing news sites by downgrading or removing that content from people's feeds.

Even as Zuckerberg downplayed the role that fake news on Facebook played in the election, he did not address suggestions that the mere existence of the social network influenced Trump's victory.

A recent Pew Research Center study found that 20% of social media users have modified their stance on a social or political issue because of something they saw on one of these services. Another 17% revealed how social media helped changed their views about a specific candidate.

D-Link's New Routers Go All Out With the Antennas

D-Link isn't kidding when it says its new line of 11AC Wi-Fi routers have a "bold new look." Our sister site, Geek.com, compared them to equipment used by the Imperial Guard in Star Wars (which is actually a compliment).

The company's latest routers include the AC3200 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-890L/R) with six antennas, plus the AC5300 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L/R) with eight antennas, and AC3100 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-885L/R) with four antennas. The AC3200 is US$309 and exclusive to Newegg at the moment; the latter two have prices to be determined—they'll be out before June.

D-Link claims they'll achieve wireless speeds up to 5.3 Gigabits per second (Gbps) across the 5GHz and 2.4GH bands, and have great household coverage. A new Smart Connect load-balancing feature of the router software will also make sure clients on the network are all getting the bandwidth they need—so your smart TV streaming won't suffer when the kids are upstairs video chatting on tablets, for example. Inside are dual-core processors clocked at 1.4GHz (1GHz in the AC3200).

Here's a noisy video with a CG-rendered look at the new routers.

Naturally, there's also a matching Wi-Fi adapter, the AC1900, that plugs into a computer USB port to match your PC up with the new chips in these routers. It's also got a price and availability to be determined.

D-Link's got other devices at CES this year, too. They include a baby monitor camera with 720p HD view and pan and tilt controls, with mobile viewing via an app. The camera will play up to five MP3s of your choice or five pre-programmed classic lullabies for the little one, and can store snapshots and video on a microSD card. It's for sale now for US$229.99; a standard VGA version is US$139.99.

Not to be outdone by Netgear, which is also releasing 1.2 Gbps HomePlug-based Powerline networking adapters today, D-Link's new PowerLine Kits claim full 2 Gbps speed over your existing home power cabling. That kit, the PowerLine AV2 2000 Gigabit Starter Kit (DHP-701AV), is US$129.99, and pure plug-and-play to connect two rooms. There's also a slower 1 Gbps version (DHP-601AV) that sells for US$79.99.

Don't not forget that home networking gives way to home automation, and D-Link wants its piece of that pie. Today it's launched two home security suites, including a camera, sensor, and smart plug.

Called the D.I.Y. Security Kits, one has an HD camera and goes for US$189.99; the other with a pan and tilt-capable cam goes for US$229.99 (you can buy the HD cam along for US$119.99). All feature myLink cloud video recording (or will later in 2015), local storage to D-Link Network Video Recorder, and can be monitored via apps for iOS and Android.

A Connected Home Hub rounds out the CES offerings—it's a US$79.99 device that can be bundled with sensors for opened/closed doors, motion, water, and a Wi-Fi Siren, all for better monitoring your home. Look for the Connected Home line products to become available in the second quarter of the year.

Secret codes for Android

Most interesting hacks require root and other tweaks, but here is a simple way of getting info on your device and changing some settings not possible in the normal menus. Simply open the dialer on your phone and enter some numbers!

1. 
   

   Basic phone info

   In the dialer enter *#*#4636#*#* You will then see a testing page, which gives you info on the phone, as well as battery stats and app usage stats. In the Wifi menu you can get info on the network you are connected to and more.
2. 
   

   Change the power button action

   Entering  *#*#7594#*#* will bring up the menu to adjust the power button action. Dependent on your ROM you usually see a list of actions such as ‘Reboot – Airplane Mode’ etc, this allows you to remove these.
3. 
   

   HTC Update checking

   *#*# 2432546#*#* If you use an HTC device, you can force a check for updates using this code. This will bring up a notification telling you whether or not it has been successful. Be careful if you are using a custom ROM , as some updates may not be compatible with it.

Get Better Acoustics In Awkwardly Shaped Rooms

As an audiophile, the quality of your favourite music – be it Led Zeppelin or Mozart – is paramount. With a little care, you can turn the living room in your semi-detached house into an acoustical paradise that makes every note and every beat sound as though you were listening live.It all comes down to good speaker placement. Hide expensive speakers behind furniture and they’ll sound muffled; put a set of budget speakers in just the right place and they’ll sound like they are worth twice the price. The average home though, is not a concert hall, so how do you overcome odd-shaped walls and furniture to guarantee yourself the best sound?

Cutting Corners: 

So you had to be awkward and choose an abode where the rooms are odd shapes. All those little nooks and crannies suddenly become unappealing when you’re after the best sound. Avoid corners by arranging your audio/visual equipment and your seating in a rectangle. Although this will obviously mean that you have to arrange the rest of your furniture around them in the space left. But the sound is worth it!

Sound in an L-shaped room: 

The trick here is first to not think about the room as one L-shaped room, but as two rectangular rooms. Ensure your sofa is positioned close to the TV/speakers and not on the other side of the room from them. Inevitably part of the room is going to suffer from poor sound, so make sure it is not the part you predominantly listen to music in. Position your sofa against one long wall and the TV and main speakers opposite it. One surround speaker will be set off from one side wall, but the other will be in the middle of the room. You may have to move it back against the wall to avoid kicking it every time you walk past, although putting it against the wall will minimise its sound quality.

The surprisingly awkward square-shaped room:

Square rooms are bad for getting great sound from your speakers. The walls are all equidistant, so waves of sound reflect from the walls and end up favouring one frequency over others, affecting the tonal quality of the sound. If you put your TV/stereo speakers into a corner at a 45-degree angle, away from reflective walls with the speakers at least 30-inches in front of the TV, that can help. Speakers are best placed in an equilateral triangle arrangement with the listener at the tip of the triangle.

Why reflective surfaces are bad:

All rooms are reflective, with sound waves reverberating from flat surfaces such as walls, tables and counters. These reflections work against the sound quality of your music or the television to varying degrees, depending upon the shape of the room and the presence of other factors, such as furniture and carpets, which can absorb sound (known as damping). While damping can nullify standing waves, which cancel certain frequencies when they reflect off a wall, damping can also significantly lower the volume of your music. Although this may be to the delight of your neighbours, it isn’t ideal for music lovers who enjoy listening to their tracks with audio clarity.

MediaTek Doubles Down on Android at CES

MediaTek on Tuesday introduced several new hardware platforms supporting Google-developed software for wearables and smart TV applications.

The Taiwan-based semiconductor firm, known primarily for its chipsets powering smartphones and other mobile devices, kicked off 2015 with an Android-heavy lineup of new processor platforms at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Leading off, MediaTek's new MT2601 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for wearables is optimized for devices running Android Wear software. It sports a dual-core, 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A7 application processor with ARM Mali-400 MP-based graphics and supports qHD display resolution for wearables in a compact package measuring 480 mm2. A "whole host" external sensors are supported by the SoC, which interfaces with MediaTek's MT6630 for Bluetooth connectivity.

The MT2601, now in production and sampling to MediaTek partners, has "41.5 percent fewer components" and a lower power draw relative to similar SoCs for wearables on the market, according to the company.

"The MT2601 has an incredibly small die size and is highly optimized for cost and power performance. The platform solution, comprised of MT2601 integrated with Android Wear software, will fuel the maker revolution and empower the application developer community worldwide to create a broad range of innovative applications and services," J.C. Hsu, MediaTek's general manager of new business development, said in a statement.

MediaTek also unveiled a pair of SoCs designed in collaboration with Google for Android TV.

The MT5595 is a quad-core SoC incorporating ARM's big.LITTLE chip design architecture with two ARM Cortex-A17 processor cores matched with a pair of ARM Cortex-A7 cores. The MT5595 delivers current HDTV-quality visual computing and supports 4k/Ultra HD video playback at 60 frames-per-second via the Google VP9 and HEVC codecs.

"MediaTek has a strong heritage and a leading position in the TV SoC business. By introducing the world's first Android TV devices, we are demonstrating a fast pace of innovation and strong commitment to the home entertainment business," said Mohit Bhushan, MediaTek's head of U.S. business development. "MediaTek is proud to integrate Android 5.0 Lollipop software in its chipset portfolio and significantly improve the consumers' engagement model with their TVs."

Meanwhile, MediaTek also has audio covered in its burgeoning Google partnership with its new MT8507 audio SoC. The chip is designed for the Internet giant's new Google Cast for audio software and "will power a delightful home audio experience that allows consumers to easily connect with Google Cast Ready speakers and sound bars from their personal devices, such as iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and tablets, Macbooks and Windows PCs, using Google Cast ready applications," MediaTek said.

MediaTek's MT5595 and MT8507 SoCs are also currently in production and should start appearing in consumer devices in early 2015.

Acer Adds 3D Camera to Aspire V 17 Nitro

At CES in Las Vegas today, Acer revealed the new Aspire V 17 Nitro notebook, which includes support for Kinect-like gestures.

The PC is equipped with Intel's RealSense technology, an evolution of the webcam that can sense depth and dimension, allowing neat tricks like 3D scanning of objects, gesture controls in mid-air, and more. As a result, Acer said, those with the new Aspire V Nitro will be able to play games, open Web pages, or use apps without touching the notebook's keyboard or mouse.

The PC also supports 3D scanning, 3D model generating, and printing.

"Acer believes three dimensional computing offers unlimited potential for both professional and consumer uses," Jerry Kao, president of Acer Notebook Business Group, said in a statement. "Business applications include 3D modeling, mapping and architectural design, while the most popular consumer uses will likely include augmented reality gaming, and simple PC navigation and control."

Acer Aspire V 17 NitroIntel's RealSense 3D camera has a conventional camera, an infrared camera, and an infrared laser projector. Other PCs to take advantage of the technology include the odd but intriguing HP Sprout.

Acer pointed to two apps that will support the hands-free action, including the Greek-themed Warrior Wave game, which lets you control characters with your hands. The 3DMe app, meanwhile, will enable 3D scanning right from the notebook. Scan your profile and preview it on different 3D characters. The idea is that you can insert yourself into virtual settings or 3D print a mini-me figurine.

"Whether it is controlling a game with your gestures or easily scanning your face or an object for 3D printing, the Acer Aspire V Nitro featuring Intel Core processors and Intel RealSense is an exciting step forward for consumers looking for a high-performance notebook," Kirk Skaugen, SVP for Intel and General Manager of the Client Computing Group, said in a statement.

Acer Aspire V 17 NitroAs for the specs, the Acer V 17 Nitro sports a 17.3-inch Full HD display with IPS technology and runs a fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4710HQ quad-core processor and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M graphics, up to 4GB DDR5 VRAM, and up to 16GB of memory. Select a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive and up to 1TB of hard disk storage. It also supports 802.11ac and 2.4GHz and 5GH frequencies via its dual wireless antennas.

The Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro will be available in January; price and exact launch dates have not yet been announced. (The Aspire V17 Nitro Black, which arrived in November, retailed for US$1,499.99.)

Also at CES, Acer said it will give its Aspire R 13 convertible notebooks and Aspire S7 ultrabooks an upgrade to fifth-generation Intel Core processors.

The Aspire R 13 made its debut at IFA in the fall and can transition between various notebook and tablet styles of operation. The R 13 series comes in either ultra-sharp 2,560-by-1,440 or 1,920-by-1,080 resolutions, and features a hinge that allows the display to rotate into six different positions.

Acer Chromebook 15Meanwhile, Acer also revealed a larger, 15.6-inch Chromebook. Buyers can select a fifth-gen Intel Core i3 or Celeron processor, 16GB or 32GB SSD drive, and either 2GB or 4GB or RAM. In the U.S., pricing will start at US$249.99; an exact launch data was not announced.

For the gamers, Acer also has two new 27-inch, 2,560-by-1,440 resolution monitors. The Acer XB270HU is the first Nvidia G-SYNC 1 gaming monitor with IPS technology, while the Acer XG270HU is the first gaming monitor with an edge-to-edge frameless display, Acer said.