Yesterday, Apple launched their first products of the year at the Sprint Loaded Event. There were lots of new bits and pieces launched, but one of the more unique items launched is the Apple AirTag. Here’s everything you need to know about it, including the AirTag launch date for Ireland.
What Is Apple AirTag?
I’ve had Tile on my keys for years. In case you don’t know it, Tile is a genius piece of tech. You slap a little gadget onto your valuables and connect it to your phone with Bluetooth. Then, if you lose your keys, handbag, wallet or whatever, the app can tell you where it was when it disconnected.
Apple AirTag is this, on steroids.
AirTag is a small gadget from Apple which slots into the “Find My ecosystem”. This whole ecosystem is to help you find your lost tech. AirTag, is a piece of tech that you attach to your belongings and, if you lose them, it helps you find them. Sounds just like Tile right? Well, fundamentally, the idea is the same and, in fact, Tile is not at all happy about Apple entry into the “findables” space. Apple’s unique difference is the hardware network they can use to find lost items. Let’s dig into this a bit more.
How Does Apple AirTag Work?
There are two fundamental ways the AirTag can help you find your lost belongings in what Apple describes as a “comprehensive finding experience”.
Bluetooth Connection
When you get your AirTag, you can connect it to your phone via Bluetooth. All you need to do is open the package and bring it near your iPhone or iPad. This whole part of AirTag is just like Tile. As long as the AirTag is connected to your phone, everything is fine. The system assumes everything is good. This does offer a massive benefit if you can’t find your keys at home and your AirTag is within range of your iPhone. Using the Find My app, you can activate the AirTag and play a sound so you can find your lost stuff.
If you properly lose something and that Bluetooth connection is broken, the system kicks in. You’ll be able to see where it was last connected. But AirTag goes far beyond that too.
Apple Find My Network
The modern suite of iPhone and iPads now form a massive Find My network of nearly one billion Apple devices. For example, if you lose your handbag in the park and it has an AirTag attached, someone passing by with an iPhone 12 won’t be told that your handbag is sitting in the bushes. However, the phone will privately and anonymously take note of the AirTag near by and send you a notification of the location the tag was spotted.
If someone does see the handbag or any lost AirTag, tapping it with an iPhone or any NFC device will bring that person to a website where they can see the contact details of the owner.
Two important points here. This only works if the AirTag has been marked as lost, so someone can’t just scan your tag in a cafe to get your details. Also, you need to have made your contact details available for your lost AirTag for this to work.
My understanding is that all of this functionality should work in Ireland, but I’m seeking to clarify that for sure with Apple.
I’m a big fan of my wearables. It just kind of happened but for years I’ve been wearing either a Huawei Watch or, more recently, my Fitbit Versa. I had seen Fitbits years ago and was stunned to see how far they had come since. Today, Fitbit unveiled a new device with a new goal in mind. The Fitbit Luxe is a fashion-first fitness tracker designed to track your activity and look great too. Here’s what we learned from the launch.
The Fitbit Luxe
Fitness wearables have never really cracked the whole idea of style. Apple ploughed their own route with an anti-traditional style. My Huawei Watch looks like a watch and I like that. Fitbit is one of the lucky companies to have cornered so much of the market that when you see their devices on someones wrist, you know what it is too. It’s a style of its own. But what about people who just want a bit of style or want to track their activity when out dressed to the nines.
This is why Fitbit has developed the Luxe.
The Fitbit Luxe
The Luxe is a simple fitness wearable. I mean simple in terms of design form, not features as this gadget is functionality rich.
As was the case with the Sense, Fitbit is continuing their split focus on fitness and wellness. The pandemic has been a stressor for all of us and a survey found that 50% percent of us felt the physical and mental effects of stress. This new wearable from Fitbit gives you stress management tools in a neat little tracker, including Fitbit’s Stress Management Score based on activity levels, sleep and heart rate. You also get breathing rate, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate (RHR), skin temperature and oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurements from the Luxe, the last of which will be made available with an update.
The Luxe offers Fitbit’s first colour screen, is completely buttonless, is the thinest tracker ever from Fitbit, and promises up to five days of battery. It does sing memories of the Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit, a wearable that was popular back in my phone shop days.
The Samsung Galaxy Fit
The Luxe is undeniably more modern and stylish and as I flagged at the outset, this really is a fashion-first wearable packed with Fitbit features. There’s a wide range of stylish straps to pair with the Luxe including a stunning modern luxury bracelet from Laguna Beach-based jewellery brand gorjana.
It’s clear as day that Fitbit’s goal here is to create a fitness wearable that’s not only offering a clear window into your activity and well-being but that can also easily be mistaken for a piece of jewellery. This will be a welcome change for many who’ve only ever seen wearables and big, chunky lumps of plastic and steel.
Fitbit Luxe Pricing Ireland
The Fitbit Luxe is available to pre-order today from Fitbit.com and major retailers. For a tracker, it’s a bit on the pricy side at €149.95. This does include a free trial of Fitbit Premium, but that’s only ok. Not something I’d be rushing out to pay for and won’t add massive value for many. That’s not to say the Luxe isn’t worth the outlay. I’ll be reserving judgement for when we get hands on.
The gorjana for Fitbit Luxe Special Edition is available for pre-order today, launching in June, and will set you back €199.95.
Two men have been killed in a car crash over in the United States. We wouldn’t normally report on things like this but the crash involved what looks like Tesla Model S. It’s hard to tell from what’s left of the car following a massive fire. Unfortunately, the crash seems to have occurred because there were only passengers in the car and no driver, leaving many wondering if Tesla should be allowed to continue calling their driver-assist feature “Autopilot“.
What Is Tesla Autopilot?
A couple of years ago I took a Tesla Model S out for a spin along the M50. I activated Tesla’s driver-assist functionality which they’ve branded “Autopilot”. It didn’t work great, with the system being confused over road-markings coming up to an exit, so I immediately disabled it after a few seconds, feeling a little uncomfortable with the idea.
I’ve since tested out a few systems on cars designed to keep drivers safe. Some of them keep cars in the lanes, control cruise control based on cars around you, or if there’s an obvious collision imminent. Tesla’s onboard systems are more advanced than most cars, but the question now is whether or no the term “Autopilot” is misleading to the point where it’s likely to cause an accident. Today’s news would suggest the answer is that the term shouldn’t be used.
Texas Tesla Crash
Reports are emerging of a crash in Texas involving a Tesla and the unfortunate loss of two lives. Normally, this would involve a driver and passengers, but this crash seemingly only involved passengers and the Tesla “Autopilot” system. The Tesla crashed into a tree with one person sitting in the passenger seat and another passenger sitting in the rear of the car.
Image courtesy of www.click2houston.com
It appears that the two passengers engaged the “Autopilot” functionality but did not remain in control of the vehicle. The car didn’t recognise an upcoming corner and drove off the road into a tree. The Tesla website describes the feature as an “advanced driver assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel”.
In this accident, it does look like the passengers believed the car could driver itself, whether that was a responsible thing to do or not.
Not The First Time Autopilot Is Misunderstood
The name itself suggests that the car drives itself. There is a massive difference between automated driverless cars and what Tesla offers. Yet, this misunderstanding has occurred before. Many drivers have been videoed sleeping behind the wheel of their Tesla while the car does all the driving. This is just one of the countless videos.
In other cases, people have “tricked” the Tesla safety features requiring a hand on the wheel so they get free reign of their car while the assistance system does the driving. This video claims it “was done by professionals on a closed-circuit course”, likely in an effort to not only trick the Tesla, but YouTube’s dangerous activity filters to chase some social clout online.
Should Tesla Rename Autopilot?
Clearly, there’s a knowledge gap here. Some drivers believe Autopilot really is fully autonomous. Others believe the system is so safe and advanced, that it’s ok to trick Tesla’s safety features, just letting the assistance system do all the driving.
While Tesla has taken steps to prevent drivers going all in on the car driving itself, the name “Autopilot” is simply too misleading for what the system really is. Tesla finds itself at an awkward halfway point between assistance and automation. Elon Musk and Tesla surely don’t want to remove the name “Autopilot” because it’s an impressive selling point for the fully electric car manufacturer. But with the public clearly in danger of misunderstanding what the system can do, “Autopilot” is dangerously close to misleading and false advertising.
How Much Water Does An Electric Car Fire Take To Put Out?
Electric cars are absolutely key to our eco-friendly methods of getting around. They’re not perfect for many reasons and our general dependency on cars needs to be reduced, but electric cars will play a part. That means we need to learn lots about them, far beyond how to use them on our roads.
Beyond the Autopilot features of Tesla, this particular crash provides another broadly concerning insight into accidents involving electric cars.
The fire burned for hours and took over 120,000 litres of water to extinguish. The reason for this is the battery cell within the car and the duration of burns caused by high-voltage lithium-ion battery fires. The energy involved can cause a car fire to continue and re-ignite over long periods of time.
The Dublin Fire Brigade has undergone training for hybrid car fires and is researching training for full-electric car accidents too.
Research is underway into it at the moment and training for hybrids has already taken place
— Dublin Fire Brigade #StayHomeSaveLives (@DubFireBrigade) April 18, 2021
Call of Duty Warzone is currently one of the most successful Battle Royale games in the world. Warzone peaked in October 2020 with 80 million downloads worldwide. But anyone who plays Warzone will know that the game itself is not without is problems, and the player base is as toxic as they come.
I’m addicted to Warzone, don’t get me wrong. I’ve played it almost daily since the start of lockdown back in March 2020. It is one of the few things that has kept me sane over the past year. But as someone who also hangs out on the Reddit sub r/CODWarzone, the player base reminds me of the Star Wars fanbase. And as we all know, nobody hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans.
For a game that is literally free to download and play, the player base is rather…. entitled. As I mentioned previously, the game doesn’t come without it’s issues, but for a game that’s free, the abuse the devs get online on a daily basis is pretty bad. So what’s got the players knickers in a twist? Let’s look into it a bit closer.
The Good
As I said earlier, I am addicted to Warzone. I don’t even know why as I have a kill/death ratio of 0.7, meaning I get less than one freakin’ kill a game after a full year of playing. I spend most of my time dead and watching other players play the game and hope that they’ll revive me. But the rush of the game is amazing and at now over 60 wins, the sense of achievement never gets old. I only got my first solo win a week ago and almost shed tears of joy.
The game isn’t for everyone as you need patience. It isn’t like other game where you are constantly playing. Sometimes you are just sitting there waiting to be revived and it can get frustrating when you’re having a bad day. Your games are barely lasting 5 minutes and you can’t seem to hit a shot on target. This is how all battle royales work, including Fortnite which took the world by storm a few years ago. But what is important in these types of games is that they run well.
Now for all intents and purposes, Warzone does run well. Think about it, it has numerous game modes, but it’s main one involves 150 players dropping on a map and simultaneously playing the same game, until a last man, or team, is standing. Now, with 80 million players, you have 10’s of 1000’s of these games playing at once. This is a massive undertaking for Activision servers to be able to handle, and it does run pretty well. Unlike it’s main competitors, Fortnite and Apex Predator, the graphics are very life like, where as the aforementioned are animated. As a result, updating the map and it’s features are a lot slower to release than it’s competitors.
So for the amount of work to goes into it, given that the game is FREE, that’s pretty good value. There are battle passes that you can pay 10 euro for with each season release and these last for a couple of months at a time. And you can also make purchases in the store if you are not bothered unlocking them. For example during the halloween event, you could purchase a Leatherface and Jigsaw skin. But these are just cosmetic and won’t give you an advantage over your opponents. This is how all battle Royale games work.
So what’s not to love I hear you ask. Well… where do I begin?
The Bad
Again as I mentioned, I love Warzone and I don’t give it nearly as much stick as the hardcore player base does. But it does have it’s issues.
For one, gun balancing. There’s almost always a META (most effective tactics available), or in this case the most powerful guns. Ideally you want all the guns to have pro’s and cons, for example high damage but also high recoil. Or a quick time to kill but slow aim down sight speed. But the game balancing in this game is way off.
The current meta is the M16 (burst AR with minimal recoil) and the FFAR (another AR with a stupidly quick TTK). Before that it was the Aug, another burst AR. Before that, the Breun, and LMG, before that, the Grau, an AR. So why is this a big deal? Because everyone is just using the same guns with the same attachments. It really takes the fun out of it as using the same guns over and over again becomes boring, but if you don’t use them you just can’t compete.
But the worst I’ve seen yet is the new “pistol”, the Skyov. A automatic pistol that holds 40 rounds with 0 recoil. And to make it worse, you can use 2 at once (akimbo) which now gives you 80 rounds and it… it’s just stupid. The player base is as hostile as I’ve ever seem it since the addition of these pistols this week and… well, it’s been a s**t show. To the point where I actually question whether the devs actually play their own game.
Another issue with the game is bugs. There are always, always bugs with them game. Some of the worst I’ve seen is players not dying in the gas when they use a health stim. I actually lost a game this way and it was extremely frustrating. Another is players turning invisible when on a Most Wanted contract. And just the simple mechanics of the game. You can’t climb up a rock wall half your size but you can just over a 10 foot fence. Trying to pick up an armour satchel will break your heart and could often result in your death. It seems with every single update, there are always bugs that come with it.
And then worst thing is is that the devs don’t seem to listen to the player base. One of the great things about Fortinte was that the devs are very very active on social media and often respond to players. With Activision, Treyarch and Raven, it’s just radio silence until they release a patch. I know I was defending the devs earlier, but they’re by no means perfect.
I could go on to be honest but I don’t want to turn any potential new players off the game. These bugs do get fixed… it just takes awhile. And doesn’t make the game unplayable, regardless of what the folks over at r/CODWarzone say.
The Ugly
The worst part of Warzone? The God damn cheaters. So many cheaters, 99% of which are on PC as they can easily pay and download software that’ll allow them to cheat. They can make themselves invisible, invincible, make them hit 100% of every shot they hit (I’m talking sniping guys across the map, and it’s a HUGE map). And although Activision do what they can to remove cheaters from the game, it’s a losing battle. The upside is that if you’re on console, you can turn off cross play and this will pin you against only Playstation or Xbox players, depending on your console. But there is nothing more frustrating than dying to blatant cheaters.
Another issue, lack of updates. The game has been out a year now and there has been hardly any updates to the map. Any updates that were made (like opening up the stadium) were just underwhelming. Fortnite for example has regular map updates which keeps the game fresh. It also has featurettes with the likes of Star Wars, Marvel, hell, they even had the DJ Marshmellow literally play a Live concert within the game itself. And they actually integrated the Rise of Skywalker into the game, revealing that the Emperor was alive (which I’m still salty about BTW).
In Apex Predator, the map updates to a brand new map every hour. And there are also regular map updates. But this again comes down to the graphics of both games. It’s a lot more difficult to programme realisitic graphics into a game as complex as a battle Royale that it is to programme animated games.
The biggest issue with Warzone though, was the intergration of Black Ops Cold War. Originally, the guns you used in Warzone came from Modern Warfare 2, developed by Treyarch. When BOCW released they changed developers from Treyarch to Raven and even changed the entire engine the game ran on. You could now use Cold War and MW guns, but this came at the expense of the functionality of the game.
Those who did play Cold War could also see that the game wasn’t even finished. Activision put out an unfinished game due to it’s own annual deadline and the paid for it. There are already reports that COD 2021 is already a disaster, but that has yet to be seen. The integration of Cold War came with more bugs and was crashing Warzone too. Players now want to hand he reigns back to Treyarch as Raven have simply bottled it.
Conclusion
I started off writing this article intending on writing a balanced review, however it seems that I have highlighted a lot more of the native points than the positives. But now might actually be a better time than ever. With Season 3 releasing on 22 April, we are getting a brand new map (allegedly) and lots of gun balancing updates. They game will be fresh and hopefully more balanced and competitive. I would say if you’re into gaming to give it a go.
But give it a couple of weeks. You’re not going to get a win until you’ve a good 10 hours or so under your belt. You need time to learn the mechanics, guns and map, but when you do, it really can be a lot of fun. I have some 12 hour binges that confirms that. As someone who stopped gaming when I was 13, Warzone actually reinvigorated my love of gaming and I now game more than I have in over a decade thanks to it. So give it a shot and see what you think, because hey, it’s free.
I’ve got to admit, I was pretty shocked with the news yesterday that KBC was kicking off plans to exit the Irish market. The news comes just weeks after Ulster Bank announced the same. Ireland isn’t exactly rich with banking options and now customers are left to choose from the remaining “big three” banks of Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Bank of Ireland (BOI) and Permanent TSB (PTSB). There are two further alternatives in modern “online-only” banks or neobanks like N26 and Revolut, but are they really a full alternative to traditional banks?
Are Revolut And N26 Proper Banks?
While both organisations let you manage your money, give you a bank card and let you buy online or in stores, there are some subtle differences between the two.
N26 Is A Bank
N26 launched as Number 26 back in 2013 and today has its headquarters in Berlin. In 2016, N26 was awarded a European Banking License and this year passed the 7 million customers mark. Even at that, N26 is definitely the smaller of the two online-only banks and it’s estimated that just over 200,000 of their customers are in Ireland.
This is a bit of a surprise given they’ve been around a little longer and offer some more of the official banking protection not available with Revolut.
If you are an N26 customer, your money is protected by the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme which means up to €100k of your money is protected.
Revolut Is Not A Bank
Revolut is absolutely the more dominant of the two companies. Founded in 2015 and now with 15 million customers, 1.2 million of which are in Ireland, Revolut has grown popular largely owing to their refer a friend approach. Today, it’s unlikely that grabbing a drink or splitting to price of dinner couldn’t be easily done with everyone at the table by just sayings “Revolut?”.
Revolut offers everything you’d expect for day-to-day banking. You can your cards, IBAN and can even buy stocks, commodities, cryptocurrency and get rewards for using your card to pay for stuff.
I have both N26 (for business) and Revolut for day-to-day banking. Revolut’s app is incredible and packed full of rich features like vaults, Revolut Junior for your kids and the ability to split bills. My favourite feature is being able to pay internationally and always get the best exchange rate. I’ve tested that from New York to Seoul and love it.
As slick as Revolut is, and it is slick, one reason some have apprehensions about going all-in is down to their banking license. Revolut operates under a Lithuanian banking license, much like N26 operates under a German licence. European Union laws dictate that you can “passport” or transfer a banking license from one EU nation to another and this is what N26 did to properly become a bank in Ireland.
Revolut hasn’t passport their licence from Lithuania which means they’re not a proper bank in Ireland.
This all means that your money isn’t protected by a €100k Deposit Guarantee Scheme. Instead you rely on “safe guarding” and which might not be so straight forward or transparent.
Can I Use Revolut Instead Of KBC Or Ulster Bank?
This is very much an “it depends” scenario.
Day-to-Day Banking
For day-to-day banking, there’s no reason why you couldn’t really use Revolut instead of KBC and Ulster Bank. Generally speaking, I always have a bit of money in my Revolut. Anywhere from 10% to 30% of my monthly wages go into Revolut for daily spending. For now, at least, the rest stays in my “proper” KBC bank account. The reason for this is that I have some, not a lot, of savings. If you have money every month that you don’t touch, from €500 to €50k and beyond, you probably shouldn’t leave it sitting in Revolut, just in case.
N26, on the other hand, would be fine for some savings as it’s got the German Deposit Guarantee Scheme up to €100k.
Credit Facilities
If you have, or want to have, access to credit facilities, these “online-only” banks are of no use to you. While this is the next big obvious area of expansion and development for neobanks, credit cards, loads and mortgages are still reserved for the big traditional players like BOI, AIB and PTSB. It’s almost certain that offering credit is just around the corner for the new online-only banks, but right now it’s not an option.
Cheques And Branches
Because of their online-only nature being one of the reasons they can cut many costs and remove excessive fees and the likes, neobanks don’t have physical branches. If you have an issue with Revolut, for example, you might have to engage a chatbot or chat assistant. I’ve had good experience with the care teams of Revolut and N26, but this won’t be for all.
Also, if you want to lodge cash or cash a cheque (which I actually did have to do last week) it doesn’t look like there’ll ever be a way to do so.
This all means that chances are, you’ll continue to require a traditional bank while using neo
I’m a big fan of the comedian Dara O’Briain. He never fails to illicit full belly laughs from me. He’s got a fantastic joke (that we can probably all relate to) about a friend of his who just got Sky HD and an HD TV. I’ll never do the joke justice here, so check it out below. As fun as it is to laugh at this well-intentioned but tech-illiterate friend, I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I had an experience similar to this one the other week with my PS5. The thing is, however, I’m sure I’m not the only one.
As Marty pointed out last week, the PS5 doesn’t have a huge amount going for it at the moment. In fact, apart from Demon’s Souls, I can’t think of a single game that would make me wholeheartedly recommend the upgrade. One thing that the PS5 does have over the PS4 though, is the ability to play games at higher resolutions, higher framerates, and with the oh-so-lovely Dualsense controller. This was certainly a draw to the estimated 25% of PS5 owners who didn’t have a PS4. However, it probably wasn’t enough on its own to make all but the most hardcore gamers buy into the system (for the record I don’t fit into either of those categories, I’m just a sucker for new tech).
Not all Games are Created Equal
The basic gist is pretty simple; on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series you can get a free upgrade to the next-gen version of a game if you own the previous-gen version (so if I bought the PS4 version of Assassin’s Creed I’d essentially be able to get the PS5 version free of charge). Not all games support this, however, but any that don’t will, more than likely, run smoother and have fewer performance issues on the newer tech. It’s a win-win in all scenarios.
On the Xbox Series, this is all handled in the background. You pop your game in and when you go to play it, you’re prompted to upgrade to the next-gen version. The update downloads, installs, and you’re good to go. Not so for the PlayStation. If you own a PS4 game that’s been given the “re-release” treatment you have to go to the tab for the game, find the store tile for the game you already own, and “rebuy” it. This will start the update and it will bring you over to the newer version of the game. Now, this doesn’t cost any money, but it’s such an awkward way of doing things. Even at the best of times, it’s tough to know which version of the game you’re playing. Some games like Final Fantasy VII Remake are a whole other kettle of fish.
Owning up to my shame
I was caught out by this last week. In a previous article, I wanted to include a picture of Crash Bandicoot in his Pirate outfit from It’s About Time. “Great,” I thought, “the game just got a free upgrade to the PS5 version, so I bet it’ll look deadly!”. I loaded up what I thought was the PS5 version of the game and took a couple of screenshots. They didn’t come out too well. When I went through the palaver of importing them to my PC, they were blurry, I lost a lot of detail as I zoomed in. Nothing seemed to add up. I went back to try and take some better shots and I noticed a tile on the PS5 home screen that was offering me a digital copy of Crash Bandicoot for free. Turns out this was the upgrade file that I thought had downloaded automatically! Well, I never felt like more of a fool. There was I playing through the final frustrating levels of the game following a normal update thinking “Well I guess it kind of looks better, and it loads a little faster”. All a placebo effect induced by the tall white trickster! I became that friend who was obsessing about his not-actually-HD HD TV.
How to Avoid the Trap
If this happens to you, or if you want a free upgrade to the game be sure to do a little search in the game’s page and download the file marked as “Free” from the store. After that installs, make sure you’re playing the PS5 version of the game by opening the options page from the Game-Launch tile. This will let you know which version of the game you’ve currently got loaded up. Why Sony didn’t make this a seamless, automatic process I’ll never know. Who would actively choose to play a lesser version of a game? Who doesn’t want to play at a guaranteed 60fps or 4K if they can? Even when I loaded up the new version of Crash 4 all the button prompts had changed to match the Dualsense buttons, just compounding the shame I felt.
No gaming experience should be this complicated
Look, in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a major problem. It’s not even a first-world problem. It’s a 1% problem. But it’s just one more thing that’s disappointing about the overall experience of the PS5. Now to go and download the PS5 versions of Ratchet and Clank and Horizon: Zero Dawn before the sequels come out…
It’s been a rollercoaster year for new social media kid on the block, TikTok. The platform has, for me at least, kept me incredibly entertained during the many various versions of lockdown that we’ve had. It’s not just about silly dances, trends and music though. TikTok is an incredibly diverse and accessibility-focused social media app. Today, its just released the long-awaited text-to-speech functionality in Ireland. Here’s how to use it.
How To Use Text To Voice With TikTok In Ireland
This isn’t a stupid workaround guide, of which there are plenty online. This is the real deal. Before you start, make sure you’re using the latest and most up to date version of the TikTok app.
I’ve tested this on both Android and iPhone so both should work.
Record your video. You can either upload a video you’ve already recorded or record natively within the TikTok app. Again, I’ve tested both.
Once you’ve finished capturing, hit the red tick for final editing.
At the bottom, select text and type the text you would like to end up as speech. You might need to play around with some of the spellings to strike a balance between how it looks and sounds. TikTok will make mistakes and remember. We’re speaking Irish-English here people.
Once you’ve finished writing your text, tap away from the text and then tap on it again to edit it.
Where you used to see “Set Duration” and “Edit”, you’ll now see “text-to-speech” too.
Tap this option and TikTok will take a second to do it’s best to convert your text to speech.
If you edit the text, you’ll need to regenerate the sound again. You can add several to a single video clip by editing the duration of the text like you did before.
Why Is TikTok’s Text To Speech So Popular?
There are two big reasons this is important. First, and foremost, it encourages all users to add subtitles to their videos. This makes the entertainment accessible for more users, for example, people who are hearing impaired.
The other reason is down to the world slowly but surely opening back up again. As we get back on buses or sitting in public places without headphones in general, people will start gobbling down TikTok videos again and won’t always be able to listen. Text-to-speech makes it far more likely that videos will have text.
So, if you’ve jumped into TikTok in the past year, there’s some fun news for you. Go forth and create funny videos with robotic voiceovers. If you’re new, we’ve already pulled together a list of the best people to follow on TikTok. If we’ve missed some people let us know.
That’s the review. Easily one of the worst films I’ve ever watched. I’m not reviewing it because it’s awful. If you still want to watch it on your head may it be.
Spotify enjoyed the lions-share of the music streaming market for many years. Most recent data shows that they sit in second place to Apple Music. It’s not a bad place to be for the platform, but how do they continue to grow and make more money without losing subscribers. Well, they take a leaf out of Apple’s book. Apple, a hardware company, is making money by moving into software, or services. Spotify, a service, is moving into hardware with the Car Thing. It’s actually free, but unfortunately, not available in Ireland.
What Is Spotify Car Thing?
The idea of the Spotify Car Thing has actually been around for a few years. The original gadget was designed to be a voice-controlled in-car music control, much like the latest iteration is. The difference is that the original was to learn from users. This new Car Thing is very much shifting focus towards generating revenue from hardware units.
Car Thing lets you play music from your Spotify Premium account while driving without the need to take out your phone. Not everyone has Android Auto or Apple Car Play or even a young enough car for such technology, making a retrofit gadget like this a very popular idea. To play some tunes, you just have to say “Hey Spotify” followed by the track or playlist you’re after. You’ll then be able to control what’s on your Car Thing with your voice or the physical dial on the front, along with the generously sized touchscreen.
Is Spotify’s Car Thing Free?
Yep. The weird thing is that the Car Thing is free. Spotify is looking to make money by giving away free hardware. You’ll need to fork out for delivery, but the device itself won’t cost you a penny. It’s exclusively available for Spotify Premium customers and can only be requested. You’re not at all guaranteed to get it. See that. FOMO, just like what Sony is doing with PlayStation 5 right now.
Spotify themselves say their “focus remains on becoming the world’s number one audio platform—not on creating hardware” but this is a clever move. There is a massive surge in interest from customers who want a better in-car audio experience. The likelihood is that Car Thing is going to drive new customers to abandon Apple Music or other streaming platforms, jumping ship for Spotify and some neat hardware delivering a “seamless and personalised in-car listening experience”.
All of those new customers are not only bringing new revenue but because of the hardware commitment, they’ll be unlikely to leave the platform either. Genius.
Does Car Thing Need Data?
Yes. To work, Spotify’s Car Thing needs a WiFi or data connection. The latter being the more likely for when your out and about in your car. It doesn’t have to many smarts inside it either and will need to retain a connection to a smartphone too.
Is Car Thing Coming To Ireland?
No. Spotify has not provided any information on further plans to provide or sell the Car Thing outside the United States. For now, the Car Thing will only be available in the U.S. and is available on an invite-only basis.
If you’re in the United States and like the sound of this, you can sign up for Car Thing with Spotify. Best of luck with requesting your invite!
There’s a beautiful irony about the whole zombie genre. It’s been done to death and keeps coming back for more. Netflix has released two trailers for the upcoming Army of the Dead movie. The first trailer left me feeling like the end of Season 3 of The Walking Dead. The second, longer trailer released this week which reveals a bit more depth of the story is much more exciting. It looks like some genuinely new takes on the classic zombie category.
What’s The Plot?
So we got zombies. Somehow, the zombie outbreak seems to have been limited to Las Vegas. The gambling capital of the world is walled off from the rest of humanity and all that remains inside are zombies. The simply massive Scott Ward, played by (Dave Bautista) manages to fit himself in behind a burger frier and works in a cafe. He’s a veteran of the zombie war, one of those types who could tell you a few things about what went on.
He’s approached by a casino boss who wants to get some his $200 million dollars that sitting in his casino’s vault back before Las Vegas is levelled by a nuke to finish off the whole zombie thing.
The movie seems to be offering the classics. We have limited time to get everything done, a vault that’s impossible to crack and some pretty fast zombies.
What Kind Of Zombies Are In Army Of The Dead?
They’re fast “28 days later” zombies. And no, I don’t know if they’ve actually died and been reanimated which still begs the question whether or not we can even call them zombies. All that’s to be decided still. The more recent trailer does give us lots of insight into the zombies behaviour beyond them being bloody fast.
They seem to be a lot more intelligent than your average reanimated dead. There’s a power hierarchy and even seems to be zombie leadership. Two of the zombies share a moment of passion together too.
There’s also some great contextual zombie stuff to enjoy purely because we’re in Vegas baby. For example, there is a reanimated Elvis impersonator, or at least I’m assuming an impersonator and not the real deal. We also get to see a rarity for the genre in animals being effected too, all thanks to a cameo from a zombie tiger.
Is Army of the Dead a sequel to Dawn of the Dead?
No. While close in name, Army of the Dead is a standalone movie. For now.
Army of the Dead isn’t Zack Snyder’s first rodeo when it comes to zombie flicks. Snyder, who has been in the news recently for his darker cut of Justice League, had his breakthrough directorial moment with “Dawn of the Dead” 17-years ago. But we have to remember that as brilliant as Dawn of the Dead is, that’s actually a remake from the 1978 original directed by the godfather of zombie movies, George A Romero.
Army of the Dead is unlikely to be a stand alone movie with many tipping it to be the start of a whole franchise for Netflix.
Who Is In The Movie?
Army of the Dead features Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Matthias Schweighöfer, Theo Rossi, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma S. Qureshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone, Michael Cassidy.
The big news for this movie is that Dave Bautista gets a leading role. He bloody well deserves is after years of being a supporting actor doing a lot of heavy lifting. It’s also great to see Matthias Schweighöfer playing the German safecracker. I’ve seen him in loads of German stuff and find him hilarious.
What Is The Release Date For Army of the Dead?
Army of the Dead is streaming on Netflix from May 21 2021. Follow the latest news on social media using #ARMYOFTHEDEAD
