And in 2026, with Qi2 bringing MagSafe-style charging to Android, these aren’t just for iPhone anymore, they’re becoming universal.

Here are the 5 most popular magnetic power banks right now, based on what’s trending, tested, and actually worth carrying.

1. Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K) — The One Everyone Recommends

If you’ve read any “best power bank” list lately, this is at the top—and for good reason.

10,000mAh (actually useful capacity) Qi2-certified 15W magnetic charging Smart display + strong magnets

It’s widely considered the best overall magnetic power bank right now 

Why people love it:

It hits the sweet spot—powerful, still portable, and just works without quirks.

2. Anker MagGo Power Bank Slim (10K) — Power Without the Bulk

This is the version you buy if you hate thick battery packs.

Slimmer profile than most 10K banks Still gives nearly 2 full charges 15W wireless + 30W wired

Why it’s hot:

People want power, but not a brick stuck to their phone. This solves that.

3. Baseus PicoGo Qi2 Magnetic Power Bank — The Compact Favorite

This one is everywhere right now, especially for everyday carry.

5,000mAh (perfect for top-ups) Built-in kickstand Ultra-compact design

Why it’s popular:

It’s small enough to leave on your phone all day without noticing.

This fits the new trend: top off your battery, don’t fully recharge it

4. Baseus Nomos 45W Qi2 Magnetic Power Bank — The Power User Pick

If you want something more serious:

10,000mAh Built-in cable (huge bonus) Up to 45W wired output

Why it stands out:

This is one of the few that can charge more than just your phone—think tablets or even light laptops.

5. Anker MagGo Power Bank (10K, Apple Watch Edition) — The Ecosystem Play

This one’s niche—but blowing up for Apple users.

Charges phone + Apple Watch Built-in cable All-in-one travel solution

Why it’s trending:

People are tired of carrying multiple chargers. This replaces all of them.

What’s Driving the Trend

Magnetic power banks aren’t new—but they’ve hit a tipping point.

Qi2 standard = better alignment + faster charging Slimmer designs = actually pocketable Multi-function = fewer accessories overall

Wireless charging used to be a gimmick. Now it’s finally practical—no cables needed, just snap and go 

What Most People Should Actually Buy

Let’s keep it real:

Everyday users: get a 5K slim pack (like Baseus PicoGo) Heavy users: go 10K (Anker MagGo) Travel / tech-heavy: get one with cables + multi-device support

What to Watch Out For

Not all magnetic power banks are equal.

Common issues:

Fake “MagSafe” with weak magnets Slow 7.5W charging instead of true Qi2 Overheating on cheap models

If it’s not Qi2-certified in 2026, skip it.

Final Thought

Magnetic power banks are one of the few accessories that actually change how you use your phone.

No cables. No planning. No “I’ll charge later.”

Just snap it on and keep going.

What are you using right now—still cables, or have you switched to magnetic?

This monstrous slab of “innovation” unfolds into a 10-inch screen. It allows you to finally use three different portrait-sized apps simultaneously. This is a feature literally no one asked for, but it justifies the new titanium hinge.

This is Samsung’s three-hinge Hail Mary. They want to prove they’re still the “leader” after Huawei already launched one of these last year. The true threat, Apple, arrives in 2026. Apple might make the whole foldable genre popular enough to actually matter. Of course the Apple version will be magical.

But don’t worry about this ultra-premium, ultra-thin folding device shattering. They’re kindly offering a one-time 50% discount on screen repairs. You are paying extra for a phone that can break in a more complicated way. This is just the price of being an early adopter.

Here are the specifications for the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, based on the press release:

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Specifications

Display

• Main Screen (Unfolded):
  • 10.0-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X
  • Resolution: 2160 x 1584, 269 ppi
  • Peak Brightness: 1600 nits
  • Refresh Rate: 120 Hz adaptive (1~120 Hz)
• Cover Screen (Folded):
  • 6.5-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X (21:9 aspect ratio)
  • Resolution: 2520 x 1080, 422 ppi
  • Peak Brightness: 2600 nits
  • Refresh Rate: 120 Hz adaptive (1~120 Hz)

Processor & Performance

• Processor: Customized Snapdragon® 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy
• Platform Features: Integrated Galaxy AI (including Photo Assist, Generative Edit, Sketch to Image, Browsing Assist, and Gemini Live enhanced with multimodal AI)
• Productivity: First mobile phone to have standalone Samsung DeX available (access up to four workspaces, each running five apps simultaneously).

Camera

• Rear Camera (Triple Array):
  • Wide-Angle: 200 MP Quad Pixel AF, OIS, F1.7
  • Ultra-Wide: 12 MP Dual Pixel AF, F2.2 (120˚ FOV)
  • Telephoto: 10 MP PDAF, OIS, F2.4, 3x Optical Zoom (up to 30x Digital Zoom with AI Super Resolution)
• Front Camera (Cover Screen):
  • 10 MP Selfie Camera, F2.2

Durability & Design

• Hinge: Refined Armor FlexHinge with a dual-rail structure and two differently sized hinges.
• Materials: Titanium hinge housing, Advanced Armor Aluminum frame, ceramic-glass fiber-reinforced polymer back panel.
• Thinness (Unfolded): Measures just 3.9 mm at its thinnest point (4.2 mm at the center screen).

Battery & Charging

• Battery Capacity: 5,600 mAh three-cell battery system (the largest battery Samsung has ever had in a foldable phone).
• Charging: 45W super-fast charging.

Dimensions & Weight

• Weight: 309 g
• Folded (H x W x D): 159.2 x 75.0 x 12.9 mm
• Unfolded (H x W x D): 159.2 x 214.1 x 3.9 mm (thinnest point)

We (Mobility Digest team) just got done discussing this article by TechCrunch titled: “What if the iPhone had never arrived?“. Immediately it is screaming Apple fanboy all over it but I’m game, I’ll have a read. The story starts off in 2007 when Apple launched the iPhone and basically goes on to describe the current market dominated by Apple and not carriers and different converged smartphones with different OS’s like Symbian and RIM which ran on devices like Nokia and Blackberry.  The article goes on to describe what it would be like today without Apple and how carriers would have more influence than they do now and that Symbian and RIM would still be relevant and Android would be the dominating factor.

But how did they miss Microsoft and Windows Mobile? In 2007 when Apple launched the iPhone we had another top end ecosystem device called the “Tilt” by AT&T. Made by HTC the 8925 was a powerhouse converged device and had a massive superpower community behind called XDA Developers. In fact PC World named the AT&T Tilt their TOP 10 pick of smartphones in 2007: Check it out: PCWorld: “Top 10 Cell Phone Favorites for 2007”

What about market share in 2007 on smartphones? Apple was not even close to being on top. In fact behind Symbian which dominated, Apple only had a 7% market share:

• Symbian leads with 65% share, ahead of Microsoft on 12%, RIM on 11%, Apple on 7%, and Linux at 5% (source)

The smart phone market was booming and it is still an ever evolving market. The smart phone has changed our lives as much or more than we thought it would back in 2007. But it was in 1996 when Windows CE came out that things started getting interesting. In 2000 it was renamed Pocket PC and then we got the Dell Axim in 2002. Later in 2003 it would be named Windows Mobile and we started getting really cool devices called “converged devices”.

It was then that Microsoft seemed unable to find their butt with both hands and a flash light and completely abandoned the promise of this platform and alienated their fan boy base by doing nothing. They could have dominated the market much like Apple does today but sadly and like so many other companies (cough cough RIM) missed the explosion social networking, soccer moms and playing games on phones. Yet, Microsoft wasn’t done raising our hopes and smashing them all to bits. In 2010 we were delighted to see Windows Phone come out. Much like Star Wars we thought of it as a “New Hope”. As I like to say No Ah Ah. Windows Phone was so limited when launched against an already powerful iPhone and Android platform. App developers were incredibly slow to adapt to it and release critical apps to compete with iPhone and Android. Then there was this relationship with Nokia that just didn’t convince consumers to buy Windows Phone. And now apps are slowing disappearing from Windows Phone and where are they now. Even a promising Microsoft Band wearable technology watch just could not hold up to the Apple Watch, Android and Fitbit devices.

So as you can see there was a lot going on and I see Microsoft Windows Mobile as being a huge part of the enthusiasm of where Apple and it’s iPhone is today. Apple did not invent the smart phone market, but they sure as hell kicked ass dominating it.

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Also there is a 1 Gem spell boost to help you wreak havoc when attacking. Pretty nice but I would have rather had the troop boost instead.

NOW! The bigger news is what is coming out of ClashCon that is happening in just 2 more days in Finland?  There are a lot of rumors but I suspect there will be a brand new Town Hall 11 update. There is also a lot of talk about a major overhaul in the war part of the game which has become huge! Introduced later on since the release of the game, it has become very competitive and branched away from the “Trophy Pushers” that dominate the top of the leader boards. There are a lot of war clans out there like OneHive that deliver the toughest attacks and prepared bases for defending. Jake at OneHive also has a YouTube channel to help you “Suck Less” at war attacks and prepare you for Town Hall 9 where your attacks get very complex and 3 starring is very difficult.

So ClashCon is setting Clash of Clans up to stay a dominant game on mobile devices for the foreseeable future by making changes and keeping the game fresh.

Let us know if you liked this article and this type of content and please leave some comments. Would love to answer questions or hear your feedback or opinions on the game.

Lastly, some of the Mobility Digest team (like me) play Clash of Clans (we are obsessed really) and have our clan called Atomic Napalm #Y2VCL9CJ . We are going to be a level 5 clan after tomorrows war! Check us out!

But I just bought a sweet joystick and am short on time.

So sat down with my boss and told him exactly that, asking if, provided most of a given week’s priorities and problems have been extinguished, if I could take some time, like a few hours or an afternoon, at work on Fridays to learn Python.

The answer was yes. Enthusiastic and with no hesitation.

My boss went on to tell me I may want to check out Pandas in supplementation to Python, some machine learning thing, a rudimentary knowledge of which, in tandem with some Python, could enable me to rake in the cheddar. He also advised me told me to buy a cheap Chromebook (done) so that in addition to time spent on Python at work and at home I could also use my commutes to learn and code.

Next he told me that if I commit to this with some seriousness, I could soon contribute to my team’s project using Python; and were I to have done that, he could then be in a position to vouch for me as a Python veteran if I needed him to. Cool boss, right? Well, we’ll see, today is Friday.

Finally he encouraged me to cut down on my sugar intake. One of the more peculiar segues my boss has made, but I’ve been clean three weeks without a single Gummi Bear.

If you want to learn something on the job that could make you better at your job, just ask your boss like I did and see what happens. At the least you will have made it harder to be faulted for a lack of ambition, and, who knows, he might even pay for your Chromebook.

Doug Simmons

[1] EG, this, this, this and this.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I hate exclusivity with companies, not just phones but everything really. I’m on AT&T and if I want the new Sony phone I have to switch to Verizon, how is that fair? It seems like a decent phone especially the fact that it works with the PS4, yes you can play games on the phone with the PS4 controller. I get why they do it, but ultimately things should be about your customers, and being only on Verizon is not about customers at all, it’s about money that Verizon gave Sony and money that Verizon could possibly make from the deal. Wouldn’t a phone like this be better if it was on all carriers? Especially for Sony and the PlayStation? Ok, rant over… The Sony Xperia Z4v is the latest flagship Android phone and it’s got tons of features that anyone, especially a gamer would love, (too bad it’s only for gamers who are Verizon customers). Whatever, PR is below for you…

Sony Mobile Communications ("Sony Mobile") and Verizon Wireless today announced that the Sony Xperia Z4v smartphone will be available in the United Statesthis summer exclusively from Verizon Wireless. The premium Android 4G LTE waterproof(1) smartphone is here to give you the freedom to play – delivering unrivaled entertainment experiences and innovative camera technologies along with powerful battery performance(2).

"The Sony Xperia Z4v continues a tradition of high-quality smartphones that have the best of entertainment with Sony movies, PlayStation gaming, and in-demand features like a powerful battery, all on the largest and most reliable 4G LTE network in the United States," said Jeff Dietel, vice president, Marketing for Verizon Wireless. "This combination of a great network and a great device makes it easy for customers to explore and enjoy what wireless connectivity can bring to them where they live, work and play."

Designed to Perform

We know life can be tough on your smartphone. Designed with durability in mind, the slim-framed Xperia Z4v is dust-tight and waterproof, featuring tempered glass panels – so you won’t get held back by a slip or spill.

With impressive performance, Xperia Z4v powers through whatever life throws at it and keeps you up to speed with the latest in entertainment. From 4K recording to gaming, Xperia Z4v’s powerful, ultra-fast Qualcomm^® Snapdragon 810 processor with X10 LTE and 64-bit octa-core CPU lets you enjoy a universe of your favorite entertainment in an uncompromised, fluid, and lightning-fast experience. Need to do two things at once or find something online? This impressive processor helps to enable multitasking and fast-paced web browsing while delivering a seamless UI experience. With 32GB storage and up to 128GB SD storage, enjoy unlimited entertainment possibilities in the palm of your hand.

Best-in-class entertainment in a smartphone

For gamers, the Xperia Z4v allows you to break away from your TV and continue your PlayStation^®4 (PS4) gaming anywhere in your home via PS4 Remote Play(3). Simply connect your Xperia smartphone to your PS4 via home Wi-Fi^® and use your DUALSHOCK^®4 Wireless Controller(4) to play full versions of your favorite PS4 games directly on your phone. Additionally, users can stream Spotify while playing PS4 games without ever having to hit pause – simply control the music on your PS4 using your Xperia Z4v with Spotify Connect.

Hear the difference of the Z4v with your own ears. Discover the nuances of your favorite artists with studio quality sound captured by Hi-Res Audio and increase the sound fidelity of MP3 or AAC music tracks to near High-Resolution quality with the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE HX). Also equipped with LDAC support, the Z4v allows you to transmit your favorite Hi-Res Audio tracks over Bluetooth. Together with the Snapdragon 810’s Fluence technology, Sony’s rich audio expertise and first-on-market Automatic Headset Optimization, your Xperia Z4v automatically adjusts audio settings according to the headset style you’re using for the most immersive sound experience.

Xperia Z4v also brings movies to life in vivid detail with the 5.2-inch Full WQHD TRILUMINOS display for mobile featuring Live Color LED powered by X-Reality for mobile, creating a wider palette of rich, natural colors and enhanced color depth and gradation without the risk of oversaturation. Additionally, you can maintain increased brightness and contrast with the Z4v’s power-efficient smart adaptive display.

Take your entertainment with you on-the-go with high-powered battery performance that helps you power through it all, with up to a full day of charge(2). Xperia Z4v features a high-density 3,000 mAh battery and a power efficient display with Memory on Display. Xperia Z4v also offers Battery STAMINA mode and Ultra STAMINA mode to enable efficient power consumption that maximizes battery life. For fast and easy charging, Xperia Z4v features Qualcomm^® Quick Charge 2.0 which offers re-charging up to 75% faster(5), embedded wireless charging with the latest inductive ‘Qi’ and PMA technology, and a capless USB port for added convenience.

"With the coming Xperia Z4v launch, we are delivering on our commitment to bringing the latest and greatest Sony smartphones to the US," said Ravi Nookala, President, Sony Mobile Communications North America. "Our Xperia Z4v offers US customers the most fun mobile experience around with features that give them the freedom to play."

Superior Camera Technology

Whether you’re snapping a group photo or taking a quick selfie, Xperia Z4v lets you take the perfect shot anytime, anywhere. Utilizing Sony Electronic’s Cyber-Shot^® and Handycam^® technologies, Xperia Z4v offers superior camera performance on both the 20.7 MP rear and 5 MP front cameras. With the high-sensitivity Exmor RS image sensor and high ISO, you can capture high-quality portraits, even in low lighting. Take full advantage of the front-facing camera’s 25 mm wide-angle lens to fit more into your selfie pictures – without distortion at the edges. With 4K video recording capability and SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode, you can document memories in brilliantly detailed high quality video.

Xperia Z4v continues to build on our previous generation’s already impressive camera experience by expanding the ecosystem of camera capabilities and empowering users to unleash their creativity with 15 preloaded Xperia camera apps such as Timeshift burst and Video, picture-in-picture, and self-styling portraits.

Availability

Xperia Z4v will be available this summer in black and white color options and as part of the Made for Xperia offering at Verizon, customers will have a selection of protective cases from leading accessories brands like Incipio^®, Tech21, OtterBox^®, and Case-Mate available for purchase in-store and online. Verizon customers can sign up online for more information about Xperia Z4v smartphone. For a full list of specifications, visit www.XperiaZ4v.com.

The other major update is for wars. No you can opt in and out of wars as well earn extra badges and loot for your performance in wars. COC has also cut down the time to request troops in wars also with these new perks.

What’s New in Version 7.1.1

Clans Are Leveling Up!
– Level up your clan and earn perks, prestige and fancy badges!
– Cannon level 13 packs a punch and takes a lot of damage!
– Clan Wars Opt-in/Opt-out gives your Clan full control of war!
– Customize your Clan badge with the badge editor!
Power-up your Clan with Clan Perks
– Request troops more often and donate more troops at a time
– Get refunds and automatic upgrades on donated troops
– Increase your Clan War loot bonus and store more in your Clan Castle

Make sure you update and let me know how those level 13 Canons work! It will be years before I get my TH8 to that level!

Apple iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clash-of-clans/id529479190?mt=8

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.supercell.clashofclans&hl=en

Product: Portable Air Vent Mount Cellphone Holder

Price: $6.99

Overall Rating: 5/5

Specs/Features:

Size:
Outside Length: (when closed): 3.7” – (when open) 5"
Inside Length: (when closed): 2” – (when open) 3.5"

Width: 1.1"
Material: ABS Plastic
Weight: 1.4oz (40g)

Feature:
Air vent mounted design fits most cars without blocking visibility.
360 degree rotatable cradle, easy adjustable cradle – horizontally or vertically.
Length adjustable from 2-3.5 inch, universal fit for most mobile phone and Smartphones.
Convenient to use for Nav, Waze, Maps, or read messages while driving.
Slim, neat, elegant and lightweight design for an organized look.

Fitment:
Universal fits for Most Auto Car Vehicle Automotive Truck such as: Dodge, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, BMW, Audi, Benz, VW, and More.
For Mobile Cell Phone – incl iPhone 3 4 4S 5 5S 5C Google Nexus Motorola DROID Nokia Lumia 1020 925 928 920 Samsung Galaxy Nokia HTC Blackberry

What’s in the Box?

The packaging this came in was just a plastic bag, so no picture of that for you. It arrived in a padded envelope, no problems there.

You can get it in various colors but I wanted orange, don’t know why I picked that color, just wanted something bright.

The holder is basically two pieces of plastic that slide with a spring between them too create tension to hold your device in place. Simple design really, but it works.

You phone sits between two black rubber ends. The one end looks round but it’s actually flat on the inside where it comes in contact with your phone.

On the back or bottom you’ll find four thick and stiff but still flexible tabs that stick out, these are what go into your vent to hold it in place. It can rotate but it’s very hard to do, which I think is a good thing as it holds  your phone in the position you put it in.

The spring is very strong, it was hard to open it with one hand to take the following picture for you, but it’s just to show you the two pieces and how they extend apart to fit your phone.

My phone is the HTC One and it’s big, but it fits in this holder with a little room to spare, even with the case on my phone fits just fine. To get your phone in you just spread the spring apart, put your phone in and let go so the tension of the spring holds your phone.

Impressions / Review:

I have a Toyota Sienna XLE-whatever and the one thing I don’t like about it is the very steeply curved and angled dash on the driver side as it makes it hard to mount things using a suction cup. They just won’t stick at all because of the texture and the the angle. I have a stand alone GPS unit that I don’t use but my wife does sometimes and I had to use the flat plastic disc that came with it and permanently mount it to the dash so the GPS would stay in place.  The disc that came with the GPS isn’t exactly universal in size, it’s pretty much made just for that GPS mounting system. One thing I found when shopping for a car mount is that not many actually tell you the size of the suction cup, some do yes, but lots don’t so it’s kind of hard to know if it will fit my disc or not so I decided to go with a vent mounted phone mount.

To use the mount you basically just stick it between the vent slits or actually on the vent slit, well it’s both I guess, it’s on and in-between them.

The mount does stay in place very well, it grips into the vents and will hold your phone in place.

Here’s a couple shots of my phone in the holder, you can position it vertically or horizontally and it stays where you put it.

There is one small issue with this though, and it’s more about my phone. You’ll notice in the first picture above the mount is low on the phone, that’s because I have volume buttons on the right side and the mount is so tight it will actually push the buttons so it can’t be mounted in the middle. it’s not that big of a deal, it still works fine and holds my phone in place. I’ve drove around, hit bumps and all that and my phone stayed in the holder. It’s just one of those things that I thought needed to be mentioned.

There’s something else to note here, that’s the price. As I mentioned in the intro I got it for $6.99 with free shipping via Amazon Prime but you can get this exact same mount (white color though) for only $2.75 with free shipping, not Prime though, which means it can take weeks to get to you. Also about the price, you really have to watch, I’ve seen this same style mount for $22, and it’s the same thing except really it has a brand name on it.

Conclusion:

It’s inexpensive, it’s well made, it works well to hold your phone in place and it fits large phones. What more do you need to know really?

If you need a basic phone mount that I can highly recommend you get this one.

I’m very careful with my devices, they cost of lot of money, and I trust that it will hold my phone  in place. The HTC One isn’t small or lightweight really, and it stays just fine in this holder.

Pros:
+ Fits large phones
+ Inexpensive
+ Works with most any vehicle

Cons:
– Might interfere with phones that have side buttons

Disclosure: This product was given to us for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review; I do not, never have, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.

Starting with Active Search, you can already create a feed out of a search term whenever it appears in any new article in any of your 558 other feeds. You can turn that active search into its own RSS feed to subscribe to with something else, I could use it through the API if you were a developer, or you can format a webpage-like stream of it with Web Clips. That’s great chief, but right now you can only do that for one active search at a time. Go pro and bam you can create as many as you want.

Searching your feeds is cool if you’ve got insanely awesome feeds like I do. You know what’s cooler? Being able to searching ALL public feeds from which Inoreader aggregates, not just yours. That’s a pro feature, boss. Are you a pro or not?

Okay, let me paint you a real life picture: When you’re starting a new job, the first thing you do is set an Outlook rule for all the junk from HR to go to a Crap folder, and another rule with all mail from your boss only addressed to you with angry emoticons to go to your OhCrap folder. Inoreader just implemented a rules feature with that kind of power, but for your RSS feeds.

How can rules make RSS better? I can scroll down to the bottom of Google News and grab the RSS icon, or get the Drudge Report RSS feed, and drop that into my Inoreader stack. And because I hate NYC’s Mayor de Blasio and want to keep tabs on him, I can set rules on the Drudge feed to snatch any article that has “de Blasio imploding” in the article title, the body, or set it not just for Drudge but every single feed I have — and like the active search, pump that into a single new feed which, like the active search, I can publicly or privately export as an RSS feed of my own or as an HTML feed. Give it a try, you can make one rule with a regular free account, unlimited for a Pro account. Reread that, it’s complicated, but badass.

How about one mega export RSS feed of every single one of your feed, a firehose? Do you like to share articles and have a Gmail account? With a premium/pro account you can use your Gmail address book within Inoreader so that you can easily share articles to anyone without needing their email address. OCD about preserving formatting, then send as PDFs. And as of recently you can add a bunch of Google+, Twitter and VK.com streams as RSS feeds too — man, this InoReader is getting pretty hardcore for an RSS aggregation service, juicing so much power out of the “real simple syndication” service.

Following Google+ feeds without the heavy Google+ web UI crashing my browser, and being able to convert them into my own streaming website or RSS feed to give out, that’s reason for me alone to go pro and to be able to do that thirty times. Let’s just say I found some… nice Google+ feeds and leave it at that.

If those features don’t strike you as being worth a trip to Starbucks, maybe you belong on Feedly with the rest of the amateurs. Otherwise, here’s the upgrade link to the promised land: inoreader.com/#upgrade. Now run along, whip out your credit card and do the right thing, then thank me the Inoreader people.

Doug Simmons

PS: Forgot to mention, maybe my favorite thing about Inoreader is that they pump out new features that both are things no one else has thought of and things that are actually useful (and easy to figure out how to use). So when laying down a few bucks, keep in mind that you’re not only buying the features they have now, but what will likely be a larger list as time passes.

Homefacts (www.homefacts.com), a pioneer in providing neighborhood data and statistics, today announced the launch of a new mobile app for Android. Homefacts is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RealtyTrac, the leading source of comprehensive housing data.   Following the success of the Homefacts iPhone app in July, Android device owners now have an app of their own that enables homebuyers, homeowners and renters to view detailed property and neighborhood information and statistics on more than 100 million homes in the United States.

Homefacts provides important information and key statistics on more than 30 local and neighborhood data sets for residential properties nationwide including detailed local school information, location and details of environmental hazards such as underground storage tanks, spills, EPA polluters, brownfields, and superfunds, along with former drug labs, sex offenders, natural hazard risk and building permit activity in a neighborhood.

The Homefacts app incorporates pertinent and detailed neighborhood and home information including the following:

· Property characteristics such as the number of beds, baths, etc.

· Neighborhood demographics, including population, education level and median income

· Neighborhood housing snapshot, including median property values, median monthly  rents and vacant housing units

· In-depth school data detailing school locations, ratings, enrollment and phone numbers

· Complete registered sex offender details including street address, distance from current location, physical characteristics and specific offense

· Crime risk, current crime ratings and crime index by offense type

· Level of risk for earthquakes and tornadoes as well as historical documentation of earthquake and tornado incidents

· Unemployment rates

· Former drug lab locations and seizure dates

“Over 50 percent of the traffic to Homefacts comes through a mobile device. We’ve optimized our Android app so users can experience the revolutionary way that Homefacts helps prospective homeowners and investors perform due-diligence when buying a home,” said Jamie Moyle, CEO of RealtyTrac.  “The app enables homebuyers to view detailed property and neighborhood data from wherever they are, helping them make more informed real estate decisions.” 

The new app makes it easy to navigate neighborhood data based on user location or find information on any one of the millions of U.S. properties using the address, city and zip search tool.  The Homefacts’ map search tool allows users to view information by city or neighborhood.

To begin making better, more informed real estate decisions check out the new Homefacts Android app, please visit: the Android Google Play app store.

About Homefacts

Homefacts (www.homefacts.com) is on online resource that provides consumers with the neighborhood data and statistics needed to make sound home-buying decisions.  Founded in 2007 to address the due-diligence process of real estate transactions, Homefacts allows users to research detailed school information, hospitals, environmental issues, geological conditions, hazardous substances, former drug labs, convicted offenders and crime activity, among other factors, within a neighborhood. The first single source to effectively address this need, Homefacts aggregates key information to save buyers time and keep them informed when making one of life’s most important decisions.

New Alcatel Smartwatch available for pre-order

After its unveiling at CES over the weekend, the Alcatel Smartwatch for iOS and Android devices is available for pre-order from Mobile Fun for just £150, from the page below:

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/alcatel-smartwatch-for-ios-and-android-devices-black-p51244.htm

 

 

 

Kisomo iSelf Case for iPhone 6 & 6 Plus

Designed to make taking selfies on your iPhone 6 a breeze, the iSelf Case from Kisomo includes a trigger on the back in the position where your fingers naturally lie, as well as one on the side of the case, to save you from having to reach the on-screen shutter button. The case is in stock now and available in black, whiteand green for both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

 

Carl Zeiss VR ONE Virtual Reality Headset

A new player in the virtual reality game is Carl Zeiss, with their announcement of their new headset the Zeiss VR ONE. Unlike Samsung’s Gear VR, this is designed to accommodate several smartphones with versions available for the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S5. Both versions are available to order now from Mobile Fun for £99.99, with stock expected to arrive at the end of January.

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/zeiss-vr-one-iphone-6-virtual-reality-headset-p51187.htm

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/zeiss-vr-one-samsung-galaxy-s5-virtual-reality-headset-p51188.htm

 

Olixar 6 USB Smart IC Charger

"Too many gadgets, not enough plug sockets" is an increasingly common problem for smartphone and tablet users, particularly after getting new toys for Christmas. The new Olixar 6 USB Smart IC Charger is an ideal solution, providing 6 USB ports from a single mains socket with Intelligent Charging to ensure maximum charging speed for each connected device. It’s currently available for £24.99.

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/olixar-6-usb-smart-ic-charger-10-amps-p47946.htm

 

                                                

Top 10 weird gadgets from CES 2015

Finally, we’ve rounded up 10 of the weirdest products to be announced at CES 2015 so far from the absurd Silentium Comfort Shell, to the actually quite useful  Lenovo Selfie Flash. Check them out in the article below.

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/blog/page/2/

While I write this about my recent support session with you, the gist of this applies to everyone I’ve received help from at Namecheap. Every single time I’ve hit that Live Chat button it has resulted in my problems vanishing and my feeling overwhelmed by how good you folks are at your job — enough so that you’ve provoked me to write a thank-you to a registrar, something I’d wager is rare.

Pavel my man, thank you for following up after my browser crashed during our chat session. I’m all set now as whatever went wrong, your magic worked, my outgoing mail no longer going to spam folders.

You know, I wasn’t a surprise at all that you followed up because Namecheap employees, you and your colleagues, consistently go above and beyond to make sure its customers are happy and getting more from you than what we pay for. Still, it was impressive and made me feel like I’m making the move switching registrars.

This is what really sets you apart though: In addition to fixing my problem, you found other subtle issues with my other domains, the SPF records for example and even DKIMs on my 302.nyc domain and others; and after offering to help, you fixed them perfectly! You fixed problems I didn’t even know I had because you had your eye open and bothered to go above and beyond.

That is what has earned Namecheap a stellar reputation on the likes of Hacker News [1, 2, 3, 4] which is what drove me to buy three domains and counting from your company and also has driven me to transfer the rest of my domains from one of your mediocre competitors to you, picking up more SSL certs along the way. I’ll be following your Twitter, your forum and your Facebook for your next SSL cert giveaway (hint hint)… 

Pleasure doing business with you. Can I have my free t-shirt now?

Doug Simmons

In a manner no more complicated than installing Winamp, you can install on your lame Windows machine NGINX, PHP, Node.js, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, memcached and a dozen other goodies, everything you need to get in gear and make some insane websites to host on any platform, with Winginx. Free/donationware by Alexei Shabalin.

Look, the simple installer, it’s crazy!

That exe belongs on your USB stick, chief. Oh hey, did you know the Israelis invented the USB stick? True story. Also the Uzi.

(I made that with GIMP, nice, right?)

Doug Simmons

There are other methods involving comparing MD5 hashes, but that’s overkill. Here’s the one-liner code buddy:

wget “https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_6_64GB_Midnight_Blue?id=nexus_6_blue_64gb&hl=en” –timeout 20 -O – 2>/dev/null | grep “We are out of inventory” || echo “Go on https://play.google.com NOW” | mail -v -s “Nexus 6 available” you@asdf.com

Then get your machine to do that every six minutes by hitting crontab -e and adding this (or just put the whole thing in cron and save a step):

*/6 * * * * /root/nexus6.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

Wait for an email, and once it comes, maybe midnight tonight, wake up the wife and beg her to buy you the phone.

Doug Simmons

Yeah, you can use speedtest.net to get your megabits (deceptively throttled by your carrier), but I didn’t know where I could find an honest speedtest that is lightweight, loads in 200ms, lets me specify the type of test, tells me how fast the server’s own available bandwidth is so I know that my phone or computer is not able to outrun the server and so on and so forth.

So I’m making my own. It’s a work in progress but bookmark that sucker.

I cobbled together bits of code I googled and githubbed (check the credits on the test page) and duct taped together some snippets of my own. I think on a technical level it’s interesting, though if there’s any way to take it a step farther, more data, please advise.

What I’d also like to do is get the thing to save tests in order to produce a pretty table of which devices, which geographical locations and carriers are averaging what speeds, but no idea how to do that. Any ideas? Also, can anyone confirm that the speed test looks accurate?

Doug Simmons

Last week there was a blank blog post from Microsoft Corporate vice president Rajesh Jha that hit the blogosphere via RSS feeds last week. And that news was immediately picked up various tech blogs and got circulated all over the internet. But nobody had any full details or whether that was true or not until today. Now this is confirmed by If you wonder what Acompli is, it is a mobile email app with calendaring support. You may wonder when there are so many email clients available why Acompli. The core difference between Acompli and the rest is the way it organizes the mail, which helps the users to find the most important emails in their inbox easily. It is available for both iOS and Android. Recently Acompli raised $7.3 million, which might’ve attracted Microsoft and lured them to buy it. You may think when Microsoft already has Outlook, Outlook.com, Outlook Web App (OWA), Mail client for Windows Tablets, why do they need another one. Good question. This fits the new agenda of Microsoft “Mobile First, Cloud First.” Also Microsoft is delivering apps for android, iOS in addition to their own platform Windows. And they could extend this for their own platform on mobile. The current OWA can be pinned for Windows Phones, and OWA client is available for iOS and android, but it is nowhere near Acompli.

Neither Microsoft, nor Acompli, a startup founded by Javier Soltero, disclosed the price, but Re/Code valued it at more than $200 million.

Javier Soltero blogged, which confirmed the news of the purchase by Microsoft, “We remain committed to the original Acompli vision of making the best mobile email application on any platform and across all services. Your app and accounts will continue to work and the team will continue on our fast pace of improving and adding new functionality every couple of weeks.”

In fact Google can be proud of the 715,000 Chromebooks they sold to the US Education system in 2014 which outsold the Apple iPad for the first time with 700,000 sold. This comes via Industry research firm IDC for the time period of July-September 2014.

IDC analyst Rajani Singh credits part of the shift to the ‘active promotion’ done by Samsung, Dell and other Chrome device vendors to school districts. This push combined with the low upfront costs, easy management and ‘integrated keyboard’ are part of the reason behind their appeal.

“As the average age of the student grows the need for a keyboard becomes very important,”  Singh adds.

With a very low price point of $150 bucks or lower and a physical keyboard, the Chromebook is very appealing to educators. Apple will also be feeling the threat coming from Microsoft as well as they too are taking the Surface tablets and a very much improved future release of Windows 10 right at them as well as Google. One thing is for sure, this competitive market is good for educators and great for our children.

Thanks Simmons (source)

Well, if you’re young, smart and more driven to succeed than I was, hit the books son and learn how to read, write and apply that tier of math because the world will be needing people like you more and more over time, and they’ll pay you too. Cash money.

So that formula is the Okumura-Hata model to predict the total path loss along a link of terrestrial microwave and other types of cellular communications in a medium-sized city. It’s one of many mathematical gems used by engineers to calculate the real-world size of a cell created by a tower in an urban area.

The information yielded is helpful to know when planning where to place cell towers when wiring up a city for wireless communications. Much work was put into coming up with it and its application is very practical indeed, not just academic.

We’re not calculating the circumference of a circle for the hell of it anymore. This is all about doing more with a finite resource. This isn’t a game; this is real life kiddo. Wake up.

History has shown that over time more people tend to be alive simultaneously and using one or more mobile devices. Over time more white cops shoot black kids, and those people congregate into already-densely populated areas, livestreaming the chaos from their phones to phones of others.

In order for livestreaming the looting and arson to go smoothly, people need to be able to communicate. So cellular carriers are desperate not just for more spectrum from the government but for better math to plan tower distribution and to devise protocols, like LTE Advanced, that can support twice as many protestors in a given cell sector than your daddy’s clunky old LTE protocol (I’m talkin’ system spectral efficiency from dynamic radio resource management — google it).

Too long; didn’t read? Math, unlike Latin, is worth studying. So is calligraphy.

Also, that cop’s innocent, get over it.

Doug Simmons

source

Reuters recently surveyed Glass developers and they found majority of the developers already banned their Glass projects are in the process of. Reuters says “Of 16 Glass app makers contacted by Reuters, nine said that they had stopped work on their projects or abandoned them, mostly because of the lack of customers or limitations of the device. Three more have switched to developing for business, leaving behind consumer projects.”

Glass has only 98 apps in these nearly two years and the number of developers developing for it are very marginal when compared to other Android wearables such as watches. Entry into developing for Glass is very expensive to start with. An indie developer has to spend at least $1500 to test against a real device and that is one of the main barrier. And you never know how many people would buy, because of privacy matters and ban of the Glass from many places and this includes some places within Google itself.

Any way the Glass adoption rate is so negligible when compared to other Android platforms from Google except Nexus Q, which is because of the following reasons in my opinion.

1. Cost:
   1. Eyewear and it needs fashion because it is straightaway attached to your face. Needs style add-ons such as frames, ear buds etc. in addition to the Glass itself, and they cost dearly and no for an average consumer.
   2. Most of the Android based Smartphone users spend less than $100 for the device, just face it.
2. Usability:
   1. Operation of Glass needs more focus on the device, and the user could definitely get distracted and the result could be worse than txting while driving.
   2. And we are living in the unnecessary App driven world and the Apps for Glass are nothing, and even one of the major App developer for Glass, Twitter just pulled plugs from developing for Glass.
3. Value:
   1. Google Glass on eBay is selling for less than actual price. You could see the listing here.
   2. Accept the fact that Apple products don’t lose that much of value over the period unless Apple releases next best thing every year. And others made devices, no matter of who is making that will definitely start losing value immediately
4. Privacy:
   1. A lot of businesses, states and establishments banned Google Glass from their premises.
   2. Even the creator of Google Glass Sergey Brin might not be using it on a regular basis, because twisting hand and glancing at information is easier than taking pain to look at glass. As a constant eyeglass wearer, I can vouch it takes pain to adjust to new glasses.
5. Fashion:
   1. Since Glass is a wearable everyone don’t want to look like geeky or douche bag. Some people believe wearing Glass make them look like this. And definitely Google should’ve prevented this and we wouldn’t have seen a term called Glasshole.
   2. Glass is nowhere near ray-ban just like Smartwatches are nowhere near Swiss made watches when it comes to style and class.

And our fashion defined man Walter Smyth thinks that Microsoft Band is nowhere near fashion and he is right about that, fuggetabout Glass then. At least Band can be covered within the sleeve and is very useful. Priced perfectly and very consumer oriented device, which is also an IoT and wearable like Glass. On the other hand, Glass is worn on the face and is very significant. You don’t want to look like this when you wear and go into public like an idiot.

There may be business verticals that could benefit from Glass, but they are nowhere near consumer spectrum.

Chris O’Neill, Google Glass head of business operations told Reuters that Google is “as energized as ever about the opportunity that wearables and Glass in particular represent.” Let us wait and see. Who knows, it could become very useful and consumer accepted after all.

Source: Reuters

Image Credit: Silicon Republic

Here’s why. The Internet is a sea of evil bundles of data originating almost exclusively from China trying to hack your server to do bad things with it. One trick is to guess or brute force your root password, trying over and over until it gets lucky. Just last month I had 8678 incidents of that, almost 300 a day, 11 an hour.

This Fail2ban thing is simple yet beautiful – when it spots an IP trying to guess more than a handful of passwords, it pops that IP into your firewall, meaning it locks them out. You could also just ban all IP ranges belonging to China and Russia, but that’s a little tricky, so start with Fail2ban.

Look at what I’m talking about, I’m getting hacked by a Windows Mobile phone:

On Redhat/CentOS, yum install fail2ban; on Ubuntu, apt-get install fail2ban, same on Debian, and I’m going to take a wild guess that you’re not running OpenBSD and don’t need instructions from me.

Doug Simmons G+