On September 7th, 2016, we all suffered a great loss. On this day, Apple announced their iPhone 7 would not have a headphone jack, which is one of the most universally used analog audio connectors. The headphone jack was a great utility, and it will be forever missed. And because it’s riddance was announced by Apple, we can almost confirm that it will never be seen again, as its absence will be popularized by the massive corporation. Following their announcement, there was much confusion as to why Apple would do something so seemingly horrendous, alongside the belittlement of Phil Schiller for his whole self-proclaimed “courage” rant. To fully understand their decision, we must first look at what the headphone jack is, and where it came from.
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How To: Use Parental Controls
Parental Control is a great way to keep your children supervised without having to watch their every move. Parental Control is located in System Preferences under System. To use Parental Control, you will first need to create or use an existing account that does not have administrative controls, and then use an Administrator’s account to control the other account. Parental Control is able to limit computer usage time, websites, and many other things parents may worry about. A feature that I feel many parents will appreciate is the Weekday and Weekend time limiter and bedtime controls. These allow you to choose how many hours your child will be allowed to use his or her computer during the weekend or weekday. Setting the time is easy enough, just click the Limit Computer Use box and drag the bar to how many hours you will allow. The bedtime setter can be used to make sure your children are not up all night playing on their computers. For setting Bedtimes, select the checkbox and then punch-in the bedtime to wakeup time. In the Web section you are able to choose from allowing all web sties or customizing which websites to allow access to. Customizing websites can be a long task because you will need to type the URL of every website into the system, yet is viable if there are specific websites you would like your child to refrain from using. To do this click Customize in the Web section of Parental Controls. A new window will be brought up, and after there will be two sections, with an “always allow” and a “never allow” option. To add a website, just click the plus sign and type the URL in, and to take out a website press the minus sign. These are just a few of the many features Parental Control offers, check it out in System Preferences.
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My thoughts:
The Bose QuietComfort line has been around since 2000. Since then it has evolved greatly into the QuietComfort 3, and QuietComfort 15. I had bought a pair of the QuietComfort 3 headphones back when they first came out in 2006, and have used them moderately for 6 years. At the time they sounded better, and had better noise cancelling technology than the QC2’s and I personally found them more comfortable. As the years went by (5 years), the ear cushions started to lose their comfort and the battery started to lose it’s ability to retain a charge as well. This was not a deal breaker, because both the ear cushions and battery is replaceable replaceable, but the headphones started to emit a high frequency sound whenever the ear cushions were to be compressed, so that I had to shelve them. These headphones are great from the short term to the mid term (1-4 years), but beyond that, the quality of the sound becomes strained and purchase of a new pair is advisable.
Having trouble sleeping at night? One problem might be that you are using your computer before you goto bed. Instead of going into the complex science of eye stimulation (which I do not quite understand myself), I will give you the brief over view. On f.lux’s website they explain it to us that the blue lights that your computer emit can keep you up late at night, so the purpose of f.lux was to eliminate these blue lights. They have done this by making your computers screen adapt to the time of the day. For example, on there website they state: “When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.” Overall, f.lux has personally been a great help with my tendency to work late into the night. So for all of you people out there like me I would recommend downloading f.lux. For more information behind the science of f.lux click here.
Low Cost: Cheerson CX-20
Price: $300
A great drone for anyone starting out. When I first got my Cheerson CX-20 I beat, dropped, and slammed into walls. Eventually the drone broke after a few months, but this was a great way to learn how to fly. The Cheerson lacks a high end interface and auto pilot controls, but through this lack of technology I became a better pilot. Having moved on from my Cheerson onto more advanced drones (that basically fly themselves), I would have never gotten to my skill level had it not been for the Cheerson. The Cheerson is a basic quadcopter with similar resemblance to the older DJI Phantom. The UAV does not come equipped with a built in Camera so you will have to snap on a GoPro. Incase you would like a more advanced drone without the price, you can always upgrade your CX-20 with a POV monitor, gimbal, and other accessories at $50 to $100 at a time.
Note: Cheerson has updated to the CX-22 (but it costs twice as much)
Medium Cost: Xiro Xplorer
Price: $800
Probably one of the best valued drones on the market is the Xiro Xplorer. There are two models sold by Xiro including the Xplorer G equipped with a 3-Axis gimbal for your GoPro, or the Xplorer V equipped with an in-house camera created by Xiro delivering crisp 1080p video. The Xiro Xplorer is a very durable and well made device that looks like it should cost twice as much as it does. It also includes much of the technology expected from higher end drones like video streaming, a specially design app, orbit mode, follow mode, and many other features. This is a high end drone, without the high end price tag.
Note: Watch out for the Xiro’s new Xplorer2!
High Cost: 3DR Solo
Price (UAV): $1000
Price (Gimbal): $400
Deemed the smartest drone on the market, it is hard to disagree after my first flight. The 3DR Solo has a noticably sleek and clean look as compared to its ugly competitor the DJI Phantom. Compared to the DJI Phantom the 3DR Solo only lacks in its range, but can be fixed for $20 dollars by buying range extenders and ends up bettering the Phantom. 3DR put time in to developing one of the best applications for their drone, so that a beginner will have the ability to take professional quality shots. The Solo is able to keep itself very steady in the wind, launch itself, orbit, follow, cable follow, and much more (not to mention the updates). If you have the cash, the 3DR Solo is worth the investment as a beginner drone as it is not very difficult to fly.
Note: Don’t worry about model updates as the 3DR Solo has updates that change its dynamics and expansion bay allows for extra accessories to be attached.