DIGITAL EDITION MAY 2018
TECH COMPANIES AND THEIR
RESPONSIBILITY
HOW TO KEEP YOUR KIDS’ TECH USE
HOW TO TELL IF
YOU’RE A TECH
ADDICT (AND WHAT
TO DO ABOUT IT)
A guide to defeating the endless scroll.
THE TECH INDUSTRY RECKONS WITH ITS RESPONSIBILITY
The ethics of how their products affect consumers and society.
FEATURES
COVER STORY
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Sony a7 III
Adobe Illustrator CC
REVIEWS
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Fitbit Versa
Apple iPad (2018) Sony a7 III
HARDWARE Lenovo IdeaPad 720s
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
SOFTWARE & APPS
Adobe Illustrator CC
FAST FORWARD
Why Intel’s Diane Bryant Isn’t Afraid of AI
WHAT IS MAX-Q? An explainer
HOW VIRTUAL AVATARS HELP
STROKE PATIENTS IMPROVE MOTOR FUNCTION
IT WATCH
Want to Speed Up Your Users’ Internet? Look at Your DNS Server
TOP GEAR
TIPS FOR KEEPING KIDS’ TECH USE IN CHECK
They can help grownups, too. HERE’S HOW THE EXTREMETECH
STAFF STAYS BACKED UP
And they really know what they’re doing.
TIPS & HOW TOS
DAN COSTAFirst Word
READER INPUT TIM BAJARIN
Alexa, Teach Me How to Talk to You
DOUG NEWCOMB
Tesla’s Tussle With Feds Over Model X Accident Is a Fool’s Errand
BEN DICKSON
4 Reasons Not to Fear Deep Learning (Yet)
JOHN C. DVORAK Last Word
COMMENTARY
I’m asking what
would happen to
you—and your
business—if the
whole thing was
taken offline .
W
hen Rob Marvin pitched me a feature story on tech addiction, I was skeptical. There’s been so much coverage of this topic already, and so much of it has been terrible. The headlines, the personal anecdotes, the fear-mongering about new, poorly understoodtechnologies; it’s all just a little too perfect for sensation-seeking news media. Was there
anything original that we could add to this story? Rob assured me there was. His report in this
month’s PC Magazine Digital Edition proves he was right.
Our human inability to master the technologies we have created is not new. Back in 1990, the New York Times reported:
The proposition that television can be
addictive is proving to be more than a glib PHWDSKRU7KHPRVWLQWHQVLYHVFLHQWL¿F
VWXGLHVRISHRSOH¶VYLHZLQJKDELWVDUH¿QGLQJ that for the most frequent viewers, watching television has many of the marks of a
dependency like alcoholism or other addictions.
Although “Internet Addiction” was left out of the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM-5), “Internet Gaming Disorder” was listed as a condition for further
study. The symptoms of gaming addiction are well known to anyone who’s had a child in the last 20
Tech
Addiction
Nation
@dancosta years, and really, everyone who’s picked up a game controller. Even so, the American Psychiatric
Association’s summary of the disorder is revealing: The “gamers” play compulsively, to the
exclusion of other interests, and their persistent and recurrent online activity
UHVXOWVLQFOLQLFDOO\VLJQL¿FDQWLPSDLUPHQWRU distress. People with this condition endanger their academic or job functioning because of the amount of time they spend playing. They experience symptoms of withdrawal when kept from gaming.
That was written in 2013. Since then, technology KDVJDPL¿HGRXWHQWLUHOLYHV*DPHGHVLJQHUVXVHG to create addictive experiences to be enjoyed with special hardware at home after work. Now we carry the hardware with us every day and never disconnect from a vast network of addictive digital feedbacks loops. News, texts, alerts, apps,
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook... wait, is that a new email? There is no quarter.
:KDWXVHGWREHDSUREOHPIRUPLV¿WJDPHUVKDV infected the whole culture. Apps, websites, and pretty much all digital interfaces are constantly being optimized to make the user feel good and increase usage. The online economy depends on selling your attention. (Well, and your data, but one problem at a time.) None of this is accidental. Trained professionals--designers, UX experts, psychologists, data scientists--constantly
researching and optimizing for greater usage. They DUHE\GH¿QLWLRQSXVKHUV%XWDWOHDVWWKH\¶UH
Perhaps the more pernicious technology threat is that the addiction process can be automated. It’s easy to wrap your head around the concept of A/B testing, EXWPRGHUQWHFKQRORJ\OHWVWKHVHV\VWHPVGR$3URJUDPPHUVFDQWHVWDQ LQ¿QLWHYDULHW\RIRSWLRQVWR¿QGWKHRQHWKDWLVPRVWHIIHFWLYHDQGDGGLFWLYH,Q JDPHGHVLJQWKLVNLQGRI$WHVWLQJLVFDOOHGcolor coding. As NYU marketing professor and author Adam Alter explains in our story:
Color coding is where you’re trying to work out which of two versions of a mission works best,” said Alter. “You tag the code associated with one
version of the mission red and the code associated with a different version yellow. Let’s say you’re wondering whether a quest is more engaging if \RX¶UHWU\LQJWRVDYHVRPHRQHYHUVXVWU\LQJWR¿QGDQDUWLIDFW6R\RXUXQ DQ$%WHVWUHOHDVLQJYHUVLRQ$WR¿YHPLOOLRQSHRSOHDQGYHUVLRQ%WR¿YH million people. You measure different metrics, like how many people
return to the mission more than once and how long they spend. If you
discover version A works better, you go with the red code and put aside the yellow. And you keep doing that until you have the tenth, twentieth, or
thirtieth generation of a game. The entire world is being color-coded.
Is technology addiction real? Are you an addict? Is it a treatable condition? Who LVSUR¿WLQJIURPWKLV":KDWH[DFWO\FDQ\RXGRDERXWLW"
Step 1 is reading our story.
dan_costa@pcmag.com
Fitness
Great article! Been feeling the same way about the data from my Fitbit Ionic I bought last year,
especially the sleep data. The data is neat, but how does it really help me?
—ChrisAN82
Ms. Song: loved your article! Mainly, I admire your courage as you use yourself as the example RIVRPHRQH¿QGLQJVRPHWKLQJXVHIXOLQ¿WQHVV trackers. At the beginning, I wondered what thing all those trackers would reveal that you didn’t know. Then you described polycystic ovary
syndrome, and the light bulb went on. Of course! Metrics from the tracker revealed that anomalous weight gain instead of loss couldn’t be the result of anything you did intentionally—it had to be something else.
—Ted Thomas
These trackers are BS. I use a heart rate monitor with a strap for my running, biking, and rowing. That’s all you need to know where your zone is. —OrangeDeek
I enjoyed this article, hopefully not only because of the empathy I felt with another human trying to make the best of it in this life. I’ve never used one of these devices, as my willpower seems to VXI¿FHIRUQRZ:KRFDQVD\ZKDWLWZLOOEHOLNHD year from now? I may have need in the future for :HDUDEOHVDQDO\VW
Victoria Song’s SHUVRQDO¿WQHVV tracker story
something of this sort. If you can get to a point in your life where your normal URXWLQHNHHSV\RXVXI¿FLHQWO\KHDOWK\DQG¿WDQGNHHSLWXS\RXVKRXOGUHDSWKH EHQH¿WV+RZHYHUPHDQV\RXPDQDJHWKLVLVXSWRHDFKRIXVRIFRXUVHEXWVLQFHOLIH has a nasty habit of throwing curve balls, motivation and adaptability are key. It’s amazing how easy it is to distill this life philosophy down to several sentences; trying to live it is the real challenge. Strength to you.
—Dave Brumley
Thanks for the insights. You’re not alone, as I know a few people wearing at least two different devices, me included. Sorry you had to go through that movie scare, bad HQRXJKWKHGRXJK\RXKDYHWRGURSDQGQRZFUD]\RQWRSRILW,OLNHWRWKLQN¿WQHVV trackers help, because I can clearly see weeks that are great and not so great. If I FDWFKLWHDUO\HQRXJK,FDQXVXDOO\WXUQWKLQJVDURXQGE\PDNLQJVXUH,JHWDKDOI hour walk or hop on the bike. Looking forward to future tech of wearables.
—TrailMixFan
The last FitBit I bought would record anywhere from 400 to 1000 steps on my drive to work. Kind of skewed the amount calories I was burning per day.
—The Founder
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018
Ask us a
question!
Have a question about a story inPC Magazine, one of the products we cover, or how to better use a tech product you own? Email us at letters@pcmag.com and we’ll respond to your question here.
Questions may be edited slightly for
Fast Forward: Why Intel’s Diane
Bryant Isn’t Afraid of AI
Fast Forward is a series of conversations with tech leaders hosted by Dan
Costa, PCMag’s Editor-in-Chief. Diane Bryant is EVP and General Manager of ,QWHO¶V'DWD&HQWHU*URXS6KHDQG'DQVSRNHDERXWDUWL¿FLDOLQWHOOLJHQFH
Dan Costa: Most people think data centers are kind of boring, but you can do incredible things with them. It’s also the most profitable
division inside of Intel. People think of Intel as a chip company, but the data center business has exploded in recent years, and part of that is driving this AI revolution.
Diane Bryant: 5LJKW$EVROXWHO\7KHDUWL¿FLDO
Artificial intelligence can be difficult to define. How do you define it?
$UWL¿FLDOLQWHOOLJHQFHLVDFRPSXWHUV\VWHPZLWKKXPDQ
There’s a processing component to it, and it’s also that you need the data sets to work with.
$EVROXWHO\7KHUH¶VWKHFRPSXWHDQGVWRUDJHWHFKQRORJ\
Intel plays in this solution set in multiple places. :HGR$WRXUKHDUWZH¶UHDWHFKQRORJ\FRPSDQ\$V\RX QRWHGLQWKHROGGD\VZHZHUHWKH3&FRPSDQ\WKDW¶V RXUURRWVRXUOHJDF\
In the old days, we were the PC Magazine. There you go.
Now we’re much more.
Every business is becoming a technology business. You may be a retailer, but you need to not just use these tools, but use them to innovate.
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In terms of AI, it’s early days in a lot of ways, but there are AI systems available today. Can you just describe some of the best examples?
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It seems like a lot of the promise of AI is to break through a lot of those constraints in all sorts of different industries.
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It’s really something that’s happening globally, too. In the US, we have a certain set of problems, certain sets of issues, but when you start to scale this technology out globally, that’s where it really starts to make a difference.
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See a video of the full interview and many more at pcmag.com/podcasts/fast-forward.
NEWS
WHAT’S NEW NOW
What is Nvidia Max-Q?
BY MATTHEW BUZZIT
raditionally, gaming laptops have been hulking machines with bigscreens and short battery lives. They were meant to stay put on a desk. The cooling systems required to run the discrete graphics cards have typically makes standard gaming laptops large and heavy.
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MAX-Q IN ACTION
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POWER VERSUS PORTABILITY
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EDWWHU\OLIH
I
‘m hooked up to a 16-channel brain machine interface with 12 channels of EEG on my head and ears and four channels of electromyography (EMG) on my arms. An Oculus Rift VR headset occludes my vision. Two inertialmeasurement units (IMU) are stuck to my wrists and forearms, tracking the orientation of my arms, while the EMG monitors my electrical impulses and peripheral nerve activity.
Dr. Sook-Lei Liew, Director of USC’s Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory, and Julia Anglin, Research Lab Supervisor and Technician, wait to record my baseline activity and observe a monitor with a representation of my real arm and a virtual limb. I see the same image from inside the Rift.
“Ready?” asks Dr. Liew. “Don’t move—or think.”
How Virtual Avatars Help Stroke
Patients Improve Motor Function
BY S.C. STUARTI stay still, close my eyes, and let my mind go blank. Anglin records my baseline activity, allowing the brain-machine interface to take signals from the EEG and EMG, alongside the IMU, and use that data to inform an algorithm that drives the virtual avatar hand.
“Now just think about moving your arm to the avatar’s position,” says Dr. Liew.
I don’t move a muscle, but I think about movement while I’m looking at the two arms on the screen. Suddenly, my virtual arm moves toward the avatar appendage inside the VR world.
Something happened just because I thought about it! I’ve read tons of data on how this works, even seen other people do it, especially inside gaming
environments, but it’s something else to experience it for yourself.
“Very weird isn’t it?” says David Karchem, one of Dr. Liew’s trial patients. Karchem suffered a stroke while driving his car eight years ago, and he’s shown
remarkable recovery using her system.
I don’t move
a muscle, but
I think about
movement
while I’m
looking at
the two arms
on the
screen.
“My stroke came out of the blue, and it was terrifying, because I suddenly
couldn’t function. I managed to get my car through an intersection and call the paramedics. I don’t know how,” Karchem says.
He gets around with a walking stick today and has relatively normal function on the right side of his body. But his left side is clearly damaged from the stroke. While talking, he unwraps surgical bandages and a splint from his left hand, crooked into his chest, to show Dr. Liew the progress since his last VR session.
As a former software engineer, Karchem isn’t fazed by using advanced
technology to aid the clinical process. “I quickly learned, in fact, that the more intellectual and physical stimulation you get, the faster you can recover as the EUDLQVWDUWVWR¿UH,¶PVRPHWKLQJRIDODEUDWQRZDQG,ORYHLW´KHVD\V
REINVENT YOURSELF
Karchem is participating in Dr. Liew’s REINVENT (Rehabilitation Environment using the Integration of Neuromuscular-based Virtual Enhancements for
Neural Training) project, funded by the American Heart Association, under a National Innovative Research Grant. It’s designed to help patients who have suffered strokes reconnect their brains to their bodies.
VR rehab at USC (Photo: Nate Jensen)”My PhD in Occupational Science, with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience, focused on how experience changes brain networks,” explains Dr. Liew. “I continued this work as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health, before joining USC, in my current role, in 2015.
VIRTUAL THERAPY The Neural Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation
Laboratory’s missions is “to enhance neural plasticity in a wide population of
individuals in order to
improve their quality of life and engagement in
meaningful activities.”
“Our main goal here is to enhance neural plasticity or neural recovery in individuals using noninvasive brain stimulation, brain-computer interfaces, and novel
learning paradigms to improve patients’ quality of life and engagement in meaningful activities,” she says.
Here’s the science bit: The human putative mirror neuron system (MNS) is a key motor network in the brain that’s active both when you perform an action, like moving your arm, and when you simply watch
someone else—like a virtual avatar—perform that same action. Dr. Liew hypothesizes that for stroke patients who can’t move their arm, simply watching a virtual avatar that moves in response to their brain commands will activate the MNS and retrain damaged or
neighboring motor regions of the brain to take over the role of motor performance. This should lead to
improved motor function.
“In previous occupational therapy sessions, we found many people with severe strokes got frustrated because they didn’t know if they were activating the right neural networks when we asked them to ‘think about moving’ while we physically helped them to do so,” Dr. Liew says. “If they can’t move at all, even if the right
neurological signals are happening, they have no
biological feedback to reinforce the learning and help them continue the physical therapy to recover.”
For many people, the knowledge that there’s “intent before movement”—in that the brain has to “think” about moving before the body will do so, is news. We also contain a “body map” inside our heads that predicts our spacetime presence in the world (so we don’t bash into things all the time and know when something is wrong). Both of these brain-body elements face massive disruption after a stroke. The brain literally doesn’t
know how to help the body move.
FROM THE CONFERENCE HALL TO THE LAB
What Dr. Liew’s VR platform has done is show patients how this causal link works and aid speedier and less frustrating recovery in real life. She got the idea while geeking out in Northern California one day.
“I went to the Experiential Technology Conference in San Francisco in 2015 and saw demos of intersections of neuroscience and technology, including EEG-based experiments, wearables, and so on. I could see the potential to help our clinical population by building a sensory-visual motor contingency between your own body and an avatar that you’re told is ‘you,’ which provides rewarding sensory feedback to reestablish brain-body signals.
“Inside VR, you start to map the two together; it’s
astonishing. It becomes an automatic process. We have seen that people who have had a stroke are able to
‘embody’ an avatar that does move, even though their own body, right now, cannot,” she says.
Dr. Liew’s system is somewhat hacked together, in the best possible Maker Movement style; she built what GLGQ¶WH[LVWDQGPRGL¿HGZKDWGLGWRKHUUHTXLUHPHQWV
“We wanted to keep costs low and build a working device that patients could actually afford to buy. We use Oculus for the [head-mounted display]. Then, while most EEG systems are $10,000 or more, we use an OpenBCI system to build our own, with EMG, for under $1,000.
“We needed an EEG cap, but most EEG manufacturers wanted to charge us
$200 or more. So, we decided to hack the rest of the system together, ordering a swim cap from Amazon, taking a mallet, and bashing holes in it to match up where the 12 positions on the head electrodes needed to be placed (within the 10-10 international EEG system). We also 3D print the EEG clips and IMU holders here at the lab.
“For the EMG, we use off-the-shelf disposable sensors. This allows us to track the electromyography, if they do have trace muscular activity. In terms of the software platform, we coded custom elements in C# from Microsoft and
implemented them in the Unity3D game engine.”
Dr. Liew is very keen to bridge the gap between academia and the tech industry; she just submitted a new academic paper with the latest successful trial results from her work for publication. Last year, she spoke at SXSW 2017 about how VR affects the brain and debuted REINVENT at the conference’s VR Film Festival. It received a “Special Jury Recognition for Innovative Use of Virtual Reality in the Field of Health.”
Going forward, Dr. Liew would like to bring her research to a wider audience: “I feel the future of brain-computer interfaces splits into adaptive, as with
implanted electrodes, and rehabilitative, which is what we work on. What we hope to do with REINVENT is allow patients to use our system to re-train their neural pathways, [so they] eventually won’t need it, as they’ll have recovered.
“We’re talking now about a commercial spinoff potential. We’re able to license the technology right now, but, as researchers, our focus, for the moment, is in IXUWKHULQJWKLV¿HOGDQGGHOLYHULQJPRUHWULDOUHVXOWVLQSXEOLVKHGSHHUUHYLHZHG papers. Once we have enough data, we can use machine learning to tailor the system precisely for each patient and share our results around the world.”
Want to Speed Up Your
Users’ Internet? Look at
Your DNS Server
BY WAYNE RASHT
he Domain Name System (DNS) is crucial to how your users experience the internet. Each time users need to reach a website, their PCs need to translate whatever they type in the address bar into an IP address. Since most people can’t remember IP addresses, they type in the name of a website or other internet location.After someone types in something like “PCMag.com,” the computer sends that name out to a DNS server; it looks up the IP address and sends it back to the PC. Once the computer has the IP address, the user can navigate to the website.
THE DNS SLOWDOWN
As you can imagine, it takes time for a DNS server to look up an IP address. It also takes time for the request to reach the server and for the address to travel back to the computer. This causes latency, and enough latency can cause users to swamp your helpdesk inbox with trouble tickets complaining of “slow internet.”
Fortunately, a few DNS server operators are working on this problem by speeding up their part of the process, offering lookup services with as little latency as possible. In a move reminiscent of edge computing, these service providers are not only spreading out the computing load but are also putting their servers as close as possible to users, which means “travel time” latency is minimized.
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provider’s servers have the same IP address (1.1.1.1),
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BETTER SECURITY
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managed endpoint safeguards, because they encrypt DNS requests. This means that other services along the way, including a users’ internet service provider (ISP), can’t read what’s being requested.
“Business or IT departments can update their routers and take advantage of
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to access.”
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encourage widespread adoption, which is why there’s no charge. Still, while any
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for others.
“Some businesses have no idea who they’re getting DNS from,” Zatlyn said,
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network in 150 cities around the world—across the US, Canada, Europe, and
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to the internet. Because we’re closer, we’re faster.”
A GROWING NUMBER OF PLAYERS
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offering a public DNS service at IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. And Quad9
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websites. By doing so, Quad9 prevents malware from reaching its command and control servers, and it prevents coin-mining attacks into the bargain.
Quad9 also has an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) DNS service that offers the same fast name resolution and security features. It also has an unsecure address
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Cisco offers OpenDNS, which is available for businesses of all sizes as well as for individual users. It’s free for individuals and very small businesses but there is a charge for other services. OpenDNS is part of the Cisco Umbrella offering,
which provides a wide range of capabilities designed to secure business users.
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mentioned, this might be the answer.
All three services are free to individual users, which means that you can try them out and see if they make sense for you. One potential difference is latency because, again, the farther you are from the service’s nearest DNS server, the greater the potential latency.
Remember, latency is additive. Your total lost time to latency in your business is the sum of the latency for all users. And the lost time for each user is the sum of the delay for each website, each time a user visits it. Add this to the time it takes your other internet-connected devices to get name resolution each time they need it. Even a small change can make a big improvement.
What We Love Most
This Month
BY CAROL MANGISIDOLCAM
This innovative pocket-size camera combines a three-axis gimbal for stability,
interchangeable lenses with a magnetic attachment system, beauty lighting (like that used by fashion photography), and a 180-degree flippable touchscreen into a compact and easy-to-use device, created to take excellent video on the go.
Starts at $350.00; www.kickstarter.com
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018
GOOGLE’S PROJECT
SOLI
Imagine your hands are the only
interface you need. That’s the promise of Project Soli, a purpose-built
interaction sensor in a compact chip that uses radar for motion-tracking hands. At the core of how it works is a concept called Virtual Tools, which are similar to real-word tools such as
buttons, dials, and sliders.
TBD; https://atap.google.com/soli
AURA FITNESS BAND
This fitness wearable plans to take the category to the next level by getting really specific with data. It tracks your body composition, hydration levels, heart rate, and activity using bioimpedance, which creates a low-voltage electrical signal that measures your body tissues’ resistance. The Aura also lets you send data directly to your insurance company, fitness center, or doctor.
W
KHQ$SSOHLQWURGXFHGLWV¿UVWpersonal digital assistant (PDA), the Newton, in 1992, it was clear from the start that it was not long for this world. As a concept, the Newton was a head-turner, but its design and functions were weak, to say the least.
The Newton’s biggest problem was the deeply ÀDZHGKDQGZULWLQJUHFRJQLWLRQWHFKQRORJ\7KH mobile processors available at the time were incapable of handling this task with any level of accuracy or precision, while the software was poorly executed.
,UHPHPEHUÀ\LQJWR&KLFDJRIRUWKHODXQFKRIWKH 1HZWRQDWWKHUHTXHVWRIWKHQ$SSOH&(2-RKQ Sculley, who had driven the project from the beginning. But during the onstage demo, the handwriting recognition failed repeatedly. We were told it was an early version of the software, but I had a strong sense that Apple was
overpromising.
During the early years of the Newton, Palm
&RPSXWLQJIRXQGHU-HII+DZNLQVEHJDQZRUNLQJ on his own version of a PDA. While that device ZDVVWLOOLQGHYHORSPHQW+DZNLQVLQYLWHGPHWR KLVRI¿FHWRVHHDPRFNXSZKLFKZDVDZRRGHQ block sculpted to look like what would eventually became the PalmPilot.
Tim Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies and a consultant, analyst, and futurist covering personal computers and consumer
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came to pen input and character recognition, one needed to follow an exact formula and write the characters as stated in the manual.
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writing system, which taught a user how to write
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characters (such as # and $) in ways the
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programming, since the machine was teaching me how to use it in the language it understood.
Fast forward to today, and I believe we have a
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big difference this time around is that processing power along with AI and machine learning makes these digital assistants much smarter—but they’re not always accurate.
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new questions Alexa can answer. This is also reverse programming of a kind, as it teaches me to ask Alexa the proper questions.
From a recent email, here are some of the new things Alexa can respond to:
“Alexa, what’s on your mind?”
@Bajarin
Tim Ba
“Alexa, what’s another word for ‘happy?’” “Alexa, what can I make with chicken and spinach?”
“Alexa, call Mom.”
“Alexa, test my spelling skills.”
“Alexa, wake me up in the morning.”
“Alexa, how long is the movie Black Panther?” “Alexa, speak in iambic pentameter.”
“Alexa, how many days until Memorial Day?”
7KHVHZHHNO\SURPSWVDOORZPHDQGRWKHU(FKR owners to understand the proper way to ask Alexa DTXHVWLRQDQGWKH\EXLOGXSRXUFRQ¿GHQFHLQ interacting with the platform.
I have no doubt that as faster processors,
machine learning, and AI are applied to digital assistants, they will get smarter. But I suspect that more and more companies that create digital DVVLVWDQWVZLOODOVRVWDUWXVLQJ$PD]RQ¶VPRGHORI teaching people how to ask questions that are
more in line with how their digital assistants want a query to be stated.
tim_bajarin@pcmag.com
Tim Ba
jarin
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018
S
ilicon Valley trailblazers have reshaped our lives with their innovations. But the same irrepressible attitude and disregard for traditional rules that drive idiosyncraticindividuals and iconic company founders
including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Uber’s Travis Kalanick, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Apple’s Steve Jobs also often lead to clashes with
lawmakers.
Zuckerberg’s testimony last week on Capitol Hill, where he was grilled over user privacy, is
evidence of the “beg for forgiveness, not
permission” approach. But at least Zuck issued a mea culpa before Congress and took
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Contrast that with Tesla’s tit for tat with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The agency is investigating a fatal Model X crash in California involving Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot feature, with which it has played fast and loose compared to more conservative
automakers. The Model X accident was within days of another death involving an Uber self-driving vehicle.
Doug N
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Tesla’s Tussle With Feds
Over Model X Accident Is
a Fool’s Errand
Car tech expert Doug Newcomb has
written for Popular Mechanics, Road & Track, and other publications, and is the author of Car Audio for Dummies.
It’s just the latest example of Silicon Valley’s disdain for following the rules of the road. When *RRJOH¿UVWUHYHDOHGLQODWHWKDWLWVVHOI
GULYLQJFDUVKDGORJJHGPRUHWKDQPLOHV in California, there were no laws against testing autonomous cars on public roads in the
company’s home state. But Google was aware it was pushing the legal limits.
“Keeping the project quiet enabled Google to test under the radar of public opinion and
lawmakers,” recalls Seval Oz, who at the time headed business development for the company’s self-driving car project. “We just didn’t want the program to slow down for any reason.”
Silicon Valley has since become the epicenter of self-driving technology, and the area’s “move fast and break things” ethos has extended to
autonomous vehicle testing. A large part of Uber’s VWUDWHJ\¿UVWZLWKLWVULGHVKDULQJEXVLQHVVDQG later with its autonomous technology, involved skirting rules.
The war of words between Tesla and the NTSB VWDUWHGDIWHUD0DUFKFUDVKWKDWNLOOHG:DOWHU Huang, who struck the center divider on a
Northern California highway while behind the wheel of a Model X.
A week after the accident, Tesla revealed that the vehicle’s Autopilot semi-autonomous feature was turned on, that Huang didn’t have his hands on the steering wheel for six seconds prior to the crash, and he failed to take evasive action.
The release of this information—and blaming the driver before the investigation was complete, which can take months—violates an
DJUHHPHQWWRNHHSDFFLGHQWGDWDFRQ¿GHQWLDOXQWLOWKH176%LVUHDG\WR release it. On Wednesday, Tesla withdrew from the investigation
“because it requires that we not release information about Autopilot to the public, a requirement which we believe fundamentally affects public safety negatively.”
But following what Bloomberg described as a tense phone call late
Wednesday between NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt and Elon Musk, the agency took the unusual step of removing Tesla from the
investigation.
In a statement on Thursday, the agency said that “releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash.” Sumwalt added that “it is unfortunate that Tesla, by its actions, did not abide by the party agreement.”
Later the same day, Tesla insisted it severed ties on the investigation with the NTSB, not the other way around. And took a jab at the agency: “It’s been clear in our conversations with the NTSB that they’re more concerned with press headlines than actually promoting safety,” Tesla said in a statement.
As of press time, the tiff between Tesla and NTSB is still playing out. Tesla will reportedly still provide data to the agency, which investigates accidents and makes safety recommendations but does not set policy, but will not be a formal party to the probe.
Coming on the heels of the Uber autonomous car fatality, the Tesla
accident—and the company’s combative approach to the investigation— OLNHO\ZRQ¶WLQVSLUHFRRSHUDWLRQRUKHOSLQVWLOOFRQ¿GHQFHLQSXEOLF
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technology. It also smacks of Silicon arrogance on Tesla’s part and could not only cost progress on self-driving policy but also lives.
Ben Dickson
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Many have praised deep learning and its superset, machine learning, as the general-purpose
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4 Reasons Not to Fear
Deep Learning (Yet)
Ben Dickson is a software engineer who writes about disruptive tech trends, including artificial intelligence, VR and AR, the IoT, and blockchain. Ben also runs the blog Tech Talks.
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DEEP LEARNING RELIES TOO MUCH ON DATA
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Ben Dickson
EDITORS’ CHOICE
For its second smartwatch, Fitbit is taking a more casual approach. As its name implies, the Versa has versatile design, with myriad customizable clock faces, straps, and color options. It’s versatile in functionality as well,
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even has its own solid app library. And at $199.95, the
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smartwatch hybrids on the market. Although you’ll have to wait for some of its more intriguing features to be available—such as female health tracking—the Versa is already quite solid and is our Editors’ Choice for
smartwatches.
Fitbit Versa
$199.95
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Fitbit Versa: Right Features,
Right Price
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
SLEEK AND CHIC
You’d be forgiven for thinking the Versa is the Apple
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modular straps, the resemblance is uncanny—and that’s a good thing. Where the Fitbit Ionic’s blocky design
leans toward the sporty, the Versa’s rounded corners make for a sleeker, friendlier look and feel. It’s
waterproof up to 50 meters, or 5 ATM, meaning it’s safe for both the pool and shower.
The Versa is available in a single size with three default case and silicone strap combinations: a black aluminum case with a black strap, a rose gold aluminum case with a peach strap, and a silver aluminum case with a gray strap. For $229.95, you can get the Fitbit Versa Special Edition, which features woven straps in charcoal or lavender. In terms of accessories, Fitbit is offering everything from classic silicone bands to leather and metal mesh options, ranging from $29.95 to $99.95.
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an attractive look, and I appreciate the ability to choose a feminine color palette. Too often, smartwatches are geared toward a strictly male audience, resulting in products that don’t look or feel right on female wrists.
Fitbit Versa
PROS Sleek,
lightweight design with lots of style options. Accurate fitness tracking.
Guided workouts with Fitbit Coach. Stores music on-device. Long battery life. Will
support female health tracking.
CONS Swapping
I also tried a black mesh strap, and I like how it dresses the watch up. But (unlike the silicone bands, which have
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tighten or loosen the strap.
I love the variety of available bands, but swapping between them is a little tricky. The straps are secured via ball pins, which you have to pinch to remove. While it’s easy enough to take straps off, it’s a bit trickier to
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wouldn’t want to have to change straps frequently. With the Apple Watch, you simply press a latch and slide the straps into place. The Fitbit Ionic also uses a simpler latch mechanism.
The square display is crisp, bright, and clear. It
measures about 0.95 on each side and has a resolution
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thick bezel. It’s less noticeable on the Versa, but don’t
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There are three buttons, one on the left side of the case and two on the right. Pressing the left button brings up
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app, and the bottom right button is for the alarm. These functions can be changed to your liking.
Inside, the Versa packs an impressive array of sensors
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accelerometer and gyroscope, it has an altimeter, an ambient light sensor, optical heart rate monitor, and
Battery life is estimated at over four days; charging from zero to 100 percent takes about two hours. As of this writing, I’ve worn the Versa for two and a half days and still have 55 percent battery left. That’s much better than your average WRXFKVFUHHQVPDUWZDWFKZKLFKW\SLFDOO\JHWVVRPHZKHUHEHWZHHQWR hours of battery life. It also enables the Versa to track sleep, as you don’t have to take it off every night to charge. Speaking of charging, it’s a little disappointing that the Versa comes with a bulky proprietary charger. It’s not ideal for stowing in your bag, and if you lose or break it, you’ll have to buy a new one.
A STRONGER ECOSYSTEM
One of our main issues with the Ionic was the lack of apps for Fitbit OS at launch. That’s still somewhat true—both Apple and Google have a wider VHOHFWLRQRIWKLUGSDUW\DSSV%XW)LWELWLVFDWFKLQJXS,WV$SS*DOOHU\QRZ offers over 550 apps and clock faces, including Deezer, Pandora, Philips Hue, 6WDUEXFNVDQG<HOS$GGLWLRQDOO\)LWELWKDVDVHULHVRI³H[SHULPHQWDO´DSSVWKDW are part of its Fitbit Labs.
Like the Ionic, the Versa supports onboard music storage (you can listen to PXVLFWKURXJKDSDLURIFRQQHFWHG%OXHWRRWKKHDGSKRQHV<RXFDQORDGXSWR VRQJVRUSRGFDVWVIRURQGHYLFHSOD\EDFNOHWWLQJ\RXOHDYH\RXUSKRQHDW KRPH<RXFDQDOVRGRZQORDGVWDWLRQVRUSOD\OLVWVWRSOD\RIÀLQHIURP'HH]HURU Pandora (new Fitbit subscribers can get three months free from Deezer and one PRQWKIURP3DQGRUD
Other features and interface elements are similar to what you get on the Ionic. 7RDFFHVV\RXUSKRQHQRWL¿FDWLRQVLQFOXGLQJWH[WFDOOFDOHQGDUDQGDSS
QRWL¿FDWLRQVVLPSO\VZLSHGRZQIURPWKHFORFNIDFHVFUHHQ6ZLSLQJXSWDNHV you to a quick summary of your daily steps, movement, and heart rate. To view apps, swipe left. There are four apps to a screen, and you can swipe left and right to browse through all of them. Loading apps can be a bit slow, but it’s noticeably improved since the Ionic launched last summer.
FITNESS FEATURES
7KH9HUVDKDVDOHJXSRQWKHVPDUWZDWFKFRPSHWLWLRQZKHQLWFRPHVWR¿WQHVV WUDFNLQJ,QDFRQWUROOHGRQHPLOHWUHDGPLOOZDONDWPLOHVSHUKRXULWORJJHG VWHSV%\FRPSDULVRQD<DPD[6:'LJL:DONHUDSHGRPHWHURIWHQ used in clinical studies, recorded 2,172 steps on the same walk, for a difference RIMXVWSHUFHQW2QDRQHPLOHUXQDWPSKWKH9HUVDWUDFNHGVWHSVWR WKH<DPD[¶VIRUDGLIIHUHQFHRISHUFHQW7KHVHDUHH[FHOOHQWUHVXOWV
)RUGLVWDQFHWKH9HUVDXQGHUUHSRUWHGP\RQHPLOHZDONDVPLOH,WIDUHG EHWWHURQP\UXQORJJLQJDQH[FHOOHQWPLOH7KLVVOLJKWGLVSDULW\LVQ¶WWRR VXUSULVLQJDVWKH9HUVDGRHVQ¶WKDYH*36DVWKHPRUHH[SHQVLYH,RQLFGRHV This won’t be a big deal for indoor runners, but it means you may want to use your phone’s GPS for distance when you take it outdoors.
7KH9HUVDFDQWUDFNSOHQW\RIRWKHUDFWLYLWLHVDVZHOO7KH([HUFLVHDSSKDV
options for biking, intervals, swimming, weights, and a general workout option. And if you play tennis, you can download a Fitbit Labs Tennis app.
The Versa proved reliable when it comes to heart rate monitoring. During my tests, it was always within 5 to 10 beats per minute of the Polar H10 chest strap (chest straps use electrical signals to measure your heart rate and are generally PRUHDFFXUDWHWKDQWKHLURSWLFDOFRXQWHUSDUWV,WDOVRORJJHGP\VOHHSZLWK accuracy. And like Fitbit’s other trackers, it offers detailed insight into sleeping habits and patterns.
A TRUE HYBRID
7KH9HUVDKDVDPDMRUHGJHRQWKHVPDUWZDWFKFRPSHWLWLRQZKHQLWFRPHVWR battery life, and unlike the Apple Watch, it works with both Android and iOS SKRQHV7KH)LWELW,RQLFRIIHUV*361)&DQGDVOLJKWO\ODUJHUGLVSOD\EXWZH strongly prefer the Versa’s design and the fact that it’s $100 less.
,I\RX¶UHORRNLQJIRUWKHEHVWDSSVHOHFWLRQDQG\RX¶UHDQL3KRQHXVHUJHWDQ $SSOH:DWFK,I\RX¶UHIRFXVHGRQ¿WQHVVWKHUHDUHPDQ\JRRGWUDFNHUVRQWKH market. But if you want the best of both worlds, look no further than the Fitbit Versa. It combines the good looks and some of the app selection of the Apple :DWFKZLWKWKH¿WQHVVWUDFNLQJFDSDELOLWLHV)LWELWLVNQRZQIRU$W\RX¶UH getting a ton of functionality for the price. Add in future support for female
health tracking, and you get our Editors’ Choice for smartwatches.
VICTORIA SONG
TESTING THE TRACKING
The Versa achieved excellent results in our fitness tracking test. In a one-mile treadmill walk at 3.5 miles per hour, it
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Apple’s sixth-generation iPad is still the best tablet value. For $329 ( $299 for students), you get a light, high-quality tablet with
millions of apps—now with a faster processor and Apple Pencil support. It’s great for
content consumption and creative work. But Apple wants to compete with laptops and chromebooks in schools, and that requires adding expensive accessories
WKDWVLJQL¿FDQWO\UDLVHWKHSULFH
Apple iPad (2018)
$329.99
L L L l m
Apple iPad (2018):
Best Midrange Tablet
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
There are two ways to look at the new iPad: the way most people would look at it and the way Apple wants us to look at it. If we were just handed a new iPad, we’d say, hey, it’s a great all-purpose tablet with cool creative features. Last year’s iPad was our no-brainer
recommendation for anyone who wanted a tablet in its price range, and the same goes for this one, too, so it’s our Editors’ Choice.
But Apple set itself a harder challenge with this device. It was introduced at an event in a high school and
promoted as Apple’s answer to chromebooks’ conquest of schools. That puts the iPad in a different light: Is it better for schools than cheap, rugged, cloud-based laptops? For all but the most ambitious educators, we don’t think so.
A FAMILIAR LOOK
7KHVL[WKJHQHUDWLRQL3DGORRNVH[DFWO\OLNHWKH¿IWK JHQPRGHOWRWKHSRLQWZKHUHLW¿WVLQDOORIWKHVDPH cases and accessories. The two generations of tablets are exactly the same size and weight: 9.4 by 6.6 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and 1.03 pounds for the Wi-Fi model and 1.05 pounds for the cellular unit.
Apple iPad (2018)
PROS Terrific
performance for the price. Elegant, high-quality apps.
Supports Apple Pencil.
CONS Neither rugged nor waterproof.
The tablet isn’t formally ruggedized or water-resistant. It has no IP rating (ingress protection), although Apple says it’s “tough.” Compared with some of the tough
chromebooks, such as CTL’s models for schools and the new Lenovo 100e/300e/500e, it’s still breakable,
though. A lot of that is just the iPad’s slippery nature and the fact that its glass face doesn’t have a clamshell to protect it—it’s Gorilla Glass, but it’s still glass. That’s part of why Apple suggests a new $99 Logitech rugged keyboard case for using this iPad in schools. The case physically attaches a keyboard and protects the tablet, but it also boosts the price.
Of course, you can get cheaper cases—and we do
suggest you use a case. The least-expensive decent ones tend to cost $10 to $15, but they don’t include the
NH\ERDUGWKDWVFKRROVZLOOZDQWWRXVHIRU¿OOLQJIRUPV and writing assignments.
The iPad’s form factor should be familiar to you by now: ,W¶VDVODERIJODVVDQGPHWDOZLWKD7RXFK,'¿QJHUSULQW sensor/home button below the screen. Unlike with
recent iPhone models, Apple has kept the headphone jack on the iPad. That’s a good choice. The tablet comes in gold, gray, or silver.
AUGMENTING THE IPAD’S REALITY
The iPad uses an A10 processor, the same as in the iPhone 7. That’s a step up from the A9 LQWKH¿IWKJHQHUDWLRQL3DGDQGLWUHDOO\ shows on benchmarks: On Geekbench 4, we got 3,512 single-core and 5,934 multi-core, as compared with 2,548/4,435 on WKH¿IWKJHQPRGHO7KDW¶VVWLOOVKRUWRI the results we get on iPad Pro devices, which have an even more
The faster processor doesn’t change the speed of the basic UI; apps launch and VZDSDWDERXWWKHVDPHVSHHGRQERWKWDEOHWV%XWZHFDQGH¿QLWHO\VHHWKH
difference between the A9 and A10 when running augmented reality (AR) apps. 2QWKH¿IWKJHQL3DG$5DSSVVXFKDV,NHD3ODFHDQGWKHJDPH6WDFN$5DV well as more ambitious educational AR apps, tend to stutter and judder a little. On the sixth-generation iPad, those apps run much more smoothly.
The A10 may also be needed to process Apple Pencil input with the smooth, ODJOHVVSUHFLVLRQWKDWZHVHHRQWKLVWDEOHW7KH¿IWKJHQL3DGGRHVQ¶WKDYH Pencil support at all.
We didn’t see a clearly visible performance advantage in lower-powered
applications such as basic drawing or word-processing apps. Apple’s APIs are DOVRUHDOO\JRRGDWKDQGOLQJJDPHVDQGZHZHUHQ¶WDEOHWR¿QGPDQ\WKDWFRXOG push the limits of this hardware—yet.
/LNHDOOL3DGVJRLQJEDFNWRWKH¿YH\HDUROGL3DG$LUWKHVL[WKJHQL3DGUXQV L26:HKDYHDIXOOUHYLHZRIL26KHUH
PENCIL PUSHING
The Apple Pencil is still, functionally, the best stylus for any midrange tablet. The $99 Pencil ($89 for schools) is just as accurate and lagless on the new iPad as it is on the iPad Pro. Apple says that while the new iPad has only a 60Hz display, as compared with the iPad Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion display, the Pencil tracking still runs at 240Hz—faster than the screen can update. The Pencil’s pressure and tilt support are excellent. Apple’s iWork apps have been updated with stylus support, with the ability to do handwritten markups on Pages
But the design and price of the Pencil, which haven’t changed in two years, need help. A perfect cylinder, the Pencil rolls off a table much too easily. It’s too long for small hands to use comfortably. Charging is awkward: The male Lightning port can snap off, and you can lose the removable cap while it’s charging. Replacements are really expensive. The Pencil also needs an eraser. When we had an enthusiastic sixth-grade artist try the new iPad, she complained about all of these things (and lost the Pencil under a table at one point).
The $49 Logitech Crayon is a potential solution to a lot of these problems, but it will be available only through education sales channels. We tried the Crayon for a few PLQXWHVDW$SSOH¶VODXQFKHYHQW,W¶VÀDWWHUWKDQWKH Pencil, so it doesn’t roll. The cap is attached, and the female Lightning port is more rugged than the Pencil’s port. But it has the same sensitivity, including touch and tilt, and the same narrow tip.
That said, there aren’t a lot of other good pen-enabled solutions available at this price. We have not been impressed with stylus support on chromebooks so far: It’s there, but it’s a bit laggy and is not compatible with DORWRIDSSV6DPVXQJ¶VVW\OXVVXSSRUWLQJ$QGURLG SRZHUHG*DOD[\7DE6VWDUWVDWZHOLNHWKH 6DPVXQJ63HQH[SHULHQFHEXWLW¶VKDUGIRUXVWR
recommend high-end Android tablets any longer, when it looks like even Google has given up on that market. Acer’s chromebook Tab 10 tablet looks intriguing, but we haven’t tested it yet.
7KH&UD\RQGH¿QLWHO\EHDWVWKH3HQFLOLQRXUPLQGV and both beat using capacitive stylii on devices that don’t have a dedicated touch layer. We just wish Apple licensed the technology to more third parties to create a wider range of options.
SAME AS IT EVER WAS
The iPad still comes in 32GB and 128GB models, both Wi-Fi-only and cellular. The $329 base price goes up by $100 for the 128GB model, and another $120 IRUFHOOXODU7KH*%PRGHOLV¿QHIRUEDVLFXVHDQGIRUGRLQJWKLQJVOLNHFORXG EDVHGRI¿FHDQGHGXFDWLRQDSSOLFDWLRQV$VLWKDVQRPHPRU\FDUGVORW\RX¶OO want the 128GB model if you plan to record a lot of video or download more than about 20 or so apps.
The 8-megapixel, f/2.4 main camera and 1.2-megapixel, f/2.2 front-facing
camera still haven’t changed. They’re still very good for tablets although not up to the standards of leading phone cameras. The main camera captures 1080p video as well as 120fps slow motion at 720p; the front-facing camera captures SYLGHR7KHPDLQFDPHUDZRUNV¿QHLQVWDQGDUGLQGRRUOLJKWLQJDOWKRXJK images are noisy. This is important because, beyond taking snapshots, it’s now the gateway to all those AR experiences.
The dual speakers, at the bottom, are the same volume and quality as on the ¿IWKJHQL3DG%OXHWRRWKLVVWLOO9HUVLRQDQG:L)LDF*36DQGDOO FDUULHUFRPSDWLEOH&'0$*60/7(FHOOXODUPRGHPVRSHUDWHWKHVDPHDVWKH\ do in that model.
%DWWHU\OLIHLVDOVRWKHVDPH%RWKWKH¿IWKDQGVL[WKJHQL3DGVJRWDERXW hours, 40 minutes in our intensive battery test, which involves streaming a full-screen video at full brightness. That translates to more than 10 hours of use at half brightness, just what Apple promises.
The 9.7-inch iPad comes in two storage capacities, 32GB and 128GB, and Wi-Fi and cellular models.
That’s an 8MP
6LQFHWKH3HQFLOQRZZRUNVRQWKHL3DGLVWKHUHDQ\UHDVRQWREX\D inch iPad Pro? Only if you’re a really picky, high-end creative type. The Pro has a more powerful processor than the $329 iPad, and a few extra features that cosset the eyes and ears of the creative crowd. The display is slightly larger. Its 120Hz ProMotion nature smooths scrolling, and its TrueTone color matching balances white levels to the room you’re in. Quad speakers are louder and richer WKDQWKHL3DG¶VERWWRPVSHDNHU6WRUDJHOHYHOVJRXSWR*%ZKLOHWKHL3DG maxes out at 128GB.
That all speaks to a tablet for people who are doing serious movie-making and the like, primarily on their iPads. Honestly, though, I have never met any of these people in person. If you’re a serious creative using an iPad as a full laptop replacement, go with the Pro. But if you’re a serious creative, we really
recommend you go with a Mac or Windows PC rather than an iPad anyway.
SHINY AND CHROME
Apple is promoting an extensive, creative school curriculum around the
particular powers of the iPad—focusing, of course, on the ways it’s superior to chromebooks. Most chromebooks don’t have cameras, most have weak
I’m not going to disparage doodling on your school reports (my kid doodled on every one of her math worksheets for years). But the sort of creative learning that requires an iPad rather than a chromebook, is in relatively short shrift in our nation’s underfunded schools. As a truly empowered iPad for schools costs about $299 for the tablet, $99 for the case, and another $49 to $99 for the
stylus, schools that choose iPads over cheaper chromebooks should do so as part of a move to creative, progressive lesson plans. That’s an ambitious lift for underfunded school districts and overworked teachers who are judged by their state test scores.
Chromebooks are inexpensive, durable, and rugged, and they have keyboards. They’re good for collaborative work, and their cloud-based software (which also runs on iPads) runs on PCs at home. They’re a great example of the “good
enough” phenomenon—they don’t do everything an iPad does, but they do what American schools need them to do.
CONCLUSIONS
Who’s buying this iPad? If you’re a traditional tablet user looking to play games, watch or create videos, or draw, this iPad is a worthy upgrade over the previous PRGHO,W¶VDWHUUL¿FIDPLO\FRPSDQLRQDQGPRUHFDSDEOHWKDQDQ\$QGURLGRU Windows tablet in this price range, thanks to its bright, sharp screen and range of fast, capable apps (while Windows is a more powerful operating system, you aren’t going to get this kind of snappiness in a $329 Windows detachable). If you just want to play videos for kids, get an Amazon Fire HD 10. If you want to do more, get this iPad. It’s easily our Editor’s Choice for midrange tablets.
But Apple also wants the iPad to be part of a comprehensive solution for
schools, and I don’t think American schools are ready for or in need of what the iPad delivers. Yes, there will be some elite public and private schools where the teachers have the time and energy to come up with creative lessons, and the
kids create complicated videos about gravity and write music about math. Those are good schools and good applications for the iPad. But most of our teachers are just trying to make it to the next state test and drilling their kids on math DQG(QJOLVK&KHDSUXJJHGPDQDJHDEOHFKURPHERRNVGRMXVW¿QHIRUWKDWNLQG of education.
SASCHA SEGAN
EDITORS’ CHOICE
It didn’t take long for Sony to reuse the body design it introduced with last year’s
high-resolution, pro-grade a7R III in an entry-level model. But despite a friendly (for full-frame) price, the a7 III is anything but entry-level when it comes to its feature set. Its BSI CMOS sensor excels in all types of light and offers incredible dynamic range. It can shoot at 10fps and has an autofocus
system that covers almost the entirety of the image sensor. And the a7R III has serious video chops too, recording smooth, sharp footage at 4K and slow-motion at 1080p. It run circles around competing models in this price range, and is our Editors’ Choice for entry-level full-frame shoppers.
Sony a7 III
Body only, $1,998.00 L L L l l
Sony a7 III: A Groundbreaking
Full-Frame Camera
DESIGN
The a7 III measures 3.9 by 5.0 by 2.5 inches (HWD) without a lens, and weighs about 1.4 pounds. Its grip and body design are the same as you get with the a7R ,,,,¿QGLWTXLWHFRPIRUWDEOHWRKROGHYHQZLWKDODUJHU zoom, such as the FE 100-400mm. The body is
protected against dust and splashes, as are all Sony FE lenses.
The EV dial is on top, along with programmable C1 and C2 buttons and a Mode dial (not a locking dial like the one on the a7R III). The shutter release is on top of the handgrip, slightly lower than the rest of the top plate, and set at an angle. The On/Off switch surrounds it. The grip has a command dial, accessible using your ULJKWLQGH[¿QJHU,WVUHDUFRXQWHUSDUWLVVOLJKWO\RIIVHW from the EV dial and is easily turned with your right thumb.
As for rear controls, the programmable C3 button and Menu button are above the rear LCD, just to the left of the EVF eyecup. To the right, still running along the WRS\RX¿QG5HFRUG$)21DQG$(/%HORZWKHP nestled between the rear thumb rest and LCD are the focus point selector joystick and Fn button.
Sony a7 III
PROS 24MP full-frame BSI sensor. 10fps with tracking. 5-axis stabilization. 4K HDR video. Silent shooting available. Tilting touch LCD. Dual SD slots. Vastly improved battery. Focus joystick. Flat profiles available.
CONS Screen not true vari-angle. Only one card slot is UHS-II. No in-body flash.
Accessory required for time-lapse.
7KHÀDWUHDUFRPPDQGGLDOLVQH[WGRZQLQWKHFROXPQ it has a button at its center and directional presses to adjust Display, ISO, and the Drive mode. The dial itself has deep ridges so you can turn it comfortably, and the turning motion feels much better than the similar dial on the a7 II—there’s more resistance, and the dial is physically larger so the button presses offer better tactile feedback.
Rounding out the rear controls are the Play and Delete buttons. The latter doubles as the programmable C4 button when in shooting mode. By default, it toggles the touch sensitivity of the rear display. The touch functions are a bit limited: You can’t navigate through menus via touch. But you can tap on the screen to set a focus point.
Speaking of menus, Sony has long been criticized for its lengthy, complex menu system. The a7 III includes
VRPHWRROVWRKHOSUHGXFHWKHVWUHVVRIWU\LQJWR¿QGWKH VHWWLQJ\RXZDQWWRDGMXVWZKHQ\RX¶UHÀLSSLQJWKURXJK dozens of pages of options. My Menu is fully
customizable, so a setting you often adjust can be added WRLWIRUTXLFNDFFHVV
