PGA Tour and Intel Want to Bring the Putting Green to Your Living Room

Fore! iFixYouri is at the Honda Classic, repairing phones, making friends, and watching some great golf. If you’re headed to Palm Beach Gardens to watch the action, look for our tent near the main entrance. iFixYouri technicians will be there for the whole tournament to give out freebies, repair phones and give them a boost with our charging station, and enter people to win accessories, repair discounts, and more! While there, we couldn’t help but wish there was a way to bridge the time-honored traditions of golf and the rapidly emerging consumer technology we deal with every day. Turns out, we’re not the only ones.

 

Eager to bring young, tech-savvy potential fans greenside at its tournaments, The PGA Tour is teaming up with Intel to bring virtual reality experiences to the game. Although it seems like they’re just trying to keep pace with the NBA, which has been offering weekly VR broadcasts, PGA officials say their VR experiences will be something special and interactive, and not just an immersive version of the same broadcast you’d watch on your TV. “We’d like for people to interact with the stream,” says Scott Gutterman, PGA Tour VP of digital operations. “If there are stats they want, to choose themselves, slide the leaderboard in and out (of their view).”

 

“We think golf is one of the hidden treasures to produce and create experiences in virtual reality,” said David Aufhauser, managing director, strategy and product, Intel Sports Group. “You can create experiences fans just can’t get, even if they’re there. You can bring in stats and data and other visual components that can complement the video part of it.” Aufhauser also hints at a growing demand: “Fans want to experience new ways to connect with sports and players that they love in wholly immersive experience. We see a lot of growth.”

Intel Sports Group’s virtual reality unit, Voke, tested the technology at the storied Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles ahead of the Genesis Open. While Voke has produced VR for the NFL and NCAA Final 4 basketball games, golf has unique problems that make it more difficult to reproduce in a virtual reality environment. Golf balls are small and difficult to track in flight when compared to basketballs or footballs. There is a lot more space to be covered on a golf course compared to a fixed playing area; a NBA court is 4,700 square feet, while the average golf course is 74 acres, or more than 3.2 million square feet. Resolution can be an issue when small objects are that far away from cameras, especially on the more popular (but less powerful) smartphone-powered VR headsets.

 

Voke uses three large pods of cameras to capture the action. Each pod features six pairs of cameras, whose feeds must be stitched together by producers and programs. The lenses can be swapped out depending on the sport or to capture different shots. Gutterman says that the size and lack of mobility of the camera pods will keep golf VR a “largely tee or green experience,” with the three pods triangulating the putting surface and capturing a 180-degree panorama of the green.

 

Voke’s founder, Sankar Jayaram, is optimistic that the VR broadcast will be entertaining regardless. “The way we designed our system, we can actually zoom in. One challenge in VR is that the cameras are far from the action. We can use different lenses and take you closer to the action—it’s one of the unique features we have—so you can get depth.”

 

A demo delivered a great depth-of-field and a clear view, arguably better than some spectators probably had a few yards away from the green. The VR stream showed dips and hills in the putting surface (broadcasts, even HD, tend to flatten out the greens). The Voke experience lets you switch views, so you can get the perfect camera angle for each putt attempt. Any VR viewer will work with Voke, whether you have an Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear, or even a phone-powered Google Cardboard.

Tired of White AirPods? Paint It, Matte Black

It didn’t take long after the Apple AirPods (delayed) release for consumers to already find gripes. The most petty of those complained, “Why are they only in white!? Why not jet black or rose gold or space grey! We want options!” Apple has done what they do best: ignored them. On one hand, they’re totally right in doing so. On the other, what’s wrong with wanting your tech to match your own personal aesthetic? The little white buds in your ears are intended to be just as iconic as the old earbuds were in iPod advertising, so it’s doubtful that Apple will provide a rainbow anytime soon. But if we learned anything from high school economics class, where there is demand, there is supply. So who’s got the plasti-dip?

Apple products are notoriously difficult to paint. Whatever proprietary glossy plastic the company uses is totally vandal-proof, which is normally a good thing…unless you actually want to mark your products somehow. The toughest, most durable paints are no match for the shiny white plastic that comprises most Apple tech. Even this writer attempted to put a dot on one Apple earbud to know, at a glance, right from left. The industrial-strength paint marker rubbed off inside of 48 hours. This unreal level of stain-resistance is especially problematic for those with an individual flair who like to color-mod their devices. That’s where the professionals come in.

Shortly after the AirPods release, a Brooklyn-based “team of skilled artisans” snatched up a snappy URL and began offering BlackPods. These are presumably black-painted AirPods, although it’s hard to glean details when their website only offers low-res renders of the product. They appear to be a matte finish, and that’s your only option; if the company can do other colors, they’re not offering them at this time. The price? $249 (about a $90 premium over the original) or $99 if you send them your own pair.

Black not your color? The good folks at ColorWare will send you AirPods in one of 58 colors, and you can choose between matte or gloss finish. They’ll even do each earbud and the case all in different colors, if you so choose. At $339 ($140 and $40 extra for a painted charger/case, on top of the $159 cost) so at that point, you should just forgo black-on-black and go with someone that expresses your individuality a bit more. We’re currently trying to convince our CEO to buy these slick AirPods in iFixYouri colors for everyone in the office…

…and maybe a matte-green iMac for each desk. Got to represent the team colors, you know?

Yes, ColorWare does expert paint jobs for all kinds of consumer tech devices. They have a long history (it’s a family-owned business dating back to 2000) and, more importantly, a beautiful website. It’s easy to burn up your lunch break playing with the visualizer and drooling over color combinations for your future disposable-income purchases. What’s your favorite look? Take a screenshot and leave it in the comments below!

Because ColorWare and similar companies must disassemble the device to paint it, the warranty is obviously voided in full. ColorWare does provide their own separate warranty for painted devices, but in case something goes wrong with your AirPods or other painted Apple product, you can’t rely on AppleCare like you normally would. That’s where iFixYouri comes in. If you have a color-modded smartphone, computer, or camera and the screen breaks or battery dies or one of a million little things goes wrong with it, bring it to one of our 15 locations or use our mail-in service and the iFixYouri technicians will diagnose the problem (for free!) then repair it using high-quality parts and precision tools. And we’ll be sure to not scratch the finish.

Employee Spotlight – Quinn

Quietly stepping into the spotlight this week is Quinn. Silent guardian of our Donald Ross location in Jupiter, Quinn is quick to greet customers with a smile before quickly and efficiently repairing their iPhones and iPads. He’s new to the company, having been with us only since the new year, but is quickly proving to us that he’ll be an essential employee for a long time to come. A Jupiter native, Quinn studied information technology at University of Central Florida (where iFixYouri is the official repair partner) and is currently working towards his Bachelor’s at Palm Beach State University. When not fixing computers, he still works on them, as he enjoys building PCs and gaming on them. His current favorites include Overwatch, Heroes of The Storm, Diablo 3,and Elder Scrolls: Legends. We’re glad to have this former ice cream-scooper on board with us and appreciate all the hard work he does. Thanks, Quinn!

Break Your Screen at The Honda Classic? iFixYouri Offers a Mulligan

The iFixYouri corporate office is buzzing recently as we prepare to head to the Honda Classic golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens. Look for our tent near the main entrance, we’ll be there for the whole tournament giving away freebies, juicing phones with our charging station, and entering people to win accessories, repair discounts, and more! We’ll even have a repair technician on-site, so if a wayward golf ball smashes your phone’s screen, look for the iFixYouri tent to get it repaired in less time than it takes to clear par!

 

It’s not like this doesn’t happen at golf tournaments. Last November, PGA Tour golfer Charley Hoffman took his frustration out on his golf bag after a miserable round of play. Unfortunately, his and his caddy’s iPhones were in the front pocket.

 

Yikes! Sad thing that iFixYouri wasn’t there to repair the damage, but if something similar happens at the Honda Classic, we’ll have our tools ready. Damage like this is a piece of cake for our expert repair techs. However, we advise against actually using your iPhone as a golf club. That’s just crazy.

Flame War: China’s ‘Fire Drone’ Is Worrying

As we continue our terrifying coverage into the increasing dangers of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, we look to China to move the hazard level several notches upward. Someone in the Hubei province decided to stick a flamethrower to the business end of a quadcopter and fly it around in a whirling, buzzing inferno through residential neighborhoods. Why? Well, there’s an issue with power lines being damaged by garbage, such as plastic bags, blowing in the wind. The usual method of dealing with this involves a state employee being sent up in a cherrypicker to remove the detritus by hand. As you can imagine, this is slightly hazardous work. The worker could fall, get hit by a fatal jolt of electricity, or both. One of these workers has apparently had enough, and decided to make the task a lot more safe for himself and a lot less safe for the rest of mankind. I mean, just look at it.

Whatever problem he’s solving, he just created a whole lot more. It’s an ingenious idea, but it boils down to “remote-controlled helicopter that spews fire,” which never sounds good in any situation. Why is the gun-copter not okay but flamethrower-copter acceptable? Because it’s on government payroll? Let’s keep this technology in the realm of photography and Super Bowl halftime shows. It’s only a matter of time before the man who speared a drone at a renaissance festival seems like the only sane man around.

Believe it or not, iFixYouri has plenty of experience with fixing a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from quadcopters to octocopters and everything in between. Several of our technicians are drone photographers and videographers (Andy, for example) and love to help out fellow hobbyists get their UAVs back to working condition*. Whether you have a GoPro Karma, DJI Phantom, or any make or model drone that has an issue with the camera, rotor, or anything else, get in touch with iFixYouri and we’ll be happy to get you back to the skies!

*“Working condition” does not include attaching flamethrowers or other weapons.

Nokia Is Back, and So Is Your Dad’s Cellphone

Finnish newcomers HMD Global (stylized as the calculatedly-hip hmd.) recently released their first smartphone in China. The Nokia 6 is a typical Chinese smartphone; relatively low cost (around US$240), 16MP camera, Android 7.0, etc., but it’s also the first Nokia Android phone. Yes, that’s right: Nokia. After a string of relatively unpopular smartphones running Windows Phone OS, the last we heard from the mobile division of the Espoo-based telecom company was an absorption into Microsoft. HMD also announced a revival of the Nokia 3310, a phone from the turn of the millennium and known for having a Snake game and being nearly invulnerable to damage. So…how did we get here?

Nokia, the world’s most successful paper-mill-turned-smartphone-company, faced struggling sales in the late ‘00s. Apple and Samsung had broken from the pack and began racing each other to dominance in the western world, leaving everyone else in the dust. Nokia, meanwhile, had a firm grip on the low-end cellphone market through to the early 2010s, selling nigh-indestructible handsets with week-long battery life to developing industrial markets like Nigeria, Brazil, and Turkey. These phones, such as the Nokia 1100 (the best selling phone in history), feature the old “candybar” form factor that you remember your parents having back in the day, but their legendary durability and low cost made them a status symbol in a large part of the world. As these countries developed further and their populations wanted higher-end smartphones, Nokia sought to provide them with such. A partnership with Microsoft resulted in the Nokia Lumia phones running Windows Phone OS, and in 2013 Microsoft decided to purchase Nokia’s mobile phone division outright and make it Microsoft Mobile. Unfortunately, Windows Phones were not well-received and never sold very well. By April 2016, market share for the Microsoft-based OS fell below 1%, and Microsoft then sold the division to Foxconn (manufacturer of electronic components for Apple, Samsung, Acer, Dell, Nintendo, and more) and a new company composed primarily of ex-Nokia executives: HMD Global.

HMD, whose website boasts the tagline “The Home of Nokia Phones,” released the aforementioned Nokia 6 this month. The Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 are coming soon, also being slate-style Android devices with lower-end hardware specs than the 6. However, we’re sure that even HMD execs are surprised to see that the big headline is the re-release of the Nokia 3310. The classic “dumbphone” is a testament to how build quality and design can still beat out innovation and shininess in the tech world. You don’t have to worry about a cracked screen when said screen is 84 x 48 pixels of flexible monochrome display. Leaving your charger at home isn’t a problem when the battery lasts about 10 days. It’s more than just a throwback to a simpler age of cellphones; durability and functionality are an absolute necessity in developing parts of the world. Examples of the modern Nokia user might be a Senegalese woman using her phone to run a textile business or a farmer in Azerbaijan keeping in contact with the marketplace. They don’t care about high-resolution cameras or fingerprint scanners. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, updates the 3310 will get upon its rebirth. It’s a weak dream, but we hope that it’s successful enough to spark a return to function-over-form mentality in the tech world. Or maybe we just miss the days when you didn’t need a heat gun to disassemble and repair a phone. If you do manage to break one, send it to iFixYouri and we’ll bring it to life…or just frame it on our wall.

<3

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love is in the air here at iFixYouri: we just love to fix your iPhones, iPads, and computers, day in and day out. If bae’s phone is starting to look a little unloved, whether it has a cracked screen or missing buttons, show them how much you care by bringing it to the iFixYouri nearest you. Most repairs can be done on the spot, in less time than it’ll take to get seated at your significant other’s favorite restaurant tonight. Flowers wilt and chocolates melt, but every time your boo looks at their perfect, unbroken screen, they’ll think of you for the rest of the year.  

If you’re single, there are a ton of great smartphone apps and websites available to you. Whether you’re searching for Tinderella or just a Bumbleboy, there are free apps designed to help you find your soulmate (true love is not guaranteed). Tinder and Bumble are simple, just a short bio and a few pictures to convince you and others to decide “yes” or “no,” but PlentyofFish and OkCupid let you fill out more information so you can really get a good feeling that the person on the other end is worth spending time with.

Once you’ve decided on a Valentine’s Day date, you can use your phone again to find you a place to eat while you talk about your hobbies and dreams. Yelp works great for finding restaurants, but did you know it’s also useful for making dinner reservations? Google Maps does as well, using OpenTable. Or if you’d just like to get takeout and dine on the beach, GrubHub and Foodler make it easy to order to-go from a variety of restaurants. You can even mix and match! Some delivery services, such as Shipt, can even bring the perfect wine pairing to you.

However, we understand that some of you might want to go old-school with a simple Valentine’s Day card. At iFixYouri, we understand. To show you how much we care about our customers, we made you some Valentine e-cards. Feel free to share them with someone who’s on your mind tonight. <3

Spotify Would Die 4 U: Prince Returns to Streaming Music Services

Rejoice, Prince lovers! After a two-year absence, and almost a year since the artist’s untimely demise, 27 of his albums and compilations are now streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. It’s currently limited to the albums released on Warner Music, which isn’t a bad batch. You get Prince’s first fifteen albums, including 1999, Lovesexy, Sign ‘O’ The Times, and the Purple Rain and Batman soundtracks, the sort-of-okay Old Friends 4 Sale, and two newer releases from 2014, PLECTRUMELECTRUM and ART OFFICIAL AGE. While we’re sore about the exclusion of classics like Musicology and Crystal Ball, this is a good start to Prince’s exhaustive discography being available on popular streaming services. “Popular” is a good word, as previously the only people legally allowed to stream Prince were the 580,000 listeners of subscription-based music streaming service Tidal (compare that to Apple Music’s 20 million, Spotify’s 40 million, and Pandora’s 80 million).

Prince, famously protective of the rights to his music, chose Tidal to exclusively stream his new music, along with his older catalog, because of the financial equity of the deal. The artist died shortly after in April 2016 without a written will, causing all decisions regarding his intellectual property to be handled by his estate. In November, the estate sued Roc Nation, record label of hiphop mogul Jay Z, for hosting Prince’s music on Tidal, also owned and developed by Jay Z. What happened after that isn’t entirely clear, but on Sunday, Warner Bros. Records chairman and CEO Cameron Strang made the announcement. “Prince recorded his most influential and popular music during his time with Warner Bros.,” said Strang, “and we are deeply aware of our responsibility to safeguard and nurture his incredible legacy. Warner Bros. is thrilled to be able to bring Prince’s music to his millions of fans around the world via streaming services, fittingly on music’s biggest night.” That biggest night, of course, being the 59th Grammy Awards, which featured a wonderful tribute to Prince by Bruno Mars and Prince’s old associates The Time. While we’d love to add that clip on the end of this article, it seems that the ban on any unauthorized source of Prince’s music is still in effect. Instead, enjoy this clip of His Purple Majesty rocking “Baby I’m a Star” at the Grammys in 1985, the year of his first win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtTjciO2SCM

Warner Music also announced plans to release a remastered Purple Rain along with two albums of unreleased music and two concert films. These are planned for a June 9 release, two days after what would have been Prince’s 59th birthday.

Of course, if you’re on the go and want to rock out to “Nothing Compares 2 U” on Pandora, “Little Red Corvette” on Spotify, or “When Doves Cry” on Apple Music, it helps to have your smartphone working perfectly. If your speakers or headphone jack are pumping out music that sounds fuzzy and unclear, or your battery life is so bad that you can’t even make it through the first half of 1999, bring your phone in to iFixYouri so we can check it out. Not near one of our walk-in locations? We offer mail-in service from anywhere in the world!

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