Use Your Ears

Restoring Relationships: Use Your Ears More Than Your Mouth

Restoring Relationships: Use Your Ears More Than Your Mouth
By Rick Warren

“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense”(Proverbs 19:11 NIV).

The third biblical step toward restoring a relationship is to sympathize with the other person’s feelings.

Unbroken Home

Unbroken Home

By Touching Lives 

““Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3

More frequently than ever in our culture we hear the term “broken home.” Fifty years ago, nearly 80% of children lived under one roof with both parents in their first marriage. In the latest study by the Pew Research Center in 2014, that number has dropped to 46%. The declining share of the “traditional” family has led to family structures that often evolve through the life of a child. One study found that over a three-year period, 31% of children under age 6 had experienced a major change in family structure, in the form of parental divorce, separation, marriage, cohabitation or death.

Greater than the Ashes

Jesus is Greater than the Ashes

Why Jesus Came: He Is Greater than the Ashes
By Debbie McDaniel, Crosswalk.com Writer

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Isaiah 61:1-3

M*A*S*H Star Passes

M*A*S*H actor David Ogden Stiers dies at 75

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Breanne L. Heldman 

M*A*S*H actor David Ogden Stiers died of cancer on Saturday, his agent confirmed. He was 75.

What Is Google Really Up To?

What Is Google Really Up To?

The search giant's crusade against "annoying" ads isn't altruism.

By Eric Limer

GETTY IMAGESAFP / STRINGER

Google's been busy this week. First came the new push to make email interactive. Then the flashy "Google Stories"—a Snapchat-esque package that can live in Google's search results. Most importantly, we're about to get Google's newest version of Chrome, which will block "annoying" ads by default.

Get Rid of OneDrive Sign In

Get Rid of the Annoying Microsoft OneDrive Sign In Popup

by Lowell Heddings

Every time you reboot your Windows 10 PC, Microsoft OneDrive bugs you to login or create an account. But what if you don’t want to? What if you want it to go away, forever? Microsoft doesn’t give you that option, but we have a way to disable it for good.

You’d think if the computer is so smart, it would get the message after you close out of the dialog every single time you reboot. But no. They really, really, really want you to sign up for OneDrive. Make it stop!

Best Cruise Bargains in 2018

How to Find the Best Cruise Bargains in 2018

By Brittany Chrusciel
Cruise Critic Associate Editor

What's in store for 2018 for cruisers seeking low prices and great value? We asked a panel of eight cruise and travel professional for their tips and insight into finding the absolute best cruise bargains this year -- and when to book them. Find out the destinations that will stay cheap and the ships that won't, as well as the surprising perks of using a travel agent to book your cruise.

American Forests Change

As American Forests Change, One Tree Is Emerging

Beech is booming, but that may be bad news overall as temperatures rise

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

In a 2016 photo provided by the University of Maine, a rep from the Northern Hardwoods Research Institute describes beech bark disease to members of the University of Maine Cooperative Forestry Research Unit in Aroostook County.   (Brian E. Roth/University of Maine via AP)

(NEWSER) – Beech trees are dominating the woodlands of the northeastern United States as the climate changes, and that could be bad news for the forests and people who work in them, according to a group of scientists. The scientists say the move toward beech-heavy forests is associated with higher temperatures and precipitation. They say their 30-year study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Applied Ecology, is one of the first to look at such broad changes over a long time period in the northeastern US and southeastern Canada, per the AP. The changes could have major negative ramifications for forest ecosystems and industries that rely on them, says Dr. Aaron Weiskittel, a University of Maine associate professor of forest biometrics and modeling and one of the study's authors.

"There's no easy answer to this one. It has a lot of people scratching their heads," Weiskittel says. "Future conditions seem to be favoring the beech, and managers are going to have to find a good solution to fix it." Beech, often used for firewood, is of much less commercial value than species of birch and maple trees that can be used to make furniture and flooring. The study found that the American beech has increased substantially from 1983 to 2014, while species such as sugar maple, red maple, and birch all decreased. That's a problem not only because of beech's lower value, but because of the spread of beech bark disease, which causes the trees to die young and be replaced by newer trees that succumb to the same disease.

Bluetooth 5.0

Bluetooth 5.0: What’s Different, and Why it Matters

by Chris Hoffman

Modern smartphones and other devices, from the iPhone 8 and iPhone X to the Samsung Galaxy S8, advertise support for “Bluetooth 5.0” on their specifications list. Here’s what’s new in the latest and greatest version of Bluetooth.

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest version of the Bluetooth wireless communication standard. It’s commonly used for wireless headphones and other audio hardware, as well as wireless keyboards, mice, and game controllers. Bluetooth is also used for communication between various smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

A new version of the Bluetooth standard means various improvements, but only when used with compatible peripherals. In other words, you won’t see any immediate benefit from upgrading to a phone with Bluetooth 5.0 if all your Bluetooth accessories were designed for an older version of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is backwards compatible, however, so you can continue using your existing Bluetooth 4.2 and older devices with a Bluetooth 5.0 phone. And, when you buy new Bluetooth 5.0-enabled peripherals, they’ll work better thanks to your Bluetooth 5.0 phone.

Bluetooth Low Energy for Wireless Headphones (and More)

Importantly, all the improvements being made to Bluetooth are to Bluetooth Low Energy specification, which was introduced back with Bluetooth 4.0, and not to the classic Bluetooth radio that uses more power. Bluetooth Low Energy is designed to reduce the energy usage of Bluetooth peripherals. It was originally used for wearables, beacons, and other low-power devices, but had some serious restrictions.

For example, wireless headphones couldn’t communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy, so they had to use the more power-hungry Bluetooth classic standard instead. With Bluetooth 5.0, all audio devices communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy, which means reduced power usage and longer battery life. Many more types of devices will be able to communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy in the future.

Notably, Apple’s AirPods don’t use Bluetooth 5.0. They use Bluetooth 4.2 and the special Apple W1 chip for an improved connection. On Android, Bluetooth 5.0 should help make Bluetooth headphones something you’d want to use.

Dual Audio

Bluetooth 5.0 also enables a cool new feature that allows you to play audio on two connected devices at the same time. In other words, you could have two pairs of wireless headphones connected to your phone, and them stream audio to both of them at once, all via standard Bluetooth. Or you could play audio on two different speakers in different rooms. You could even stream two different audio sources to two different audio devices at the same time, so two people could be listening to two different pieces of music, but streaming from the same phone.

This feature is known as “Dual Audio” on the Samsung Galaxy S8. Just connect two Bluetooth audio devices to your phone, turn on the Dual Audio feature, and you’re ready to go. However, this shouldn’t be a Samsung-only feature. It’s enabled by Bluetooth 5.0 and will hopefully appear on other manufacturers’ devices, too.

More Speed, Distance, and Throughput

Bluetooth 5.0’s primary benefits are improved speed and greater range. In other words, it’s faster and can operate over greater distances than older versions of Bluetooth.

The official Bluetooth marketing material from the Bluetooth standard organization advertises that Bluetooth 5.0 has four times the range, two times the speed, and eight times the broadcasting message capacity of older versions of Bluetooth. Again, these improvements apply to Bluetooth Low Energy, ensuring devices can take advantage of them while saving power.

With Bluetooth 5.0, devices can use data transfer speeds of up to 2 Mbps, which is double what Bluetooth 4.2 supports. Devices can also communicate over distances of up to 800 feet (or 240 meters), which is four times the 200 feet (or 60 meters) allowed by Bluetooth 4.2. However, walls and other obstacles will weaken the signal, as they do with Wi-Fi.

The aptX compression standard already promises CD quality audio over lower 1 Mbps speeds, so 2 Mbps speeds should enable even better wireless audio quality.

Technically, devices can actually choose between more speed or a longer range. That “two times the speed” benefit is helpful when operating at short range and sending data back and forth. The increased range would be optimal for Bluetooth beacons and other devices that only need to send a small amount of data or can send the data slowly, but want to communicate at greater distances. Both are low energy.

Devices can choose which makes the most sense. For example, wireless headphones could use the increase speed for high bitrate streaming audio, while wireless sensors and smarthome devices that just need to report their status information could choose the increased distance so they can communicate at longer distances. And, because they can use Bluetooth Low Energy and still get these benefits, they can operate on battery power for much longer than they would with the more power-hungry classic Bluetooth standard.

If you’re interested in the technical details, you can view the official Bluetooth 5.0 specifications online. Android Authority also has a good technical look at how exactly Bluetooth 5.0 is different from Bluetooth 4.2.

When Will You Get It?

You can get devices that support Bluetooth 5.0 today, like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S8, and future Android phones. You’ll also need Bluetooth 5.0 peripherals, however. They aren’t widespread yet, but many manufacturers are promising to release Bluetooth 5.0 devices in 2018.

Because Bluetooth is backwards compatible, your Bluetooth 5.0 and older Bluetooth devices will work together. It’s a bit like upgrading to a new, faster Wi-Fi standard. Even after you get a new router that supports faster Wi-Fi, you have to upgrade all your other devices, too. But your older Wi-Fi-enabled devices can still connect to your new router, just at a slower speed than the router supports.

If you can get your hands on an Android phone with Bluetooth 5.0 and Bluetooth 5.0 headphones, you’ll likely have a much better wireless audio experience than you would with the older Bluetooth standard.

iPhone users can get a good experience with Apple’s own AirPods or Beats headphones thanks to the W1 chip, but solid Bluetooth audio is easier to get on Android now, too. Bluetooth 5.0 should even improve wireless headphones on the iPhone if you choose to go for third-party Bluetooth 5.0 headphones instead of Apple headphones with a W1 chip.

We don’t recommend upgrading every last little thing, however. Even if you have a Bluetooth 5.0-enabled laptop, for example, upgrading to a Bluetooth 5.0-enabled mouse probably won’t be a big improvement. But, as support for Bluetooth 5.0 finds its way into every new Bluetooth device, Bluetooth peripherals will get better and Bluetooth will become more reliable and power-efficient.

Image Credit: foxaon1987/Shutterstock.com, De Repente/Shutterstock.com, Torok Tihamer/Shutterstock.com

New Android Smartphones

HMD unveils its new slate of Nokia Android smartphones starting at $85

By Ingrid Lunden (@ingridlunden)


Nokia — in its newest iteration as a licensed brand of HMD — is a long way off from its glory days, the years when it not only set the pace for innovation in the mobile phone market, but also led it as the world’s biggest handset maker. Today, the company took its latest step in rebuilding itself as it unveiled a slate of Android-powered smartphones — the Nokia 1, the Nokia 6, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco, with the cheapest of these, the Nokia 1, coming in at a mere $85 — and a new feature phone.

Doomsday Vault

Doomsday Vault Hits the 1M Mark

As the Global Seed Vault turns 10

By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff

This is a March 2, 2016, file photo of an exterior view of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the secure seed bank on Svalbard, Norway.   (Heiko Junge/ NTB scanpix, File via AP)

(NEWSER) – Monday was a "really significant" day for the so-called Doomsday Vault—and not just because it was its 10th birthday. The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, has since 2008 stored seeds within a mountain on a Norwegian island 800 miles from the North Pole, and on Monday the number of crops it stores crossed the 1 million mark, thanks to a new shipment that included varieties of black-eyed pea and the Bambara groundnut. The BBC puts its number of deposits at 1,059,646, which is 90,000 less than what could have been following a withdrawal related to the war in Syria. That's enough to nearly fill one of the vault's three chambers, leaving room for what scientists believe will be the eventual total count: 2.2 million crops.

Voice of America reports 73 institutions from around the globe have contributed seeds, and it points out a notable country not found on the list: China, though it's apparently discussing the possibility of making a deposit. Seeds aren't the only thing pouring into the vault: money, too, in order to extend the vault's "viability," as Bloomberg puts it. Norway on Friday announced $13 million in upgrades to what was originally a $9 million construction job, reports Reuters. It quotes the Agriculture Ministry's description of the planned work: "construction of a new, concrete-built access tunnel, as well as a service building to house emergency power and refrigerating units and other electrical equipment that emits heat through the tunnel."

Twitter is Asking the Public

Twitter is asking the public to help measure how toxic it is

By Colin Lecher@colinlecher


Twitter, like other major tech companies, has faced a year of punishing criticism, as it’s been roiled by misinformation, bots, and the prominence of far-right users. Now, the company is admitting it can’t solve its problems on its own and is asking for help.

Entertainment News

Avengers: Infinity War release date moves up a week

ANTHONY BREZNICAN 

The wait for Avengers: Infinity War just got shorter by one week, at least in North America.

The movie was set to open May 4 here, while it was opening April 27 in most international markets (with a few earlier April 25 debuts in a handful of countries). Sources at Marvel Studios and Disney tell EW they decided to change course and open the movie worldwide on the same date.

Take the Initiative

Restoring Relationships: Take the Initiative

Restoring Relationships: Take the Initiative
By Rick Warren

“If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God” (Matthew 5:23-24 The Message).

Family Ties

Family Ties

By Touching Lives

“’Who are My mother and my brothers?’ He asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers!’” Mark 3:33-34

The fifth commandment, found in Exodus 20:12, instructs us to honor our parents. The word “honor” in the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament means, “to be heavy,” or, “to give weight.” When used in this context, it means to offer profound respect to someone…to take him/her seriously and give a place of importance. The opposite would be to trivialize someone and treat him/her as if they didn’t matter. Notice that this command is not conditional. It does not say, “Honor your mother and father when they are good to you, when they act honorable.”