Check That Out: Mockplus Makes Prototyping Easy

The Asian prototyping software Mockplus is gaining popularity in Europe and other western countries. It allows for an almost intuitive creation of mockups. We took a look at the tool for you.

Without Mockups, Complex Designs are Too Prone to Errors

As soon as a design is supposed to expand over more than a few pages, it makes sense to think about the structure in advance and put these thoughts into a raw prototype. Its primary task is giving you, the rest of the design team, and the potential client a clear look at the information architecture.

This is not about creating production ready assets like Sketch allows you to, but rather about producing a usable click skeleton that shows which information is accessed which way, excluding any visual considerations.

Mockplus: Demo Project in the Mac Version. (Screenshot: Noupe)

I’m convinced by this prototyping approach and consider it a necessity. I think it’s just as necessary that the solution used for the prototyping sticks to the approach, and refrains from adding any unnecessary complexity.

The Creation of Mockups Has to be Fast and Simple

For trained designers, creating a suitable prototype, depending on the project’s complexity, and given the availability of all information, shouldn’t take longer than an hour. I’m assuming that the training period for the respective tool should be included within that timespan.

Looking at it under these preconditions, many potential mockup solutions fall off the grid right away. We used to create mockups with pen and paper, and many of us still do this today, to sketch something in a meeting with the client, which makes sense. As long as the client’s decider responsible for the project is also sitting at the table.

Back at the office, I don’t want to have to morph the sketch into a complex software product. Instead, I’d rather have a slim solution that allows for the fast digitalization of my draft.

The Good Old Days?

A bit over ten years ago, I still used Powerpoint for my prototypes, which apparently was not a good solution. However, I was able to simply scan and integrate my drafts as separate slides, and simulate the interaction with a few hotspots. As Powerpoint was able to save auto-playing presentations, I was able to send the prototype to my clients via email, allowing him to view it without having to install Powerpoint to do so. This has always been sufficient for getting client approval.

Today, there are more elegant solutions.

Mockplus, Prototyping Giant From Asia

Today, I want to steer your attention to a product that is already super popular in Asia and is now preparing to gain a foothold in Europe and other Western markets with its impressive feature set. I’m talking about Mockplus.

Mockplus started out as a web app with a remarkably reduced, almost fragmentary scope of functions. However, the product is way past these days.

Instead of a web app, Mockplus is available as a desktop app for Windows and macOS, as well as a native mobile app for Android and iOS. The mobile versions are mainly suitable for the presentation of mobile prototypes on the mobile target device. This is better than any desktop screen smartphone simulation.

Mockplus Also Supports the Creation of Mobile Prototypes. (Screenshot: Mockplus)

A free version of Mockplus is available for download. After the installation, and an uncomplicated registration, the feature set of the free version is yours to keep. This version might be entirely sufficient for lone freelancers.

In its current version 3.x, the creators of Mockplus significantly built upon the team features. Now, it is possible to define projects as team projects right away, resulting in multiple people having simultaneous access to the prototypes. This way, it is also possible to discuss design changes and other questions directly on the given mockup, allowing for project-related communication to take place right at the project. Where it belongs…

Mockplus Accelerates Teamwork But Also Works for Soloists.

Working on the prototype is not so uncoordinated that every member can work on the same page of the mockup at once. Instead, pages that are being worked on are blocked for other users. Chaos is not the goal, after all.

Regardless of this functional expansion, Mockplus has not lost the focus on simplicity of usage. The software offers about 200 interactive components, that can be integrated into your prototypes via drag and drop. On top of that, there are 3,000 icons, which enable you to quickly create common user interfaces without having to draw new symbols every time.

3,000 Icons Can Easily be Integrated Into the Mockups.

What I really like is the fact that all interface elements are available in a style that looks like they were hand-drawn. This doesn’t have a real user value, but it keeps the digital prototype close to the sketched mockup. This way, everyone can tell that this is a transitional stage. Who doesn’t know the type of client that wants to discuss the very first design element, and if this and that button shouldn’t be smaller, bigger, rounder, or redder?

UI Flow: Dependencies as a Desk Overview.

Due to the many pre-defined elements and interactive components, Mockplus prototypes represent some kind of interim state, between the pure draft and the finished product. This makes it easier to imagine what the mockup is going to turn out like, without needing the individual design, in the sense of customer looks. At least for me, it is very advantageous that there are pictograms, as I am not that great at drawing tiny elements by hand. There, I said it…

Just like the competition, Mockplus is a WYSIWYG tool. Your prototypes are basically created via drag and drop, but you don’t get to edit code blocks. Developers might miss this, although I don’t think there’s a place for program-logical processes in a mockup anyway. Thus, I’ll word it positively, and say that you don’t need any code skills to use Mockplus. Overall, the learning curve is pleasantly plane. The learning process is almost entirely intuitive. I have yet to need a tutorial. Though, I have to say that there are a lot of them. If you want to dig deep into the matter, Mockplus does its best to support you in both textual, and audiovisual ways.

Differences Between the Versions Free and Pro

Naturally, in the free version, there are many features you won’t have access to. This starts with the giant icon collection of 3,000 pictograms, only available to users of the pro version. Above all else, almost all export functions are exclusive to pro users. For instance, pro users get to synch projects directly into the cloud, export them as HTML or image files, or print the Mockups in a proper format, as well as display them on mobile devices. It is also possible to distribute prototypes as .exe for Windows, and as .app for macOS. Furthermore, the entire section of Team collaboration is exclusive to the pro users.

Mockplus Simplifies Setting up Repeating Content.

While these are significant restrictions, they are not enough to call the free version a demo in disguise. All other functions are available to free users. This also includes all interactive elements, as well as the beneficial features of the tool’s newest version.

The latter turn Mockplus into a valid alternative to Adobe XD, which requires a paid subscription to the Creative Cloud. Modern apps are often characterized by the display of information in a structured list. Here, Mockplus provides a so-called Repeater that is used to design a list entry once, and copy and paste it along.

The Auto Data Fill is used to automatically implement sample data into the created lists if needed. Another indispensable feature is the view UI Flow, which shows you which page and function are entry and exit points to which other page and function on something that reminds me of a setter table. The predefined templates selectable in the application can also be very useful. The new version of Mockplus also makes it possible to import from Sketch. This lets you breathe life into your drafts in no time, while still continuing to work with your allegedly favorite software.

Auto Data Fill Fills Lists With Live Data.

There are two price models. Aside from the free version, you can only choose the pro version. Per year and team member, this costs 199 USD or a one-time payment of 399 USD per team member. In European countries, the sales tax is added on top of these prices, unless you have an EU VAT Code.

Conclusion: Contemporary in Terms of Technology and Price

So, what’s my recommendation? Mockplus is no steal, and places itself on one level with other competitors, although I should say that there are much more expensive offers out there. The price is no clear USP, however.

Anyways, I recommend you download and try the free version. Especially when it comes to prototyping, it is essential to get a hang of the tool and feel comfortable in your environment quickly. Mockplus definitely is a tool worth taking a closer look at.


via Noupe
Check That Out: Mockplus Makes Prototyping Easy

The Best Blender

New to 2017, the Ninja Chef 1,500-watt High Speed Blender is the first high-performance model from this company that doesn’t have sets of blades throughout the jar. The Ninja Chef’s blades sit in the base of the jar, like normal blenders, and this model performs better than its predecessors. But it’s extremely loud, and our top picks—the Oster, Cleanblend, and Vitamix—still blend silkier smoothies.

The Hamilton Beach 1,800-watt Professional Blender with Presets performed well in our tests. When using the manual speeds, the blender’s digital readout shows a countdown timer, which is helpful because the instruction manual advises against continuously running the motor for more than two minutes. But the preprogrammed settings don’t effectively keep the mixture moving when air pockets occur. The on/off buttons are angled upwards at the top of the base, and susceptible to food and grime buildup over time.

Falling between $600 and $700, the KitchenAid Pro Line is one of the most expensive blenders we’ve tried, and it’s also the heaviest (22 pounds!). It blended silky smooth textures, but not quite as easily as the Vitamix 5200, and it also didn’t do well at emulsification. Its performance did intrigue us and after a year of long term testing, we found it delivers similar results to the less-expensive Vitamix. And the KitchenAid’s heft and large size make it difficult to move and a space hog.

The Cuisinart CBT-1500 Hurricane is a compact, powerful blender, but it struggled to process foods. Blending thick smoothies and peanut butter required more liquid, a lot of starting and stopping, and banging the jar on the counter. It did make mayonnaise on the first try, though, unlike the more powerful Cuisinart CBT-2000 Hurricane Pro. But without the Turbo button of the Hurricane Pro, it’s just another middle-of-the-road blender.

The Cuisinart CBT-2000 Hurricane Pro performed similarly to the Cuisinart CBT-1500 Hurricane, except it didn’t make mayonnaise as well (we only achieved emulsification on the third try). We did find the turbo button useful to get a fine puree. But again, without a tamper to bust air pockets, this blender needed a lot of tending to get uniform, smooth purees.

After discontinuing sales in North America for eight years, the Braun brand is back in the US with a line of kitchen small appliances manufactured by De’Longhi. The PureMix is a small, tamper-less blender that didn’t impress us in the least, with a flimsy jug and lightweight base. The PureMix had a hard time mixing our smoothie; we needed to add so much liquid to the mixture that the texture was way too thin—yuck! We disqualified the Braun after the first test.

Will the Blendtec Designer 675 blend? Yes, but not as well as our top picks. Despite Blendtec’s clever (if at times mildly sinister) marketing campaign of blending everything from rake handles to iPhone 6s, we’ve found its blenders wanting (we also tested the Total model in 2013). Although the Designer 675 really killed it on smoothies and blended drinks, its lack of a tamper limits its usefulness. In our tests, it didn’t make peanut butter (a tamper would have helped), and the preset speed for soup was frightening, with hot liquid flying wildly around the jar. This model does come with a manual speed slider as well as presets, but we didn’t find this obvious at first when using the machine. We do think this particular model is quite beautiful, with a sleek black, light-illuminated base. It’s a great blender if you want something that looks super slick on your counter that can make amazingly smooth mixed drinks and smoothies. But for $440, we think your blender should be able to do a lot more than that well.

The Breville Boss performed about as well as the Oster Versa and Cleanblend, but it’s almost twice the price. It has a variable speed dial plus five presets. That’s almost too many presets (something this Serious Eats article also mentions). Like most Breville products, the Boss is built really nicely. It probably has the nicest jar of any of the blenders we tried, and the silver base would look great on the counter in many kitchens. Overall, though, we don’t think it performed better than our winner.

The Waring Commercial Xtreme made very smooth smoothies, and it feels very substantial. But ultimately it didn’t perform better than the Oster Versa, Cleanblend, or the Vitamix. If we were willing to pay this price, we’d go instead for a reconditioned Vitamix 5200. We do like that there’s a metal jar you can purchase for this machine.

We still think our 2012 top pick, the Vitamix Pro 300, is a great blender. It has a shorter jar and is quieter than the Vitamix 5200. But in subsequent updates we found that the Vitamix 5200 is more highly recommended by a variety of pro cooks and editorial reviews. From a performance standpoint, the Pro 300 doesn’t outperform the less expensive 5200.

We tested the Blendtec Total Blender in our review from 2012, but found that it couldn’t compete with the Vitamix we tested. The lid felt flimsy and its panel controls seemed cheap. Blendtec has also phased this model out, although you can buy refurbished units through its site.

Our prior budget pick, the Breville Hemisphere, is still a good machine. It has a really nice control panel, with buttons that light up, an LCD timer, and five speed buttons. The vortex was very efficient, and it passed all of our blending tests. At this price point, though, we think the Oster Versa gives you more bang for your buck. Although the hardware on the Breville is nicer than on the KitchenAid 5-Speed, we thought the two machines blended about equally.

When it came to blending green and berry smoothies, we thought the Oster Beehive Blender did a pretty good job. It left a lot of pulp behind, and we kept having to open the lid to tamp down ingredients for our bean spread and ice tests. It is also super loud (and at a really annoying frequency).

For the price, the Ninja Master Prep Professional is a pretty good machine, but we don’t think it compares with the Oster Versa, the Cleanblend, or the Vitamix. The Master Prep did a surprisingly good job at smoothies, bean spread, and blending margaritas, but the design fails at making mayonnaise. The motor is top-mounted, so you can’t actually drizzle anything into the jar. The Master Prep comes with three blending jars in various sizes. We felt like there were too many parts, and they would just end up cluttering our cupboards. Overall, the machine feels really cheap.

The Ninja Professional Blender didn’t blend as well as the Ninja Master Prep or the Oster Beehive. For green smoothies, it left a weird confetti-like texture to the greens. Every time we ran it, there was a strong burning-motor smell. The jar is hard to get on the base, and the lid is finicky to clamp on. The mayo it made was super loose, which means more air was getting whipped into it. The base is big and clunky as well as cheap-feeling.

This guide builds on reporting by Seamus Bellamy.

via Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World
The Best Blender

The Best Home Security System

Frontpoint

FrontPoint Security’s Interactive plan was our favorite home security system from 2013 to early 2016. Editor Nathan Edwards, who wrote the last version of the guide, is still using the system he bought in 2013. Its equipment, monitoring plans, and features are almost identical to LiveWatch’s: Both use the same Qolsys touchpanel or Interlogix Simon XT control panel; have similar or identical sensors and cameras; use Alarm.com apps; and support the same types of home-automation equipment. However, Frontpoint’s plans are slightly more expensive for the same level of service, its contracts are longer, its cancellation fees are onerous, and its pricing is less transparent than LiveWatch’s.

For this article, Nathan upgraded his system from the Simon XT keypad to the Qolsys control panel. Unlike LiveWatch’s nearly identical version of the panel, the Frontpoint system suffered from frequent lag, and froze several times while disarming the system.

When we recommended Frontpoint, we praised its ease of setup and use, great customer service, clear and competitive pricing, one-year contract option, and no-pressure sales tactics. The customer service and ease of use are still fantastic, and the equipment—with that one exception—is robust and reliable.

Frontpoint is consistently rated in the top three (usually number one) by most home security review web sites. Some of those websites seem to overlook similar or better features from competitors, or emphasize Frontpoint features that aren’t substantially different. Like cable companies, no security company has a great reputation for customer service, but Frontpoint’s is better than most.

Because their equipment and plans are nearly identical and both Frontpoint and LiveWatch both use Alarm.com for their smartphone apps and backend, the biggest differentiators between the two systems are the contracts and LiveWatch’s ASAPer system. We’re still happy with Frontpoint’s equipment, customer service, and reliability, but the greater expense and more restrictive contracts, along with a number of complaints we’ve noticed regarding recent changes in the company’s sales tactics, keep it out of the top spot this year.

Frontpoint’s default contract is three years, and if you leave early, you have to pay 80 percent of the remaining contract cost. When we first recommended them, Frontpoint offered a one-year contract option in addition to the three-year option. In June 2015, a Frontpoint spokesperson told us, “Frontpoint still has a one-year agreement. Because the three-year agreement comes with the best offer we won’t proactively offer anyone a one-year agreement.” However, many readers have told us that Frontpoint representatives denied the existence of a one-year contract when asked, instead pushing hard to get them to sign up for three years. Frontpoint told us that the one-year contract is available, but will cost $300 more for the initial equipment.

Where Frontpoint’s equipment and plan pricing used to be clearly listed on its website, the new website is sales-oriented and makes it impossible to compare monthly plan prices online—you have to give them your contact information and let them call you with a quote.That said, the monthly fees work out to be about $5 more than LiveWatch for each tier. You can still find equipment prices on their website if you look hard enough, but they’re not as easy to find as they were in prior years.

In addition, many commenters have told us that after they gave Frontpoint their contact info, reps called them constantly to try to get a sale—exactly the kind of behavior we praised Frontpoint for not doing in years past.

Link Interactive

Link Interactive offers service very similar to LiveWatch and Frontpoint. Like them, it uses Alarm.com for its backend and smartphone control. The standard Link system uses a 4-inch 2Gig Go!Control panel with cellular connection to the monitoring station, plus Wi-Fi and Z-Wave for peripheral devices, with an option to upgrade to a 7-inch Qolsys screen for an additional $200. The 2Gig’s backup battery lasts for only eight hours, while the batteries in LiveWatch and Frontpoint systems last 24 hours, and while the touchscreen isn’t difficult to navigate, it’s certainly not as roomy as the popular Qolsys screen that used to come with LiveWatch. While Link Interactive offers 1-, 2-, and 3-year contracts with the option of month-to-month extensions, the cancellation terms are even worse than Frontpoint’s: If you cancel during your contract period, you have to pay for the entire rest of the contract.

Link Interactive’s packages start at $31 per month for standard monitoring with no mobile access or home automation, which cost an additional $5. If you want video, the monthly rate increases to $41. That’s $5 less than LiveWatch, but you’ll probably end up paying much more for Link Interactive’s equipment. Instead of offering any kind of standard equipment package, Link Interactive’s hardware is completely a la carte—which means it could cost about $1,000 to match the basic $100 package offered by LiveWatch. Granted, the equipment is yours to own, and Link also offers equipment discounts based on the length of your contract ($250 in “free” equipment for a three-year contract; $150 for two years; and $50 for one year), but it’s still not enough to offset the cost.

Aside from the shoddy installation instructions and my preference for the Qolsys panel, the Link system works pretty well, and is not significantly different from LiveWatch, Frontpoint, and Protect America. The main difference is that Link defaults to a three-year contract for all new customers that automatically renews for a year at a time unless you’ve notified the company that you want to go month-to-month. (The one- and two-year contracts aren’t advertised, and you’d have to speak with a customer service representative to get them because they’re not available on the website.) If you decide to leave the contract early, you have to pay for the remainder of the contract. If you’re comfortable with all of the above, it’s still a pretty good security system. But LiveWatch has better setup, a shorter contract, and a better equipment package, and Frontpoint has better setup and marginally better cancellation terms.

Protect America

The Protect America system is easy enough to set up and use, but it’s costly and restrictive. The monitoring fees are high and increase with the number of sensors you have, and the company locks you into a three-year contract that you can’t break without paying for the full term.

Unlike every other system we tested, Protect America’s monthly fee goes up depending on how many sensors you have on your system, presumably to cover the cost of the additional equipment. The cheapest cellular monitoring plan is more than $40 for the Copper plan, which only supports three door/window sensors and a motion sensor. There’s no upfront cost for that equipment (aside from a $50 activation fee) but the larger the package you select, the more your monthly fee is. For instance, if you need more door/window sensors, instead of paying for the sensors, Protect America moves you up to the Silver plan for $50 a month, which over three years costs about $400 more than the Copper. If you want to add video monitoring, your first camera is free, but your monthly fee goes up by $10. Additional cameras cost about $180 plus another $5 a month. The Silver plan, with cellular monitoring, nine sensors for doors/windows, and one video camera costs $60 a month. None of this is obvious; their website is a nightmare to navigate.

The system we used included a control panel with a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, several small door/window contact sensors, a motion sensor and the same indoor security camera used by LiveWatch and Link Interactive. Protect America also offers its own iOS or Android smartphone app, instead of the Alarm.com app that other companies use.

Protect America starts you off with a phone consultation to select your package and then pre-configures the sensors. The instructions are decent, and the company offers online video tutorials if you’d like to set up your system yourself, or you can wait for your scheduled phone call. During the phone call a rep will guide you through installation, setup, and testing.

The Protect America Simon XTi controller (a new one for the company and not currently shown on the website) is bulkier than the others we tested, and the tiny touchscreen isn’t as high resolution as LiveWatch’s or Link’s. Menu navigation isn’t as fast as the others, and we didn’t find the menu intuitive (it took some searching to find the volume control for the system beeps), but it works well enough. The controller lost connection to my home network a couple of times, though it’s hard to tell if that was the system’s fault or my network’s fault.

Once installed, the Protect America system worked fine, but it’s disqualified by the archaic three-year contract, 100 percent cancellation fee, and byzantine pricing structure. The company also has an online reputation for pushy sales tactics and poor customer service, but I didn’t experience either of those myself.

via Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World
The Best Home Security System

The Evolution of the AR-15 presented by Springfield Armory

Evolution of the AR-15It was not even 2 years ago and Springfield Armory did not have a single AR-15 in their line-up of firearms. Now they have multiple rifles and a pistol to their name under the umbrella of the SAINT which spans from Keymod to M-LOK. Few people know the humble beginnings of how America’s most popular […]

Read More …

The post The Evolution of the AR-15 presented by Springfield Armory appeared first on The Firearm Blog.


via The Firearm Blog
The Evolution of the AR-15 presented by Springfield Armory

Apple Will Replace Old iPhone Batteries Regardless of Diagnostic Test Results

After

apologizing to customers

for slowing older iPhones down as the batteries degrade, Apple has started offering battery swaps for $29. This has led to some confusion as Apple did not clarify how it qualified batteries as eligible for the discounted replacement, as the Apple Genius Bar uses a diagnostic test to check whether a battery can retain 80 percent of its original capacity

at 500 complete charge cycles

. According to Mac Rumors, Apple has confirmed that they

will replace the battery if your iPhone 6 or later even if it passes a Genius Bar diagnostic test

. From the report:

Apple has since independently confirmed to MacRumors that it will agree to replace an eligible battery for a $29 fee, regardless of whether an official diagnostic test shows that it is still able to retain less than 80 percent of its original capacity. The concession appears to have been made to mollify the anger of customers stoked by headlines suggesting that Apple artificially slows down older iPhones to drive customers to upgrade to newer models. Anecdotal reports also suggest that customers who paid $79 to have their battery replaced before the new pricing came into effect on Saturday, December 30, will receive a refund from Apple upon request.

via Slashdot
Apple Will Replace Old iPhone Batteries Regardless of Diagnostic Test Results

Israel Enters a Fifth Year of Drought (22 photos)

Four consecutive years of drought have put several biblical bodies of water at risk: the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. AP photographer Oded Balilty spent much of last year documenting these bodies of water and the ways locals and tourists play and worship there. The AP reports that “the Sea of Galilee stands at a century low, much of the Jordan River is a fetid trickle and the Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking.” Current predictions for the remaining winter months remain drier than normal, as farmers and residents struggle to cope, and pray for rain.



An aerial photo of people enjoying a spring water pool along the Dead Sea shore near the Israeli Kibbutz of Ein Gedi on December 8, 2017. The Dead Sea, a marvel of the natural world, is shrinking after years of drought.
(Oded Balilty / AP)


via In Focus
Israel Enters a Fifth Year of Drought (22 photos)

This Simple Animation Answers Everything About How A Clutch Works

GIF
GIF via Learn Engineering

Many of us have a basic idea of what our car’s clutch does, but still find all the teeth and springs confusing when we actually look at one out of the car. Fortunately, Learn Engineering on YouTube put together this simple animation that may be the clearest description yet of how your clutch really works.

Your clutch uses friction to engage or disengage the engine, which is why you won’t get anywhere when all the grippy material on a clutch is burnt off. If the clutch can’t grab, you won’t go anywhere. Thankfully, all the other parts look more complicated than they really are.

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The coil springs on the clutch disc are there to smooth out the engagement of that engine. Additionally, all the “teeth” in a circle are really part of a big diaphragm spring that presses and releases the clutch’s friction material to the engine.

In true engineer fashion, there’s a few typos like “outuput” in the video, but the animation and spoken descriptions are spot-on. Never trust an engineer who can spell well. However, thanks to this video, you can trust all the bizarre-looking components of your clutch just a little more now that you know why they’re all there.


via Lifehacker
This Simple Animation Answers Everything About How A Clutch Works