It has been just few months since Stranger Things' season 3 ended, but now Netflix has already released the first official teaser trailer of the upcoming Stranger Things 4 in its social media accounts.
Very short teaser wont reveal much, but according to the post, "we're not in Hawkins anymore".
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform with over a billion users around the world. While most of these users have a fairly up-to-date Android phone or iPhone, many are using the service with older devices.
In fact, one of the many reasons WhatsApp became so immensely popular was because it supported all kinds of devices from the popular to the niche. Every now and then, however, some of the older devices will no longer be supported by the messaging app.
This will again happen at the start of February, 2020. The support will end this time for Android 2.3.7, more commonly known as Android Gingerbread, as well as iOS 8.
Fortunately this means that it only affects around 0.3% of Android and iOS users alike.
Also, this doesn't mean that you won't be able to use the app at all, but official support, including updates, are no longer going to be appearing on those devices.
In addition, ou will no longer be able to activate a new account with aforementioned devices.
One subsection of smartphones that won't have a working WhatsApp is Windows Phone. The service will no longer be available on Windows Phone starting December 31, 2019.
Apple's newest iPhones are barely out but, to be honest, they were a little bit of a let down, right? So, no wonder that the first iPhone 12 rumors are already circulating.
Rumors suggest, and as tradition would dictate, that Apple is revamping the iPhone design for next year. Famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is also of the mind that next year will be a big upgrade, something we haven't seen in three years.
Everything isn't going to be new, though. In fact, Kuo suggests that Apple is planning a return to an old design language which would provide better radio reception.
In addition, a new leak suggests that whatever the industrial design is, it is going get rid of the notch. Leaker Ben Geskin has revealed what he calls a 2020 iPhone prototype.
While the new design would have no notch it would still have the Face ID functionality. This means that Apple would have to cram all the sensors in the top bezel of the phone.
One could expect that the bezel is going to be at least slightly larger than in iPhone 11 and its predecessors. Also, to make it look symmetrical, Apple would have to enlarge at least the lower bezel, likely all sides, too.
This would make it fairly sizable as the 6.7 inch display in itself is larger than display on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
A new exploit has been found on iPhones dating from 2017 with iPhone X and iPhone 8 all the way back to iPhone 4S from 2011.
The security hole is said to be unpatchable by the community. The exploit, aptly named checkm8 by the hacker axi0mX, could allow jailbreaking of hundreds of millions of iPhones consistently and without a possibility of a patch to close it.
Jailbreaking was a popular community effort to unlock the iPhones, especially in the early days of smartphones. Nowadays jailbreaking has become harder as Apple's continuous patches break the exploits.
This one is said to be unpatchable due to the fact that the affected part of the system is the boot ROM which means that it is a read-only memory and thus can't be patched with a simple software update.
Unfortunately for the jailbreak community the exploit does not cover the most recent phones, including last year's iPhone XS and this year's iPhone 11 models. However, this might make iPhone X and earlier iPhone models more attractive choice for users that appreciate homebrew and tinkering with their technology.
Finding the exploit is only the first step. Now the community has to figure out how to create a jailbreak to unlock each affected iPhone model. Even though this exploit could potentially allow a jailbreak, it is not necessarily possible.
Apple first unveiled their streaming video platform early this years, and just a few weeks ago the company announced the pricing and availability alongside the introduction of new iPhones.
Well, so far the catalog of content for Apple TV+ hasn't been expanded too much, so the concern is certainly warranted. However, Apple has a different kind of strategy for the movies it produces.
According to sources close to the matter, Apple is going to first release the movies to theaters and only after a few weeks of screening would they come available on your Apple TV+ subscription, WSJ reports.
The information suggests that Apple is trying to elevate the brand, not so much raise money, and this requires theater screenings, which many of the influential and highly regarded creators and producers Apple wants to recruit want.
The latest security breach is affecting iOS and Android app DoorDash users, a blog post by the company reveals. According to the post, nearly 5 million users or partners have been affected by the data leak.
DoorDash servers were attacked and the attackers managed to get ahold of personal information of around 4.9 million accounts. This includes both customers and merchants, as well as Dashers, the delivery personnel of the food delivery service.
The unauthorized access was recorded on May 4, 2019 and the company received the information earlier in September.
The customer infomation accessed includes names, email addresses, delivery addresses, order history, phone numbers and encypted passwords. According to the post, no full credit card information was stolen, although some last four digits might have been accessed.
Dashers had also their driver's license numbers accessed.
DoorDash said that it will contact all affected users directly, and let them know what information of theirs was accessed. They've suggested everyone change their passwords nonetheless. The company has put in efforts to ensure better security practices in the future.
Google has tried to capture the music market with different iterations of streaming services for quite a while without much success. Previously Google Play Music was their bid for music supremacy, now it's time to move toward YouTube Music.
This summer YouTube Music managed to pass 15 million subscribers. It's not nothing but it's a far cry compared to 60 million from Apple Music or well past 100 million paid subscribers from Spotify.
The search giant has decided now to promote YouTube Music more aggressively in replacing Google Play Music. The company has announced that YouTube Music will now be pre-installed to all new Android devices, be it equipped with Android 9 or Android 10.
This also means that if you prefer still using Google Play Music, although they are clearly trying to kill it, you will have to install it yourself.
Tesla has yesterday announced the largest software update to its vehicles in some time. In fact, the version 10.0 update is the largest ever, and introduces new features to the Tesla displays and more.
One of the more anticipated features not linked necessarily to the displays is Smart Summon. The software update brings autonomous parking lot driving to all Teslas that have Full Self-Driving Capability or Enhanced Autopilot.
New additions in the smart displays on the other hand include car Karaoke feature Caraoke, addition of Spotify Premium, I'm Feeling Lucky and I'm Feeling Hungry nagivation/adventure features, Cuphead action game in Tesla Arcade, and Tesla Theater with Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu support.
Furthermore Tesla improved the Dashcam and Sentry Mode USB support and brought browser support to Model 3.
The company said that Tesla owners worldwide would start now waking up to the new update, so while the update has rolled out it might take a few days for you to get it, perhaps depending on the market.
Is it worth ditching your OnePlus 7 or OnePlus 7 Pro for a new OnePlus 7T, unveiled today? Let's take a quick peak at the notable differences.
OnePlus unveiled the OnePlus 7T in India today, an upgrade over the OnePlus 7 released in May. A more powerful OnePlus 7T Pro is very likely to be unveiled on October 10 in an event in London, which would be an update to the OnePlus 7 Pro. While details on pricing are still unavailable, we can still look at the key differences over the previously released handsets.
A quick glimpse tells you that some of the changes in the OnePlus 7T are more like the OnePlus 7 Pro, so in essence we expect it is an upgrade that makes it more approximate to the previous Pro model, but with a price closer to the previous basic model. It is ever so slightly heavier, coming in at 190g compared to 182g for its predecessor. The design is pretty much the same as the OnePlus 7 and the 6 and 6T before it, so there isn't much to be said there. OnePlus 7T also comes with an Oxygen OS based on Android 10, but the OnePlus 7 can update to the newer OS.
Under the hood, it trades in the Snapdragon 855 for an 855+ SoC. Unlike before, there is no 6GB of RAM option, the OnePlus 7T comes with 8GB RAM, no more no less. For the display, OnePlus 7T is slightly larger than the OnePlus 7 display at 6.55-inch, compared to 6.41-inch. Size isn't everything though and unlike the OnePlus 7, the 7T screen supports a 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+. This was also the case with the OnePlus 7 Pro, though the higher resolution of the Pro and curved screen are not present in the 7T.
OnePlus has unveiled the latest series in its popular smartphone lineup with the OnePlus 7T.
Chinese smartphone firm OnePlus has refreshed its smartphone line up with launch of the OnePlus 7T in India today, an upgrade on the OnePlus 7 series unveiled back in May of this year. A more expensive OnePlus 7T Pro is likely to be unveiled in October.
Sporting a design very similar to the OnePlus 7 series (and 6), the specs were also mostly anticipated in previously reported leaks. OnePlus 7T features a 6.55-inch AMOLED display (2400x1080 at 20:9, 402ppi, 90Hz refresh rate) with an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is driven by a Qualcomm 855+ SoC (up to 2.96GHz) and Adreno 640 GPU. Under the hood is 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB internal storage (UFS 3.0 2-lane). For juice, it packs a 3800mAh non-removable battery supporting Warp Charge through its speedy 30T Fast Charging (5V/6A/30W) charger.
At the rear, OnePlus 7T features a Sony IMX586 48 megapixel main lens, complemented with an additional 12 megapixel telephoto lens and 16 megapixel ultra wide angle lens. The tri-lens system allows for optical zooming (2x), and can record video up to 4K resolution at 30/60fps. Super Slow Motion footage can be captured at 1080p (240fps) or 720p (480fps, 960fps).
Microsoft has revealed that its Windows 10 operating system is now on more than 900 million devices worldwide.
Redmond is closing in on its target of a billion devices running Windows 10 very quickly. The operating system launched for consumers in 2015 and has since been installed on more than 900 million PCs, Xbox One consoles, Surface devices, and Microsoft's HoloLens.
The new figure of 900 million devices is up from a milestone reached just six months ago of 800 million. Yusuf Mehdi, corporate VP of the Search and Devices Group at Microsoft, said that in the past twelves months they have added more Windows devices than ever before.
The momentum has a lot to do with the forthcoming end of support for Windows 7. The aging operating system is among Microsoft's most successful software products. Just like Windows XP before it - which was released in 2001 and came to the end of support five years ago - Microsoft is trying to lure users to the newer operating system with warnings delivered by Windows Update.
While many users will undoubtedly hold out for some time, the end of Windows 7 seems to be having an effect on the momentum of Windows 10 at the moment. At this rate, Windows 10 should reach a billion devices sometime in early 2020.
Spotify has become truly a force to reckon with in the music industry. Even giants like Apple, who used to be the top dog when it comes to digital music, are struggling to keep up with Spotify.
Everyone is looking at Spotify and trying to learn from their successes. One of the ways Spotify has beat the competition is with automatically curated user specific playlists.
Perhaps the best example of this is Discover Weekly which offers weekly dozens of new songs for the user to listen, and all of them are picked, no matter how different they end up being, depending on what you've listened before.
This hugely popular feature has been noticed by the competition, and the newest example of this comes from Google.
In fact, Google has just decided that they can't really do it much better, and have just copied the feature.
According to a Reddit post, this new feature is called Discover Mix. It offers 49 new songs, automatically selected to fit user preferences, every week, Wednesday to be exact.
It seems that it has so far only rolled to a subsection of YouTube Music subscribers, but one could expect it to come available globally soon.
One might think that their brand new 4K television is enough for the long haul, but eventually it's going to run out of steam and you'll get a new one.
Likely at that point you are looking at a new generation of TVs that have upped the ante at least in terms of resolution. 8K TVs are coming whether you feel like you need one or not.
The Consumer Technology Association has now officially revealed their definitions for what constitutes a 8K Ultra HD television. According to their specifications, such a TV should first and foremost be capable of displaying at least 33 million pixels, 7680 horizontally and 4320 vertically.
Furthermore, the TV needs to support scaling to 8K, at least one HDMI input capable of 7680 x 4320 resolution, 10-bit color depth, selection of frame rates (24, 30, 60 fps), ITU-R BT.2100 specced HDR transfer and colorimetry, and HDCP v2.2 or equivalent content protection.
If all this is handled by the TV, it will be able to use the new logo. A modification of the 4K Ultra HD logo has now been made for the new 8K Ultra HD TVs.
New logo will be available for manufacturers to use in their marketing January 1st, 2020 onward.
Galaxy Fold is now out for sale officially. The folding phone was intended for release months ago when it started breaking apart in reviewers hands.
Since then Samsung has recalled all devices, postponed the launch, and tried to fix the most glaring issues of the phone and especially its display. Now that you can finally purchase the $1980 marvel, you might want to know how to make sure you don't break it.
The fact is that Galaxy Fold is still a tremendously fragile device due to its folding mechanism and plastic covered screen. Samsung obviously knows this, and is suggesting people only use a light touch when operating the phone.
Light touch is mentioned in the phone packaging but the company has also released an advert explaning the features and how to take care of the device.
This "Caring for your Galaxy Fold" video is available on YouTube (and below). In addition to suggesting light touches, as even your fingernails could damage the screen over time, Samsung notes that dust and water should be kept away.
This is due to the fact that there is no official IP rating for the phone, and the delicate folding mechanism might break from dust and sand.
Furthermore Samsung also notes that there are magnets on the phone to keep it closed that you should be mindful about.
Apple's batterygate in late 2017 and early last year revealed the that Cupertino company had been throttling the performance of people's iPhones due to them getting older.
This meant that when your battery started deteriorating the iPhone would slow down to preserve better battery life. It was a conscious choice by Apple to make older iPhones slow down so they wouldn't seem to have as bad of a battery – and according to them they didn't try to just make you buy a new faster phone.
A lot of people were mad about this, especially since it wasn't documented officially and much less openly told about to the public.
Apple made their changes, and they even announced a battery change program in addition to allowing the user to prioritize performance over battery from the settings.
Now with the new iPhone 11 series, Apple has gone a little further to right some wrongs. According to a support document found by 9to5Mac new iPhone 11 has a dynamically monitored solution to battery and power management.
Amazon has announced that it is buying a fleet of electric delivery vehicles from a Michigan EV start up. According to CEO Jeff Bezos, the company has placed an order of 100,000 electric vans from Rivian.
Bezos revealed the purchase order at an event in Washington, DC, where the CEO spoke about how to curb climate change.
The first of the new vehicles are expected to arrive in 2021, and all the 100,000 Rivian EVs should roam the streets by 2024.
Amazon's operations exec Dave Clark tweeted the rendered picture of the vehicle that is going to deliver your Prime packages in couple years.
Rivian was founded ten years ago and is developing sustainable transportation. The company has built two EV vehicles, a truck and an SUV, which were shown in late 2018 in LA Auto Show.
The company is riding a high after major investments this year. Amazon was part of Rivian's funding round in February which raised $700 million. In April, Ford announced a $500 million investment in Rivian.
Facebook has been trying to find its way to video calls for quite a bit now. Most of you, probably all to be honest, have seen ads for the Portal webcam. Now it has couple sigblings: Portal Mini and Portal TV.
The new device is essentially a TV dongle, like Chromecast or even Apple TV, that just focuses on its on-board camera. You plug the camera stand to an HDMI input of your TV and you are ready to go.
Its meant to allow easy video calling from the big screen, but also features AR gaming and content co-watching. The last mentioned feature is reserved for two Portal devices working together. You can watch videos with your loved ones while sharing the moment over a video call.
Another newcomer is Portal Mini. The $129 Portal Mini has a smaller 8-inch HD screen and looks like a picture frame at that size and with the new design.
There's also a renewed Portal that has the same new minimalist design and retains the 10 inch screen. Facebook has also dropped the price to $179 from $199.
Amazon has just released a new music service for the most demanding music consumers out there. It's called Music HD and it expands upon their Amazon Music streaming service with new higher fidelity options.
Essentially Amazon Music HD is the better equipped version of Amazon Music Unlimited. Instead of listening to songs in average 320 kbit stream, you'll get to enjoy HD audio with up to 850 kbit/s and 16-bit/44.1 kHz quality.
If you insist on listening only to the best of quality, you can even choose song available in what the company calls Ultra HD. This maxes out at 3730 kilobits per second at 24-bit/192 kHz.
While most of the songs, over 50 million, on Amazon Music are available in HD audio, "only" some millions are found in the most premium UHD.
Amazon Music HD uses the same Amazon Music app as its cheaper sibling, and costs $14.99 a month (or $12.99 for Prime subscribers) or $19.99 for Family subscriptions. If you are unsure if it's worth the money, you are fortunately offered a generous 90-day free trial.
At launch Amazon Music HD is available in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan.
Dating service Tinder has become hugely popular over the few years that it has existed. The app has grown into a community which has been expanded by the company's recent endeavours.
Last year Tinder Inc. launched their new editorial lifestyle website called Swipe Life, which focuses on dating and culture. Now the company is working on a TV show, Reuters reports.
According to the report, Tinder's show was already filmed in Mexico City and the post-production is under way. Tinder told Reuters that the TV series is built to support their new marketing strategy.
While you'd be expecting to watch Tinder matching in real-time, it's not going to be directly connected to the app. Instead it is a what the source calls "apocalyptic storyline" with "a relationship sub plot."
There's no word on when the show might be coming or when the new video platform for this show would launch.
OnePlus has confirmed that it will launch its new phone line on 10th of October, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.
As the "T" model is typically a relatively minor update to the previous model, we can expect to see everything to get little bit better, faster and bigger. As with OnePlus 7, the upcoming OnePlus 7T will also have its more expensive version with OnePlus 7T Pro. And if the old tradition continues, bit later, a "McLaren" special edition will be launched that will push everything a bit further that is packed with Pro model.
Generally reliable leaker, OnLeaks, has published the rumored specs already.
YouTube has become immensely popular in the past few years. It might not be the TV killer everyone thought of, that's probably Netflix, Disney, and others, but it has stolen much of the time spent in entertainment from traditional tubes.
One of the ways to watch YouTube is the web interface designed specifically for TVs. The interface, called Leanback, is meant for big screens connected to PCs. For some reason or another, YouTube is not removing this feature.
YouTube has not given a specific reason for the removal of the interface, but like Android Police thinks it might be due to some manufacturers bypassing YouTube apps and instead using the web interface. Seems like a strong measure to right that wrong, though.
Another reason would be that no one is actually using Leanback as most people who watch YouTube have a smart TV or a smart device with a YouTube app connected to a TV.
Apple's new iPhones will be available in stores next Friday, but if you have a qualifying iPhone you can get the new and improved iOS 13 even faster.
It was revealed that Apple would be releasing the updated version of their mobile operating system to the public on September 19, the same day it will launch the new game subscription service Apple Arcade.
Unlike with previous iterations of the OS, this year you won't get an update for your iPad at the same time. This is due to the fact that Apple recently separated the operating system for their tablets from iOS. The iPadOS will update September 30th.
If you are wondering whether you have a new enough iPhone to get the update, you'll be probably happy to hear that support include every iPhone after iPhone 6S, including iPhone SE. Support is extended to 7th gen iPod Touch too.
Apple's iPhone event on Tuesday was mostly consumed by the new iPhone models, name cheaper iPhone 11 and the new flasghip iPhone 11 Pro (and 11 Pro Max).
Even the new services got plenty of limelight, but there were other product releases too. One of them was the all-new seventh generation iPad.
I say all new, but in fact the iPad unveiled this week included some fairly dated hardware. While Apple calls it the first seventh generation iPad, it has a system-on-chip from 2016.
The new iPad comes requipped with a A10 Fusion chip, which means that it has the same processors as a iPhone 7. Not that A10 is a lousy chip, and you probably don't need anything better for your daily browsing and Instagramming &ndahs; or whatever the kids do these days.
Also, fortunately the slightly obsolete equipment means that you won't have to break into your nephew's piggy bank to afford it. A $329 starting price tag seems like a good deal for an iPad.
It comes with a new, larger 10.2 inch Retina display, and supports first-generation Apple Pencil as well as the full-sized Smart Keyboard. The charging port is still the Lightning type, though.
It will be available on September 30th in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. Prices start at $329 for the WiFi model and $459 for the WiFi+Cellular model. You can choose between 32GB and 128GB storage options.
Pandora has brought its Dekstop app to Windows systems, following its release earlier this year for Macs.
Whether the tier you are using is Free, Pandora Plus or Pandora Premium, you can download the Pandora desktop app for Windows from the Microsoft Store starting from today. Previously, you have to use a web browser to access the service on Windows so this will be an improvement for many.
Using the Pandora Desktop App has many benefits over the browser:
Keyboard controls that let you play, pause, replay, skip, shuffle, or thumb up/down songs right from your computer keyboard.
On-screen song notifications that graphically display the artists, albums, and song titles for the music that's currently playing.
App-based controls for our new Pandora Modes feature, which lets you customize the music you hear on your Pandora stations using selectable "modes" including Crowd Faves, Deep Cuts, Newly Released, Artist Only, and more.
You can download the new Pandora Desktop App for Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store.
Apple TV+ is the company's new subscription service with which it will compete against the likes of Netflix and soon Disney+.
According to Apple, Apple TV+ will launch on November 1st in a hundred countries around the world. One of the launch titles is a futuristic fantasy See starred by Jason Momoa. We also got the first look at the series in first ever trailer, shown below.
Apple TV+ pricing is fairly aggressive. A family subscription of the service is said to cost $4.99 a month. They'll even throw a full year of subscription with select Apple device purchases.
Google has agreed to pay almost a billion euros to settle a tax fraud case in France, which was initiated with a raid on its French offices four years ago.
Tax authorities in France had been seeking evidence that Google had underpaid its tax liabilities in the country by not fully declaring its activities in the country. Google, as part of Alphabet Inc., reports almost all of its sales in Europe in Ireland where its headquarters are located in Dublin. It is noted to pay very little tax in European countries and has provoked the ire of tax collectors all across the continent.
Google's French offices were raided in 2016 in a tax fraud investigation. Today, it is confirmed by Google that the company has reached a settlement with the French authorities to bring the dispute to an end.
The settlement - which will set a precedent in the country and may result in more actions taken against other multinational firms - will see Google pay a fine of 500 million euros and an additional 465 million payment in taxes. This falls short of the 1.6 billion the French finance ministry was hoping to win, but the precedent may be more valuable.
Google commented that this settlement addresses the past disputes in France once and for all.
Apple unveiled their new smartphone models earlier this week with iPhone 11 replacing last years cheaper iPhone XR and the new iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max replacing iPhone XS and XS Max.
However, there was a lot of other, smaller, announcement littered across the event as well. One of them was the gaming service Apple Arcade. The Cupertino giant had already briefly unveiled the service early in the year, but now we've got all the key details about it too.
The most important of them are of course availability and price. Both of them were announced, and we're happy to let you know that Apple Arcade is launching in less than a week.
It becomes available September 19 in 150 countries around the world. According to the company it offers over 100 titles in the following weeks of the launch, and costs only $4.99 for the whole family.
Furthermore, Apple revealed that it will include a one month free trial.
Some of the Apple Arcade developers joined Tim Cook et al on the stage. This included Konami with their classic remake Frogger in Toy Town as well as Capcom and Annapurna Interactive with their own titles.
Apple announced today the iPhone 11. However, that is not the new flagship of the iPhone lineup, instead the cream of the crop is iPhone 11 Pro, and it's bigger sibling iPhone 11 Pro Max.
The successor to last year's iPhone XS features the same 5.8 and 6.5 displays with Face ID cutouts. The display's have been improved, though.
According to Apple they provide better brightness and color accuracy, and that is why they've adopted a new moniker Super Retina XDR.
The iPhone 11 Pro, just like the cheaper iPhone 11, is powered by the new A13 Bionic chip, which Apple says improves upon CPU, GPU as well as NPU performance up to 20 percent.
Not only is it more powerful but it's more energy efficient, which improves battery life. Apple says iPhone 11 Pro lasts up to 4 hours more than its predecessor iPhone XS.
Even better, it now comes with a faster charger out of the box, and you won't have to use your iPad charger no longer.
Clearly the biggest improvement over the previous generation, however, is the camera. In the back you now have three cameras instead of two. The new one being the wide angle camera, just like in iPhone 11.
The trio thus consists of a 12 megapixel optically stabilized main shooter, a 2x telephoto camera, and a wide angle camera with a 120 degree view, or as Apple calls it 0.5x camera.
Apple has today announced the new iPhone 11 in three different forms at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Ca.
The cheapest of the bunch is the regular iPhone 11, which is actually the successor to last year's iPhone XR, not the XS.
The new iPhone 11 improves upon the cameras most importantly. In the back you'll now get two cameras instead of one and even the Facetime camera has been upgraded.
The new addition is a 120 degree wide angle camera next to the regular 12 megapixel shooter. The regular camera offers a f/1.8 and optical image stabilization.
Apple also upgraded the front camera from mere 7 megapixels to a 4K ready 12 megapixel camera. All cameras support 4K video recording at 60 frames per second as well as things like slow motion video and extended dynamic range.
Additionally, Apple announced the new Night Mode which is their version of Google's Night Sight that makes very dark conditions light up.
As you might imagine, there's also a new A13 Bionic chip underneath it all. It makes everything run even smoother and, better yet, even the battery life has been improved.
Prices start at $699 and the the phone will be available on September 20th with pre-orders starting this Friday.
Apple's fall event is starting in just mere hours, but we've still got you one last thing before the actual unveiling on new devices.
The rumors have it that perhaps the most unexpected device Apple is going to release today is a new type of wireless tracking device, MacRumors reports.
This iTag, or whatever they'll call it, is designed to be attached to items that you'd lose easily. With the wireless connection and tracking capabilities the new Apple device will tell fairly precisely where it is.
This isn't the first ever thing of its kind, but reportedly Apple has something up its sleeve that makes it more precise.
According to famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to make locating your lost keys that much easier.
While Bluetooth might get you as close as 15 feet from the target, UWB allows precision of just 5 feet. According to the analyst new iPhones support UWB as well, which makes the dongle a perfect companion.
Apple event is set to begin 10 a.m. PDT, and we'll see whether Kuo was right.
Tesla has been productive this year by increasing the production and even announcing a new vehicle, the reasonably priced crossover Model Y, but there should be still another vehicle coming soon.
Or at least, that is what we were told to expect. Musk talked about the upcoming pickup truck in June, and even assured it would be unveiled around the end of the summer. I guess the summer is continuing in Palo Alto, CA, since there hasn't been any Tesla pickup events, or even invites yet.
One can imagine that some problems with the product has appeared, although even without any obstacles Musk's schedules can be called hopeful at best. Fortunately we aren't totally in the dark, as Musk himself has decided to clear up the situation a tiny bit on Twitter.
Responding to a Twitter user asking whether he could expect an October reveal, Musk stated that it would most likely be November. Most likely, though, means that there's a chance – in this case very real chance – that it will be December, or even later.
However, Tesla pickup truck is still in the works if you were wondering. The "Cyperpunk truck" might be delayed but if you are looking for a futuristic replacement for your F-150, keep your eyes peeled from November onward.
Apple's new iPhone is just couple dozen hours away as Cupertino is readying for a celebration on Tuesday. Rumors and leaks have been circling the internet for weeks and months, and we've already got a fairly good and reliable guess at what to expect from the new iPhone 11.
Some changes are expected to happen. For example, at least some of the new iPhone models are going to have a new triple camera setup which is setup in a square module, if leaks are to be believed.
However, while this might suggest larger design revamps as well, leading Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that is not going to happen this year, 9to5Mac reports. According to the former KGI Securities analyst, nowadays representing TF International Securities, Apple is going to wait until next year for a major do-over.
Thus it would be the third year in a row that Apple has the same, or at least very similar iPhone design. The design is of course based on the 2017 iPhone X that changed pretty much everything about the iPhone.
The iPhone X brought a full screen display, notch with Face ID, and a new industrial body design.
Streaming music has been a thing ever since Spotify launched in 2006, but started off really, really slowly. It took years upon years for the service to get into the U.S., and other regions were even harder to capture.
Now it seems odd, that streaming music has been a dominant thing only for a few year. In fact, it was only in 2015 that streaming officially surpassed digital downloads as the number one revenue source.
Now, according to new report from RIAA, streaming constitutes 80 percent of the entire revenue of the music industry. Digital downloads are no longer a thing, and even physical copies have weathered the storm better.
Vinyl and CD sales actually went up in the first half of the year, 5 and 13 percent respectively. Although their share is still only around 13 percent with a combined revenue of just over $700 million.
The entire pie is worth $5.4 billion in the first six months of the year which means around $4.3 billion of that came from largely unfairly maligned streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
While one can already hear the wails of people who want artists to be compensated more fairly, you cannot blame Spotify, a company who pretty much single-handedly turned the waning music industry around.
If you are like us, part of the tech press or even a fanthusiast of Apple, you've probably watched some of company's annual launch events online.
Streaming those things, whether it is the WWDC or the iPhone event, usually involves using your precious Mac, iPad or other Safari-powered device to watch Tim Cook do his best Steve Jobs impression.
But it's not always because you necessarily want to use an Apple product in one way of another, but it has been the way Apple has intended it to be.
At some point is was nigh impossible to watch Apple's press event streams without an Apple product, but they've slowly come around to welcome more people on the stream.
Now they've gone even further, and are truly welcoming everyone. Next week, Apple will stream their first ever press event, the launch of iPhone 11 if any of you live under a rock, on YouTube.
Never has Apple before streamed any of their events on YouTube, although they have used their YouTube channel to spread the word afterwards. In fact, you can watch whole launch events as far back as September 10, 2013 and the introduction of such gems as iPhone 5c.
Anyways, now you've been unofficially invited to join and watch couple hours of the best technology press event of the year next Tuesday right on YouTube.
Apple is becoming more and more influential in the finance space, especially with the new Apple Card developed in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The company is not stopping there, and why would you?
According to Apple VP of Internet Services, Jennifer Bailey, the company is closely watching the cryptocurrency space. In an interview with CNN, Bailey says that Apple sees long-term potential in the virtual currencies.
The likes of Facebook are already developing their own strategies with virtual currencies, and considering Apple has payment systems like Apple Pay and within Apple Card, it is not out of question that Cupertino might be developing their on Bitcoin, or perhaps join another effort.
One has to remember that Apple is always "interested" in things that they will not invest in, and you probably shouldn't hold your breath waiting for the Apple Coin. It might be that actual virtual currencies are not the technology Apple wants to pursue, but instead the more general technology of blockchain that has applications elsewhere as well.
Blockchain could, for exampole, be harnessed to process Apple Pay transactions. This wouldn't make Apple Pay, or Apple Card for that matter, any more volatile or questionable, and could further embolden the security of their monetary service, an aspect that Apple often flaunts.
World's largest streaming music platform Spotify is known for having apps for every platform. Even when your device hasn't got an app installed you can go ahead and use the web player to bust out some beats.
This features is something Apple is interested in adding to their repertoire as well, as evident from the fact that they've just brought it to beta testers.
Apple is now allowing Apple Music subscribers to try out their new beta web player. It is an open beta which means all subscriber around the globe are welcome to test it out at beta.music.apple.com.
Currently, as the app is in beta, all features aren't there but you can definitely find the basics. You can search, play songs from your library, use playlists as well as the main menu with thins like Radio and For You.
However, more complex features will be added later as Apple continues to develop the web player. You might also want to keep in mind that not all features work perfectly at this time, and you might run into some issues.
As long as you aren't too bothered with some hiccups, and have a modern web browser, you can listen to Apple Music on devices without apps.
Facebook has launched a new dating service inside its flagship service. New Facebook Dating is easy to see as a direct competitor to the likes of Tinder.
Facebook Dating is available in the US and 19 other countries, including Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, etc, but excluding Europe. European launch is set for early 2020.
As you might imagine, there's not much to the premise of the service. It is a dating feature, within Facebook's core app, with Facebook-enabled features. This means that it can do things like use interests set in Facebook to match people.
According to Facebook, it has tried to minimize the effort needed to join the service, although not having a Facebook account might be quite a hurdle for some.
Facebook Dating profile can include things like Instagrams posts and later on the company intends to add possibility to add Facebook and Instagram Stories posts too.
Rather obviously you can use Facebook photos in your profile.
Secret Crush feature allows you to show affection to a crush of yours. However, the secret is that it only lets the person know about the crush if it is reciprocated.
Even though the service is seen as a Tinder competitor, Facebook say that "Facebook Dating isn't about swiping or having to wait for someone to like you to get a first chance at reaching out."
As faster and faster 4G connections are available for cheaper than ever, one must wonder why would we ever need a 5G connection on our devices.
Well, this is just the rehash of the good ol' "640 kilobytes should be enough" that has been misattributed to Bill Gates. Of course we will find ways to use the extra bandwidth, and perhaps reduced latency, provided to us by the grace of new cellular towers.
However, it isn't exactly easy to see how this will happen.
According to Microsoft, one clear application is gaming, more specifically cloud gaming. The Redmond company is partnering up with Korean SK Telecom to demo their xCloud cloud gaming service.
As an exclusive test partner SK Telecom will provide Korean customers a first-ever experience with xCloud in both 4G and 5G networks starting in October.
One can imagine Microsoft is working on singing similar deals with carriers in other countries as well, although not many places are where South Korea is in terms of 5G development and deployment.
Also being extremely densely populated, like, say, Seoul, makes 5G deployment much more efficient than pretty much anywhere in the US.
Apple is developing a new fingerprint technology that it is going insert into future iPhone displays.
Even before the release of iPhone X there were rumors that Apple would bring an in-screen fingerprint sensor to the iPhones. Now, according to Bloomberg, it is indeed happening.
As Apple was preparing the launch of iPhone X in the summer of 2017, the press was split on whether they'd release a new authentication system based on face recognition or in-screen fingerprint reading. As we know, the former won and rightly so.
The in-screen technology just wasn't there in a way that Apple would've liked it to be, even though multiple Android manufacturers introduced devices with hidden fingerprint sensors right before and especially after the launch of iPhone X.
However, in-screen fingerprint sensors have gotten much better, and Apple is developing their own too. According to the information, Apple might be ready to use the technology in their devices as soon as early next year. Although Bloomberg's sources aren't sure that it will find its way to iPhones even in 2020.
Over 400 million phone numbers related to Facebook users has been recovered from a leak. The numbers consist users all around the globe and are connected to Facebook profiles.
A large portion of the numbers are from the United States, around 133 million of the 419 million total phone numbers. Vietnam is represented strongly with 50 million, and UK with 18 million numbers, TechCrunch reports.
Alongside the number is found the Facebook profile identification corresponding to the number. In some, one could argue most, cases this will give them the real name to go along with the phone number.
According to Facebook, the numbers have been snatched from their servers before spring of 2018. After that Facebook has limited the default public details it offers. The numbers were stored in a unencrypted server that made it easy to access the data.
This was due to the fact that Facebook intended to use phone numbers as a means to search for people. However, searching by phone numbers didn't become a feature.
While phone numbers aren't really the most private of the information, combined with the persons name in a database it allows abuses like spamming and SIM swap scams.
USB specs have been updated once again. Just as we've started to get used to the sweet reversible USB 3 we are looking at a new generation of Universal Serial Bus.
Fortunately the new one features also a reversible Type-C connector, unsurprisingly, and is backwards compatible with both previous USB as well as Thunderbolt connectors. No worries there, then.
The largest change to its predecessor, USB 3.x, is therefore bandwidth.
According to USB-IF, who just released the final USB 4.0 specs, the new connection is able to transmit data at speeds up to 40 gigabits per second. That is double what the best USB 3.2 (aka USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2) could muster and eight times as fast as the weakest USB 3.0.
USB 4.0 supports up to 5K displays, which it likely gets from Intel opening up the Thunderbolt specs to USB 4.0.
Charging speeds are expected to stay the same, as it offers the same maximum of 100 watts as the previous iteration.
USB 4.0 devices are still quite far off as the first of them are expected to land in stores in early 2021.
Mozilla has announced the newest version of their web browser Firefox. The new Firefox 69 aims to improve security and privacy of the users by blocking tracking cookies and more.
Firefox 69 is available now for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Straight out of the box is blocks cryptomining as well as third-party tracking cookies. Some other security improvements include asking for permission in case Flash is to be turned on.
The feature Mozilla calls Enhanced Tracking Protection isn't exactly a new one, it's been in Firefox previously in earlier iterations for years now. However, now it features more advanced tracking protection.
You can open Blocking Tracking Cookies from the shield icon in the URL bar to access the blocked trackers. From this view you can also turn off the blocking for specific websites.
The system still allows first-party tracking, used for logins and such, but blocks most of the tracking done by ad networks.
Other updates includes the addition of new Pocket-powered New Tab windows for US users, Windows Hello Web Authentication, support for mixed video WebRTC conferencing, performance boost for Windows 10 users, and battery improvement for macOS users.
Google's latest and greatest mobile operating system iteration has finally launched. New Pixel phones are yet to be released, we don't even know the release date yet, but at least we've got the Android 10.
Android 10 is of course the official name of the new version of Android, Google's mobile operating system, that no longer has a dessert-based alias.
The update is now shipping for Google's own Pixel phones first, and is probably quickly followed by manufacturers like Nokia, OnePlus, and perhaps Motorola that have been usually keen on releasing updates quickly.
However, you might have to wait for at least weeks if not months for your preferred phone, and if yours isn't fairly recent purchase you might not get the update at all.
If you own a Pixel phone, no matter which generation, you'll get the update right now among the first.
Perhaps the most sought after new feature of Android 10 is the new Dark Mode. Not only is easy on your eyes but on devices with OLED displays it's also easy on the battery.
You can also expect improvements to notifications, gesture navigation, privacy and security, as well as new features like Focus Mode for better digital well-being and Live Captioning for improved accessibility.
You can try out Ubisoft's Uplay+ subscription gaming service for free this month by getting a free trial.
Ubisoft's Uplay+ subscription gaming service was first announced and detailed at E3 2019, and has launched in beta today. The service costs $15 per month and will provide users will access to a library of over 100 titles, including new games. Subscribers also will be able to avail of additional benefits such as being invited to closed betas.
Uplay+ is expected to be out of beta and in full expansion early next year.
However, between today and September 30, you can get a free trial and check out the service yourself before you commit to any recurring fee. That said, Uplay+ is cancel anytime so that helps if you do decide to sign up permanently.
Are you getting spammed by Google Calendar? Google is aware of the widespread issue and is working on a fix.
Spammers and malicious actors are exploiting the default settings for Google Calendar to direct spam and potentially dangerous stuff. If you suddenly started receiving Event reminders from Google that inform you about an iPhone you won (see accompanied image for example), or some other suspicious message, it is likely you have been hit by this annoyance too. The event reminders typically also show malicious links that could be dangerous to open.
In a post to the Google Support Forums, employee Lesley Pace addressed the issue yesterday.
"We're aware of the spam occurring in Calendar and are working diligently to resolve this issue. We'll post updates to this thread as they become available,"Pace writes. A link is also added if you require information on how to remove and to report spam.
The issue arises from the default settings of Google Calendar when it comes to automatically adding invitations and providing notifications by alert. By default, Events from GMail are also added to the Calendar which you can turn off in the Google Calendar settings.
Facebook may repeat a change from its Instagram service that will reduce the visibility of a post's overall popularity.
Back in April this year, Facebook began a test on its Instagram service in which it made the overall Like count on posts invisible to all but the poster. This test is only live in select countries at the moment. The social network has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is considering the same change for posts on Facebook too.
The change was first hinted at when reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong spotted code for hidden Like counts in the Facebook app for Android devices. It hasn't been rolled out yet, and Facebook hasn't provided any details on the outcome of the Instagram test yet either.
Removing Like counts seems to be aimed at reducing users' insecurities around comparative like counts. Witnessing others posts gather large amounts of Likes and attention while one's own posts struggle to get any can apparently have a psychological impact. It also can nudge users into self-censorship or following the crowd. These are not positive outcomes for anyone.
If Facebook does decide to begin hiding Like tallies, it will roll it out slowly the same way it has on Instagram. This will give the firm the opportunity to easily roll back the change if that becomes necessary. During the test, users would only see a few names of friends who liked a post, whereas only the poster would be able to see the actual Like count.
Earlier this week, YouTube had removed popular accounts from its service citing infringement of its rules on hate speech and conduct. It then reversed its decision for some.
Among the accounts were that of an anonymous British user called 'The Iconoclast', and another from a reportedly right-wing figure called Martin Sellner. The latter has been banned from entering the United Kingdom, according to a BBC report, which also says Austrian police are looking into reports that Sellner was in contact with the Christchurch mosque attacker. Sellner absolutely denies any links to the atrocity.
Both of the accounts were reinstated on Thursday with YouTube saying it had made the wrong call. On Friday, the decision was clarified by Farshad Shadloo, who is responsible for global products policy communications at YouTube. According to Shadloo, the channels had not broken any of its rules.
The comments followed a letter from YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki to videomakers, in which she stressed that YouTube must remain an open platform. "A commitment to openness is not easy. It sometimes means leaving up content that is outside the mainstream, controversial or even offensive," she wrote.
It is not uncommon for Twitter and other social media accounts to be hijacked and used for malicious reasons, but it is particularly embarrassing when it happens to the chief executive, and not for the first time.
Twitter chief Jack Dorsey was a victim of account theft this weekend. On Friday, the CEO's account - which has four million followers - was hijacked. Those in control of Mr Dorsey's account then went on to publish racist tweets and to retweet other content. Later on Friday, the social media firm noticed the breach and secured Dorsey's account.
According to Twitter, the breach happened because of a security insight by the mobile provider linked to Dorsey's account. This technique is called a SIM swapping attack, in which a mobile provider is duped into transferring a victim's phone number to a SIM card controlled by a malicious party.
Dorsey was targeted in a separate hack in 2016, along with Google chief Sundar Pichai and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.
It has been just few months since Stranger Things' season 3 ended, but now Netflix has already released the first official teaser trailer of the upcoming Stranger Things 4 in its social media accounts.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform with over a billion users around the world. While most of these users have a fairly up-to-date Android phone or iPhone, many are using the service with older devices.
Apple's newest iPhones are barely out but, to be honest, they were a little bit of a let down, right? So, no wonder that the first iPhone 12 rumors are already circulating.
