iFixit Hero4 Session teardown: it’s impossible to repair

The new GoPro Hero4 Session is an impressive waterproof camera capable of capturing 4K Ultra HD video at up to 240 frames per second without the need for a waterproof case. It’s also quite expensive, retailing for $400. But is the palm-sized action-cam really worth that much cash, what with its distinct lack of replaceable parts? iFixit recently disassembled one to find out.

The team quickly discovered that any sort of repair beyond the outer glass lens (for which GoPRo does sell replacement kits) is basically impossible thanks to the manufacturer’s waterproofing efforts. That’s a pain. The Session’s battery, which is pretty small at 1000 mAh is likely going to need to be recharged more often than the Hero 3’s power cell, thereby degrading faster and requiring replacement sooner. Except you can’t replace it due to the waterproofed case.

As for optics, the iFixit team found that the Session sports the same f/2.8 lens as the standard Hero4, as well as what appears to be the same 1/3.2″ sensor format that the old GoPro Hero employed. Overall, the Session proved to be nearly impossible to take apart and even harder to put back together again.

Filed under: Cameras, HD

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Source: iFixit

Speedy 50W 5-Port USB Charger

If the area around your wall outlet is beginning to look like a scene from Jumanji, it may be time to consider a neater solution. We’re all running so many wireless and battery powered devices that need nightly recharges and things don’t look like they’ll be changing anytime soon. When every member of your household has a smartphone and a tablet, space to tap into electricity can be scarce. Luckily, with the Speedy 50W 5-Port USB charger, you can wave bye-bye to all of these issues.

This Speedy Desktop USB Charger allows you to charge multiple devices, from one location, at the same time. With 50 watts of power, this unit adapts to your device specs to maximize and optimize your charging speeds. You’ll get the biggest bang for your buck and it’s completely portable. This precious little piece of power regularly sells for $30 but AndroidGuys readers take 26% off, today, and own it for just $21.99!

See more at deals.androidguys.com

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Need some vibrant wallpapers? Beautiful Color Wallpaper has you covered

Even if you aren’t a wallpaper lover, it won’t do any damage to change your wallpaper every now and then. After all, it is the most seen part of your phone. What’s even better is when it’s animated, granted that it’s not too much for your phone to handle.

Setup

As this is a simple wallpaper app, there is fortunately little to set up. You’ll have to grant it permission to use a live wallpaper but that’s the only “hard work” I had to do. The only other setup you’ll experience is choosing your wallpaper, which is part of the fun

Function

The obvious and only function of the app is to allow you to create live wallpapers with pre-selected toggles. I found it easy to navigate and use, especially because there is one screen for everything. There were times when it wouldn’t display my selected theme, but that was easily resolved by reselecting my option.

Is it for me?

Unless you have a slow phone, you should take a shot at trying it. The childish menu designs might make you want to puke rainbows, but it certainly didn’t hinder me in selecting my choosen setup. It’s not a bad idea to change your wallpaper every now and then.

What we Liked:

• Ease of use
• Nice, animated wallpapers
• You can choose various patterns and themes

And not so much:

• Childish user interface
• Many of the patterns/themes are similar

Overall, Beautiful Color Wallpapers is a decent app for those who struggle to keep their satisfaction with their current wallpaper. Granted that your device has respectable specs, everything should run smoothly. The app will not run nicely on low range devices and will chew battery excessively, simply because a live wallpaper puts a lot of strain on the system. If those things don’t concern you, go try it it out!

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The Galaxy S6 Edge+ shows itself, next to a Note 4

Reports have been suggesting a near release for a Samsung phablet duo, one being a progression of the Note line and the other a blown up S6 Edge.  Naturally, as launch preparation ramps up, so does the vulnerability for visual leaks.  Courtesy of All About Samsung, we have a look at an alleged dummy unit of the Galaxy S6 Edge+.

This time we have a Note 4 as a reference, giving us an idea of the Edge+ phone size.  Previous leaks have hinted at either a 5.6″ or 5.7″ display, and the image above supports that.

Below, we have a look at the back of the phone.  While the form looks as expected, I’m wondering why there isn’t a “Galaxy S6 edge+” logo towards the bottom, like on the previous Edge model.

This leak did not confirm any of the suspected specifications for the Edge+.  We’ve been hearing that Samsung may toss Qualcomm a bone and use the Snapdragon 808 for this one.  All other supposed specs follow what the S6 Edge gave us, but with a larger 3,000mAh battery.  Current reports point to a mid-August launch, so stay tuned!

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Advertisements could be no more on Hulu with looming premium subscription

Video and music streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, and Apple Music all have something in common. None of them feature advertisements along with the content. Subscriptions are meant to unlock access to exclusive content and offer a high-end, ad-free experience where users get what they want. Hulu has operated both its free and paid tiers with ads attached to content, especially irking customers that are paying $7.99 per month. The amount of Hulu subscribers sits at 9 million and ads could be what is preventing that number from booming.

With Project NOAH, that could change and provide Hulu with millions of additional subscribers at a quicker pace.

The Wall Street Journal was informed by an anonymous tipster that Hulu is working on a premium subscription that will nix ads completely. Project NOAH, which stands for “NO Ads Hulu,” would cost a few more dollars than its current paid offering, somewhere between $12 and $14. So, for paying at least $5 extra, ads on Hulu will go away. And the money coming in from new subscribers could allow Hulu to spend on securing deals and gaining exclusive rights to content. Hulu recently spent north of $120 million to be the digital home of Seinfeld.

Deciding whether or not Project NOAH becomes official is up to its owners. Comcast, 21st Century Fox, and The Walt Disney Company are all co-owners of the video streaming service through their television subsidiaries. Their long histories in television are not very helpful for Project NOAH. Those companies are reportedly not feeling enthusiastic about Project NOAH since it could lead to binge-watching without any presence of a sponsor. Hulu, in a way, is still operating like a television network with ads and Project NOAH would cut away ad revenue.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
Via: Engadget

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Tons of popular apps can have their passwords cracked

According to AppBugs many popular apps on iOS or Android are vulnerable to password cracking. Very big name apps such as Walmart, ESPN, Pocket, CNN, Slack, SoundCloud, etc. Appbugs testing suggest these apps are subject to brute force attacks. That means an attacker can make unlimited login attempts to a web service until the users password is found.

AppBugs found 53 mobile apps (Android and iOS) that can be brute force attacked which impacts nearly 600 million users. The time it takes a hacker to steal your password is quite quick too.

According to this study on 70 million passwords, the strength of user passwords typically contains 10-20 bits of security. This means that it only takes the attacker 1024-1048576 guesses to find the correct one. Assuming the attacker makes login attempts to the vulnerable service 30 times per minute, it takes him half hour to 24 days to guess a password, depending on the strength of the target password. This is a scary estimate. Attackers have no problem launching the attacks from multiple IP addresses on multiple user accounts in parallel and often can make guesses more than 30 times per minute. If today the attacker launches such attack against most user accounts in parallel, he will be able to get most user passwords within 24 days.

As far as protecting yourself from these types of attacks it’s basically impossible. The attacks are at the server level and only the company can decide whether or not they want to protect it. Even if you have one of the listed apps installed on your device and uninstall it your login credentials are still stored on their server and can be cracked. AppBugs recommends disabling the account and to contact the developer of the app if you have any questions on doing so. If you love the app and still want to use it remember to change your password to something over 20 characters. However, at the end of the day this will only slow down the hacker and not stop them. Two-factor authentication is also a good thing to have on, but AppBugs says most of the apps affected do not support it.

Source: AppBugs

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Warhammer 40K: Space Wolf arrives to Google Play

We’ve seen Warhammer 40k games more than once on Android, though many of these titles have been met with fairly mixed reception. Now comes yet another, this time dubbed Warhammer 40K: Space Wolf. So is Space Wolf better than any of the previous Warhammer releases on Android? While I only have spent about 10 minutes so far trying it out, it certainly seems like it.

For starters, we’re looking at a top-down tactical strategy game that fits better with the Warhammer franchise’s traditional board-game type feel. The game also is by HeroCraft, a prety solid developer. Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. This is a free-to-play title and has tons of in-app purchases that range from a few bucks all the way to $100. And while I ran into no problems running the game in my short time with it, Google Play already has several comments complaining about various bugs that result in the game crashing, and so your mileage may vary.

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Still, despite any potential downsides, the game is worth giving a go if you are at all a fan of the Warhammer or Warhammer 40K universe. As an added bonus, there’s even a pretty cool multiplayer model that lets you conduct 3-on-3 versus battles.

For those that have tried it, what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Get it on Google Play!