Apple issues voluntary recall for some international AC adapters
Heads up, world travelers. If you have an Apple AC plug adapter or Travel Adapter kit meant for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand and South Korea, you might want to talk to the folks in Cupertino about getting a replacement. The company just announced a voluntary recall of those adapters — ones that shipped with Macs and iDevices between 2003 and 2015 — because there’s a risk their prongs could break and shock someone. Apple says it’s aware of 12 such incidents around the world, so check out the company’s recall site to see if yours is one of the problematic bunch.
To be clear, if you’ve got the two-prong plugs used in the US and China, or the bulky three-prong affair for the UK and Hong Kong, you’re alright. It’s just the long, round-pronged adapters mostly seen in Europe and the angled prongs used in Australia that you need to be on the lookout for. Assuming you do fall into the former camp, check your plug adapter for “either four or five characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attaches to the main Apple power adapter.”
If you’ve got those telltale characters, you’ll be able to visit an Apple Store for a replacement, or request one online.
Source: Apple
Why has Malaysia blocked Medium?
Medium is a popular platform, offering amateurs and professionals alike a simple way to publish their articles. This week, it was blocked in Malaysia. Over a single article posted by Sarawak Report.
Sarawak Report is a London-based site that investigates government wrongdoings in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. Over the years it’s been a beacon of investigative journalism in the country, shining a light on the construction industry, the media and, more recently, the alleged corruption of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak. Najib is the leader of the Barisan Nasional party, which has been in power since the country gained its independence from the UK in 1957.
The site uncovered misappropriation of funds, alleging that a government-owned development company had channeled huge sums of money into Najib’s personal account, and that the fund was also used for bribery. The allegations eventually triggered an official investigation into potential corruption. Last summer, at the height of the scandal, the Malaysian government blocked the Sarawak Report website.
After the block, Sarawak Report began posting some stories to Medium, meaning that Malaysians could still see what their government was allegedly up to. The government investigation into Najib’s finances concluded earlier this week that the money was “a gift” from the Saudi royal family and no wrongdoing had taken place. Critics decried the decision, sources say the country’s Attorney-General ignored a recommendation to charge Najib and anti-corruption officials are asking for a review. It’s likely the scandal will continue for months if not years to come.
Following the investigation’s conclusion, officials from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) issued a takedown notice to the publishing platform over a single article:
Medium responded asking for the MCMC’s evidence that Malaysian law had been broken, and also a copy of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s statement that the allegations were untrue. Rather than sending a response, Malaysian officials blocked the site. Despite censoring smaller sites in the past, the blocking of Medium in its entirety is a huge leap from the censorship of the past. Even China, notorious for its tight control over what its citizens see, does not block the site.
Najib’s popularity has dwindled in recent years. Although his party won a 133-to-89 seat majority in 2013, it lost the popular vote and has been accused of gerrymandering to win. There have been widespread calls for electoral reform, but the leader continues to defy critics and appears to be tightening his grip on power. Because of this, there’s a fear that other sites hosting dissenting information could soon be blocked as well.
Medium says it “stands by investigative journalists,” and won’t remove any posts until it receives an order from “a court of competent jurisdiction” to do so.
Yahoo Mail app lets you customize your inbox swipes
Yahoo debuted a new Mail app back in the fall, and today the mobile software is getting a few new features. First, both the Android and iOS versions will allow you to customize your swipes. This means that when you’re looking at your inbox, you can opt to swipe right to archive or swipe left to mark as spam. Other actions include starring a message and marking it as read. When using a long press to select multiple messages, you can now star a group of emails or mark them as spam from the so-called multi-select toolbar in the app.
For the iOS version, Yahoo is looking to make hunting for the file you’re trying to attach easier. The app will display a collection of recently received photos and files alongside a search bar so that you can find exactly what you’re looking for quickly. The iOS version also allows you to create, delete and rename folders and subfolders with a long press. Android users can now move or star messages as soon as they arrive. Thanks to actionable notifications, you can deal with an email the moment it arrives on your device. Updates for both OSes are rolling out today.
LG Pay White Card appears in leaked images
In November, we passed along a report that LG was in the early stages of preparing a mobile payment system of its own called ‘LG Pay.’ As it turns out, that report was indeed true.
Unlike Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Apple Pay, LG Pay will operate differently. Instead of processing payments using a smartphone, a plastic card will be required at checkout. Earlier today, an LG Pay White Card surfaced for the first time in a few images. Although it won’t eliminate the wallet, this may be LG’s best shot at launching a payment service that is accessible to the masses.
The LG Pay White Card will seemingly combine multiple credit and debit cards seamlessly into one. The card has a built-in low-power LCD display for guidance and built-in buttons for quick controls. Sources say that the buttons could be used to switch between cards. Considering the fact that the card requires power, it must be charged in some way. This is where the pins on the left side come into play. These pins will probably offer some kind of charging solution.
LG is currently working to put the cards into mass production in South Korea. According to sources, the company already produced 50,000 cards for testing purposes and is well on its way to making this become a reality. Even though it’s a bit of a long shot, it’ll be on our list of things to watch out for at MWC 2016.
Come comment on this article: LG Pay White Card appears in leaked images
Scientists better understand the roots of schizophrenia
Scientists already know that schizophrenia has genetic roots, but the condition has still been something of a mystery. How, exactly, does it get started? Researchers at Harvard and MIT now have a better idea. Thanks to both lab testing and a 100,000-person sample of DNA, they’ve determined that an immune system gene (complement component 4, aka C4) can play an important role in the disease. If a variant of C4 is too active in pruning brain synapses (severing links between neurons) during adolescence, the risk of developing schizophrenia goes up — it’s breaking connections at a key point in development.
This doesn’t completely explain schizophrenia. There could easily be other genes and gene variants at work. Even so, it’s still a huge breakthrough. At the moment, most schizophrenia treatments revolve around the symptoms; this could shift the focus to the root causes. Doctors who spot early signs of the disease could one day suppress some of that synaptic pruning, reducing the severity of symptoms and the need for long-term help.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Via: Guardian
Source: Nature
T-Mobile customers have watched over 34 million gigabytes of data with Binge On
T-Mobile in a press release published today said that they have added more avenues of video streaming to its Binge On platform, and also revealed that Binge On customers’ video watching has more than doubled.
The carrier’s Binge On service has been the subject of much controversy, garnering attention from Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and others on T-Mobile’s claims that it isn’t throttling video streaming, just “optimizing” it.
However, as we all know, there’s no such thing as bad press. According to T-Mobile’s press release, and despite all of this controversial attention, the carrier says that Binge On customers are viewing video more than ever before. T-Mobile didn’t offer specific and concrete details, but said that customers’ are watching twice as much as before.
Additionally, T-Mobile Binge On customers can now watch Amazon Video, Fox News, Univision NOW, and the WWE Network without cutting into their data allotment. The four additional services bring the carrier’s total up to more than 40 video streaming services supported.
T-Mobile did provide some interesting statistics. In addition to customers watching twice as much video than before Binge On, the carrier reports that its customers have watched over 34 petabytes of data. In contrast, that’s over 34 million gigabytes of data.
Binge On is an opt-in program, only eligible to customers on qualifying and postpaid plans with 3GB of data or more.
The carrier also recently updated its Simply Prepaid Plans to add more value for your dollar.
source: T-Mobile
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Google’s latest partnership could make smartphones smarter
Google has signed a deal with Movidius to include its Myriad 2 MA2450 processor in future devices. The search giant first worked with Movidius back in 2014 for its Project Tango devices, and it’s now licensing the company’s latest tech to “accelerate the adoption of deep learning within mobile devices.”
“Deep learning” refers to a complex neural network — a computer program that mimics the human brain. Neural networks have been the driving force behind rapidly improving image and speech recognition tools, but mostly these tasks require an internet connection. When you talk to your Android phone, for example, your voice is actually processed by a server farm somewhere, which does all the heavy lifting.
More recently, Google managed to cram a network into its Translate app, allowing users to convert the text in images on the fly. And SwiftKey also runs a small-scale network for word predictions in its SwiftKey Neural application. But all these applications require a large amount of processing power for what are relatively inane tasks. That’s where Movidius’ chip comes in.
The Myriad 2 MA2450 is referred to as a “vision processing unit.” It’s really got a single purpose: image recognition. The architecture has very little in common with a traditional CPU, and it’s designed specifically to handle the myriad (get it) simultaneous processes involved in neural networks. As such, its power draw when, for example, recognising a face or an image, is much, much lower than doing the same task with a Snapdragon processor. As for how exactly will Google utilize the chips, that’s something we’re unlikely to know until it’s ready to announce devices.
Source: Movidius
Google My Tracks app reaches end of route on April 30th
Google has announced that their My Tracks platform will no longer be available after April 30, 2016 for users who were hoping to use it to track their journeys. My Tracks is a mapping and logging app that could be used to record data like path, speed, distance and elevation changes for users who were engaged in outdoor activities like walking, running, or biking. According to Google’s support page for My Tracks, where the announcement was made, Google plans “to invest our efforts into other, more wide-reaching, mapping projects.”
One of the features of My Tracks that some users liked was the ability to export data to Google Drive for later analysis or even import into other applications. The app is able to produce the following types of data files:
- KML: Contains locations, markers, photos, and sensor data
- GPX: Contains locations and markers, but no sensor data like heart rate, cadence for biking, cadence for running, and power
- CSV: Contains locations, markers, and sensor data
- TCX :Contains locations, no markers, and some sensor data
Google also points users to a variety of other solutions for tracking routes and data, often in conjunction with fitness apps and devices. Some of the recommendations include:
- Google Fit
- Strava
- Endomondo
- Map My Run
- Map My Hike
- GPS Logger for Android
- GPX Viewer
Notable on that list is Google Fit and it will be interesting to see if any of the My Tracks capabilities make their way over to that fitness solution from Google.
source: Google
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Amazon is reportedly working on a more robust music service
Prime Music may not be the extent of Jeff Bezos’ music streaming aspirations. According to the New York Post, the online retailer is prepping a so-called Spotify killer. More specifically, Amazon is said to be working on a standalone music service that would carry its own monthly fee as a separate offering from Prime Music. The new service will reportedly offer a more robust selection of tunes than what’s available as part of an annual Prime subscription.
In terms of cost, Amazon’s new service is said to be priced at $10 a month with a $3 or $4 monthly plan if you’re willing to splurge for an Echo speaker. While the music expansion appears to be in the early stages, the Post reports that licensing meetings took place over the past few weeks with the company eyeing a fall launch. Amazon’s established marketplace for both physical and digital music could make the retailer an attractive option for artists looking to offer fans all three formats in the age of streaming. Of course, we’ll be curious to see if Amazon really can give Spotify and Apple Music a run for their money.
[Image credit: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File]
Source: New York Post
Oppo to “Wow the World” with breakthrough technology at MWC 2016
Oppo plans on unveiling some revolutionary technology at MWC 2016 this year, planning to unveil a groundbreaking power solution and a new and innovative smartphone camera.
Details were obviously scarce, as Oppo wants to save the surprise for its event in Barcelona at MWC 2016. However, the popular smartphone manufacturer reaffirmed its commitment to equipping consumers with only the best technology out there.
Again, we’re not quite sure what the power solution is all about, but it’ll be interested to see how it will compare to fast charging solutions like Quick Charge 3.0 and Lenovo’s TurboPower in some of the devices within its Moto line of smartphones.
Then again, it might not be a fast charging solution, but a new power solution altogether, indicating that Oppo might not invest in USB Type-C. Instead, they could follow the way of Turing Robotics Industries and offer their own proprietary power solution.
We, of course, have no solid details. But, one thing’s for sure: we’re most certainly interested on what Oppo will be announcing in a month’s time.
Oppo is quickly establishing itself as a renowned smartphone manufacturer, selling 50 million units in 2015. The company also revealed that it’s now in the top ten smartphone brands worldwide, ranking eighth as far as units shipped goes.
Press release below:
Wow the World: OPPO to Unveil Breakthrough Tech at MWC
Shenzhen, Jan. 28, 2016 — The ever-evolving smartphone brand OPPO is heading to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2016, where it plans to unveil a groundbreaking power solution and an unprecedented smartphone camera innovation that will offer tomorrow’s consumers a reinvigorated user experience.
“With our commitment to equip everyday consumers with the best technology, OPPO invests great efforts in technological innovation. We have a legacy of bringing new ideas to the industry that we are proud to uphold, such as introducing the world’s first motorized rotating camera, the fast and safe VOOC Flash Charge technology, the first front-facing Screen Flash, and the first selfie beautify function for smartphones,” said Mr. Sky Li, OPPO Vice President and Managing Director of International Mobile Business. “We are excited to present OPPO’s latest breakthroughs at the world-class MWC and look forward to creating even more amazing user experiences.”
In 2015, OPPO sold 50 million units, representing year-on-year growth of 67 percent. The company has broken into the top ten smartphone brands worldwide, ranking eighth in units shipped, according to a recent report by TrendForce.
Come comment on this article: Oppo to “Wow the World” with breakthrough technology at MWC 2016
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