Pentagon competition dares you to hack its websites

The US military already tests the security of its networks, but it doesn’t feel that’s enough in an era when cyberattacks are a constant reality. It’s starting up an experimental competition, Hack the Pentagon, that invites private citizens (carefully screened, of course) to hack public Department of Defense websites. While the government is keeping sensitive systems off-limits, this will hopefully identify vulnerabilities that in-house experts wouldn’t catch.

The project is still rough around the edges, even though it’s due to begin in April. Officials haven’t finished defining the rules, and they’re not sure whether or not there will be cash rewards for those who break in. If it’s successful, though, it could prevent for-real hacks that could lead to everything from public humiliation to data breaches.

Via: The Next Web

Source: Reuters

Netflix is bringing back ‘Fuller House’ for a second season

Less than a week after its debut, Netflix already renewed Fuller House for a second season. The Full House reboot arrived last Friday to less than stellar reviews, but it caused plenty of nostalgic chatter on the interwebs. The streaming service typically brings back its original series for a second run, and it couldn’t have been easy to reunite the cast for this particular show. It’s still early for any concrete streaming numbers, but Netflix’s decision to act fast could be evidence Fuller House has been a popular choice over the last week.

Your list will get even fuller.

Season 2. Coming soon to @Netflix. #FullerHouse 👍❤️🏠https://t.co/aEdTwbLDLM

— Fuller House (@fullerhouse) March 2, 2016

Source: Fuller House (Twitter)

Everything you need to know about the redrafted IP Bill

The Investigatory Powers Bill, which is set to become the UK’s new, consolidated piece of surveillance legislation, was first introduced in draft form late last year. After fielding the thoughts and concerns of telecoms providers, major tech firms, intelligence specialists, privacy advocates and many more invested parties, a trio of Parliamentary committees reviewed and ultimately criticised the draft bill. Taking the red pen of the committees on board, the Home Office has revised the draft and yesterday submitted the IP Bill Mark II to Parliament. Mostly, it just tries to clarify a few of the more ambiguous proposals, but it also expands certain powers rather than reining any in.

If there was one thing all the review committees agreed on (supported by the views of many companies and individuals), it was that the draft bill was far too vague. Home Secretary Theresa May — the primary author of the bill, nicknamed the Snooper’s Charter — admitted as much, arguing that by leaving certain aspects open to interpretation, the IP Bill would be future-proofed. Her reasoning? Technology and online communications are evolving at such a rate that being too specific would ultimately restrict the use of surveillance powers written into the bill.

Alongside the revised bill, however, the Home Office has published a number of draft Codes of Practice (six, in fact) that explain in detail how the powers will be used and why they’re required. Think of the Codes of Practice as footnotes to the bill that can be revisited and changed. The bill itself, when passed into law, will be far from malleable. Codes of Practice, on the other hand, can be expanded (or condensed) when, say, a new type of communication data not previously covered becomes of interest to law enforcement or intelligence agencies.

These draft Codes of Practice will be subject to scrutiny themselves, of course, but the idea is they clarify some of the ambiguous legislese the committees took issue with. The Home Office has also published additional Operational Cases to compliment the revised bill, which offer further justification for the retention of Internet Connection Records (ICRs) and the use of bulk powers (read: not targeted), including the interception of communications and state-sponsored hacking. Though again, whether these use cases are satisfactory will be decided by Parliament.

Now onto some of the more specific changes included in the IP Bill Mark II.

Internet connection records (ICRs)

Image credit: Shutterstock

Both the UK’s major internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile network operators have expressed a limited understanding of what the Home Office calls an ICR. In layman’s terms, an ICR is the top-level domain of a visited website (so, reddit.com, but not the individual pages accessed during that session). It also describes the context (metadata) of online communications — the who, when, where and how of, say, a WhatsApp message, but not the content. Obviously, the bill uses much more technical language, but the definition has never been championed as clear.

This poses a serious problem for ISPs and mobile operators. After all, these companies will be lawfully required to develop the systems needed to gather and store ICRs for 12 months — one of the proposals at the heart of the IP Bill. The revised legislation includes a tweaked definition of ICRs (we’ll spare you the gobbledygook), intended to paint a clearer picture for service providers, so they can think about how they’re going to develop the appropriate tools. Or at least continue dialogue with the Home Office on what it’ll take to support the proposal.

Service providers have already warned that creating these systems will be a technical feat, and a time-consuming and expensive one at that. The general consensus is the £174 million the Home Office has budgeted to support companies that’ll be on the hook for collecting ICRs isn’t nearly enough. Should they not be fully compensated, the worry is the shortfall could lead to less investment in improving services, or worst-case scenario, higher bills for customers. The Home Office, while not making a formal commitment, has gone some way to putting these fears to bed. In its “response to pre-legislative scrutiny” (one of the many, many supporting documents for the IP Bill Mark II), it states:

“In practice, the Government has a longstanding position of reimbursing 100% of the costs associated with data retention. There are no current plans to change that policy…”

Encrypted services are safe, probably

Image credit: Shutterstock

The IP Bill’s stance on encryption has been one of the most ill-understood, and heavily debated. The legislation states there will be “no additional requirements in relation to encryption over and above the existing obligations in RIPA,” RIPA being a major component of existing surveillance law. What’s made serious waves among the world’s biggest tech companies, though, is the bill’s introduction of a “technical capability notice,” which when served, would demand “the removal of electronic protection applied by a relevant operator to any communication or data.”

As much of the legislese is intentionally open to interpretation, tech giants have seen this as a red flag. They fear the UK government might attempt to strong-arm them into building backdoors in their encrypted services or effectively hacking their own hardware, as the FBI is pushing Apple to do in the US currently. In response, the Home Office has attempted to clarify the scope of technical capability notices with the publication of the IP Bill Mark II.

The new wording seems to state that technical capability notices won’t be actionable on end-to-end encrypted services, or other forms of encryption where the company doesn’t hold the key (your phone’s lockscreen passcode, for example). In addition to reviewing how necessary and cost-effective the notice might be, the nature of encryption and technical feasibility of breaking it will be taken into account. Providers “can only be required to remove protection they themselves have applied, or that has been applied on their behalf,” the Home Office says, “or where the company is removing encryption for their own business purposes.”

If we’re understanding this correctly, then a company may be required to decrypt, say, its payroll database, since it’s in possession of the key and can comply without too much fuss. On the flip-side, if the government wanted to peek inside an iMessage conversation, the feasibility, cost and disproportionate consequences of breaking this end-to-end encrypted service would be preventative. Annoyingly, though, the redrafted wording is still open to interpretation, and is unlikely to placate opponents of this vague, new power.

Oversight, sensitive professions and foreign agents

Image credit: Getty

The other notable amendments in the IP Bill Mark II include a change to how urgent interception warrants are handled. In this context, interception means accessing/monitoring the content of communications, like reading an email; in contrast, communications data (a type of ICR) is merely the metadata surrounding a conversation, and can be looked at without a warrant.

To get an interception warrant, intelligence and law enforcement agencies need the approval of both a Secretary of State and an independent judicial commissioner. This is known as a “double-lock” procedure, but in urgent circumstances, investigations can begin before a warrant has been authorised. The draft IP Bill stated that these needed to be approved or refused by a judge (retrospectively) within five days, but the revised legislation cuts that window down to three days.

Among several other tweaks to oversight and safeguards, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner — a new appointment to monitor and scrutinise the use of surveillance powers — is now able to report failings in the system to affected individuals without the approval of a separate tribunal.

One criticism of the draft bill was that it didn’t include explicit protection for lawyers, journalists, doctors, Members of Parliament and other professionals that deal with confidential information. In the revised bill, additional authorisations have been included where sensitive information and journalistic sources are in play.

Some stakeholders also worried that while the limitations and approval procedures might keep national agencies in check, the UK government could ignore these by allowing foreign intelligence services to use the new surveillance capabilities on their behalf without playing by the rules. The Home Office has made clear that no international partners will be able to act in the interests of the UK without a domestic warrant.

Expanded powers

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The new version of the IP Bill hasn’t just been an opportunity for the Home Office to clarify, tweak and publish supporting documentation for the controversial legislation, but to expand its scope slightly, too. Previously, law enforcement (i.e. the police) was only permitted to access communications data and web browsing histories (ICRs, in other words) that obviously pertained to illegal content and activities.

In the revised bill, any and all ICRs will be available to the police where it is “necessary and proportionate” for conducting investigations. It’s extremely important to note here that the expanded powers don’t include additional safeguards: In other words, the police are not required to seek a double-lock warrant to get hold of ICRs.

The IP Bill includes the first public admission of state-sponsored hacking, which the government calls equipment interference. In the draft bill, law enforcement was entitled to carry out equipment interference “for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime.” Mark II now says it can be used where there is an “imminent threat to life or serious harm,” which is a broad phrase that covers everything from kidnappings to “mitigating any injury or damage to a person’s physical or mental health.”

The revised bill also specifies that equipment interference powers aren’t just reserved for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. “Certain public authorities” including immigration officers, the British Transport Police and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority already use these tactics, and they’ll be preserved in the IP Bill.

Initial reactions

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It’s safe to say that early reactions to the IP Bill Mark II have been frosty at best. The general sentiment (aside from objections to the expansion of powers) is that many of the serious concerns and countless recommendations put forward by the three Parliamentary review committees have largely been ignored or addressed unsatisfactorily. A statement from Amnesty International said the hasty redraft was “like adding extra storeys to a burning building.”

“Rather than a full redraft, we’ve been given cosmetic tweaks to a heavily criticised, deeply intrusive bill,” said the Director of the Don’t Spy On Us coalition. And the list goes on… and on. Privacy International, Liberty, Big Brother Watch, the Web Foundation and many more have expressed their contempt for the bill, with several groups arguing that its impact on the public’s fundamental right to privacy should be at the forefront of the debate — that discussing the minutiae of the bill is taking attention away from the bigger picture.

Lord Strasburger, the most, er, provocative member of the draft bill’s Joint Committee, has joined the chorus, too. “Nothing has changed since I made my comments on the draft bill three weeks ago. The Home Office just doesn’t do privacy. It does security and ever more intrusive powers they claim will make us safer, but not privacy.” Writing in The Telegraph, David Anderson QC — an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation that produced a report on mass surveillance in the UK last year — said “the Investigatory Powers Bill remains a work in progress.” He also described the whole saga better than we ever could:

“The debate on investigatory powers, as I discovered when I was asked by Parliament to report on it, is addictive to some and toxic to everybody else. Securocrats seek access to innocent communications, while privacy advocates warn darkly of dystopia. The rest of us tend to be bored, confused and generally defeated by it all.”

Hear, hear.

Why the rush?

Image credit: AFP/Getty

Ever since the first draft of the IP Bill hit the streets, the Home Office has been accused of rushing the extremely complex and controversial legislation through Parliament. The Joint Committee was given only three working weeks to field evidence and report its recommendations, for instance. Home Secretary Theresa May is now taking further flak for taking the same amount of time to redraft the bill, despite calls for a major reworking based on the concerns raised by the three Parliamentary committees.

She has her reasons. The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act — an emergency piece of surveillance legislation introduced in 2014 and later ruled unlawful — is due to expire this year, hence the aggressive timetable for the IP Bill. An open letter published in The Telegraph and signed by MPs, professors, experts, organisations — all of which are knowledgable and invested in the IP Bill debate — has suggested it’s irresponsible of the government to incorporate the bill into law this year. Instead, they recommend that any vital powers could be condensed into a separate bill, with more comprehensive legislation following that after adequate debate.

As it stands, though, MPs have a couple of weeks to get through hundreds and hundreds of pages of dense documentation before the first debate lights up the House of Commons on March 14th.

Source: Investigatory Powers Bill, Home Office (1), (2), (3), (4)

Night Shift Beta Tidbits: Disabled in Low Power Mode, Control Center Changes

Apple has made some changes to Night Shift in iOS 9.3 betas 4 and 5. The most notable change is the disabling of the feature when in Low Power Mode. The toggle switch in both the Night Shift settings and Control Center are now grayed out in Low Power Mode.

The new change has generated some complaints since it seems that users will want to use both features in the evening hours.

Night Shift is now disabled in Low Power Mode on iOS 9.3 betas
Meanwhile, tapping the Night Shift icon in Control Center no longer brings up a contextual menu with “Turn On For Now” and “Turn On Until Tomorrow” options. Instead, the toggle now manually activates Night Shift until the next trigger in your automatic schedule, such as sunset, sunrise, or a specific time.

Night Shift no longer has a contextual menu in Control Center (right)
Similarly, there is a new “Manually Enable Until Tomorrow” toggle in the Night Shift settings that keeps the feature turned on until the following morning’s sunrise, or another specified time. This means the toggles in Settings and Control Center, which can also disable Night Shift, are essentially the same in this beta.

Also in the settings, the color temperature slider has also been moved to the bottom of the menu. The “Cooler” and “Warmer” labels have been changed to “Less Warm” and “More Warm,” while the small blue and orange circle markers have been removed. New fine print says “warmer temperatures can reduce eye strain.”

Night Shift is a major new feature in iOS 9.3 that, when enabled, automatically changes the color temperature of an iOS device’s display to reflect the time of day. The feature helps to limit your exposure to blue light in the morning and night, which makes the display easier on your eyes and can improve your circadian rhythm.

Apple seeded the fifth beta of iOS 9.3 to developers and public testers on Tuesday. The software update will likely be public released this month. To read about and share other changes, head over to our iOS 9.3 Beta 5 Bug Fixes, Improvements, and Changes topic in our community discussion forums.

Tags: Control Center, Low Power Mode, iOS 9.3, Night Shift
Discuss this article in our forums

TSMC Plans to Double 16nm Chip Production in Preparation for iPhone 7

According to a new report from Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has plans to double the output capacity of its 16nm chip production from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to 80,000 in March. The news corroborates previous reports that suggested TSMC was ready to expand its 16nm FinFET production capacity in the second quarter of 2016, solely for the iPhone 7.

In a recent investors meeting, TSMC’s co-CEO CC Wei said that the company’s percentage share of the 14/16nm market is expected to increase from 40 percent in 2015 to over 70 percent in 2016. Apple isn’t specifically referenced in the report today, but among TSMC’s other purported 16nm customers — Xilinx, MediaTek, HiSilicon, Spreadtrum and Nvidia — it is one of the bigger names.

The upcoming ramp-up of 16nm production capacity will buoy TSMC’s sales performance starting March, the report quoted market watchers as indicating. The foundry’s 16nm FinFET processes consisting of 16FF (16nm FinFET), 16FF+ (16nm FinFET Plus) and 16FFC (16nm FinFET Compact) will generate more than 20% of its total wafer revenues in 2016.

Previous rumors around the iPhone 7 production have pointed to Apple picking TSMC to be the sole manufacturer of the smartphone’s processor, presumably called the A10. The foundry was said to have won over Apple because of its 10nm manufacturing process, and a likely attempt at avoiding the dual-sourced A9 chip blowback Apple saw in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tag: TSMC
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DisplayPort 1.4 to Use ‘Lossless’ Compression for Higher-Quality 8K Video Over USB-C

The Video Electronics Standards Association yesterday formally announced its new DisplayPort 1.4 standard, setting the stage for improved video quality and color for external display connections over both DisplayPort and USB-C connectors.

Rather than an increase in actual bandwidth, the improvements in DisplayPort 1.4 come due to improved compression, taking advantage of VESA’s new Display Stream Compression 1.2 standard to support High Dynamic Range (HDR) video up to either 8K resolution at 60 Hz or 4K resolution at 120 Hz.

DSC version 1.2 transport enables up to 3:1 compression ratio and has been deemed, through VESA membership testing, to be visually lossless. Together with other new capabilities, this makes the latest version of DP ideally suited for implementation in high-end electronic products demanding premier sound and image quality.

In addition to video-related improvements, DisplayPort 1.4 also expands audio capabilities with support for 32 channels, 1536kHz sample rates, and broader support for “all known” audio formats.

The approval of DisplayPort 1.4 comes even though consumers are still awaiting the arrival of devices supporting the previous DisplayPort 1.3 standard. Intel had been expected to support DisplayPort 1.3 in its current Skylake generation of chips, but the company instead opted to offer dual DisplayPort 1.2 support. As we detailed earlier this year, the lack of DisplayPort 1.3 support in Skylake could lead Apple to hold off on releasing a new 5K Thunderbolt Display until next year when chips supporting the standard become available.

Intel hasn’t laid out its DisplayPort support plans beyond Skylake, so it’s unknown whether the company will first move to DisplayPort 1.3 or if it can jump straight to the new DisplayPort 1.4 standard. Either way, we’re unlikely to see Macs supporting DisplayPort 1.4 until 2017 at the earliest.

Related Roundup: Thunderbolt Display
Tags: 8K displays, DisplayPort, USB-C, DisplayPort 1.4
Buyer’s Guide: Displays (Don’t Buy)
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DIY magnetic message board for your fridge – CNET

Alina Bradford

Having a message board on your fridge is great for keeping track of your grocery lists or your weekly dinner menu. The basic dry erase boards you can buy at the office supply store are bland and clash with a well-planned kitchen design, though. So, why not design your own board that not only looks nice, but also works better than most of the ones on the market? This message board takes only a few minutes to make and is made of glass, which is an ideal surface for dry erase markers.

Supplies

• Picture frame with glass pane (I used a 5 x 7 inch frame)
• 2 Sheets of decorative paper (wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, a page out of a coloring book)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• 4 Self-adhesive magnets with a magnet strength rating of around 7
• Small plastic cup
• E6000 glue or super glue
• Dry erase markers

Instructions

Lay the frame on top of one of the sheets of paper and trace around the frame with a pencil onto the paper.
Cut the paper along the lines you just traced.
Place the paper inside of the frame like you would a picture.
Remove the adhesive backing from the magnets. On the back of the frame place a magnet on each corner.
Cut a length of paper that is as wide as the cup is tall.
Glue the paper to the cup. You can also leave the cup plain if you like.
Glue the cup to the bottom edge of the frame and fill with dry erase markers once the glue dries.

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Skullcandy Grind Wireless Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Last year Skullcandy finally made a headphone I liked: the Grind, an on-ear model that’s comfortable and sounds really good for its relatively modest price (it costs less than $50 online). Now the company has introduced a Bluetooth version — The Grind Wireless — which hits stores in April for $90. No word yet on UK or Australia pricing, but that price converts to about £65 and AU$125.

From a design standpoint the Grind Wireless is very similar to the Grind and will come in six different colors at launch (I asked for the simple black version). The pre-production sample I got sounded very good for a sub-$100 Bluetooth headphone and features the same well-balanced sound as its wired sibling. There’s only a little bit of treble and bass push.

The Skullcandy Grind Wireless ships in April and will come in multiple color options for $90.

Skullcandy

This is a good Bluetooth headphone for what you’re paying. I’d call it quite competent, actually. But it’s still a Bluetooth headphone, so you’ll get that touch of Bluetooth dullness when you listen to it — especially if you compare it to a good wired headphone.

The headphone does come with a cord if you want to listen in corded mode (yes, it sounds good in corded mode) and I found this wireless model just as comfortable wear as the original Grind.

Battery life is rated at 12 hours, but you’ll probably do better than that if you listen at a more moderate volume. As with all Bluetooth headphones, there’s a built-in mic for making calls. But there’s no carrying case included.

My only small gripe is with the button controls. Typically, the “multifunction” button on the integrated remote (it’s in the right ear cup) doesn’t allow you to skip tracks forward and back. Rather, you have to press and hold down the volume controls to make the tracks skip forward and back. Not a huge deal, but it takes some getting used to.

As I said, the Grind Wireless ships in April and we’ll have a little more in depth write-up of the sound once we get a final production sample. As a rule, CNET does not do rated reviews of pre-production units.

These are the top Xiaomi phones you need to know

The manufacturer you may have rarely heard of is making some great devices.

Xiaomi is a smartphone manufacturer that is growing in stature day-by-day, despite having virtually no physical presence outside of Asia. Sales of its phones in territories including India and its native China have propelled the relatively young company into the top 5 smartphone manufacturers in the world. Impressive, certainly, and it seems Xiaomi is set to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Apple and Samsung in the higher reaches of the smartphone market.

And yet while so many may have heard the name, the phones are still relatively alien to many in the west. Xiaomi has a reputation for building devices that are an extremely good value without cutting corners in the process. If you’re interested in picking up a Xiaomi phone or just interested in the brand, these are the phones you’ll need to know about.

Article updated March 2016

Xiaomi Mi 5

Released March 2016: The Mi 5 is a big deal for Xiaomi. Not only has it been two years in the making, it was also Xiaomi’s first product launch to take place in Europe. It’s a harmony of fantastic design, high-end hardware and low price. The last two of those, at least, becoming hallmarks of Xiaomi phones in recent years.

The flagship product for 2016 and direct successor to the Mi 4, the Mi 5 comes in a regular and a Pro model, with minor differences between the two. Ultimately you’re getting a Snapdragon 820 processor with Adreno 530 GPU, 3 or 4GB of RAM, 32, 64 or 128GB of internal storage and a 5.15-inch 1080p display. The Pro even has an option for a ceramic back, still costing just $354 on the direct conversion.

The Mi 5 also boasts a 4-axis OIS system on its 16MP rear camera, but more incredibly doesn’t have a camera hump. The Mi 5 is pretty slim, incredibly light and has a camera that sits completely flush to the rear of the phone. It’s also Xiaomi’s first new phone to run MIUI 7 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and while the west looks on with lustful eyes, the Mi 5 is on sale in China from March 1.

Hands-on with the Xiaomi Mi 5

Xiaomi Mi 4c

Released September 2015: Xiaomi’s Mi 4c doesn’t pack the pure hardware appeal of the Mi Note or Mi 5, it sure has price on its side. For a little over the equivalent of $200 you’re getting a 5-inch phone with a 1080p display, a Snapdragon 808 CPU a 13MP camera and a 3080mAh battery.

Not just that, but also 16/32GB of internal storage and 2/3GB of RAM, depending on which model you spring for, and USB-C. Xiaomi is right on the money with leading mobile technologies and the most expensive version of the Mi 4c still costs less than $250.

The worst part is that it’s limited to China, at least initially. That’ll probably change, and there’ll be plenty of interest when it does.

Xiaomi Mi Note/Mi Note Pro

Released January 2015: Xiaomi’s high-end smartphone for 2015 was also its best ever to that point. The Mi Note is a 5.7-inch phone running MIUI 6 out of the box and comes in two flavors depending on your thirst for the best-of-the-best hardware or saving a few bucks. The Mi Note is no slouch with a Snapdragon 801 CPU, 3GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera with OIS. There’s Gorilla Glass 3 on the front and back (or bamboo, if you fancy) and a 1080p display.

The tricked-out Mi Note Pro ups the hardware to a level that any Android flagship for 2015 would be proud of. The display resolution is upped to 2K (2560 x 1440), the CPU is a Snapdragon 810, there’s 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Xiaomi boasted this is the “best smartphone in the world” and while others will have something to say about that, there’s no doubting the Mi Note Pro’s credentials.

Xiaomi Mi 4i

Released April 2015: The Mi 4i is a trimmed down, cheaper version of the Mi 4 and is Xiaomi’s first phone to launch first outside of China. Swapping metal for plastic all round, the Mi 4i has a 5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 615 CPU, 16GB of internal storage, a 13MP rear camera with two-tone LED flash and a whopping 3120mAh battery. Oh, and you get all that for around $200. Crazy.

The Mi 4i was also the first new Xiaomi phone to debut running the Android 5.0 Lollipop based version of MIUI 6. And it’s yet another example of Xiaomi packing in good hardware without jacking up the price.

First impressions of the Xiaomi Mi 4i

Xiaomi Redmi 3

Released January 2016: As if Xiaomi’s smartphones weren’t already affordable enough, the Redmi range takes it one step further. The Redmi 3 is the latest super-low cost phone aimed at markets such as India and can be had, unbelievably, for a smidge over $100.

For that you get a metal body with a striking diamond pattern etched on the rear, a 5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 616 CPU, 16GB of storage, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera. Oh, and it has a ridiculously large 4100mAh battery inside. It also runs MIUI 7, Xiaomi’s latest, though it doesn’t include a fingerprint scanner. But still, you get a lot of phone for not a lot of money.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

Released December 2015:The Redmi Note 3 represents incredible value for money while still offering a great experience. If you want a larger Xiaomi phone but would prefer to spend less than the Mi Note, this is the one to go for.

Hardware-wise there’s a 5.5-inch 1080p display while inside either a MediaTek Helio X10 CPU or Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 is paired with 16GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM or 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM. There’s a 13MP camera around the backand a whopping 4000mAh battery squeezed inside it’s all-metal chassis. The Redmi Note 3 is also one of Xiaomi’s first phones to feature a fingerprint scanner on the rear and it ships with the Android 5.0 Lollipop-based version of MIUI 7.

Urban Armor Gear announces new case to protect your LG G5 from clumsy drops

Urban Armor Gear has announced a new case that can safely house your new LG G5 and offer better protection against sudden drops or scrapes. Utilizing composite materials, the case can offer advanced protection without adding unnecessary bulk.

As an added bonus for those who enjoy using their phones outside, UAG has included non-slip grip and tactile buttons to ensure ease of use even in the toughest conditions. As well as offering protection, the case will also provide access to the phone’s fingerprint reader.

UAG will offer the case in four translucent colors so your choice of G5 will remain visible from underneath. As for pricing, the composite case will set purchasers back $34.95 and can be found on the company’s website.

See at UAG