AT&T streamlines its smartphone installment plans
AT&T’s current Next installment plans are a little bewildering, to put it mildly. Do you want to trade in at 12, 18 or 24 months? How about a downpayment and installments for 28 months? Mercifully, the carrier knows what a mess it made. As of June 9th, it’s streamlining its installment plans to give you just two choices. The first, Next Every Year, is for habitual upgraders: you can get a new phone every 12 months if you agree to a 2-year payment plan. The regular option, just called Next, lets you upgrade every 2 years if you’re willing to make payments over 30 months.
In both cases, you can soften the month-to-month blow by trading in your old device or making a down payment. And of course, this only applies to installment customers unwilling to spend extra. You can still buy a phone outright or pay things off if you want to upgrade on your own terms.
The slimmed-down options could be crucial for AT&T. Most of its rivals already have simpler plans. T-Mobile, for instance, splits you between a regular 24-month plan or the 12-month Jump On Demand plan (with 18 months of payments). Just be aware of the lock-in for the standard Next plan — those 30 months of payments could feel like an eternity.
Source: AT&T
Waterstones is done selling e-books
Waterstones is well and truly getting back to basics today, as it has dropped e-books and audiobooks from its online store. The digital libraries of Waterstones customers will remain accessible until June 13th, with Kobo taking over the following day. Those affected will be emailed instructions of how they can migrate their e-book collection over to Kobo’s platform, where their purchases will live on. Audiobook libraries will also disappear mid-June, but there’s no fallback service, so make sure you download the MP3s associated with your Waterstones account before it’s too late.
It’s no secret that Waterstones has struggled to sell e-books, but then it could never make it particularly convenient for customers to buy them. After making a purchase, they’ve had to download a file and manually transfer it to an e-reader, or use a third-party app for smartphones and tablets. In other words, not exactly the simple and seamless experience Amazon and Kobo’s ecosystems offer.
Today marks yet another digital departure for Waterstones, which first started stocking Sony e-readers way back in 2008. The bookseller was even working on its own e-reader at one point, before giving up on that idea and welcoming Amazon’s Kindles into its stores instead. But last year Waterstones ended the partnership, citing “pitiful” sales.
The deal with Waterstones is another chapter in Kobo’s story, too. The company might be known for its popular e-book platform and competitive e-readers, but it’s also made quite the habit out of assimilating the customers of defunct services. Like some kind of e-book store Highlander, it’s already absorbed Sony’s Reader division and Blinkbox Books, which Waterstones was actually in talks to buy at one point.
With Kobo on hand to support customers, Waterstones can get back to focusing on selling physical books. And the company couldn’t have heard better news a few weeks ago, when The Publishers Association announced that sales of printed books rose in the UK last year, while e-book sales declined for the first time since its records began.
Via: BBC
Source: Waterstones
Chicago turns to big data to predict gun and gang violence
Chicago has been inundated with gun-related crimes over the past year — nearly 3,000 people were shot in 2015, along with another 240 already in 2016. However, in a city of 2.7 million, the CPD attributes much of this violence to a small segment of the larger population: gangs. So rather than blanket a neighborhood with cops to quash the violence (which has always worked just so well), the CPD has taken a more surgical approach. They’ve developed an algorithm that can help predict which people are most at risk of committing or being targeted by gun violence.
This algorithm assigns scores to people based on their criminal records (ie arrests or shootings) as well as any known gang affiliations and other variables, according to the New York Times. Illinois Institute of Technology professor, Dr. Miles Wernick, created the algorithm. He told the NYT that while the system does look at a person’s past criminal activities it specifically excludes biasing variables like race, gender, ethnicity and location.
With it, the CPD curated a 1,400-member “Strategic Subject List” that has already proven to be uncannily accurate. In 2016, over 70 percent of the people shot in the Second City have been on the list, as have 80 percent of the shooters. According to the CPD, 117 of the 140 people arrested during a city-wide gang raid performed last week were one the list as well.
The police aren’t using this list to simply target individuals for arrest, the city also uses it to perform “custom notifications” in which social workers and community leaders meet with people who score high on the list and attempt to intervene, offering them a way out of gang life.
“The model just makes suggestions,” Jonathan H. Lewin, deputy chief of the Chicago Police Department’s technology and records group, told the NYT. “This is not designed to replace the human process. This is just designed to inform it.”
However well intentioned the police’s actions, the program has been met with suspicion from the community. “We’re concerned about this,” Karen Sheley, the director of the Police Practices Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, told the NYT. “There’s a database of citizens built on unknown factors, and there’s no way for people to challenge being on the list. How do you get on the list in the first place? We think it’s dangerous to single out somebody based on secret police information.”
Sheley’s fears are not unfounded. New York in the 1990s, for example, instituted a similar system dubbed CompSTAT. Its reputation as a crime-fighting tool has been marred however, by persistent rumors that NYPD brass manipulates the data and intentionally downgrades reports of violent crimes to lesser offenses. And even when these crime-predicting computers are being intentionally manipulated, there’s the issue of inherent, if unintentional, bias present in their programming. Whether or not these algorithms will actually help reduce crime remains to be seen but our Minority Report future seems certain.
Conflicting Supplier Report Now Says iPhone 7 Orders Higher Than Expected
Directly contradicting a previous claim of projected weak demand for the iPhone 7, Apple has reportedly asked its Asian suppliers to prepare for the highest iPhone production target in “about two years”, according to Barron’s Asia.
Citing a story in the Taiwanese Economic Daily Times this morning, the financial news publication said Apple has requested between 72-78 million units of the new iPhone, which is much higher than the 65 million handsets that Wall Street analysts previously predicted.
Supply chain sources claim that Foxconn will remain the key manufacturer for Apple’s next-gen handset, while competing contractor Pegatron will also be involved in the assembly process. Additionally, it is claimed that both companies are expected to get more market share this year, as they participate in dual camera and glass casing components production in addition to being assemblers.
The glass reference contradicts recent reports by iPhone casing supplier Catcher Technology and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, both of which claim that Apple is planning to use glass for the casing of the 2017 iPhone, in order to differentiate it from aluminum-bodied smartphones on the market.
Earlier this month it was reported that Apple would rely on multiple manufacturing partners to assemble the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to aim for a smooth launch in September, with Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron at the center of the assembly process.
Rumors suggest the iPhone 7 could retain a 6s-like design with a faster TSMC-built A10 chip, slightly larger battery, waterproofing and dustproofing, repositioned antenna bands, no headphone jack, faster Intel LTE chips, and more. Meanwhile, the larger iPhone 7 Plus (or Pro) could have a Smart Connector, dual-lens camera, and 3GB of RAM.
Other rumors surrounding the next-generation smartphones have included a flush camera, touch-sensitive home button, stereo speakers, and wireless charging, but it remains possible that Apple dropped some of those features or chose to include them on the OLED-based iPhone with glass casing rumored to launch in 2017.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Spotify Matches Apple Music $14.99 Per Month Family Plan
Spotify has upgraded its family plan to directly match Apple Music’s offering, with up to six Premium accounts per family now available for $14.99 a month (via The Verge).
Spotify says users under the family plan will receive their own separate premium accounts and have full access to Spotify’s library of songs and videos. Existing subscribers meanwhile will automatically be upgraded to the new plan and should receive a lower bill in the next month. The plan rolls out globally today, except for users of the music streaming service residing in Canada.
The move follows in the footsteps of Google Play, which matched Apple Music’s family plan in December.
Earlier this month Spotify claimed it had experienced a faster pace of growth since the launch of Apple Music, reaching 30 million paying subscribers compared to the 20 million it had when the rival service launched last June. In April, Apple claimed 13 million subscribers, up from 11 million users in February.
At the beginning of May, Apple introduced a 50% discount for all student subscribers to Apple Music, offering those eligible a $4.99 per month deal. Apple Music is widely expected to see a design overhaul in time for WWDC this year, due to be held June 13–17 in California.
Tags: Spotify, Apple Music
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Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 9.3.3 to Developers
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3.3 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after the public release of iOS 9.3.2, a minor bug fix update.
The first iOS 9.3.3 beta, build 13G12, can be downloaded immediately from the Apple Developer Center.
We don’t yet know what changes iOS 9.3.3 will bring to iOS 9, but as a minor 9.x.x update, it’s unlikely to introduce any major tweaks. There is no iOS 9.3.3 update available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, suggesting the new beta does not fix an issue that bricked some 9.7-inch iPad Pro devices. Apple has also pulled the iOS 9.3.2 update for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and has not re-released it.
The previous update, iOS 9.3.2, introduced support for using Night Shift and Low Power mode simultaneously and fixed a Bluetooth bug that caused iPhone SE devices to experience poor audio when connected to a Bluetooth device.
We will update this post with any changes that are found in the new beta.
Related Roundup: iOS 9
Tag: iOS 9.3.3
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Apple Seeds First Beta of tvOS 9.2.2 to Developers
Apple today provided developers with the first beta of an upcoming 9.2.2 update to tvOS, the operating system designed to run on the fourth-generation Apple TV. tvOS 9.2.2 comes one week after the public launch of tvOS 9.2.1, a minor update focusing on bug fixes.
tvOS betas are more difficult to install than beta updates for iOS and OS X. Installing the tvOS beta requires the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes or Apple Configurator. Once a beta profile has been installed on the device through iTunes, new beta releases will be available over the air.
As a minor 9.x.x update, tvOS 9.2.2 is likely to focus on bug fixes and performance improvements to address issues discovered since the release of tvOS 9.2.1, and Apple’s release notes do say the update contains bug fixes and security improvements. Any outward-facing changes found in the tvOS 9.2.2 beta will be included below.
Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: tvOS 9.2.2
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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Apple Seeds First OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan update to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing OS X 10.11.5, the fifth update to the OS X 10.11 operating system.
The OS X 10.11.6 update, build 15G7a, can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.
We don’t know what improvements the sixth update to OS X El Capitan might bring, but like prior updates, it’s likely to focus mainly on performance improvements and bug fixes to address issues that have popped up since the release of OS X 10.11.5. According to Apple’s release notes for the update, OS X 10.11.6 improves the stability, compatibility, and security of Macs.
OS X 10.11.5, the previous update, was also minor in scale and offered only bug fixes with no obvious outward-facing changes.
Related Roundup: OS X El Capitan
Tag: OS X 10.11.6
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Windows 10 Settings menu: The Accounts tab – CNET
Looking to manage your Microsoft account, change how you sign in to Windows 10 or add a family member to your PC? You can do that in the Accounts tab in the new Windows 10 Settings menu. The Accounts tab is also where you can change sync settings across an account — if you don’t want your desktop background and password settings shared between computers every time you sign in, this is where you can fix that.
Your info
The first section in Accounts is Your info. Here you’ll find — you guessed it — your information, including your photo, the email address tied to your account, and your account status (for example, “Administrator”).
You’ll also see links to manage your Microsoft account and the option to sign in with a local account instead, as well as options for changing your picture (you can either use your webcam or find a photo on your device).
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Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Email & app accounts
In this section, you can add accounts to your PC for use with Windows 10’s email, calendar and contacts apps. These accounts can be from anywhere — including Google, Yahoo Mail and iCloud — they don’t have to be Microsoft accounts.
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Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Sign-in options
The Sign-in options section lets you choose how you want to sign in to your computer: with a password, PIN, picture password (in which you draw gestures over a picture of your choosing — best for touchscreen users). If your computer has a fingerprint reader or an advanced camera, you’ll also see an option to set up Windows Hello, a Windows 10 feature that lets you sign into your PC using your face, iris or fingerprint.
Windows 10 will ask you to sign in every time your PC starts up, but you can change this. Read this guide to setting up your computer to automatically log in when you start your computer (this is not recommended for portable devices, such as laptops or tablets). In this section, you can choose whether you’ll be asked to sign in again after you’ve been away from your device for a period of time.
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Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Work access
If your school, university or workplace uses Azure ID, this section is where you’ll go to connect to the shared network. You can also enroll in device management (to allow a support person to manage your device remotely). You’re unlikely to use this section unless someone has explicitly asked you to do so.
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Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Family & other people
If you’d like to add additional accounts to your PC for family members or friends, this is where you’ll do it. (If you’d like to add a local account for yourself, you can do that in the Email & app accounts section.) Windows now distinguishes between “family members” and “other users who are not family members.” Family member accounts are linked — adults in families can see reports of kids’ online activity, block websites and limit app and game usage, but other users won’t be able to see or manage kids’ accounts.
For more info on how to add family members or other users to your account, check out our guide.
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Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Sync your settings
Screenshot by Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
In Sync your settings, you can manage your PC’s sync settings. This is useful because not everybody wants to have every setting on a home computer sync with a work computer (and vice versa). Settings sync is turned on by default, but you can choose to turn syncing off completely with the flick of a toggle in this section.
If you’d like some settings to sync — but not all — you can toggle off specific settings under Individual sync settings. You’ll be able to set individual syncing for your theme, Internet Explorer, passwords, language preferences, ease of access and “Other Windows settings,” which presumably includes settings such as Start menu preferences and Taskbar position.
Editors’ note: This How To post was originally published on February 25, 2015, and was updated on May 23, 2016 to reflect new information regarding Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14342.
10 essential apps for the kitchen – CNET
If there is one thing the Internet does not lack, it’s recipes. You’ve probably discovered apps and websites like Epicurious, Chowhound (our sister site!), and AllRecipes, but it’ll take more than a good recipe to make you a good cook. So the focus here is instead on other apps I use in my kitchen (or at the grocery store).
From kitchen timers to shopping aids to recipe organizers, these are the best kitchen tools that will help you become a better and more organized chef.
Shopping helpers
Dirty Dozen (free)
I try to buy organic but I’m also trying to save money to send my kids to college. So, I selectively buy organic, and the Dirty Dozen app shows me the 12 fruits and veggies that contain the highest levels of pesticides. (Spoiler: strawberries top the list.) The app also features the Clean 15, which includes fruits and veggies for which you don’t necessarily need to buy organic. Dirty Dozen is also available for Android.
Perfect Produce (free)
This app won’t tell you which are the dirtiest things in the produce aisle, but it will tell you what to look for and what to avoid when picking your produce. It also lists nutritional information and recipes for a wide variety of produce, but what I use the app for is its storing and preparing tips. For example, Perfect Produce taught me that an avocado can last up to five days in the fridge and carrots should not be stored next to apples or pears. Perfect Produce is also available for Android.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Nose to Tail (free)
Meat-eaters, take note: the Nose to Tail app maps out where on the animal various cuts of meat come from, describes their characteristics, and how best to prepare them. You get the cow for free, while an in-app purchase unlocks pig, chicken and lamb. Nose to Tail is also available for Android.
Seafood Watch (free)
This app helps you find seafood that is fished or farmed using sustainable methods. With Seafood Watch, you can look up a particular type of fish to see if it is a Best Choice, Good Alternative, or something to Avoid. You can also look up restaurants and markets in your area that feature ocean-friendly seafood, and you can add places you’ve found that offer it. Seafood Watch is also available for Android.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Substitutions ($2.99, £2.29, AU$4.49)
Whether you or your dinner guests have dietary restrictions or the grocery store is simply out of an item on your list, this app helps you find the right food substitution. There is no Android version, though the Food Substitutions app is similar.
Timers
Thyme ($0.99, £0.79, AU$1.49)
Thyme is five timers in one (plus one pun). It lets you keep track of four burners on your stove top along with one over timer, making it useful when things are really cooking in your kitchen. Thyme is also available for Android.
Wave Timer (free)
If you are frying fish, making a meatloaf or otherwise engaged in a messy recipe, Wave Timer can save your phone from getting gunked up. The app uses your iPhone’s front-facing camera so you need only to wave your hand over your phone to stop the alarm. Wave Timer needs to run in the foreground, so it’s not great for your battery if you are timing a roast in the oven that needs to cook for hours. Wave Timer is not available for Android but there is a similar app called Wave Alarm.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Recipe organizers
Google Drive (free)
Yes, I count Google Drive as a kitchen app. I use Google Drive for many pursuits in my life, and my Recipes folder is one of my most visited. I created a Recipes folder for my favorite, most-used recipes, which I can access on my phone when I’m at the store and also easily share with friends and family. Google Drive is, of course, also available for Android.
Paprika ($4.99, £3.99, AU$7.99)
Paprika is a highly rated recipe organizer. In addition to storing recipes, the app boasts many bells and whistles, including timers, grocery lists, and a meal planner. What I like best about the app is its integrated browser, which makes collecting recipes from around the web a snap. Paprika is also available for Android.
BigOven (free)
BigOven also offers recipes, grocery lists and a meal planner, but what makes this app worth a spot on your phone is its leftovers feature. Pop in up to three ingredients you are looking to get rid of, and the app will suggest recipes. BigOven is also available for Android.
AIVAnet 