Brits can now send a text to stop cold calls
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, and the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) are making it simpler for Brits to avoid unwanted and unprompted sales calls. A new “text-to-register” option means you can type “TPS,” followed by your email address, to 78070 to get on the UK’s official “Do Not Call” database. Once your number has been accepted, companies will be banned from contacting you with annoying, unsolicited pitches. Oh, and if you’re wondering, Ofcom says your email address is necessary to verify your identity, should you need to file a complaint.
It follows new rules, introduced earlier this month, which bans companies from withholding their number while making cold calls.
Before, you could only sign up by calling the TPS or registering online. Few people have done that — only 2.9 million mobile numbers are on the list, compared with 18.5 million landline numbers. According to Ofcom, less than half of people familiar with the TPS (which on its own isn’t guaranteed, especially among young people) know that mobile numbers can be registered with the service. Nine in 10, meanwhile, know that you can add a landline number. The new text-to-register service could, therefore, be an effective way to raise awareness and adoption.
Source: Ofcom
Apple ‘Working Rapidly’ to Bring Apple Pay to More Countries
Apple this morning elaborated on its plans to expand Apple Pay coverage and achieve its goal to deliver the mobile payment service to “every significant market” the company is involved in.
Currently Apple Pay is available in six countries, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and China, with plans already underway to bring the platform to Hong Kong and Spain. Earlier this week the service expanded its presence in Singapore to support five major banks and cover over 80 percent of cards, and VP of Apple Pay Jennifer Bailey says many more rollouts are on the way.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Bailey said that Apple is “working rapidly” in Asia and Europe to extend the service, stopping short of revealing which country would be next. But she did share some insight into what Apple is seeking when it assesses potential expansions.
“First, we look at the size of the market for Apple products,” she said. “We also look at credit and debit card penetration, and [existing] contactless payment coverage.
“[But] when we bring Apple Pay to market even when contactless is low, it will grow — it was 4 percent in the U.S. but is now 20 percent. We also work with our network partners, where we can utilize integration with Amex and Visa, to go to market quickly.”
Commenting on China, Bailey said that the service’s launch in February had been “really successful” and Apple was “seeing incredible user and developer reception”, with a number of prominent consumer tech companies integrating the service into their apps to enable digital payments.
In March, it was reported that the service hit three million provisions inside the country in its first three days. The launch initially covered 12 bank locations across China and that number has now risen to 19. In the U.S., Apple Pay began in October 2014 with support across six bank locations. It now covers 2,500, and the company reportedly has designs on bringing the service to ATMs in the near future.
Apple is also focused on introducing loyalty programs to other markets, having completed its first rollouts in the U.S. Similarly, Apple is working to expand support for online and in-app payments in all markets.
Back in February, leaks suggested that France, Hong Kong, and Brazil are on Apple’s expansion list for this year, while CEO Tim Cook hinted this week that India could also be set to get the mobile payment service soon.
Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Mars faced an ice age 400,000 years ago, and it’s still recovering
We’ve known for a while now that Mars has water frozen in ice. And analyzing that water has been a key goal to understanding how the planet has changed over time, especially if its presence meant it once held life. Today, a newly published study concludes that Mars is ever-so slowly exiting an ice age that ended 400,000 years ago.
The study, published in Science, confirms what models had predicted years ago, but weren’t previously able to prove: that Mars has had several ice age cycles in the past. Using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA spacecraft filled with instruments for surveying the red planet, researchers analyzed radar images of its polar ice caps. Tracking erosion and wind effects told a story of how the ice advanced and receded over time — and gave the researchers a timeline for when the last ice age ended.
Studying Mars’ climate change gives us a parallel to the global warming occurring on Earth. The former is the closest planet in the solar system to our own, making it a decent laboratory to study how a similar atmosphere would look without a over a century of burned fossil fuels. But if we’re going to send humans to Mars one day it’s a good idea to figure out its weather and water situation.
Via: The Verge
Source: Science
Lenovo’s new Droids might be shiny and metallic
See those phones above? They might be three versions of the Droid Lenovo’s launching in an upcoming event in June. Evan Blass (aka evleaks), well-known source of device leaks, has posted the photo on Twitter, and people seem to have anointed the black-and-bronze model as the Beyoncé of this trio. While the image only shows the Motorola and the Droid logos, the phone will likely have Verizon’s branding somewhere, since the line’s exclusive to the carrier.
Blass also tweeted out an image of three swappable backplates called MotoMods, which could be compatible with the upcoming handset. He said the three backplates have different features: one has a projector, another has JBL speakers and the third one has a Hasselblad camera. Those backplates will definitely make the phone more interesting than comparable competitors, but we won’t know for sure until the company launches them on June 9th.
The DROIDs you’re looking for? pic.twitter.com/j5zqq73Zh2
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 25, 2016
By the way, these are (from L to R) the projector, JBL speakers, and Hasselblad camera. https://t.co/7FIk9wA8zx
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 26, 2016
Via: The Verge
Source: Evan Blass (Twitter)
Companies could use ‘intermediate’ web security certificates to spy
A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted entity that issues electronic certificates (duh) to verify identity on the Internet. They’re a key part of secure communications online — and thus super important. Then there’s intermediate CAs, signed by a root CA, making certificates for any website. However, they’re just as powerful as those root ones. Worse still, there’s no full list for the ones your system trusts because root CAs can make new ones whenever it wants, and our computers will trust ’em immediately. This is a problem when companies get their hands on them, although they could have legitimate reasons for using an intermediate CA within their own networks.
Companies (in this case Blue Coat Systems, a web security firm which has an intermediate CA signed by Symantec last year) could use its CA to view your web traffic and decrypt it anywhere — not just on specific networks. “Man in the middle” attacks (MiTM) could mean anyone with a intermediate CA could take whatever you throw into the web (as you assume a site was secure), and secretly relay and even tweak communications between you and said site.
BlueCoat now has a CA signed by Symantec https://t.co/8OXmtpT6eX
Here’s how to untrust it https://t.co/NDlbqKqqld pic.twitter.com/mBD68nrVsD
— Filippo Valsorda (@FiloSottile) May 26, 2016
Filippo Valsorda, from the CloudFlare Security Team, notes that thousands have been logged already, and picked up an intermediate CA to explain how to untrust these types of CA explicitly. There’s instructions for both Mac OS and Windows. The problem remains, that while it would stop that intermediate CA, it won’t stop the root CA from making a new intermediate to the same organization.
Source: Blog Filippo
Windows 10 beta testers can make Cortana a DJ or an egg timer
Beta testers who elect to receive the the freshest test builds of Windows 10 have some new features on the way, as we move even closer to the big Anniversary Update this summer. With Build 14352, Cortana’s music abilities go from simply being able to play any song from your library by voice command, to pulling any song from the Groove Music catalog (assuming you have a Groove music subscription, of course), and now also can easily set a timer, similar to other automated assistants like Amazon Alexa. Windows Ink is also getting a new Cortana wrinkle, since you can create reminders for it directly from notes, as well as write down a phone number, URL or email address and launch the appropriate app directly from a note.
Other changes for Ink include a compass on its ruler and a slew of smaller tweaks, like defaulting to touch Inking on for non-pen enabled touchscreen devices. Now the Windows Game Bar works with a few more games (League of Legends, World of Warcraft, DOTA 2, Battlefield 4, Counterstrike: Global Offensive, and Diablo II) in full screen, and in an extremely exciting change, the File Explorer icon has a slightly different look. Also, beta testers can see if Microsoft responded to their feedback within the Feedback Hub itself. The blog has all of the changes listed, and if you’re in the fast rin, checking for an update is all it should take to get the new version.
Source: Windows Experience Blog
How to uninstall a TarDisk from your Mac – CNET
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
We recently walked you through how to double your Mac’s storage with a small accessory called TarDisk. As was mentioned in our guide, installing TarDisk should be viewed as a permanent solution for your storage woes.
With that said, computers don’t last forever and there is bound to come a time when you need to remove a TarDisk from your Mac and return the hard drive to its normal settings.
In order to revert your Mac to its regular-size hard drive, you’ll need to plan on spending an hour or so going through the process. Most of that will be taken up by waiting for backups, and then waiting again as you restore your Mac from said backups. Or you could always opt to complete wipe your Mac and set it up as brand new, in which case you won’t spend a terrible amount of time working on your computer.
During the installation process, there were a few things you needed to know before you began and the same applies to reversing the “Pearing” of your Mac’s HD and TarDisk:
- The total storage used on your Mac’s hard drive can only be 80 percent of its original size. Meaning, if you have a 256GB HD in your Mac, can only have around 204GB of space used.
- Create a backup with Time Machine if you want to keep your files. Otherwise, all will be lost.
- If you use OS X’s encryption feature FileVault, you’ll need to disable it before proceeding.
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Alright, with that out of the way and a Time Machine backup created it’s time to turn off your Mac. Next, use the guitar pick included with your TarDisk or a credit card to remove the disk from the SD slot. I found the best way to remove TarDisk was to use the corner of a credit card, catching the lip located on the top of the disk to pull it out.
After removing TarDisk, press and hold the Command and R keys on the keyboard and then power up your computer. Hold the keys in until you see a dialogue labeled OS X Utilities on the screen.
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Click on Disk Utility > Continue. If you’re using OS X El Capitan, you should see a progress bar-like menu displaying how much storage you have available on your drive. If you don’t see anything resembling a progress bar, you’ll need to follow the a couple of extra steps outlined here.
For those on El Capitan, quit Disk Utility and then click on Utilities > Terminal. In the Terminal window, type diskutil CS list and press Enter.
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Near the top of the screen will be the label, Logical Volume Group. Copy number next to it.
Now type: diskutil coreStorage delete followed by pasting the number you just copied into Terminal. With the command and number in place, press Enter.
When Terminal finishes, you should see “Finished CoreStorage operation” just above the new prompt.
Quit Terminal and open Disk Utility again. Click on your Mac’s hard drive, then click First Aid > Run.
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Jason Cipriani/CNET
A green check mark will indicate the disk is healthy and the process worked. If not, go back and repeat step 5 ensuring you correctly entered the command and copied the entire number. Exit Disk Utility.
The hard part is over, now you just need to set up your Mac by either selecting Reinstall OS X or Restore from Time Machine Backup then follow the prompts.
Now that wasn’t too scary, was it? If you do happen to get off track at some point, you can always look through the official TarDisk guide. And if you decide you want to that TarDisk again, keep in mind you’ll need to take a few extra steps as outlined on this page.
Why I want official Android support for the Raspberry Pi – CNET
When I purchased my first Raspberry Pi, I assumed the Android development community had already pounced on the famed $35 computer, that they had taken the affordable hardware under their wing and turned it into the ultimate dev kit for Android.
Taylor Martin/CNET
I wasn’t entirely wrong. You can easily find references to Android on the official Raspberry Pi Foundation blog and Raspberry Pi threads in Android development forums, and there’s even a Wiki page for Razdroid, a volunteer project to try and get Android running smoothly on the project board. And installing Android on a Raspberry Pi is as simple as downloading the proper image, flashing it to a microSD card and popping that card into the slot on the Raspberry Pi.
The problem is, in its current state, Android on the Raspberry Pi is practically unusable. It lacks hardware acceleration, which is necessary for a proper Android port. Without it, video will stutter and UI elements will lag horrendously. And without the source code which, at this point, doesn’t exist, the Razdroid efforts are hitting brick walls with major bugs such as totally broken user interfaces.
While a version of Android can be found in the forum, it is not stable enough for everyday use. There are no plans to continue working on it, as Android does not provide any enhancement to educational purposes that are not already fulfilled more readily with existing software – we see it as a platform for consumption, not creation.
Official support on the way?
You may have heard of a discovery made earlier this week in which a reference to the Raspberry Pi was found in the Android Open Source Project repository, where Google uploads all the source code for its officially supported devices. The directory is currently empty, but many jumped to the conclusion that Google will officially be supporting the $35 computer at some point in the future.
A retweet from the official Raspberry Pi Twitter account seems to confirm suspicions, stating they’re “excited to see where this goes.”
Even so, it’s certainly not a done deal. Google hasn’t officially commented on why Raspberry Pi has been added to the AOSP repository, which could mean a number of things. Google could be taking a page from Microsoft’s book and creating a lightweight version of Android specifically for IoT development purposes; it could be adding Android TV support for a cheap, DIY streaming device; or we could eventually see a fully functioning version of Android with hardware acceleration.
Only time will tell.
Why it needs to happen
Regardless of why the Raspberry Pi now has its own device tree in AOSP, there are a number of reasons why I want my Raspberry Pi to run on Android and why official Android support for Raspberry Pi needs to happen.
Official streaming apps
For starters, many people already use Plex, Kodi or OpenELEC to turn their Raspberry Pis into media servers. With full Android support, you could take it one step further by keeping Kodi or Plex while adding all your favorite streaming apps, such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now and any others available in the Google Play Store.
Think of it as a Nexus Player for half the price, or a more powerful and fully featured Chromecast for the same price. You could watch or stream practically anything from one device.
Games
With Android, you could still set up your Raspberry Pi with your favorite game emulators. RetroArch is the emulator platform most Raspberry Pi retro gaming distributions, such as Lakka or RetroPie, are built on.
RetroArch is available for Android as a download from the Google Play Store, meaning all you need to do to have both a media server and retro gaming setup on your Raspberry Pi is to install two separate applications.
Taylor Martin/CNET
Android for IoT
Most smart home devices and applications are already built for Android, so rather than having to code simple tasks from scratch, you can install the official applications directly on the Raspberry Pi. You can install IFTTT and use the Android Device channel, set up smart home routines from Yonomi or get even more elaborate with Tasker (video).
While this doesn’t necessarily increase the possibilities of what can be done with the Raspberry Pi and the smart home, it would definitely make it easier to get started, which is one of the primary objectives of the Raspberry Pi to begin with.
Better touch support
You can currently purchase a touchscreen for your Raspberry Pi and have it up and running with relative ease. However, it’s like stepping back into the early 2000s, most Linux distributions for the Raspberry Pi aren’t built with touch input in mind (think Windows Mobile PDA circa 2004).
Android is a mobile OS, meaning it’s very finger- and touchscreen-friendly by design.
This does mean that if you were to use a Pi as a living-room PC from the television, the user experience may suffer a bit. However, having official Android support would most likely also bring along Remix OS support, a fork of Android which enables true multitasking, a more desktop-friendly environment and everything else you’ve come to expect from Android.
To be fair, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is right. Android is more for consuming than creating. And having Android on a Raspberry Pi definitely isn’t the coolest thing you can do with the project board. But it’s also difficult to deny that an Android-powered all-in-one media streamer, retro gaming setup and smart home controller for as little as $35 is pretty enticing.
The most ambitious Raspberry Pi projects…
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5 Mac apps for coffee-shop computing – CNET
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
As a freelance writer, I split my time between my home office, my kitchen table and coffee shops. When I’m working in a coffee shop, I need help staying focused and productive. I also want to keep my MacBook safe and its contents private during the occasional bathroom break or trip to the counter for a refill.
With that preamble out of the way, I present five Mac apps for coffee-shop computing.
1. Laptop Security Alarm
We’ve all faced this quandary when working in a public space: do I need to pack up my laptop and take it with me to the bathroom and potentially lose my table, or do I leave it on the table while I’m indisposed and potentially lose my laptop?
The Laptop Security Alarm app ($0.99, £0.79, AU$1.49 in the Mac App Store) doesn’t guarantee that your MacBook will be there when you return from the loo, but it does increase your chances. With the app running (and your laptop plugged in), your MacBook will emit a loud siren sound if the power cord is removed from your laptop or wall outlet. It would take a bold thief to walk out of a coffee shop with a laptop sounding a piercing alarm.
2. LockItUp
If you do leave your MacBook unattended for any stretch of time in a public place, it’s a good idea to log out of your account to protect your data. If you forget to do so, the LockItUp app lets you lock your MacBook remotely.
LockItUp is easy to set up and use. Install the free Mac app and also the $1.99 / £1.49 / AU$2.99 iOS app. A quick scan of a QR code pairs your two devices, after which you can use your iPhone to lock your Mac. You will then need to enter your password per usual on your MacBook to log back in and resume working.
I use LockItUp because my ancient MacBook Pro from 2011 just misses the cutoff for Bluetooth Low Energy. If you have a newer MacBook with Bluetooth LE, then you might try a proximity app such as MacID, Near Lock or Tether. With such an app, your Mac locks when you and your iPhone wander out of range and then unlocks automatically upon you return.
3. Caffeine
When I’m working on my Mac, I am constantly using my iPhone to test apps or just check Instagram. With Caffeine, my MacBook stays awake during its idle times, never dimming the screen, starting the screensaver or going to sleep. (The app is also useful when watching movies or long videos or giving presentations, though you should probably engage in both activities somewhere other than a coffee shop.)
Related Mac tips
- Put these apps in your Mac’s menu bar
- This is why your laptop battery dies fast
- MacBook vs. MacBook Air: What’s the difference?
4. Quitter
Just like your Mac, it’s time to be productive when fully caffeinated. Quitter is a free Mac app that quits apps that may keep you from maximum production. Set it to hide or quit Tweetbot, Civilization and other distractions after a certain periods of inactivity.
5. Noizio
Sometimes music is too distracting as background noise to get work done. If you really want to get in the zone, try an ambient noise app like Noizio and work to the sound of rain, wind, waves or even a coffee house that doesn’t include people conversing loudly and at length on their phones.
How to delete your Netflix history – CNET
Ashamed that you binge-watched all five seasons of “Saved by the Bell”? Don’t want Netflix to blow the whistle on you during a Netflix-and-chill session with one of those “Because you like ‘Saved by the Bell’” show suggestions? Hey, no problem.
Go to your “My Activity” page, and click the X beside the show you want to hide. Now, nobody will be the wiser. That show won’t affect your suggestion algorithm and won’t pop up in lists that may give you away.
Screenshot: Alina Bradford
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