Google Simplifies 2-Step Verification Process With iOS Search App Prompt
Google is making the two-factor authentication process to log into a user account a simpler affair by integrating it into the company’s iOS search app.
Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to users’ Google Apps accounts by requiring them to enter a verification code in addition to their username and password when signing into their account. The two-step verification process prevents unauthorized access if someone obtains a user password.
Previously, users had to opt to receive a text message or phone call to get an authentication code, or alternatively use the Google Authenticator mobile app, which generates time-limited numerical codes that users needed to enter into their account log-in page.
The change, which is being rolled out from today, means that when a user tries to sign into a Google account with two-step verification enabled, a notification from the Google search app now asks if they are trying to sign in. A simple tap on the option “Yes, allow sign-in” quickly authenticates the account.
To enable two-factor authentication, users need to sign into Google’s My Account section and select Google prompt under Sign-in & Security -> Signing in to Google -> 2-Step Verification.
Google notes that the option requires a data connection to work, and that it may take up to three days for the feature to appear across all account pages.
The Google app is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tags: Google, security
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Supreme Court Ruling Supports Apple’s Long-Running Fight Against Patent Trolls
The Supreme Court yesterday made it a few steps easier for technology companies like Apple to challenge lawsuits from “patent assertion businesses,” or patent trolls. The decision implemented part of a 2011 law that created “quicker and cheaper” avenues into contesting patents with the Patent Office, instead of having to delve into a lengthy court battle or face a federal judge (via The Wall Street Journal).
This way, companies like Apple — who face patent trolls frequently — could easily argue against unseemly patent lawsuits in far less time, and without spending as much money.
Speaking for the court system, Justice Stephen Breyer said that the new ruling in favor of the Patent Office approach will help “to protect the public” since it’ll prevent potential patent trolls from claiming overly broad patents that “might discourage the use of the invention by a member of the public.”
The 2011 law created quicker and cheaper procedures for contesting patents in front of the Patent Office instead of in front of a federal judge. But some argued the procedures overcompensated and made patents too vulnerable. That is because the Patent Office adopted challenger-friendly legal standards that were different than those used in courts.
The Supreme Court acknowledged the Patent Office rules depart from those used in court, but said the agency had taken a reasonable approach.
So far, cases emerging from the Patent Office are said to rule largely in favor of the individual or company contesting the patent. According to recent government data, a reported 80 percent of the trials completed so far through the Patent Office board have seen the cancellation of the patent in question.
Apple is nearly constantly in the news surrounding various lawsuits and litigation updates, a large sum of which are usually centered around companies that claim they are “absolutely not” a patent troll. The new ruling should help alleviate the headache and streamline the contesting process for some of these cases made against the company.
Tag: patent trials
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Misfit and Speedo Announce New ‘Speedo Shine 2’ Swimming Activity Tracker
Misfit and Speedo have teamed up for a second-generation Speedo Shine, which is launching today. Like the first Speedo Shine, the Speedo Shine 2 is an activity, swim, and sleep tracker, but the updated version includes many features adopted from Misfit’s Shine 2 activity tracker.
The Speedo Shine 2 includes a new vibration motor along with multicolor lights for better user feedback. Lap progress and time can be tracked through the different colored lights, and there are also Misfit Move activity reminders.
A new countdown swim timer is included to allow users to pick a length of time for a swim, with the Speedo Shine 2 offering vibration alerts when a workout is complete, and there’s a silent vibrating alarm and alerts for incoming texts and phone calls.
The Speedo Shine 2 also features Misfit Link compatibility, enabling the device to be used as a music remote, selfie trigger, and remote for controlling connected home products, and more. Hardware wise, Speedo Shine 2 includes improved touch responsiveness, faster syncing, a better Bluetooth range, and a thinner body. The included multicolor lights are bright enough to be seen in direct sunlight and can be set to more than 16 million colors.
“Whether you’re training competitively or swimming for fitness, you want your focus to be on speed and form – not tracking laps. With the Speedo Shine 2, you can concentrate on your efforts in the pool without distractions,” said Team Speedo USA athlete and four-time Olympic medalist Cullen Jones. “Speedo Shine 2 is an ideal aid for athletes and fitness enthusiasts to maximize their time in the water while keeping track of their overall fitness and sleep.”
Misfit is also introducing a $9.99 in-app purchase that will enable Speedo Shine-style swimming tracking and lap counting in the Misfit Ray and Misfit Shine 2.
The Speedo Shine 2 can be purchased from the Misfit website or the Speedo website for $119.99.
Tags: Misfit, Speedo
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Adobe Launches Creative Cloud Update With New Features for Photoshop CC, Premiere Pro CC, and More
Adobe today announced the launch of its latest Creative Cloud updates, bringing new tools and more “Adobe Magic” to a range of apps including Photoshop CC, After Effects CC, Premiere Pro CC, Illustrator CC, and more.
There are several new features available in Photoshop CC, including Content-Aware Crop, Face-Aware Liquify, and Match Font, plus a new workspace for selections and masking. Content-Aware Crop intelligently fills in the open areas when a canvas is expanded or rotated beyond the original image size, allowing for more options when editing an image to get the perfect crop or angle.
Face-Aware Liquify automatically recognizes the different elements of a face when using the liquify tool, giving users direct control over facial features like eyes, nose, and mouth for making quick artistic changes. Match Font, the final major new feature in Photoshop CC, analyzes an image to determine what font was used, bringing it up in Photoshop if it’s already installed and locating it in TypeKit if it isn’t previously owned.
Adobe Premiere CC includes new workflows for editing immersive VR and 360 video experiences with a “field of view” mode for working with spherical stitched video. It offers options for dynamically switching between monoscopic, stereoscopic, and anaglyph frame layouts, and there’s a new workflow for editing while video and audio are still importing in the background.
After Effects CC features a new audio and video preview engine for smoother playback for cached frames plus new GPU-accelerated Gaussian Blur and Lumetri Color effects for faster rendering, while Animate CC includes enhanced brushes and improved web publishing and Illustrator CC features fast export of assets and artboards.
Adobe Stock is now able to integrate with Creative Cloud applications through a new One-Click Workflow that allows users to choose an image or video from the Adobe Stock website and open it in an app with a single click. There’s also a one-click licensing feature to purchase images directly within Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Adobe is debuting a Premium Collection for Adobe Stock, featuring close to 100,000 high-quality images from artists and photographers, and beginning in July, Creative Cloud customers will be able to upload their own images to Adobe Stock.
Across all of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, there are new read-only libraries so Creative Cloud Libraries can be shared with team members for viewing purposes without giving all users the option of changing or deleting content, and all nearly apps have gained dozens of minor tweaks, bug fixes, and feature improvements.
“We have two key goals with this release: saving our customers time and helping them jumpstart their creative engines,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe. “Every creative project starts with a blank page and ends with a vision coming to life. Today’s release of Creative Cloud will help make that journey as fast and productive as possible. From deeper integration of Adobe Stock into the CC experience, to amazing new features like Content-Aware Crop in Adobe Photoshop, this release will expedite the creative process for millions of our customers.”
Some of these features were previously announced by Adobe on the Adobe blog and at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show, but they’re launching as part of today’s Creative Cloud update and should be available shortly.
Adobe offers full Creative Cloud subscriptions for $49.99 per month, and those who have not subscribed can sign up for a 30-day free trial. Adobe also offers a $9.99 photography plan with access to Lightroom and Photoshop.
Tags: Adobe, Adobe Creative Cloud
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Dozens of Former Apple Employees Team Up to Launch ‘RearVision’ Vehicle Camera
A group of three former Apple engineers, along with around 50 various designers and workers also formerly employed by Apple, have created a new startup in the vehicle accessory market, called Pearl, and today announced pre-orders on their product “RearVision.” The $500 device is an attachable license plate accessory that connects via Bluetooth to an iOS or Android smartphone, displaying a 180-degree rear-view field of vision when backing up your car (via The Verge).
The RearVision unit comes with a dongle that connects with a vehicle’s on-board diagnostic port to help communicate and determine the car’s speed, and battery power isn’t a concern since the device charges using an integrated solar panel. Bryan Gardner, one of the co-founders of the company, said that one full day of sun equates to an entire week of charge for the device, and the RearVision can store one month of battery in its reserves.
Otherwise, the device functions like many integrated rear-view cameras: when backing up, the device’s dual-camera system automatically sends video to the connected smartphone in optional portrait view (with two levels of zoom) or landscape view. Two alternate alerts emit from the smartphone when the RearVision camera wants the user to slow down for a passerby or another car, and a more insistent sound when a collision might be imminent and the driver should stop the car completely.
Once the car is in forward motion above 10 mph, RearVision shuts off the rear-view camera and moves into a “Home Screen” section of the app. Here, users can choose their favorite and most used driving apps — Google Maps, Apple Maps, Spotify, Apple Music, etc — and place them in the Home Screen of RearVision’s app, which is generally a launching shortcut to quickly access the designated apps while on the move.
Gardner hopes that the company’s angle to support an install base of users (who have older cars without pre-installed rear-view cameras) will help promote safety in the automotive industry. The National Highway Safety Administration recently put into motion a ruling that will make all new cars launching in 2018 and beyond come with such technology ready for the user, but that still leaves a large swath of used and pre-owned vehicles without the ease-of-mind rear-view cameras can provide.
While the government can insist new cars get safer, they can’t do anything about older vehicles. That is both a crisis and an opportunity. “There’s about 7 percent of new car inventory that comes in the market every year. That leaves more than 90 percent of the cars are not new every year,” says Bryson Gardner, Pearl’s co-founder and CEO.
“We saw the entire industry focused on new cars. So we figured let’s focus on the existing install base. ” Gardner confirmed that the company already has other products in mind, but was coy about exactly what would come next. “If you were to go buy a Mercedes and there’s a driver awareness package, all of the things in there is the most important to get into the car in the short term.”
Those interested can pre-order the RearVision today for $499.99, with Pearl promising its knowledge of the Apple supply chain will help greatly in eliminating “any of the manufacturing pitfalls that have become common among small hardware startups.” The company also says that set-up is simple and doesn’t require anything besides a screwdriver and your smartphone. As of writing, the predicted shipping date for Pearl’s RearVision camera is sometime in September.
Tags: Pearl, RearVision
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Massive iPhone 7 leaks reveal OLED screen, dual camera, 256GB, Lightning adapter and more
The good ship Apple appears to have an iPhone 7 shaped hole in its hull as the smartphone is leaking all over the net. Lots of rumoured specs have suddenly emerged from a number of different sources.
First up, the widely rumoured OLED screen has made another appearance. According to Asian website Nikkei, Samsung is spending $6.8 billion on OLED production this year to supply Apple, thought to be for the iPhone 7. The orders appear to be for 5.5-inch OLED display panels.
Next, the Lightning port has long thought to become the sole connection on the device, with Apple rumoured to ditch the 3.5mm headphone slot. Japanese site Otakara continues along those lines.
It reports that Apple will ship its EarPod headphones with Lightning connections only, as part of the iPhone 7 package. But Apple is also rumoured to be throwing in a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter that will allow current headphones to work on the new phone. The rumours go on to say the 3.5mm jack space left on the phone will be filled with an additional speaker.
Finally, leaked images from Rock Fix, a Chinese repairs shop, have appeared via Weibo and show what’s claimed to be the iPhone 7 dual camera unit. It also features 256GB storage from SanDisk and a dual-SIM unit, apparently.
Pretty much everything leaked afresh from these sources has already been rumoured before. This suggests that the Apple rumour mill could be getting it spot on this year, taking a lot of the surprise out of Apple’s expected iPhone 7 unveiling event in September.
READ: Apple iPhone 7: What’s the story so far?
Best PS4 games at E3 2016: God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn and more
With the E3 gaming expo 2016 done and dusted, the front runners in the gaming world unveiled their biggest and best titles. None more so than Sony, its PlayStation 4 looks set to go from strength to strength in 2016 and beyond.
With some top-drawer exclusive titles unveiled, some favourites from previous years finally slated with a released date, and PS VR – the company’s £349 virtual reality hardware – also set for a 13 October release date, there’s plenty to look forward to.
Some were surprises, such as the revamped, refreshed God of War — a PS4 exclusive title that reimagines the smash-em-up franchise with a new story and greater heart.
Sony also snagged Hideo Kojima, of Metal Gear Solid fame, to bring his next title, Death Stranding, to PS4 and bypass Xbox One in the process.
READ: E3 2016: All the launches, games and consoles at the show
However, there was no new PS4 console hardware to show off at the show, unlike Microsoft, which unveiled its Xbox One S and forthcoming “most powerful console in the world” Project Scorpio. We know there’s a PlayStation “4K” in the works, codenamed Neo, but that’s as much as the company has said about it thus far.
Even so, with a bevy of first- and third-party titles on the horizon, the future looks like a serious one for gamers, whatever genre you favour. Here’s our rundown of the best PS4 games from E3 2016.
Fitbit introduces a new tool to help you get a good night’s sleep
If you purchased a Fitbit with the hopes of improving your workout plan but ended up using it to track your sleep, you might want to check out the latest addition to the official Fitbit app. The new Sleep Schedule feature is meant to help guide you to and maintain a better, more consistent sleeping pattern.
If you’ve got the official Fitbit app you can use it to set special goals based on the data your device has already gleaned from previous nights, customize special bedtime and wakeup targets for consistency and set up reminders to make sure you stay on track.
These are only the beginning when it comes to special tools Fitbit is planning on adding to its app as a collaboration with doctors at the University of Arizona, Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. A panel of sleep experts at the various institutions worked to put together the new suite of features so you can sleep a little more soundly with the Fitbit of your choice.
If you’d like to see if you can whip your off-kilter sleeping habits into shape, you can check out the official Fitbit app here.
UE adds Google and Siri voice integration to its Boom speakers
Today, Ultimate Ears is pushing out a software enhancement that’s available for both the UE Boom 2 and Megaboom Bluetooth speakers. With an app refresh and OTA update, users will now be able to access Google Now or Siri by pushing a button on the speakers themselves, as long as they’re connected through the UE app on the host device. Since the Boom 2 and Megaboom are both IPX7 water resistant, this could be perfect for beach or pool time, letting you keep your phone or tablet out of harm’s way. Friends can also use this to find a song they want without hassling you for your phone or lock screen code.
This new feature also puts the speakers in competition with devices like the Amazon Tap, which also requires a button push to access Alexa, its on-board smart assistant. I had few hours for a quick preview of the update using both of the compatible UE speakers and an Android device, and while the service works, there’s certainly room for improvement.
For this test, I was using a Nexus 5X running Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and the first step is making sure the speaker is connected through the respective UE Boom or Megaboom apps. These speakers are Bluetooth LE, so the phone should detect the speaker and allow you to remotely power up if needed. This doesn’t always work the first time out even if the speaker is already connected to the phone, so if you run into trouble, I’d recommend turning Bluetooth off and on again, which usually gets things sorted.
There aren’t currently any indications of this new feature in the UE app’s “how to” section or settings, but the next step should confirm that things are working properly. Just do a quick press of the small Bluetooth button on the top of the speaker and wait to hear the audible prompt, which is the same as when you say “OK Google” or press the microphone icon for voice control on your phone. Both the Bluetooth button and the power button will flash during this interaction. If you’re playing music while dropping into voice control functionality, it will pause and listen for your inquiry. You can ask to play a specific song or inquire if there are any restaurants nearby and the system will respond confirming the song play request or, in the second instance, provide details and offer a few next steps, listening for additional responses.
The UE Boom 2 was the first device I tried this new functionality with, and the experience wasn’t ideal. There’s a significant delay before the audible prompt plays, and when it did, the volume seemed very low — the music was at medium, but this tone was a whisper. When it did work, the beginning portions of responses were occiasionally clipped and seemed to pop-up into the proper volume after a hesitation. It’s hard to tell if any of this had to do with my phone’s processing power, but that said, when I switched over to the Megaboom, things went a good deal better. The speaker generally understood my speech without error (searching for Steel Pulse no longer resulted in Seal) and the volume levels of both the tone to begin speaking and its responses were more audible. I did still hear some clipped responses, though.
Using Google Now through the speaker did seem a bit different than direct interaction on a phone or tablet, but the experience will shift somewhat depending on the device, OS and apps, since UE isn’t crafting the experience itself. When asking about nearby restaurants, Google would list some options, offer me the best choice and tell me I could say: directions, call, details or next. Invariably, saying “directions” would loop back into “where do you want to go.” Saying “next” would resume playing music where I last left off, and so far, this is the only way music has resumed playing if I dropped into the voice assistant mode. I had hoped that if I used the voice assistant feature while playing tunes, it would resume the session once my interaction had been completed. So far, that’s not been the case.
All-in-all, this seems like a decent new — and free — addition to two already stellar Bluetooth speakers, at least when it works well. Like many new features, it could take a bit of familiarity with the quirks to navigate more successfully through the system. Of course, you don’t have to use the updated functionality, but when you’re lazing about in a pool and the craving for pizza strikes while your phone is 40 feet away, it may seem like the best thing ever.
Android Pay Day offers UK discounts for mobile payments
Now that Android Pay is available in the UK, Google wants to make sure people are actually using it. The company has come up with a promotion called Android Pay Day, which offers discounts every month on the Tuesday before your next pay slip. The scheme kicks off today with two deals; firstly, in Starbucks, you can get two-for-one on Frappucinos; the second is a £5 voucher (ANDROIDPAY5 for new users, ANDROIDPAY2.5 for existing customers) that you can redeem inside the Deliveroo app, provided you select Android Pay as your payment method at checkout.
These discounts are designed, no doubt, to educate people about the different ways they can spend with Android Pay. Most Brits will know they can use their phone to pay at physical stores — they’ll have seen iPhone users doing the same with Apple Pay. But it’s possible, or rather likely, that users are less familiar with Android Pay’s second role as a digital wallet. Android Pay Day could, therefore, be an important tool for raising awareness among the Android-wielding public. Success will ultimately hinge, however, on Google promoting the monthly rewards effectively — if no-one knows they exist, they won’t have an impact on adoption.
A good start would be a promotions page like the one it’s set up for US customers.
Source: Android Pay Day
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