UK spies tracked Middle East activists with a web link shortener

Intelligence agencies don’t always rely on hacks to monitor and influence political events. Motherboard has learned that the UK’s GCHQ created its own URL shortener, lurl.me, to both disseminate pro-revolution talk during Iranian and Arab Spring protests as well as track activists. Puppet accounts would use lurl.me to help get around government censorship, while GCHQ would send special links to help identify activists who were otherwise hard to follow. The combination also made it easy to understand the effectiveness of revolutionary campaigns online — if many people clicked a link and behavior changed, GCHQ would know that its efforts made a difference.

The shortener doesn’t appear to have been used past 2013, and it’s not clear whether or not the agency has either switched shorteners or dropped the strategy entirely. When asked, GCHQ would only issue its stock response that it doesn’t comment on “intelligence matters,” and that all its activity is conducted inside a “strict legal and policy framework” with “rigorous oversight.”

Specialized web links aren’t nearly as intrusive as hacks, of course, but there’s still a reason for concern. The same concept used to pinpoint would-be revolutionaries has also been used to identify Anonymous and LulzSec participants, and could be used to monitor any group a government doesn’t like. Online activists can avoid this kind of tracking by refusing to click links from unfamiliar URL shorteners, but that’s one more thing they have to worry about.

Source: Motherboard

Apple-Backed Didi Chuxing to Purchase Uber’s Ride-Hailing Operations in China

Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing is set to acquire the Chinese operations of rival Uber in a $35 billion deal, reports Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. Apple notably invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing back in May, giving Apple access to data and expertise on electric and autonomous car technology, as well as a foot in the door with the Chinese investment community.

The valuation of the combined ride-hailing company is $35 billion, the people said. Investors in Uber China, an entity owned by San Francisco-based Uber, Baidu Inc. and others, will receive a 20 percent stake in the combined company, the people said. Uber will continue to operate its own app in China for now.

Didi is making a $1 billion investment in Uber at a $68 billion valuation, people familiar with the matter said.

As noted in a forthcoming blog post by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick that was obtained by Bloomberg, neither Uber nor Didi Chuxing has turned a profit in China despite billions of dollars in investment, and combining operations will help smooth the path to profitability and a sustainable business.

Apple is of course widely rumored to be working on its own car-related project dubbed Project Titan, an effort that is an “open secret” in Silicon Valley according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The most recent developments with Project Titan include a new chief in veteran Apple executive Bob Mansfield and a new focus on autonomous driving software that could give Apple flexibility beyond plans to build its own vehicles.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tags: Uber, Didi Chuxing
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Deep space travel might play havoc with your heart

Traveling deeper into space may carry some unanticipated health risks. Scientists have published a study noting that Apollo astronauts have died of heart disease at an unusually high rate — of the 7 that passed away during the study, 43 percent fell to cardiovascular conditions. Only 11 percent of those deceased astronauts who stopped at low Earth orbit succumbed to heart disease, which is about on par with the 9 percent rate on the ground. There’s a concern that the increased dose of radiation in deep space, however brief, is intense enough to mess with the functioning of cells that line blood vessels.

Before you ask: yes, the researchers are aware that the study is only covering a handful of people. It may take many more astronauts to reach a definitive conclusion. However, the outcome parallels what the team saw when subjecting mice to the same levels of radiation you’d get on a trip to the Moon. The irradiated rodents were disproportionately likely to suffer heart problems as they aged, just on a much shorter time scale.

This doesn’t mean that humans will have to stay near Earth to avoid a premature death. The findings challenge the all-clear message from earlier studies, though, and may give space agencies a reason for pause as they prepare for human travel to Mars. Spacecraft and spacesuits may need extra protection to ensure that crews lead long, healthy lives.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: Scientific Reports

Jack White’s label played a vinyl record at 94,000 feet

Jack White’s Third Man Records label is no stranger to using technological feats to draw publicity, but its latest feat is something truly special. The company recently teamed up with Students and Teachers in Near Space to become the first to play a vinyl record, the Carl Sagan-sampling “A Glorious Dawn,” at the edge of space — to be exact, in the stratosphere at 94,413 feet. As you might gather from the video (skip to 1:21:20 to see the maximum ascent), it involved a lot more than strapping a turntable to a high-altitude balloon. Key designer Kevin Carrico explains that there were quite a few technical considerations needed to keep the record spinning for as long as possible on its journey.

The biggest challenge may have been protecting the record itself. The stratosphere’s very low air levels were certain to reduce the vinyl’s insulation from extreme heat — Carrico had to use both gold plating (a bit like Voyager 1’s golden record) and a heat sink-like platter to keep the record distortion-free. He also need a flight computer that would stop playing the record when things got rough, in much the same way as a PC’s hard drive stops when it detects a sudden drop. Even the phono cartridge and stylus had to be tough enough to survive the trip.

If you ask White, this wasn’t so much a label promo as a bid to “inject imagination and inspiration” into the minds of music fans. Even if you don’t believe him, though, the stunt could still serve as a helpful reminder that us humans frequently take Earth’s creature comforts for granted. The only way you can enjoy many luxuries in space (or on less forgiving worlds) is to recreate familiar atmospheric conditions.

Source: Third Man Records (YouTube)

Should you buy an “Amazon” version of the Moto G4 or the BLU R1 HD?

You can save $50 on a budget-priced Android phone if you’re willing to put up with ads on the lock screen and a bit of app drawer clutter. But is it worth it?

Amazon is no stranger to Android. With a fairly popular line of tablets in the Kindle Fire series, a pretty nice set-top box and their own Fire Phone that wasn’t very well received, they know more than a little bit about getting a product running our favorite operating system out the door. And they are pretty MLGPro when it comes to writing software — they even have their own Android app store.

Amazon also knows how to grab the attention of millions of people and get them to buy stuff. Whether it’s the stuff we were looking for or impulse purchases we’ll never use, Amazon is pretty good at making us want it.

Enter the Amazon Prime version of the Moto G4 and the BLU R1 HD. Both phones started as budget models, and Amazon has made them ever more “budgety” by shaving $50 off the price of each in return for your eyes seeing their apps and ads on your lock screen. Is the $50 worth it, or should you buy the regular version if you’re interested in either of these phones?

I’ve been fiddling with them both and am about to tell you what I think.

What you get

The Moto G4 and the BLU R1 HD aren’t going to compete with something like the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the HTC 10. They weren’t designed to fight for a spot on the top shelf where the high-end phones you see in commercials live. Instead, you get a phone that does just about everything you could ask it to do without parting with 600 or so dollars.

Quick specs

The changes Amazon has made to these are all superficial and software-based. The hardware is the same as the more expensive versions without Amazon apps pre-installed and ads on the lock screen. Exactly the same. You even get the same manufacturer warranty. If you were hoping for some sort of Bezos magic or Washington Post headlines engraved on the back, you’re out of luck. This is a really good thing.

Lenovo/Moto and BLU are companies who make electronic gadgets like smartphones — that’s what they do. Amazon is in the business of selling them to as many people as possible. While I’m going to guess that Amazon doesn’t care which phone you buy as long as you buy it from them, they realized that a $50 incentive means more people will buy a phone from them. And all the folks who were attracted by the price and ended up buying get to see the things that Amazon has for sale with targeted ads. That’s a pretty good deal for Amazon — you can hardly put a value on a captive audience.

What you don’t get

Neither the Moto G4 or BLU R1 HD offered as a Prime Exclusive come with any service or a SIM card. That means you can’t walk into the AT&T store (or whichever carrier you use) and expect them to help you. It also means there is no contract to sign and no monthly obligation — feel free to switch carriers or stop service whenever you please. You are buying the phone itself, and it’s yours to do whatever you want to do with it.

You don’t get to be on the same software “channel” as the normal retail unlocked models. When BLU or Lenovo send out an update — whether it’s an OS update or a security patch — you will have to wait for Amazon to give the OK after they make sure they don’t need to make any other changes. Having said that, the Moto G4 had an update waiting when I took it out of the box and the BLU R1 has received an update as well during the couple of weeks I’ve had it. This also means that the Moto G4 Amazon edition isn’t eligible for Motorola’s bootloader unlocking program, though it was for the first week before anyone noticed. That’s been “fixed.”

And of course, you don’t get to opt-out of target Amazon ads on your lock screen or get to remove the pre-installed Amazon apps.

The Amazon stuff

We’ve established that you’re getting a decent little phone on the cheap, made even cheaper because Amazon will trade you $50 for your attention. But what exactly are they doing?

We’ll start with the lock screen because it’s the thing you’ll be seeing plenty of times every day. That makes it a perfect place to put ads if you want people to see your ads. And Amazon wants you to see their ads. As you can see in the picture above, the entire background of your lock screen is an ad, and there is a button or link you can tap to go spend your money on the thing or place being advertised. That link or button doesn’t seem to be in a spot where you’ll accidentally tap on it, but I’m sure that will happen. If it does, I don’t think it’s intentional. When you unlock your phone and get past the lock screen, the ads are gone. There is nothing in your status bar, no pop-ups or any other horrible thing.

Amazon knows what you’ll buy and they will show it to you on your lock screen. Sneaky, yet effective.

The ads themselves are target towards you. You’ll see items you’ve looked at on Amazon, items related to them and items Amazon thinks you’ll want to see based on your history. And Amazon doesn’t need you to buy one of these phones to track what you look at and where you go on the internet so that conspiracy theory can be put to bed. Amazon is a master of consumer profiling. Most times, the ads are for the same types of products as the emails you’ll get from time to time as a Prime member, or for the same products you’ll see in an Amazon shopping widget on your favorite website. Amazon knows everything.

If looking at targeted ads is a problem, you can use either phone without signing into Amazon — there is an entry in the settings for your Amazon account — and see generic ads. So far, nobody has seen any evidence that Amazon is doing anything nefarious or watching your every move when you use a Prime Exclusive phone.

And then there is bloatware. We all hate bloatware, even when the apps are ones we would be likely to download and install anyway. Besides the Amazon Underground (such an edgy name) app store and video player, the following apps are pre-installed and can’t be removed:

• Amazon Kindle
• A special Amazon Prime Video player app
• Amazon Music
• Amazon Photos
• Audible
• Amazon Drive
• Prime Now
• Alexa
• IMDb
• Goodreads

And of course, any apps the manufacturer has installed as well as the ones Google forces on us.

I’m torn on this. I would download and install five of those apps if I were to use either of these phones and having a dedicated Amazon Video app (like iOS but mysteriously missing from Google Play) is pretty nice. On the other hand, I don’t need (or want) an Amazon Echo so the Alexa app is useless to me, and I hate hearing Susan Sarandon or anyone else reading aloud to me so forget Audible. If you’re an Amazon user — and you need to have an Amazon Prime subscription to buy either of these phones — you’ll probably have a similar list of apps you like and apps you don’t.

In the end, this is no different than what Verizon or Sprint or any other carrier does, or even what companies like Samsung and HTC do when they partner with other companies. Most of the Amazon apps can be disabled, so you can stop looking at them and forget they are there then move on. Or you could hit Google and look for a method that does eXactly what is neeDed to remove the Apps and lock screen ads.

Enough! Should I buy one of these phones?

That depends on whether or not you’re looking for a cheap and reliable phone. As mentioned above, these aren’t a replacement or substitute for a Note 5 or Nexus 6P. They will run all the apps and things you want them to do, but they aren’t known for their barn-burning performance. They are a decent communications device that can play some light games or help manage your calendar. They aren’t a miniature computer and won’t ever run Crysis.

And then there’s the Amazon Prime factor. You can’t buy one without a Prime membership, but your friend could buy one for you — you don’t need to log into anything Amazon to use them. If you’re not an Amazon regular, you’ll find little use for any of the pre-installed apps and be unable to buy that Nivea skin lotion that you keep seeing on your lock screen. If you do use Amazon services, you’ll probably find some of the stuff — and some of the ads — useful. I certainly did, and besides using some of the bundled apps I’ve bought a couple things I saw on my lock screen. Things I probably wouldn’t have bought otherwise or even thought about looking for. Amazon probably loves that idea and it’s why they are there in the first place.

If you use Amazon services, you’ll not be too bothered with the bloatware.

What about your carrier network? Both phones are designed to work only on cellular networks in the United States, including resellers like Simple Mobile. The Moto G4 will work on Verizon (I did it with a friends SIM card and everything worked) but folks are saying that activating a new line is a mixed bag because the IMEI number isn’t in Verizon’s database. I was unable to try and get Sprint working on either phone, but Amazon and Motorola both say the G4 is compatible and will work — chances are you drop in a SIM card and it just works. The BLU R1 HD is a dual-SIM GSM only device and isn’t compatible with Verizon or Sprint.

Finally, and most importantly to many, is the price. The Prime exclusive Moto G4 will run $150 for the 16GB version and $180 for the 32GB version. The BLU R1 HD checks in at $50 for the 8GB (1GB RAM) version and $60 for the 16GB (2GB RAM) version. That’s not a typo, and it’s not special time-sensitive pricing. That’s what they cost.

If I didn’t work here and have (literally) dozens of working Android phones, I’d buy one. I’d probably buy the 8GB BLU R1. It’s only $50 and when I break something, I have a decent backup in the drawer. Also, if I were looking for a cheap mid-range phone for daily use, I’d definitely pick up the Moto G4. I’m OK with the ads on the lock screen and use half of the apps provided, and like it love it when I can save $50. Either phone is a really good deal for the money as long as you don’t expect too much from the hardware or think you’ll be getting monthly security patches.

See the BLU R1 HD at Amazon

See the Moto G4 at Amazon

Mobile Nations Weekly: Anniversary Update

BlackBerry’s newest phone is a new approach and Microsoft ramps up for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Microsoft is updating in a big way — the week past brought a huge update for the Xbox One and the week ahead will be bringing the huge Windows 10 Anniversary Update to PCs. The Xbox update brings the console’s feature set even closer to that of core Windows, including the addition of Windows 10 app support and Microsoft’s virtual assistant Cortana.

BlackBerry’s seond Android phone is here, and it’s a mouthful: the BlackBerry DTEK50. Billed as the “world’s most secure smartphone”, the DTEK50 is actually a re-badge of the Alcatel Idol 4 — made by BlackBerry contractor and Alcatel owner TCL.

Apple’s earnings report landed, and as expected, they made several buckets worth of money. And in an interesting twist, an Apple veteran is back to take over their not-so-secret car project.

There’s all of that and so much more — like a VR roller coaster inside a real-life amusement park — in this edition of Mobile Nations Weekly!

Android Central — Prisma my DTEK50 photos

BlackBerry unveiled its second Android phone this week, the … wonderfully named DTEK50. It’s a re-badged Alcatel Idol 4, actually, with BlackBerry’s touches in the software — and while it isn’t going to captivate many in the Android world, it’s likely a good strategy for BlackBerry going forward.

Verizon also started officially selling what are likely to be far more appealing phones — the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid Editions. Hit up a Verizon store or its website if you’re interested in the latest from Moto.

The popular iOS app Prisma made its way to Android this week, and it’s a pretty neat way to take what could be dull photos and process them with awesome filters. The app’s a bit slow as Prisma’s servers try and cope with all of the requests, but if you haven’t given it a look yet you should.

In other app news, just in case you were wondering just how popular Pokémon Go is, the Android app surpassed 50 million downloads this week. That’s just a fraction of the players, of course, as there are tens of million more over on iOS as well.

• How to set up Google Play Family Library
• Samsung Galaxy S8 edge: What does a curvy Note 7 mean for next year’s flagships?
• Moto G4 review: Balanced on a budget
• OnePlus 3: A second opinion
• JBL Charge 3 and Clip 2 prove there’s still innovation in Bluetooth speakers

CrackBerry — Deetech

If a new mid-range Android phone designed to address your security and privacy needs is what you were hoping for from BlackBerry, then you’re good to go after this week, as BlackBerry has now officially announced their second Android-powered device better known as DTEK50.

• BlackBerry officially announces the DTEK50, pre-orders now open for $299
• Watch the BlackBerry DTEK50 launch webcast
• Watch the BlackBerry DTEK50 Facebook Live Q&A replay

iMore — Pokegone

It’s still a Pokemon Go world and we just live in it. Another week and a couple more launch countries, and it remains the most popular thing on mobile. That is, when the Pokemon Go servers aren’t down. Yet, somehow, we’ve all managed to go on and even get a few other things done!

• How Apple could improve iPhone battery life in the age of Snapchat and Pokemon Go
• The one change Apple made that’ll unless TV gaming
• This is Tim: Our transcript of Apple’s Q3 2016 conference call
• Bob Mansfield takes over Apple’s car project, Titan

VR Heads — Roller Coasters in VR

What’s the line between real world adventure and virtual fun? The new VR addition to Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags America blurs that line even further by taking a real roller coaster and adding a VR story on top. Outside of the theme park world, it’s important to remember the hardware powering these experiences can be a bit fragile. We got a different experience instead of gameplay, as we pulled the hardware apart to see what’s inside.

• I rode a VR coaster, and it was beyond epic!
• Exploring the inside of an HTC Vive controller
• Steam’s VR Weekend Sale slashes prices on hundreds of titles

Windows Central — Behold the AU

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update hits PCs starting on this coming Tuesday, but we gave the big OS update a thorough review and walkthrough. While not a revolutionary update it does pack quite a lot of features and improvements driven by users on the Insider program.

We also gave a look at one of the first custom Xbox One controllers that you can design yourself.

Speaking of updates, Microsoft pushed out the Summer Update for the Xbox One, which brings Cortana, some UI changes, and more. We have a complete breakdown including a list of all the new universal Windows apps that are co-launching with the update.

• The Windows 10 Anniversary Update Review
• How to get the Windows 10 Anniversary Update
• How to install and manage Microsoft Edge extensions in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update
• The five biggest changes in the Xbox One Summer Update
• Windows Central Podcast 8: SE

Hackers target Vietnam airport screens with political messages

China, the Philippines and Vietnam are embroiled in a bitter dispute over territory claims in the South China Sea (a court has ruled that China’s claims are illegal), and that appears to have led to some audacious cyberattacks on July 29th. Vietnam’s state media claims that hackers compromised both the website of Vietnam Airlines and the flight info screens at both the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City international airports. Reportedly, passengers saw messages slamming the Philippines and Vietnam over their South China Sea positions — it won’t surprise you to hear that the government is blaming a Chinese hacker group (1937CN) for the incident.

The incident led airport staff to avoid computer-based check-ins for hours.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a state-sponsored attack, assuming the details are accurate. When asked, the Chinese consulate in Ho Chi Minh City told the BBC that this was a “shameless and cowardly” hack that “stained the dignity” of China. However, it’s difficult to say for sure that this was strictly the product of overly patriotic citizens. While that sort of private activism has happened in the past, the Chinese government is no stranger to conducting its own hacks and trying to mask their origins. The one certainty: whoever’s ultimately responsible, they knew that airport hacks would send a loud message without requiring ships or bullets.

Source: Reuters

Uber reportedly pours $500 million into mapping the planet

It won’t surprise you to hear that Uber is improving its maps to offer better pickups and drop-offs, but the ridesharing giant is apparently more committed to the idea than you might think. A Financial Times source understands that Uber is investing a whopping $500 million into its global mapping project, which should eventually provide volumes of ridesharing-specific geographic details. That’s no small amount when the company has raised about $13.5 billion over its lifetime.

The insider didn’t say exactly how Uber will spend the money, but it’s easy to see where the costs will add up. A worldwide mapping initiative will require legions of cars roaming the streets. Also, its deal for high-res maps from DigitalGlobe could prove to be pricey when Uber will need to maintain up-to-date info.

Whatever money Uber spends now may pay off in the future, mind you. The firm isn’t shy about planning for a future where self-driving cars are the norm, and that will require extremely accurate maps where autonomous vehicles are both better at safe driving and know to pick you up at very specific locations. And in the short term, in-house mapping would both reduce the company’s dependence on Google (important when Google may ultimately become a competitor) as well as boost satisfaction from customers tired of having to guide Uber drivers around confusing building entrances. In that sense, Uber isn’t so much gambling with its future as it is protecting its investments.

Source: Financial Times, Uber Newsroom

Latest Huawei P9 update finally stops messing with your app icons

No more terrible rounded rectangles and outdated Google app logos.

After years of being broken, ugly or both, Huawei’s EMUI software is finally starting to get better. We saw some big improvements in EMUI 4.1 on the Huawei P9 this year, with major UI bugbears and longstanding glitches finally addressed. And now a fresh P9 update eliminates one huge pet hate of ours: Huawei’s meddling in your app icons.

As we’ve explained before, back when custom themes were needed to sidestep this nonsense:

Most themes unify the look of your home screen by placing [icons] on rounded rectangles or squared-off circles (“squircles”). In some cases that looks fine. In others, you get the white Google Play Store icon on a white rectangle, or a green Hangouts icon on a green squricle. It just doesn’t look great.

More annoyingly, because these icons are built into the theme, they’re almost never up-to-date. [At the time of writing] the Huawei P9 still has the old Google Chrome icon.

Except not anymore. With the latest update to build 166, the Huawei P9 has singularly stopped messing with your icons. Graphics for preloaded Google apps appear just like on any other phone. And with just a handful of exceptions, the same applies to the overwhelming majority of third-party apps too. The change applies to all built-in themes, and the end result looks so much better. Not just more visually consistent with the rest of Android — objectively better.

EMUI is starting to grow up, and that’s one of a few reasons to start paying serious attention to Huawei.