Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Strike a pose

Lenovo has been pushing its flexible-hinge Yoga series for some time, refining design and capability with each iteration. At the tail-end of 2015 we were impressed by the original Yoga 900, which combined Intel Core i processor power in a slender build to make for a decent, albeit pricey, laptop.

With the introduction of the Yoga 900S, Lenovo has taken that design concept and wrapped it into a slimmer carbon fibre build, with slightly smaller 12.5-inch screen and fanless (and less powerful) Intel Core M processor.

Perhaps confusingly, though, the 900S is slightly more expensive than its equivalent Yoga 900 brother. Is its considerable £1,099 price tag a step backwards, or is the 900S the hottest do-it-all laptop on the market?

Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Design

The Lenovo Yoga 900S is wonderfully slender and lightweight. It’s a gram shy of a kilo and measures just 12.8mm at its thickest point. Thanks to that carbon fibre build it’s the lightest laptop we’ve used for some time – the 350g it sheds compared to our go-to MacBook Air 13-inch might not sound like much, but it’s highly apparent in day-to-day use, especially as we’re so often out and about.

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Key to the 900S’s design is its 360-degree-capable “watchband hinge” – which means the device can be freely positioned in laptop, tablet, tent or stand positions (or anything in-between) – that looks like a stainless steel watch strap running the length of the join between keyboard and screen. It’s fancy looking and made of a jaw-dropping 813 pieces, which is quite the engineering feat.

Whereas the original Yoga 900 came in look-at-me champagne gold or orange exterior finishes, the 900S’s silver or champagne options are a little more subtle. The silver finish of our review model means the hinge matches the exterior shell’s finish, rather than standing out like an eye-catching piece of jewellery. It looks great and feels high quality.

The presence of that hinge does beg the obvious question, though: do you really need a flip-around laptop design? Being able to position the 900S into its tablet position has its benefits, but it’s not as slim as a standard tablet, while the tent and stand positions are fun but not something we’ve found ourselves using often.

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The design also inherits some oddities. The massive lower bezel around the screen just looks, well, odd. And with Lenovo itself making slimmer-bezel devices – not to mention competitors like Dell with its near-edge-to-edge screens – the amount of black edges seems like a hangover of the design template rather than a necessity. It’s not exactly unsightly, though.

Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Connections

There’s a good array of connections from a device so thin, too. Two USB 3.0 ports – one of which doubles-up as the charger – accompany a USB Type-C port for a bit of aded future-proofing, plus the usual 3.5mm headphone jack. The only notable loss compared to the original Yoga 900 is the 900S’s lack of an SD card slot. And, ok, there’s still no HDMI output either.

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A Microsoft Surface Pro 4 offers just one full-size USB port, so the Lenovo has the upper hand here. And while we like the potential of Type-C USB, devices such as the 12-inch MacBook that rely on it as the only port have got a little ahead of themselves.

Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Typing & trackpad

Open up and the 900S’s internal construction is a little unusual too. The inner keyboard has a leather-like finish that is far nicer to rest wrists on that the typical soft-touch plastic that most laptops offer. The lip rolls off too, in a smooth finish, that ensures no “cutting” sensation on resting wrists.

The keyboard arrangement is full-size, with some nifty shortcut keys across the F-keys top row. It’s comfortable to type, with the reach and spacing feeling spot on. The keys are rather taut, though, with a limited press that feels a little lighter than what we’re used to. That’s worth it for a little less sound, though, as the 900S doesn’t exhibit the same clickety clack of some keyboards.

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Like several small laptops, the shift and backspace keys have been filed away and turned into nubs of their former selves (the right-hand one, in particular, is lost among the directional arrows; the left merges with the backslash key to retain full size – but we can’t work out how to combine the two to make them function as only one). You’ll get used to this style in the end, but we prefer the elongated keys. It’s half-way there with the But at least you get a keyboard backlight to ensure typing in dim light is easy. Oh, and the keys’ colour matches your colour finish – so silver in this instance, but champagne gold if that’s the model you buy.

As for the trackpad, we rather like the smooth sunken pad, which is surrounded by a chamfered silver edge. It’s got a tactile quality that can cause a bit too much finger friction on occasion, but it’s rarely a problem. We’ve found the responsiveness perfectly fine – which isn’t something we found with the earlier Yoga 900 model.

Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Display

In this 12.5-inch form, the 900S takes a slight resolution cut compared to the original 900. But you won’t exactly notice: its 2560 x 1440 pixel IPS LCD panel packs in plenty of pixels for a greater-than-HD resolution. It’s as much detail as you’ll need, with a density that’s only a tiny bit behind, say, the MacBook Pro or Microsoft Surface.

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But there are some issues. The 900S’s screen is a touch reflective, which is among its biggest issues. As we mentioned before the epic lower bezel arrangement is also rather odd looking. It’s as though this laptop could be smaller yet. We’ve not found the same over-sharpened appearance from this laptop as with the original 900, though, which is good news (it is a different panel, after all).

In addition to the screen being used to look at things, it’s also touch-sensitive and very responsive indeed. And with Lenovo’s WriteIt software installed you can even scrawl on open pages, taking annotated screen grabs without the need for an additional stylus. An interesting little software feature, especially given the rise in 2-in-1 laptop replacements of late. Although this solution is nothing near to Microsoft’s stylus-based solution with the Surface Pro.

Lenovo Yoga 900S review: Performance & battery

From the off it’s clear the 900S isn’t going to be as powerful as the original Yoga 900. That’s down to Intel Core M. But the obvious benefit of Core M is that it’s silent thanks to no fan, and therefore lower in terms of power consumption.

And most users aren’t going to notice a big difference. Pitch it against a more powerful system running a game on Steam and it will obviously be lower frame-rate and/or resolution on the Core M device. But that’s not the exact target audience of this laptop. And we’ve been batch processing images via Photoshop quite happily. Again, not as fast as we can on a beefier setup, but that’s to be expected.

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The big issue, really, is that the Yoga 900, packing its Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB RAM, is actually cheaper than the 900S. That doesn’t make loads of sense. It’s a little bigger and heavier too, but there’s an SD card port and the battery life roughly matches despite the more powerful innards.

Speaking of which, the Yoga 900S lasts out surprisingly well. We’ve been testing a variety of 2-in-1 competitor devices lately – from Huawei MateBook and Acer Switch Alpha 12 to Microsoft Surface Pro – and their battery life is always under the 7-hour mark. Not so the 900S, which we’ve been getting around 7.5-hours of use from per charge, doing all those day-to-day normal tasks. Dim the screen just to watch video playback with airplane mode on and it’ll last even longer.

Verdict

At first glance we thought we would prefer the Yoga 900S over its slightly larger and more powerful Yoga 900 brother. On one hand, we do: that sub-1kg weight and 12.5-inch form factor is great. On the other hand, we don’t: it’s less powerful, yet costs more. Which would make use lean towards the standard Yoga 900.

Taken on its own merit, however, and it’s easy to heap praise on the Yoga 900S. As laptop design goes, it’s up there with the best. It’s ultra-portable and practical, with ample battery life, silent operation and performance that, while it won’t blow anyone away, is sufficient. The sticking point is the price and how it sits in among some equally strong competition, such as the Surface Pro 4.

PlayStation Neo could be unveiled early September, PS4K launch sooner than you think

With the Tokyo Game Show being held in September it was commonly believed that Sony would announce more details on its next generation console, codenamed PlayStation Neo, at that time. However, it could actually break cover sooner.

French website Gameblog claims that instead of use its TGS keynote to unveil the much-rumoured machine, Sony will host a dedicated event in New York. And it is planned for 7 September, it says.

The site explains that its sources are adamant that Sony’s PlayStation arm is preparing a New York event “large enough” to “house a major announcement”. It surmises that will be the PS Neo (or PS4K/PS4.5, as it has also been tagged in the past).

• Sony PlayStation 4K: What is PS4.5/Neo, when is it coming and what will it offer?
• PlayStation Neo (PS4K) vs Project Scorpio: What’s the rumoured difference?
• PlayStation Neo confirmed and 4K-ready

It is speculated that Sony has decided to hold a dedicated event early September in order to pip the presentation of the Nintendo NX. That new console is also rumoured to be unveiled the same month, with 12 September the current suggestion. An earlier PlayStation Neo announcement would certainly rock Nintendo’s plans.

We’ll know more soon, no doubt, as the rumour mill turns more quickly. But either way, an unveiling this year will certainly worry Microsoft, which isn’t planning to reveal more about its own 4K gaming powerhouse, the Project Scorpio, until next.

Self-destructing battery dissolves in water within 30 minutes

If spy agencies want to make self-destructing gadgets that leave no trace, their every component should be able to go kaput, including their batteries. Various research teams have been trying develop transient batteries for a while now, but according to a group of scientists from Iowa State University, their creation is the first one that’s able to “demonstrate the power, stability and shelf life for practical use.” The team’s self-destruction lithium-ion battery can power a calculator for 15 minutes and dissolve in water within half an hour.

The one-millimeter-thick and five-millimeter-long device uses typical lithium-ion technology. Unlike typical batteries though, it’s encased in degradable polymer composite that swells and eventually breaks apart in water. While promising, it will probably take some time before the team can make a version that can power more sophisticated electronics. They still have to figure out how to scale up a battery that has multiple layers and has such a complex structure.

Via: IEEE Spectrum

Source: Iowa State University

Australia will track online money laundering and cyber fraud

Australia outlined its cyber security strategy earlier this year and now we have a better idea of what it entails. In an effort to figure out where funding for cyberterrorism comes from, the country has launched a program to keep track of money laundering and online financial fraud, according to Reuters. The key directive, at least at this point, is to intercept job listings that trick people into illegally moving money between one jurisdiction and the next.

Reuters also reports that the outfit hopes to “identify patterns and trends that could indicate large-scale financial scams or their methodology.” That bit will operate under the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, while the new division as a whole is a part of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. Sadly, this cybersecurity report contains zero Lord of the Rings references, despite the new task forces covering New Zealand in addition to Australia.

Source: Reuters

Apple Removes Fake Bitcoin Wallets From App Store After Users Scammed

Fake Bitcoin wallet apps are routinely leaking through Apple’s App Store vetting process, leaving users’ accounts at risk of being compromised and their coins stolen.

That’s according to developers of the Breadwallet app, who estimate that fake wallets in the App Store have already lost users of the digital currency up to $20,000.

The suspect apps were first identified by the company in a post on Reddit, warning users that at least eight fake wallets on the App Store were using the same, or very similar, names to existing official mobile wallet apps.

The scam apps appeared to be aping portions of source code, icons, and graphics from legitimate apps to fool users into thinking they were using official wallets.

Breadwallet discovered a fake version of its own app which was added to the App Store on July 29, using the same name and icon as the official version. The company took immediate action and contacted Apple to remove the offending app, after customers inadvertently downloaded the fake and reported stolen funds.

“We talked with one customer who claims to have lost about $10,000, and if we go and look at the coin address where those coins were deposited, last I checked there was $20,000 listed at that address,” said Breadwallet co-founder Aaron Voisine, speaking to Motherboard. “So, that’s our current estimate for how much customers have lost.”

Apple has since removed the offending apps listed by Breadwallet, but their appearance on the App Store has left Bitcoin wallet developers and users questioning the robustness of Apple’s vetting process for financial apps.

“I think it would be good for Apple to go through some extra process to make sure they have the identity of the person posting any app in the finance section,” Voisine said.

Founder of SSL security certificate company BlackCert, John Casaretto, told SiliconANGLE that the Application Development Signing Certificates, the Apple Developer Program, and the application review process had all been negated by a handful of malicious apps making it onto the Store recently.

“For a long time, it seemed as though Apple’s tight controls over its ecosystem were a fairly impenetrable measure against nefarious applications, malware, and junk,” said Casaretto. “Clearly that is not the case anymore.”

Tag: bitcoin
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Researchers discover advanced cyber-espionage malware

Both Kaspersky and Symantec have unearthed a new type of malware so advanced, they believe it could have links to a country’s intelligence agency. They’re calling it “Remsec,” “Strider” (Aragorn’s nickname in LOTR) and “ProjectSauron,” because it has several references to the Necromancer in Tolkien’s series. According to Symantec, it has been used for what could be state-sponsored attacks to infiltrate 36 computers across at least seven organizations around the world since 2011. Its targets include several individuals in Russia, a Chinese airline, an unnamed organization in Sweden and an embassy in Belgium. Kaspersky says you can add various scientific research centers, military installations, telecommunications companies and financial institutions to that list.

ProjectSauron has been active since at least 2011, but it was only unearthed recently because it was designed not to use patterns security experts usually look for when hunting for malware. Kaspersky only discovered its existence when it was asked by an unnamed government organization to investigate something weird going on with its network traffic.

The malware can move across a network — across even air gapped computers that are supposed to be more secure than typical setups — to siphon passwords, cryptographic keys, IP addresses, configuration files, among other data off computers. It then stores all those information in a USB drive that Windows recognizes as an approved device. Both security companies believe its development required the involvement of specialist teams and that it costs millions of dollars to operate.

They didn’t name a government in particular, but they noted that the malware took cues from older tools used for state-sponsored attacks, including Flamer that’s been linked to Stuxnet in the past. As you might know, the Stuxnet worm, widely believed to be the joint creation of the US and Israel, infected Iran’s nuclear program computers in the mid-2000s.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Symantec, Reuters, Kaspersky

How to change your nickname in Pokémon Go for Android

How can I change my Trainer’s nickname in Pokémon Go?

Along with version 0.33.0 of Pokémon Go, Niantic Labs now allows you to change your Trainer nickname — but only once per account, so be sure about it!

How to change your Trainer’s nickname in Pokémon Go for Android

Open Pokémon Go from your home screen or app drawer.
Tap the red Poké Ball on the bottom of your screen.
Tap the Settings button on the top right of your screen.

Tap Change Nickname in the Settings list.

Tap Yes to the question “Do you want to change your nickname?”
Enter desired nickname. Tap OK.

Tap Yes to confirm.

That’s it! Now your Trainer’s nickname is changed forever, and the only way you can choose a new one is to create a new account.

More: These are the Pokémon Go tips, tricks and cheats you need right now

Pokémon Go

• Join our Pokémon Go forums!
• How to deal with GPS errors in-game
• Which team should you choose?
• How to play without killing your battery
• The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!
• Listen to the Pokémon Go podcast!

Oracle data breach opened credit card payment systems to attack

Data thieves don’t always have to go straight to the source to swipe payment details… sometimes, they can take a roundabout route. Oracle has confirmed to security guru Brian Krebs that hackers breached a support portal for Micros, the point-of-sale credit card payment system it acquired in 2014. It’s not certain just how many systems were breached (Krebs’ sources say over 700), but the intruders had slipped malware on to the portal that would let them grab logins for the companies using Micros. They wouldn’t have had direct access to payment data, but there’s a chance those account details could be used to slip malware into the credit card systems and then grab sensitive info.

Oracle is quick to stress that it has “addressed” the rogue code, and that its other services weren’t affected. The payment details themselves are encrypted both in the database and when in use, too, so attackers couldn’t easily make use of it. However, there are hints that a well-known Russian criminal group, the Carbanak Gang, may have been involved — the hackers likely knew what they could get. And when Micros’ users include heavyweights like Adidas, Burger King and Hilton, there’s a worry that the culprits got the keys to someone’s kingdom.

Source: Krebs on Security