Evening brief: Samsung releases millions of green battery icons, Google approves
Replacement Note 7s are here, and Google is totally okay with their battery icon color.
How about some more Note 7 recall news? Samsung announced that 500,000 new safe phones have arrived in the U.S., ready to be exchanged. They’ll have new software that makes the battery icon green, which Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer says is just fine considering the circumstances.
Now, Samsung news that doesn’t have to do with exploding phones! Several carriers in the U.S. and Canada have started to push the September security patch (fixing the QuadRooter vulnerability) to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, while Samsung Pay now has cloud syncing capabilities when you switch to a new phone.
Google quietly updated the beta version of the Google app (which powers the Google Now Launcher), changing the redundant names of Google Now on Tap and Google Now to “Screen Search” and “Feed,” respectively. The functionality remains unchanged … for now. Here’s the full breakdown of today’s Android news!
Samsung has 500,000 new Note 7s available for exchange in the U.S.
They’re hitting carriers and retailers across the country and are available for you to swap out your recalled Note 7 as early as tomorrow. The phones will also receive software updates with the green battery icon, indicating they’re “safe” units. More
Samsung’s new green icon is A-OK with Google
Android’s design guidelines state that battery graphics and other status bar visuals need to be white, which might seem to put Samsung’s new green battery icons on new, non-explosive Note 7s foul of the rules. However Android SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer responded to an Ars Technica article on the subject saying Samsung has been granted an exception “given extraordinary circumstances.” The new Note 7 icon will use a white outline “to ensure compatibility.”
Now on Tap = Screen Search; Google Now = Feed
Google has quietly renamed two of Android’s core features in the latest beta version of the Google app. Now on Tap becomes Screen Search, while Google Now — a name that dates back to 2012, becomes simply “Feed.” This is still a beta version of the app, so who knows if the change will be permanent. But one has to wonder what lies ahead for the Google Now Launcher if the “Now” brand is going away for good. For what it’s worth, “Feed” and “Screen Search” work just like they did before.
Could the HTC 11 feature ‘Sense Touch’ touch-sensitive edges?
A concept video for an “HTC Ocean” smartphone (likely a codename) produced by an HTC motion designer showcases “Sense Touch”, a new feature that lets you tap or swipe on the outer edges of the chassis do to perform certain functions. For example, raising the volume in the music app, launching voice interactions and changing exposure levels in the camera app. It’s unknown whether this internal HTC concept will actually move forward, nor what’ll come of the dual-camera-toting phone it’s shown on. More
Galaxy Note 7 expected to sell less than non-exploding predecessor
Uhh … no kidding.
Galaxy S7 and S7 edge realize it’s September a little too late
The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are receiving the September security updates on Verizon and Canadian carriers today, including Rogers, Telus, and Bell. The update patches a number of issues, including all of the potential QuadRooter problems. That exploit will always sound like someone I call to fix my toilet.
Samsung Pay makes friends with a cloud
Samsung Pay, which is available in eight countries, including the U.S., China, Brazil, and Australia, now saves and restores your gift and membership cards from the cloud — so a new phone won’t feel so lonely. Speaking of lonely, the latest version also adds iris scanner support for the Note 7, which is having some well-documented problems right now.
BlackBerry’s next phone may be its most noble yet
Oops. BlackBerry revealed information about its next Android phone on its own website today, confirming expectations that the DTEK name scheme wasn’t just a flash in the pan. Damn. The DTEK60, known previously by its codename Argon, will reportedly be a reworked Alcatel Idol 4S, featuring a similar design to then DTEK50 with considerably improved specs, according to TheNextWeb.
Instagram now lets you walk away
It took six years, but Instagram now lets you save your drafts. It’s a small thing, but will be widely appreciated by the over 500 million people who log into the hugely popular service every month.
Instagram now lets you save drafts of photos – and here’s how
One of the most annoying things about Instagram is the inability to save edits.
Instagram isn’t perfect, but the Facebook-owned app has been constantly updating as of late in an attempt to be better, with most recent example being it now supports drafts. The new feature is a much-welcomed change, because we’ve all been in that situation where you spend 10 minutes editing the heck out of a photo, only to ditch the work altogether when something immediate comes up that needs your attention.
If you were desperate or had the time, you could use a workaround, such as screenshotting or switching your phone to airplane mode before you publish in order to save but not make your draft live. Well, all that’s a thing of the past, because Instagram now prompts you to either save or discard your draft before you even leave the editing screen. Here’s how the new feature works.
Instagram: How do you save a post as a draft?
- Tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the app’s main menu bar.
- From there, upload a photo or video.
- Add effects, filters, a caption, etc.
- Go back to the editing step, then tap the back arrow in the top left.
- Select Save Draft at the bottom of the screen
Note: If you don’t edit the post, tag people, or add a caption or location, you won’t be able to save the post as a draft.
Twitter (@lindork)
Instagram: How do you see your saved drafts?
- Tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the app’s main menu bar.
- From there, tap Library.
- Posts will appear at the bottom of the screen below Drafts.
Trying to create a post that’s just right? With the latest update, you can save as a draft & come back to it later. https://t.co/7lZ0eyNtBC
— Instagram (@instagram) September 20, 2016
Instagram: When will this feature be available?
Instagram is now rolling out the feature to its Android and iOS apps.
Want to know more?
Check out Pocket-lint’s Instagram tips and tricks guide.
Samsung’s replacement Galaxy Note 7s will be in stores tomorrow
More than 500,000 replacement Galaxy Note 7 phones have landed in the United States and been shipped to stores across the country, meaning anyone in need of a non-explosive device can get one tomorrow, September 21st, just as Samsung planned. Samsung is also rolling out a software update to all affected Galaxy Note 7s prompting users to turn off and exchange their devices every time they’re charged or powered on. An update released today additionally limits these phones to a 60 percent charge.
Early this month, Samsung recalled every Galaxy Note 7 sold around the world over a manufacturing malfunction that causes some devices to overheat, catch fire and even explode. The recall affects 2.5 million phones globally, and Samsung has received at least 92 reports of batteries overheating in the US alone. The Consumer Product Safety Commission officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7 on September 15th. The Federal Aviation Administration and New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority have also warned against traveling with the phones.
Twenty-five percent of all potentially flammable phones in the US have already been exchanged, Samsung tells The Verge. Anyone with a Galaxy Note 7 will be able to tell if their device is safe via a green battery icon that shows up in the status bar, always-on display mode or power-off screen.
IBM and MIT team up to help AI see and hear like humans
Autonomous robots and other AI systems still don’t do a great job of understanding the world around them, but IBM and MIT think they can do better. They’ve begun a “multi-year” partnership that aims to improve AI’s ability to interpret sight and sound as well as humans. IBM will supply the expertise and technology from its Watson cognitive computing platform, while MIT will conduct research. It’s still very early, but the two already have a sense of what they can accomplish.
One of the biggest challenges will be to advance pattern recognition and prediction. A human can easily describe what they saw happen in an event and predict what happens next, IBM says, but that’s virtually “impossible” for current AI. That ability to quickly summarize and foresee events could be useful for everything from health care workers taking care of the elderly to repairing complicated machines, among other examples.
There’s no guarantee that IBM and MIT will crack a problem that has daunted Google, Facebook and countless academics. However, it’s rare that scientists get access to this kind of technology. You might just see breakthroughs that aren’t practical for teams that have only limited use of AI-friendly hardware and code.
Source: IBM
Time’s Life VR immerses you in documentaries
There’s a certain detachment to watching a conventional documentary. You may understand and appreciate what you’re seeing, but you’ll never quite get a sense of what it was like to be there. Time, however, believes it can do better. It’s launching a Life VR brand that will use virtual reality to give you more immersive view of historic events and unusual experiences. One of the first examples includes Defying the Nazis (above), a parallel to a similarly-named Ken Burns documentary — you’ll see what it was like to take asylum seekers from occupied France to the US. Others include Lumen, a self-guided meditation exercise, and Fast Ride, a view of what it’s like to drive the classic Mazda 787 race car at Laguna Seca.
Naturally, Time wants to cover as many VR platforms as it can. On top of smartphone apps (through Google Cardboard and Gear VR) and the web, it’ll make these virtual views available through the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. And Time isn’t limiting itself to VR that fits Life magazine’s style, either. It’s introducing more 360-degree material in the fall.
This certainly isn’t the first major media outlet to embrace VR. Just ask New York Times viewers who got Cardboard viewers in the mail. However, it suggests that conventional news and documentary producers are increasingly seeing VR as a way to remain in the spotlight — it provides a hook that you don’t get by reading an article online or streaming a documentary series. This only works in the long term if VR becomes more than a novelty, of course, but Time and its peers undoubtedly feel that it’s worth experimenting.
Source: Life VR, Time Inc.
AT&T’s Project AirGig could be a wireless alternative to fiber
Bringing gigabit internet to rural areas is usually an expensive proposition — but soon, it might not be. AT&T Labs today announced Project AirGig, a new wireless internet delivery system that carriers high speed internet service over power-lines without actually tapping into the physical wired infrastructure. More specifically, AT&T plans to mount hundreds of tiny radio stations atop telephone poles to bring high-speed internet to customers without laying down new cable.
The project is still in its experimental phase, but AT&T says it’s bursting with potential. AirGig’s relay stations may sit on top of telephone poles, but it doesn’t actually need to tap into the pole’s power source — it doesn’t send signals over the lines either, opting instead to regenerate millimeter wave signals from station to station. Because the stations are designed with to use affordable plastic antennas and make use of existing infrastructure, it offers a potential way to bring high-speed connections to new areas without laying down new cable. Not only does that save a ton of money, it also means the new system could be deployed faster.
AT&T is careful to note that AirGig is purely experimental right now, and its first field trials won’t even start until next year. Even so, lab tests have been encouraging, and the company is confident that the system could be used to bring next generation internet to rural communities and developing countries.
Source: AT&T
Transit’s app now tells you when to hurry for the bus
Sure, your existing phone apps can tell you when to catch the bus and when to hop off, but public transportation fans know that’s only half the story. What if the driver is quicker than you expected, or a delay ruins your subway connection? Transit might just save the day. It’s updating its Android and iOS apps with a Go routing feature that could take some of the uncertainty out of commuting. You’ll get on-screen and voice notifications when it’s time to head out or disembark, but it gets truly interesting when things go haywire. Transit will tell you to hurry up if your departure time suddenly skips ahead, create a new itinerary if you miss a ride and warn you if a bus takes a surprise detour.
The upgrade also answers a longstanding request for real-time position data while you’re planning a trip. You should know which routes will actually get you to your destination on time, not just the ones that work in theory. The updates are still too new to see how well they work in practice. However, this could be the ticket if you’re tired of double- or triple-checking your phone on a long journey across town.
Source: App Store, Google Play, Transit (Medium)
Spiri is an EV-only ridesharing service where you’re the driver
Here comes another entrant into the ride-sharing ring: Denmark’s Spiri. What separates this one is the company has developed its own fleet of electric vehicles for use, which were unveiled today. Those diminutive rides weigh in at a lithe 992 pounds according to TechCrunch. How’d the engineers manage a car that’s roughly a third of what a new VW Beetle tips the scales at? Nixing everything that “add[s] zero value to a person’s daily commute and travel,” CEO Stefan Holm Nielsen said in a canned statement.
The fact that the body is made of carbon fiber doesn’t hurt, either. Spiri’s website boasts that the four-door car has more legroom than a Mercedes Benz S-Class and that the prototype’s seats are “big enough to comfortably share a ride without sharing your personal space.” Which is important considering that passengers are the drivers, unlike say, Uber and Lyft’s model of independent contractors serving as drivers. If you’re driving one, it’s expected that you’ll pick up a few riders on the way to your destination. Rides will supposedly run about the price of a bus ticket.
Spiri says that service should begin next year in either Denmark, Germany, Sweden or the United Kingdom.
Source: TechCrunch, Spiri
macOS Sierra Addresses Dropbox Security Concerns by Explicitly Asking for Accessibility User Permission
Following Dropbox-related security concerns that surfaced earlier this month, developer Phil Stokes has confirmed that macOS Sierra now explicitly requires apps to ask for user permission to access Accessibility (via Daring Fireball). Users can give access to an app, or click “not now” to deny the request.
Concerns were raised after it was demonstrated that Dropbox appears in System Preferences > Security & Privacy under Accessibility, despite the fact that users were never prompted to grant access to the features. More details can be found in our previous coverage and in a Dropbox support document.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Dropbox never does any evil on your computer. It remains the fact that the Dropbox process has that ability. And that means, if Dropbox itself has a bug in it, it’s possible an attacker could take control of your computer by hijacking flaws in Dropbox’s code. Of course, that’s entirely theoretical, but all security risks are until someone exploits them. The essence of good computer security and indeed the very reason why OSX has these kinds of safeguards in place to begin with is that apps should not have permissions greater than those that they need to do their job.
At the time, Dropbox said it was working with Apple to reduce its dependence on elevated access in macOS Sierra, and would respect when people disable the app’s Accessibility permissions, but now a much-needed safeguard exists regardless.
In a new blog post, Dropbox still recommends that Mac users running macOS Sierra update their Accessibility permissions, if needed, to ensure smooth syncing and access to certain features of the cloud storage service.
Advanced Dropbox collaboration features, such as the badge, require Accessibility permissions. You’ll be prompted to grant these permissions when you install the Dropbox desktop app on macOS Sierra. To do so, follow the instructions on screen. The same will apply for older versions of OS X in the coming weeks. For more information on Dropbox Mac permissions, visit our help center.
macOS Sierra was publicly released today as a free update on the Mac App Store.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
Tags: Dropbox, security, accessibility
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Recap: macOS Sierra Launch Day
It’s been a busy day of macOS Sierra news following the public launch, so we’ve put together a quick rundown of all of our coverage to make it easy for everyone to find everything all in one place.
– Apple Releases macOS Sierra With Siri, Apple Pay, Apple Watch Unlock, Universal Clipboard, and More
Feature Highlights and How Tos
– macOS Sierra: How to Use Apple Pay on the Web
– macOS Sierra: Save Disk Space With the New ‘Optimize Storage’ Option
– macOS Sierra and iOS 10: Universal Clipboard for Cross Device Copy/Paste
– macOS Sierra: Photos Gains ‘Memories’ and Messages Adds Rich Links, Tapback, and Large Emoji
– macOS Sierra: Picture in Picture Mode for Safari and iTunes Videos
– macOS Sierra: How to Unlock Your Mac With Your Apple Watch
– macOS Sierra: Apps Gain Safari-Style Tabs
– macOS Sierra: iCloud Drive Syncs Desktop Files and Documents Across Devices
Other Sierra-Related News
– Tweetbot for Mac Updated With Support for macOS Sierra and Extended Tweets
– iWork Apps for macOS Sierra Updated With Real-Time Collaboration
– Safari 10 Now Available for OS X El Capitan and OS X Yosemite
– macOS Server Updated for Sierra With New Setup Assistant Options and More
– macOS Sierra Addresses Dropbox Security Concerns by Asking for Accessibility User Permission
For more on macOS Sierra, make sure to check out our dedicated roundup and visit our macOS Sierra forum to discuss all of the new features and changes.
Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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