HTC Desire 10 Pro with FHD display, Helio P10 SoC lands in India for ₹26,490

It’s time to stand out.

HTC has launched the Desire 10 Pro in India, with the phone all set to be available in retail stores starting December 15. HTC has also announced that the global variant of the Bolt — the HTC 10 evo — will make its debut in India before the end of the year.

The Desire 10 Pro is certainly flashy thanks to gold accents around the frame and a prominent camera lens protrusion. The phone itself is made out of plastic, but the gold accents are laser-etched, and the design stands out amidst a sea of metal slabs. The phone will be available in a variety of color options: Valentine Lux, Stone Black, Royal Blue, and Polar White.

Specs include a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 1.8GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, 20MP camera at the back, 13MP front shooter, dual-SIM connectivity, Bluetooth 4.2, LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, and a 3000mAh battery.

The pricing of the phone is going to be an issue for HTC given that the OnePlus 3T is on the horizon with much better hardware for under ₹30,000. Even devices like the Z2 Plus outmatch the Desire 10 Pro when it comes to sheer specs, but HTC does command a loyal userbase in the mid-range segment. Even if it isn’t able to find initial momentum, the Desire 10 Pro should see an uptick in interest once the inevitable price cuts kick in.

What do you guys think of the Desire 10 Pro?

HTC Desire 10 preview

Honor 8 now on sale for just £299 in the UK

The Honor 8 is a great buy for under £300.

As part of Black Friday, the Honor 8 is receiving a £70 discount in the UK. The phone is now available for £299 until November 28. The first 1,000 customers to pick up the phone at a discounted price will get three months of premium insurance for free.

As a refresher, the Honor 8 features a 5.2-inch Full HD display, HiSilicon Kirin 950 SoC (four 2.3GHz Cortex A72 CPU cores along with four 1.8GHz Cortex A53 cores), 4GB of RAM, 32GB storage, dual 12MP camera setup, 8MP front camera, Wi-Fi ac, NFC, LTE, and a 3000mAh battery. On the software front, it’s running EMUI 4.1 atop Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

If you’re interested in picking up the Honor 8 in the U.S., you’ll be able to do so for just $289 today.

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Airbnb settles lawsuit with New York over short-term rental law

Airbnb has settled its lawsuit against the state of New York, but that doesn’t mean it has given up. The rental listing service sued the state after governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that made it illegal to rent out units in buildings for less than 30 days if the tenant isn’t there. Those who violate it will be subject to some pretty heavy fines, starting at $1,000 for the first instance. You just haven’t heard of anyone being slapped with a fine yet, because authorities decided not to enforce the law until this lawsuit has been settled. Now, the two parties have agreed that New York City and not the state will be responsible for enforcing the new law, so they filed papers to dismiss the lawsuit.

Airbnb spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement:

“We have long sought to work with leaders in New York on clear, fair rules for home sharing, and we’re continuing to do all we can to protect the thousands of middle-class families who depend on home sharing to earn a little extra money.”

So, what happens going forward? Airbnb will now be dealing with NYC — in fact, the two parties have already begun talking. According to a letter sent by one of the city’s lawyers to US District Judge Katherine Forrest, they’re already discussing how to best resolve the case. Since they promised to update the court about their efforts on December 2nd, you can expect to hear more about the state of Airbnb rentals in New York in the near future.

Source: Bloomberg

Samsung HW-K950 Dolby Atmos soundbar review: Genuinely immersive audio

Sound is a bigger part of your home entertainment setup than you might initially give it credit. Well, you know that, because you’re interested in a Dolby Atmos soundbar, a way of bringing the latest in cinema surround sound excitement into your home in a compact form.

Dolby Atmos at its inception was characteristed by speakers surrounding not only the walls but the ceiling too, in expansive half-dome cinema setups to recreate a truly dynamic sound stage with immersive sweeping surround sound effects.

For the home the Atmos take is different. Indeed, the Samsung K950 – as one of the first generation of Atmos soundbars – is intent on making surround sound audio easier in a home setup, without needing to drill holes or connect dozens of speakers to various surfaces.

Achievement unlocked: Atmos audio couldn’t be simpler than with the Samsung HW-K950. 

Samsung HW-K950 review: Design

• Soundbar, subwoofer and two rear speakers included
• 1,210 x 81 x 131mm soundbar dimensions
• Upfiring speakers create Atmos soundscape

The Samsung HW-K950 can offer Dolby Atmos sound because it offers a wide range of drivers firing in a range of different directions. The main soundbar has speakers not only aligned along the front – divided into a common left, right and centre arrangement – but also diagonally positioned in the top.

It’s these top speakers that fire upwards, to bounce sound off the ceiling and give the sound stage the height and overhead characteristics of Atmos. Incorporating those speakers also means that this soundbar is perhaps more basic in design than many others – and larger too.

Samsung

The HW-K950 soundbar is big and presented as a rather rectangular block. There are some minor touches to reduce the hard corners and edges, but we doubt this soundbar would progress far in a beauty pageant. That said, it’s solidly built, with the quality of build you’d expect at this price.

Both the front and top are grille covered, as you need to let that sound out without obstruction, while the black finish appears serious and unfussy. The ends are metal, with a range of button controls on the right-hand end, which, in reality, you’ll probably never use, but look smart enough.

There’s an LED screen on the front to display the input, sound mode or volume, which fades to invisibility behind the grille once you’ve made your selections.

The final flourish is a blue indicator at the right-hand end of the soundbar that will light up when you have a Dolby Atmos source, just so you know everything is doing what it should.

Pocket-lint

The rear channel speakers are wireless, as is the subwoofer, the latter the standard ominous black lump. Those rear speakers, however, like the soundbar, have a driver on the top to fire diagonally upwards, creating the rear parts of the overhead soundscape. 

As wireless units, you simply have to plug them in – all parts automatically detect and connect without fuss. There are brackets for wall-mounting, as well as the option for stands for the rear speakers, which might be the easiest way to get them into an ideal position in your room.

There are also a couple of cunning little nipples on the underside of the soundbar. These align perfectly with the Y-shaped stand of Samsung’s top TVs, meaning that you can place it right in front of these TVs, sitting on the stand.

Samsung HW-K950 review: Connections and setup

• Mains power required for sub and each speaker
• Rear speakers wirelessly connect
• Stand connection with top-end Samsung TVs

As we’ve just mentioned, setup of the system is as easy as taking it all out of the box and plugging it in. The main soundbar connects to your TV and other devices, the subwoofer and two rear speakers just need connecting to the power. We’ve been using the HW-K950 for over a month at the time of writing and we’ve had no dropout or disconnection, which gets a big tick in our book.

Pocket-lint

Accordingly, those rear speakers have coloured LED indicators, which are blue when connected, red when not. If you don’t have the soundbar on, it’s red that you’ll see. These are very subtle and discreet, so don’t worry about having a room full of coloured lights when you’re watching the latest blockbuster movie.

The soundbar itself offers some essential connections. There’s the optical audio option you’d expect, but it’s also equipped with two HDMI inputs, and one HDMI output which supports ARC audio return from your TV. This takes care of things like your TV’s internal tuner, or perhaps apps like Netflix or Amazon Video, feeding that sound back to your soundbar without delay.

As the HW-K950 supports 4K passthrough, the idea is that you connect your devices through the soundbar so it can handle the audio and pass the video on to your TV. We connected it to Samsung’s Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the K8500 and through to the KS8000 TV and this next-gen combo sings in harmony very happily. 

With ARC and passthrough you have numerous options for connecting your devices, but passthough isn’t passive, you have to have the soundbar turned on for it to work. If you connect directly to your TV, you can use the TV’s speakers – not that you’d really want to.

Pocket-lint

The connections are on the rear underside of the soundbar, in a cut-out section, and that means there are no plugs jutting out the rear, so it’s still wall-mountable. There are no cables supplied, so you’ll have to provide your own, remembering that if you are connecting 4K devices, some of your older cables might not support the latest standards – just check you’re using a high-speed HDMI cable. 

The other aspect of setup is speaker positioning. Naturally, the soundbar is designed to sit centrally under your TV. The rear channels, however, will want to be behind you. You can place them to the side of your seating position, but you’ll find the effect is dampened quite considerably compared with having them properly behind and angled. 

That might present some limitations: if your sofa is against the back wall and you can’t get the speakers farther back, you’re not getting the full experience. If you can place your favourite armchair in the sweetspot for movie watching, you can get round that, but this is a consideration for anyone looking at this sort of audio system.

Samsung HW-K950 review: Wow time performance

• 15 speakers within four piece setup
• 500W total power
• 5.1.4 channels

Dolby Atmos might be something rather special when it comes to the cinema, but it’s more common than you might think. There are already a lot of Blu-ray discs offering Dolby Atmos, but if you’re yet to have an Atmos system, you’ll probably never really have looked for it.

Some of the latest Ultra HD Blu-ray discs offer it, like Mad Max Fury Road, which seems to be the poster child of the next-gen Blu-ray. Slip that disc in and your room comes to life as you’re hit with the full effect of that immersive Dolby Atmos experience and the crisp and rich Ultra HD Blu-ray visuals.

Pocket-lint

The HW-K950 comes to life when fed an Atmos source, creating a dome of sound that envelops and draws you into the movie. Equipped with 15 speakers in a 5.1.4 configuration, there’s some 500W of power and this is put to good effect, punching out the bass when it’s needed, filling the room with detail and giving you a soundstage that will put a big smile on your face.

At first we were sceptical about whether the K950 was going to be able to really recreate this wider, immersive effect. But it does work: put a child or a dog into the sweet spot and you’ll see them follow the sound around the room (that’s science for you).

Some of this you’ll get from surround sound, some you’ll get from good stereo, but the way you then have the sound of a drip that appears to be hanging in mid-air, where there’s no speakers, confirms you’re getting sucked into the Atmos action.

There’s control for the levels of each of the different set of speakers. The subwoofer is easy enough thanks to a dedicated button on the remote, so if you want to crank up the bass when listening to music, or turn it down at night, it’s easy to do.

Changing the levels of the other speakers takes a little effort as the only display you have is the scrolling LED display on the front of the soundbar – and we can’t help feeling that some sort of HDMI overlay would make things much easier, so you can see the settings on your TV and make changes as you need.

Pocket-lint

That said, when you’re pumping Dolby content out of the soundbar, you probably don’t need to change anything. Both the Atmos and surround sound effects are really effective.

The hole in the HW-K950’s skills is with DTS Master Audio. There’s no native support in the soundbar, meaning that any Blu-rays you have that come with this audio format will only play in stereo. That’s a massive shame, because flicking through our collection, many discs are DTS Master Audio encoded. If you want to play them you’ll have to find another route to decoding and repackaging if you want surround sound. Some Blu-ray players will do this for you, but it’s something of a compromise.

Verdict

The Samsung HW-K950 offers an easy option for getting Dolby Atmos in your front room with minimal fuss. Saving you from the need to install ceiling speakers or anything else, you’ll be up and running with Atmos in about 15 minutes. Offering 4K passthrough and its own HDMI ports, the K950 will sit at the centre of your home entertainment system feeding you wonderful immersive sound. 

The design might be a little less exciting than some soundbars, but that’s mostly down to the need to provide space to the top-firing speakers. Some might baulk at the £1,299 asking price, but as an effective one-box solution (plus subwoofer and rear speakers), without the hassle of getting involved with a full system of separate speakers and a receiver, that’s a price that’s worth paying.

The only real downside is the lack of DTS Master Audio support, meaning that while you’ll get exhilarating 360-degree audio from some Blu-rays, a large number of the latest discs will play in rather flat stereo.

Samsung HW-K950: Alternatives to consider

Philips

Philips Fidelio B8 Soundbar

• £899

It’s early days for Atmos soundbars, with the only alternative at present coming from Philips. It’s a cheaper overall solution, in a 5.1.2 arrangement – meaning no rear speakers come as part of this kit, but you do get a subwoofer.

UK’s Bletchley Park to host cyber security boarding school

Bletchley Park will once again serve as a cryptographic hub in the UK. Plans are afoot to create a new “National College of Cyber Security” in G-Block, a building which is currently in a state of disrepair. It’s scheduled to open in 2018 and will serve as a specialised six-form college, teaching teenagers the fundamentals of encryption and computer science. As the Guardian reports, the center will take up to 500 students at any one time and offer free tuition, funding its efforts through venture capital, corporate sponsorship and possibly state funding instead. It’s envisioned as a boarding school, however a day tuition option will also be available.

The curriculum is still being worked out, however management expects it to mix specialised topics with conventional subjects such as maths and physics. Qufaro, a not-for-profit consortium, is heading up the project and will develop new courses “that do not exist in the UK today.” These will be shaped by “individuals working at the forefront of the cyber security industry,” ensuring students are prepared for higher education courses and workplace learning schemes. Much of the draw for parents will, of course, be Bletchley Park itself. Turning the site into a boarding school should give it a unique atmosphere, one that promotes research and collaboration.

Bletchley Park is best known as the home of Britain’s code-breaking team during World War II. The group helped the UK and its allies to understand scrambled messages sent by the German army. Alan Turning, an outstanding English computer scientist and mathematician, was its most notable member, helping to break the pivotal “Enigma” and “Lorenza” ciphers. He was later prosecuted for homosexual acts and died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning. The British government officially apologised for his treatment in 2009, before a posthumous pardon was granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. New legislation dubbed the ‘Alan Turing Law’ now seeks to posthumously pardon thousands of gay and bisexual men.

Via: The Guardian

Fully Functional ‘Apple Mirror’ Augments Your Reflection With iOS Apps

A web developer and graphic designer has created a fully functioning touchscreen “Apple Mirror”, offering a reflective look into an imagined future where Cupertino builds smart screens for the home.

New York-based Rafael Dymek created the mirror as a personal project, aping elements of iOS 10 to augment the interface, which appears to run off the back of a modified desktop touchscreen OS.

The “Apple Mirror” features the date and time in the top right corner and a weather forecast in the top left. Beneath these sit several working iOS app icons which can be rearranged with the drag of a finger.

A tap opens the apps in the familiar manner, albeit in a windowed mode, although this does allow for easy multi-tasking. Dymek demonstrates some of the possibilities of his modified Apple interface, which include the ability to request an Uber, watch Netflix, read the news, control a Nest thermostat and smart light bulbs, control output to a Sonos speaker system, and more.

After 45 seconds of inactivity, the interface goes to sleep and the touchscreen looks like an ordinary mirror, while a simple tap resumes use. Check out the video to see it in action.

Tag: Concepts
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Navy leaks personal data for over 130,000 sailors

Another day, another data breach. While everyone is focused on pre-holiday activities, the Navy reveals that it was notified by Hewlett Packard Enterprise in October about a compromised laptop. Now, an investigation has determined that names and social security numbers of 134,386 current and former sailors had been accessed by unknown individuals. Other than dumping the news out while few are paying attention, the Navy says it will notify those affected “in the coming weeks,” by phone, letter and email.

At this point, the Navy says it has not found evidence the information is being misused, but similar to the OPM data breach last year, this could have far-reaching consequences. The Navy Times cites an unnamed official saying the leaked info came from the Career Waypoints (C-WAY) database that handles re-enlistment and Navy Occupational Specialty requests.

Source: US Navy