BeatsX Shipping Dates on Some Amazon Orders Updated With January Delivery Estimates

Although Apple.com has listed the BeatsX Earphones as not launching until sometime in February, a few tipsters emailing MacRumors have pointed out that Amazon updated their pre-orders to suggest that BeatsX will be arriving earlier than expected. The updated delivery windows are large, but both place the upcoming earphones with a January delivery date: one ranges from January 17 to January 27, and another from January 18 to January 30.

Additionally, Fry’s Electronics lists a shipping date on January 23 for BeatsX. Although that would fall in the window of Amazon’s orders, the date is most likely a placeholder. Fry’s was a part of a few retailers who suggested a December launch for BeatsX back in November — a debut which the earphones obviously missed.

On both Apple.com and the official Beats website, BeatsX are currently not available to pre-order. Apple describes the earphones as “currently unavailable” along with the general “Coming February” launch month. On the Beats website, users can opt in for an e-mail notification when BeatsX launches, but there is no purchase or order button option either.

In terms of features, the $149.95 BeatsX Earphones include in-line volume and playback controls on a flex-form cable, along with multiple wingtip and eartip add-ons (four total) that the company says will ensure a secure and comfortable fit for each user. Each bud of the earphones is magnetic and attaches to the other when hanging around a user’s neck, further ensuring BeatsX can’t easily be lost when not listening to music. The earphones are also part of the new “Got No Strings” Beats advertising campaign.

BeatsX were one of the W1-enabled earphones that Apple announced during its September 7 iPhone event, also including the AirPods, Powerbeats3, and Beats Solo3. The AirPods launched on December 13 and stock quickly dwindled, while the Beats Solo3 have been out since September, and the Powerbeats3 were available to order in October.

(Thanks David and Sandler77!)

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How ‘The Last Guardian’ uses gameplay to tell its story

Like with many ambitious works of art, it’s fair to say that the reaction to The Last Guardian was pretty divisive. While many recognized last month’s PS4 exclusive as a brilliant achievement, it is undoubtedly a game that bears the scars of its troubled nine-year development. Yet, despite its archaic controls, The Last Guardian achieves something that few games manage – it makes the player genuinely care about an AI companion. In a bid to explore how director Fumito Ueda achieved this, YouTuber Mark Brown has dissected the game mechanics of The Last Guardian in the latest video of his game design series, Game Maker’s Toolkit.

Entitled “The Last Guardian and The Language Of Games”, the video explores how the game uses its unique AI interaction to tell a story. Where most games rely on a series of cutscenes to build relatable characters, The Last Guardian instead embraces the interactive nature of the medium, cleverly using game mechanics to establish a bond between you and feathered companion Trico. Rather than being shown a passive relationship between two characters, you learn by interacting with Trico, earning each other’s trust as you both work together along your dangerous journey.

With The Last Guardian coming out 11 years after Ueda’s previous game, Shadow Of The Colossus, much of its lengthy development still remains a mystery. While we’re hoping that the release of next month’s companion book will shed some light on the game’s difficult development, until then, this video is a great study on what makes The Last Guardian such a unique proposition.

Google Tango AR takes you inside a mummy’s sarcophagus

Everyone thinks augmented reality (AR) is loaded with potential, but what besides Pokémon Go can you actually do with it? Google is providing a concrete example by bringing its Tango technology to museums. At the Detroit Institute of Arts, visitors will be able to snag a Lenovo Phab 2 Pro phone and explore Egyption mummies and other exhibits. The tech will let you peer “inside” a sarcophagus, for instance, to see ancient skeletons and other hidden artifacts.

Google’s Tango tech is well-suited for indoor exhibitions, as it doesn’t rely on GPS, inertial sensors or WiFi tracking. Rather, it uses Kinect-like computer vision to detect and track its surroundings, so it can realistically overlay virtual images no matter where you are. So far, Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro is the only device equipped with the depth sensors and other tech required for Tango. However, the ASUS ZenFone AR, launched last week at CES, also supports it and will go on sale sometime this year.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) worked with GuidiGo on an AR tour that features overlays and visualizations, along with games and quizzes. (The same firm developed a Google Tango tour for the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya that we saw at MWC in Barcelona last year.) The DIA’s tour lets you see the skeletons underneath the Egyption Mummies’ sarcophagus and bandages (above), grasp the scale of the Ancient Babylonian Ishtar Gate (below) and see the original colors, long since disappeared, on ancient Mesopotamian limestone reliefs.

Google says that the DIA tour is just the beginning and that “we’re working with other museums around the world for future exhibits.” The tech has also popped up at BMW dealers and other companies, so it’s being used to sell as well as educate. What we really want, of course, is for Google to expand more into gaming and let us blast mummies instead of learning about them.

UK ISPs will soon send written warnings to suspected pirates

UK ISPs will begin sending out emails to subscribers later this month, warning them of movie, TV and music piracy identified on their connection and pointing them to legal content sources. All four major providers — Sky, BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk — have agreed to the Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme, an anti-piracy initiative that’s been in the works since the summer of 2014. It’s the active component of Creative Content UK, a partnership between copyright holders, the government and ISPs that aims to combat digital piracy in an educational, non-threatening way.

Providers confirmed to ISPreview the voluntary programme will kick off later this month, with Virgin Media offering more details on how it’ll work. ISPs won’t monitor user activity themselves, instead relying on Copyright Infringement Reports from companies. These will be issued when copyright holders can verify a specific IP address has been used to share infringing files. If the ISP can link the IP address with a subscriber account, it’ll send an email expected to contain an itemisation of the media in question, as well as links to bona fide content sources and other educational, anti-piracy resources.

Torrents are the main target here, since it’s easy to identify IP addresses due to the peer-to-peer nature of the network (as long as there’s no VPN at play). Tracking people that turn to other sources of illegal media, such as direct download sites, is more complex.

These ISP alerts aren’t to be confused with the shady practice of “speculative invoicing.” This is where law firms send letters to those suspected of copyright infringement, demanding a settlement payment and often threatening formal legal action for non-compliers. It’s particularly questionable because judges in numerous piracy cases have concluded that an IP address is not evidence of a specific person’s wrongdoing — who’s to say the next-door neighbour who has your WiFi password wasn’t responsible, for instance?

Instead of instilling fear in recipients, the email alerts are part of a wider Creative Content UK campaign to raise awareness of all the legal ways to get your film, TV and music fix. It’s certainly a softer approach than the government proposed in the Digital Economy Act 2010. The powers that be wanted ISPs to issue warnings and threaten subscribers with disconnection if they didn’t heed the advice. This idea was abandoned because of the inherent unreliability of IP addresses, high associated costs and other issues.

The UK is tackling copyright infringement in other ways, though. Police are continuing to target pirates selling modded hardware and illegal services, as well as starving sites of advertising revenue with the help of ad firms. What’s more, the government is considering fines for search engines that don’t take reasonable steps to hide illegal media as part of anti-piracy provisions in the new Digital Economy Bill (not to be confused with the 2010 Act).

While the war on piracy is generally considered unwinnable — no sooner is an ISP served a notice to block a torrent site than ten proxies pop up in its place — copyright holders are still benefitting from all the ways consumers can conveniently access media legally. Separate reports from the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association last week detailed significant growth among online services last year. Not only did music streaming revenues grow by 65 percent year on year, but digital video services made more money than DVD and Blu-ray disc sales for the first time.

[Inline image credit: Getty]

Source: ISPreview

Details Emerge for Hulu’s Upcoming Live TV Service on iOS

After partners like CBS and NBC were confirmed to be part of Hulu’s upcoming live-streaming TV service, Mashable recently got a glimpse of the early build for the service on both iOS and full-screen TV apps. Hulu has still kept details under wraps regarding specific price points and plans, although Hulu Chief Executive Mike Hopkins said last week that it will cost users “under $40” each month.

The addition of live TV is said to have changed Hulu’s “entire user experience,” by combining the company’s existing on-demand content with the all-new live TV streams. The app guides users through a taste-test quiz about the type of TV they like to watch, using the information and accumulated data of what each user watches to offer recommendations on its home screen. If there are multiple users in a house, each person will get their own menu, recommendations, and everyone can watch their shows at once.

If the new Hulu has a philosophy, it’s personal, personal, personal. From the home screen to the recommendations it serves up, the new Hulu is intended to be about you. That becomes clear the moment you launch the new app on your phone, which quizzes you on the kind of content you like — genres, networks and specific shows — before you even get to the home screen. Sorta like Foursquare, but for TV.

The “Lineup” greets users when they first dive into their personal profile, and it’s said to be “a compilation of the content — live or on-demand — Hulu thinks is most important to you.” Favorite shows will take top billing, while shows recorded in a cloud DVR (an expected add-on feature) will also be added to the Lineup.

The user interface then splits content into a horizontal list with icons at the top of the screen representing Movies, News and Networks. The Networks tab is where most of Hulu’s live content will be housed, with users able to tap on any channel and tune into what’s happening now on each station. Mobile notifications will be available to warn users when a game is starting with their favorite team, but the feature will only encompass sports at launch. Notifications for breaking news and warnings about expiring TV shows are being worked on as well.

One of Mashable’s concerns about the new service is its attempt at seamlessly mixing Hulu’s old content with its new live-streaming options. The site compared the move to when Apple decided to do something similar with both old, downloaded songs and the new streaming content in Apple Music, which confused many users.

The demo I got of Hulu’s new UI was canned, so I didn’t get a chance to navigate it myself. From the looks of it, Hulu has done a good job of mixing together live and on-demand content into a single interface, although it’s questionable if they ever should have been mixed in the first place.

Similarly, when Apple mixed together on-demand music streaming with downloads in Apple Music, it stepped into a minefield. It eventually rolled back the UI to better separate the two things the app does. Will the same thing happen to Hulu?

Curiosity surrounding the new live TV service from Hulu has been building ever since it was rumored last May. As of now, Hulu’s cord-cutting service includes partners CBS, Walt Disney, Time Warner, Fox, and NBC. When it launches sometime in the spring, the service will enter the market to competitors including Sling TV and DirecTV Now, but Hulu won’t have to worry about competition from Apple’s own live-streaming service since it has long been shelved after the company failed to make inroads with network programmers.

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What to do with a broken phone to keep your data safe

Can I protect the data on my broken phone?

We try to make sure everyone knows the things they can do to make sure they know how to keep their personal data safe on an Android phone. What you do with the information is up to you, exactly as it should be. Only you know how valuable you think your personal information is.

Sometimes that goes to the extreme. Steve, a regular Android Central reader, has an awesome question: What to do with a broken phone to keep your data private?

It’s not what you might think — Steve dropped and busted his no-warranty unlocked Xperia Z3 and shattered the screen. During the process of tearing it open (often a difficult thing) other parts were damaged and Steve gave in and bought a new phone. But he has a phone in a box that worked without a display before he took it apart, along with the parts needed to fix it. That’s not garbage and plenty of people would happily put it back together and have a new-to-them phone. The problem is the storage on the phone is filled with his personal stuff.

Sometimes broken is temporary and a new part or two is all that’s needed.

This is tough. Anyone who would take the time and has the know how to put it back together and running now has a phone in their hands with all of your data and signed in with your Google account. And who knows what else a person who can take phones apart and put them back together can do to get to the good stuff inside?

Luckily, Steve took exactly the right safeguards and did everything he could.

• Always use a secure lock screen. Swiping to unlock is as easy for me to do on your phone as it is for you, the real owner.
• Change your Google password when you’re signed into a device you are unable to sign out of when you’ve stopped using it.

Encryption and a good lock screen passphrase will keep almost everyone from getting access to your data as long as you have them enabled. Changing your Google password is that extra step to make sure any damage is minimal if they do. Take these steps and feel good about your security when you’re selling or gifting a broken phone that can be fixed.

3 essential privacy tips for your new Android phone

This is also the best (and easiest) thing you can do in case a phone gets completely destroyed and is destined for the recycle bin. Set up a secure lock screen right now, change your password if/when it happens and you’re good. But what if you didn’t have a secure lock screen and the phone is already broken?

Sometimes, you might need to get a little crazy and use tools.

You basically have two options: change your Google password and hope that nobody ever gets it up and running again, or physically destroy the innards.

Chances are nobody will trawl through your refuse to collect broken phone parts, then put them together so they can see your naked Kik folder unless those pics would be worth a lot of money. If you’re not famous it’s just not worth the trouble. Don’t feel bad, I’m not worth the trouble either and that’s awesome. If you’re not comfortable with that option, you need to be a little savage.

You can take a phone completely apart and it’s not that hard if you never want it to work again. Watch for glass and other small sharp things and use big heavy pliers to twist things until the pop free. Keep whittling at things until you see the green circuit board(s) inside. Usually, it is right behind the display. On those boards, you’ll see various black squares that look and feel like they’re ceramic. Two of them are larger than the rest. One of those is the flash storage — usually about the size of a stamp. The other bigger one is the processor. Find a spot of concrete and a hammer. Hulk smash both of those stamp-sized components until they are sufficiently broken. Put all the pieces in the recycle bin.

How to donate or recycle your old (non-broken) Android phone

Yeah, that’s a lot of hassle (fun hassle, but whatever) but it’s also a 100% way to make sure nobody outside of the FBI is going to be able to retrieve that data. Putting the password on the lock screen was easier.

LG SJ9 Dolby Atmos soundbar preview: Extended home cinema without the clutter

There were plenty of soundbars launched at CES in January, with 2017 looking like the year that Dolby Atmos properly takes off in the home.

Sony and Samsung are both investing heavily in Dolby Atmos kit, while LG is really going to town with the technology. It is incorporating it into all of its 2017 OLED TVs and has a premium soundbar that not only provides excellent Dolby Atmos support, it looks the part too.

The LG SJ9 is a long, flat soundbar that comes with a separate wireless subwoofer and two upfiring speaker units either side for 5.1.2 surround sound.

Five speaker units are ranged at the sides and front from left to right, under a smartly designed grille, while the two Dolby Atmos drivers are angled towards the ceiling.

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Dolby Atmos creates more immersive sound by firing some of the audio mix upwards, bouncing it off the ceiling and down to the listening position in order to form a bubble of sound. When coupled with the fronts and rears – virtual in this case – you really feel encompassed in the audio experience.

• LG announces trio of new soundbars including flagship SJ9 with Dolby Atmos support
• CES 2017: All the announcements that matter
• Best headphones and speakers at CES 2017: Audio-Technica, AKG, Sennheiser and more

In our CES 2017 demo, we got a genuine sense of spatial surround sound, with great separation to the left, right and above. If you want a more meaty experience with your movies, there are few better ways.

Of course, you could get a proper 5.1.2 speaker set-up, but this soundbar provides a more elegant solution for those who want less clutter and cabling.

The SJ9 provides 500W of total power and even has Google Cast and Spotify built in. It also acts as an AV receiver, with two HDMI 2.0 inputs, each with 4K Ultra HD video passthrough, one optical audio in, and two HDMI 2.0 outputs. It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi too.

It is capable of high-res audio playback, up to 24bit/192kHz.

Price and release date details are yet to be revealed. A similar model of soundbar comes with the LG OLED W TV, which acts as the television’s media box.

Apple iPhone 8 may swap aluminium for stainless steel construction

We’ve seen and heard countless rumours suggesting the iPhone 8 will feature all-glass designs, OLED screens and wireless charging, but not much has been said about the general build, until now.

• Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: What’s the story so far?

DigiTimes has quoted a few Taiwanese sources as saying the next iPhone will use stainless steel in its construction instead of aluminium. There’s a good chance that not much was said about the build because the assumption would have been that Apple would stick with the same material it’s used since the iPhone 5.

DigiTimes’ sources say Apple won’t use Foxconn as a supplier for the iPhone 8 and has instead placed orders for forged stainless steel casings from Jabil instead. It wouldn’t be the first time Apple has used the material, as the iPhone 4 and 4S used it to make two antenna bands that sandwiched the glass body. However for the iPhone 4, Apple used CNC machining, which is different forging.

Apple Insider says the forging method squeezed a metal alloy between two halves of a mould to give a finished casing. Forged components are said to offer greater structural rigidity than those that are made by CNC, but CNC methods may still be used in some way to keep the internal screw design.

With each iPhone release, Apple likes to shed a few millimeters wherever possible and a forged stainless steel design could help towards that, as well as being an ideal method to give the iPhone 8 its much-rumoured all glass design.

Curved screen Huawei P10 will launch this Spring

As soon as the Huawei P9 was released and we subsequently reviewed it, we’ve been holding out for its successor. The P9 is a hugely capable smartphone, but the majors of the smartphone world just out-muscled it. The P10 however could right all the wrongs, and Huawei’s CEO Yu Chendong has said it will be released this coming Spring, in either March or April, although he hasn’t said how much we can expect to pay for it.

• Huawei P10: What’s the story so far?

It would certainly fit in with previous ‘P’ series phone releases, which have also come in the month of April. There’s also further speculation that the P10 will come with a curved screen, much like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, a rumour that we’ve heard before, leading many to think there could be two variants: the P10 and P10 Plus.

Chengdong hasn’t confirmed any other specs or features of the upcoming smartphone(s), but they’re expected to come with Huawei’s new Kirin 960 processor and a huge 6GB RAM. There’s a possibility they’ll lose the physical front-mounted fingerprint scanner in favour of one embedded in the screen, and they could feature wireless charging.

If there are indeed two phones, they’re likely to be different sizes, the smaller one should come with a 5.5-inch Quad HD display. We can’t comment on what screen the Plus version of the phone will have just yet, as there aren’t enough details to go on.

• Huawei P10 could be one incredibly powerful smartphone if leaked specs are real

With the release date pencilled in for March or April, we could see the Huawei P10 at MWC at the end of February, but given the fact Huawei will be pitching the new phone as a serious competitor to the likes of Apple and Samsung, the company could decide its own event. We’ll bring all the latest news on the Huawei P10 as and when we hear it.

Mazda 2 review: One of the best cars in its class

If you are thinking about buying a supermini then cars like the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa, Renault Clio and maybe a Volkswagen Polo or something else from the VW group come to mind.

One car that might be slightly off your radar is the Mazda 2. Despite Mazda’s growing UK market share, you don’t see many of them around.

In the supermini class, the Mazda 2 has always been something of a brilliant underdog. The last generation model shared its underpinnings with the current Ford Fiesta. Although the Ford massively outsold the Japanese car, many of those in the know preferred the Mazda variant.

Mazda 2 review: Stepping up its game

Since its divorce from Ford a few years ago, Mazda has stepped up its game – completely renewing its range of cars, with self-developed models that share nothing with Ford and which every time we’ve driven we’ve greatly enjoyed.

The latest Mazda 2 was launched in 2016 and it approaches this class quite differently to its competitors. Instead of their sub-1-litre turbo-charged petrol engines, you get a comparatively large 1.5-litre petrol unit (or Skyactiv-G in Mazda speak) – but no turbo.

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The Mazda 2 is big for its class, too, measuring over 4-metres long. And where Minis, Clios and Corsas play up the personalisation factor and crazy colourways with contrast roofs, mirrors and wheels, the extent of personalisation excitement you can get on the 2 is Mazda’s trademark Soul red paint.

With its snub nose, its short rear overhang and – in this trim – small-looking wheels, the Mazda somewhat misses the cool corner of the class. You can’t have it as a 3-door either. For those thinking about image first, we can see why a Clio or Corsa might be higher up your list.

However, to dismiss the Mazda 2 based purely on the fact that you don’t perceive its image as cool would be to miss out on what is one of the best put together cars in this class – and also one of the best to drive.

Mazda 2 review: Peeling back the layers

The 2’s qualities don’t reveal themselves immediately – in a test drive style environment, for example. But over a week with the car you’ll find it peeling back the layers of its hidden talents, such as the pilant ride, sharp steering and Porsche-lite control weight consistency.

And the impressive and easy-to-use sat nav and media system offer touchscreen capability when stationary but a less distracting scroll-wheel and shortcut button system for when you’re on the move. 

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You’ve got to be prepared to give it some time, though, because if you’re used to something from Germany, or some of the more youthful European products in this market, the tinny clang as the doors swing shut will come as a surprise. As will the unremittingly black-and-grey cabin, with its grey seats and plasticky switchgear.

But those seats are comfortable, even on long journeys, and all that plasticky switchgear falls easily to hand and is logically placed – with perhaps the exception of the button panel on the lower fascia, just inset of the door jam.

These panels are a growing phenomenon, and they tend to cluster together the controls for the driver assist systems such as lane-keep assist, smart city braking and so on. What’s notable is that these advanced safety systems are included on a mid-range model at this level. What you miss out on in cool design, Mazda more than gives you back in standard equipment.

Mazda 2 review: Kitted out

In fact, our SE-L Nav spec car – which in its 1.5-litre, 90bhp format costs £14,495 – comes with almost everything you could wish for from a small car. If you’re upgrading from a supermini that’s five to 10 years old then you’re in for a real treat.

Of course you get the usual for the twentyteens kit – remote central locking, electric windows, a host of airbags, Bluetooth and a DAB radio. But you’ll get the safety support stuff too – hill hold assist, smart city emergency braking, lane keeping assist and electronic stability control.

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And you can add to that cruise control with a speed limiter function, air conditioning, and the MZD-Connect media system which consists of 7-inch touchscreen, with the aforementioned rotary/shortcut controller on the console – which runs SatNav (with 3 years of European map updates included), Aha and Stitcher Apps for internet radio and social media integration – and keeps a CD player alongside the USB and Aux ports.

At this level, we think where the Mazda really scores is not in just offering so much as standard, but making its on-board technology so easy to use, non-distracting and generally quick-responding and accurate. We far prefer using it on the move compared to any of its rivals’ comparative touchscreen systems.

The only thing you might long for is CarPlay or Android Auto integration – they’re coming, says Mazda – although a search of internet forums suggests that Android Auto is likely to arrive before CarPlay, with Mazda possibly working on a software update to the current system that may make integration possible down the line. Don’t hold us to that, but given this is becoming an important facility for many people making buying decisions, we feel it’s worth mentioning.

Mazda 2 review: SkyActiv

While the infotainment system is a strong reason to buy the Mazda (if you can cope with aforementioned lack of CarPlay/Android Auto), it’s not the primary reason we’d be drawn to the Mazda 2.

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Instead, it’s the way this car drives that proves to be its most compelling quality. The 2 is built with Mazda’s SkyActiv suite of technologies – shorthanded, this equates to a lighter overall body weight, and the 1.5-litre, non-turbo petrol. You can get this in three states of tune – 75bhp, 115bhp and, as we tested here, 90bhp.

As standard, this engine comes with a 5-speed gearbox (many rivals – and indeed the 115 hp version – come with 6-speed), but the lack of ratios isn’t an issue because the box is slick and even at realistic UK motorway speeds, the little Mazda doesn’t feel strained or particularly un-refined.

It feels spritely, if not fast – running 0-60mph in 9.4-seconds, against CO2 emissions of 105g/km (£20/year road tax). Official combined fuel economy is 62.8mpg, but in a mix of 100-miles of heavy urban traffic and 200-miles of motorway journeys, we averaged just under 50mpg. Bear in mind that we’re relatively heavy footed.

Punting the Mazda down the average road is just enjoyable in a way many cars in this class aren’t. It’s fluent, it rides well, it turns in crisply, the throttle response is pretty sharp and there’s generally a lack of slack in the drivetrain that marks it apart from many current French cars, for instance.

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The only issue some drivers might have is that the 1.5-litre needs revving to give its best. Compared to the punchy low-down delivery of the modern turbo units in rivals, it needs a slightly different style of driving.

Verdict

The Mazda 2 is something of a jeckyll and hyde car. Whether you’ll get on with it will depend on your priorities, attitude and driving style.

The 280-litre boot isn’t the biggest, the rear seat doesn’t offer the space of something like a Honda Jazz, while the lack of fun, youthful personalisation options will put off some buyers too. 

But otherwise, the Mazda 2 delivers the many qualities you need to make a car liveable from day-to-day in spades. It drives better than many of its competitors, which is the ultimate reason to consider it.

However, on a simple dealer visit or test drive you might dismiss it. For the first two days we had the Mazda 2, we wondered why you’d buy one over a Fiesta, a Clio or a Corsa. However, as the week drew on, as journeys varied and as we travelled more, the Mazda’s driving dynamics, easy interface and high level of engineering quality really shone through.

Just like the last generation, the Mazda 2 is the dark horse of this class. To dismiss it, would be to miss out on what’s one of the best cars in the class to live with, in the long term.