BT launches Whole Home Wi-Fi to eliminate dead spots

BT has come up with a new Wi-Fi router system, the first of its kind in the UK, which promises to effectively eliminate “dead spots”. The system comprises three compact, 165mm discs, each with four built-in antenna which extend the Wi-Fi signal around your home.

• BT Smart Hub: BT’s new Hub is faster, smarter and ready for the future

BT says the new system will mean you’ll never get a weak signal no matter where you are in your home as it can intelligently determine which disc your device needs to connect to. BT has designed a companion app to go with the system that will give you complete control. It even provides a step-by-step guide telling you how to set it up and where best to place each of the discs.

You’ll also be able to see how your network is being used, who is online as well as being able to “pause” your connection to keep people off during meal times, or whenever you want the family to talk to each other.

• Google Wi-Fi now available to buy: How does the mesh router work?

It sounds like a similar system to Google Wi-Fi, which is only available in the US. The aim of both systems is to increase the Wi-Fi coverage around your home without affecting signal quality or speed.

The BT Whole Home Wi-Fi system is available now for £299.99

Android Wear 2.0 will launch on 9 February

Usually reliable Twitter tipster Evan Blass has confirmed today that Android Wear 2.0 will launch on 9 February. It marries up nicely with an email sent to Android Developers saying the new software would launch in early February.

• Android Wear 2.0: What’s new in the major software update for watches?

Android Wear 2.0 will usher in a wealth of new features, including built-in access to the Play Store, the ability for apps to connect to the internet directly via Wi-Fi on whatever watch you’re using, no smartphone needed and a new app launcher. A reply to Blass’s tweet lists the Android Wear watches already available that will be upgraded to 2.0 this year. We can’t confirm the authenticity of the list, but it’s some good info to go with for now.

• Best smartwatches to look forward to in 2017

Watches expected to be updated this year include:

• Moto 360 Gen 2
• Moto 360 Sport
• LG Watch Urbane Gen 2 LTE
• LG Watch Urbane
• LG G Watch R
• Polar M600
• Casio Smart Outdoor Watch
• Nixon Mission
• Tag Heuer Connected
• Fossil Q Wander
• Fossil Q Marshall
• Fossil Q Founder
• Michael Kors Access Bradshaw
• Michael Kors Access Dylan
• Huawei Watch
• Huawei Watch ladies
• Asus ZenWatch 2
• Asus ZenWatch 3

We’re also expecting to see a possible third generation of the LG Watch Urbane at MWC 2017, along with two Google branded smartwatches later in the year.

App Store app prices set to rise 25 percent following Brexit

Apps in Apple’s App Store are going to rise in price by 25 percent following the UK’s decision to leave the EU. All price tiers will be affected, meaning a 79p app will now cost 99p and £1.49 apps will rise to £1.79. Even Super Mario Run, which at £7.99 could already be deemed expensive, will rise to £9.99. It means UK app store prices are on par with the US for the first time when you factor in the weakened pound, combined with the UK’s 20 percent VAT rate.

• Brexit forces OnePlus 3 price to soar £329

Customers in other markets including India and Turkey will see price increases, but the rise in the UK can almost certainly be blamed on Brexit. The pound is at its lowest rate against the dollar in nearly 31 years, dipping below $1.20. The lowest priced apps will be no 49p, but only if developers opt to use the alternative tiers. 

• Apple App Store and Google Play are changing: How will that affect you?

The increases will roll out in the next seven days. But Apple is by no means the first company to have to increase its UK prices because of Brexit. Tesla has been forced to put a 5 percent increase on custom car orders, the OnePlus 3 has gone up by £20, computer maker Dell has put the prices up on its portfolio of products and even the HTC Vive has gone up by £70.

Apple has told Pocket-lint: “Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business. These factors vary from region to region and over time.”

Autopilot update rolls out to all Teslas with HW2 hardware

Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot update has rolled out to all its HW2 vehicles, company chief Elon Musk has announced on Twitter. HW2 is what the automaker calls its second-generation self-driving hardware found in its newer models, including the Model S and X. The Enhanced Autopilot update was designed to bring several autonomous features to the new hardware, such as autosteer, smart summon, autopark and auto lane change. Some of those features were available on the first-gen hardware, but Tesla had to deactivate them for HW2 until they’ve undergone more testing. Unfortunately, it might still take some time before you can try the reactivated features unless you’re one of the 1,000 testers who had early access to them.

Musk said Enhanced Autopilot is in “non-actuating mode,” which means it’ll lurk in your system in an inactive state while Tesla continues to assess its reliability. If all goes well, the automaker could activate all the features that came with the update as soon as the end of this week. You’ll know for sure once they’ve appeared on the system’s patch notes.

HW2 Autopilot now downloading to all HW2 cars, but in non-actuating mode to assess reliability. If looks good, actuation by end of week.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2017

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

Apple hikes UK App Store prices by 25 percent because Brexit

If you’re an iPhone, iPad or Mac user in the UK, prepare yourself: App Store prices are on the rise. As 9to5Mac reports, developers are being notified that their software will soon be bumped up in price. Apps worth 79 pence before will soon cost 99 pence, while those priced at £1.49 will rise to £1.99. Similar increases will be seen at higher price points too — video games with a £7.99 price-tag, such as Nintendo’s Super Mario Run, will soon shoot up to £9.99, for instance. The reason? Almost certainly Brexit, and the negative impact it’s having on the pound at the moment.

An Apple spokesperson said: “Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business. These factors vary from region to region and over time.”

The timing couldn’t be worse for UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who will announce later today that Britain is leaving the European single market. The pound slipped to a 31-year low against the dollar last week, and today dropped below the euro too. These fluctuations are tied to the ongoing uncertainty around Britain and the trade deals it will be able to negotiate once May triggers Article 50, the political starting pistol for the nation’s exit from the European Union.

Apple isn’t the only technology company adapting to Brexit uncertainty. Last year, the OnePlus 3 and HTC Vive received small, but significant price increases in the UK. Tesla announced a similar move for its electric vehicles in December — the implementation was pushed from January 1st to 15th, however — upping sticker prices by 5 percent to accommodate for the shifting currency. Apple has been doing the same, albeit quietly, for some of its key hardware, including the iPad Pro and iPhone 7. We wouldn’t be surprised if more companies follow their lead in the next few months.

Source: 9to5Mac

The Morning After: Tuesday, January 17th 2017

Why are there so many sketchy ads for fake goods on Instagram? Why have e-waste levels jumped? And why is LG boasting that its next phone won’t burst into flames? That’s a lot of questions for a Tuesday morning.

Great deals on Armami and Doir.
Why do Instagram and Twitter want me to buy fake Yeezys?

Both Facebook and Twitter are part of the Ads Integrity Alliance and have policies in place to keep out sketchy advertisers, but that’s clearly not keeping some from slipping through the cracks. Without much oversight from the social networks themselves, exercising common sense is key; if an ad sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you’re seeing an ad for a pair of Yeezys that cost less than their retail value, there’s no way those shoes are the real deal. For Facebook and Twitter, like harassment, this is yet another issue that needs to be taken more seriously.

Those controllers are far more important than the hardware they attach to.
The heart of Nintendo’s new console isn’t the Switch

The Switch is harder to describe than the latest Xbox or PlayStation. The console itself is the tablet: the part that does all the processing and acts as a screen when it’s away from your housebound dock and TV. But if the tablet is the brains of Nintendo’s strange new 2-in-1, the heart is split between the two Joy-Con controllers.

Gadget garbage levels have jumped almost two thirds in five years.
E-waste levels are surging in Asia

Throwaway gadget culture was already having a nasty effect on the environment, but now it’s getting considerably worse. A United Nations University study has revealed that the volume of e-waste in East and Southeast Asia surged 63 percent between 2010 and 2015, reaching 12.3 million tonnes. Some Asian countries (such as China) have rapidly burgeoning middle classes. That’s great for quality of life, but it also leads to more people buying gadgets that wind up in landfills

Some even want a 50-year ban
New York driver groups push for a ban on autonomous cars

Companies like Uber and Lyft dream of a day when they can depend solely on self-driving cars, and that’s making driver organizations a little nervous. New York’s Upstate Transportation Association and Independent Drivers Guild are both pressing for bans on autonomous vehicles in the state, out of concern that they’ll ultimately cost thousands of transportation jobs. The IDG believes that it only needs to preserve existing laws to guarantee a ban, but the UTA is considerably more aggressive — it wants a 50-year ban on self-driving cars.

That’s not a feature.
LG is already bragging that its next phone doesn’t explode

LG is trying to capitalize on Samsung’s Note 7 woes as it gears up to revealing its next flagship phone. It’s unfortunately poorly thought out. The company says it’s rigorously testing the phone through extreme heat and harsh drop tests, as well as pointing out an embedded heat pipe to help disperse extra warmth. Well, all signs point to the battery being the cause of Samsung’s problems: a heat pipe wouldn’t have helped. (And the Galaxy S7 had one anyway…)

ZeniMax says Facebook knew that Oculus stole its core tech.
Mark Zuckerberg will testify in Oculus VR lawsuit this week

Mark Zuckerberg is heading to a Dallas court to testify in an ongoing lawsuit filed against Oculus, the VR company Facebook purchased for $2.3 billion. ZeniMax, the parent company of Doom developer id Software, claims that Oculus CTO John Carmack took its intellectual property when he left the company in 2013. Zuckerberg will testify in the suit tomorrow (January 17th), and Oculus co-founder (and noted recluse) Palmer Luckey is also set to testify later in the week.

But wait, there’s more…

• James Cameron producing history of sci-fi series for AMC
• We’ve never seen global sea ice levels this low before
• Nintendo’s Switch doesn’t come with a charging Joy-Con grip
• Virginia bill would effectively ban city-run broadband

Raspberry Pi gives its PC-on-a-stick a big speed boost

Raspberry Pi has taken its latest computing board and squished it onto the stick-sized Compute Module 3, giving it about ten times the power of the original Compute Module. Unlike the Raspberry Pi 3 upon which it’s based, however, the device is built for industrial applications, prototypers and advanced hobbyists, not students or casual users. It can now play that part a lot better, thanks to a 1.2GHz Broadcom processor, 1GB of RAM (double that of the original) and upgradeable storage.

Raspberry Pi points out that NEC used the device in its latest signage and presentation monitors (below), giving you an idea as to the intended market. It fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM form factor, making it easy to find inexpensive sockets from several manufacturers. Developers will also want the Compute Module IO Board, giving you Pi-like pin and flexi connectors, MicroSD, HDMI and USB “so that you have an entire system that can boot Raspbian (or the OS of your choice),” the organization wrote.

The idea with the Compute Module is “to provide the ‘team in a garage’ with easy access to the same technology as the big guys,” Raspberry Pi wrote. As such, manufacturers can add it into a dumb device to make it smart, since it can single-handedly do processing, memory and routing chores. At the same time, it should be relatively easy to program for anyone with some Pi experience.

The Compute Module 3 with upgradeable MicroSD storage runs $30 (£27), but if you’re fine with 4GB of fixed flash memory, you can go for a $25 (£22) “Lite” module. The IO board is sold separately for £96 (around $116) or together with the Compute Module 3 for £126 (about $143). For details on how to get it in the UK, US and elsewhere, hit Raspberry Pi’s announcement post.

Via: PC World

Source: Raspberry Pi

Virtual Credit Card Service ‘boon’ Now Available to Apple Pay Customers in France

Wirecard launched its mobile payment solution, boon, in France today, allowing iPhone owners to use prepaid virtual credit cards in their Apple Pay wallet.

Launched in the U.K. in May of last year, boon is independent of any bank and offers a pre-paid account with a digital MasterCard that users can top up via wire transfer, debit or credit card. The moble payment app works at any NFC-enabled terminal where the MasterCard contactless logo appears.

“By launching boon with Apple Pay in France, even more users in Europe can experience a new level of mobile payments without being a customer of a specific bank. Thanks to its ease of use and maximum security standards, boon is a state-of-the-art payment solution”, said Georg von Waldenfels, Executive Vice President Consumer Solutions with Wirecard.

Users who want to pay with the mobile app boon outside of France, can upgrade to the level “boon. PLUS” which has a maximum top-up limit of 5000 euros and does not include any additional costs.  

Apple Pay became available in France in June of last year, with cards issued by Banque Populaire, Ticket Restaurant, Carrefour Banque, and Caisse d’Epargne available for use on eligible devices.

The boon app is a free download from the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Nest Smart Home Products Coming to Four More European Countries

Smart home brand Nest has announced it is making its products available in four more countries across Europe, with Spain, Italy, Germany, and Austria being added to its official retail roster.

From February 15, customers in the above regions will now be able to buy the Nest 3.0 learning thermostat (249 euros), the Protect smoke alarm (119 euros), and the company’s indoor and outdoor cameras (199 euros). Nest products can be pre-ordered now from Amazon, local retailers, and select energy suppliers.

Now that we’re in four more countries, twice as many European homes have the chance to become Nest homes. We also plan to make our products available through even more energy, insurance and telco partners, as well as enlist the help of thousands of Nest Pro installers. So getting and installing Nest products, and connecting them to Works with Nest products, will be simple.

The latest market expansion will be a boost to Nest. The company’s products are used in homes in over 190 countries, but were previously only officially sold and supported in seven. The last market rollout occurred in September 2014. Nest says it will continue to expand into more countries as demand continues to grow.

Tag: Nest
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Nintendo Switch launch line up is poor but “not be all and end all” for console

Most who have played with a Nintendo Switch so far will agree that it has great potential. It is a clever piece of technology that has a chance of finding a gap in the market and therefore do much better than its predecessor, the Wii U.

However, almost everyone also agrees that the meagre launch line-up of games do it no favours – at least on day one.

Only five titles are so far confirmed for release day, 3 March: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Bomberman R, 1 2 Switch, Skylanders Imaginators and Just Dance 2017. They will be followed in March by Snipperclips, Fast RMX and Has Been Heroes, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – an enhanced remaster of the Wii U classic – to follow in April.

Take a look at a sampling of titles for #NintendoSwitch from Nintendo and our third party partners coming this year with more on the way! pic.twitter.com/aYSizTQDsS

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 13, 2017

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Other third-party games might bolster that list, but it’s not exactly overflowing with titles that’ll convince non-die hard Nintendo fans to part with more than £300 from the off (£280 for the Switch, much more for a game or two).

Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime isn’t worried, however. A proliferation of launch games is less important that ensuring regular, quality releases appear throughout the year: “Launch day is not the be-all and the end-all,” he told CNET.

“It really is the steady pacing of content that continually reinforces for the people who bought into the platform why they made a smart choice, as well as what compels people who might be sitting on the sidelines to jump in.”

Certainly, putting Super Mario Odyssey down as a “holiday 2017” release could be the biggest move, ensuring that Switch has a great Christmas. And the Wii U had 34 launch titles when it came out in 2012 and look what happened to that. Fils-Aime believes a new strategy is needed this time around.