Samsung catches flak from exploding phones as Apple retakes lead in mobile

Why it matters to you

Getting Android users to switch to iOS, combined with rising App Store revenue, could encourage developers to bring their latest and greatest apps to iOS first.

Apple set the pace for smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2016, narrowly edging out its main rival, according to new data from independent research firm Strategy Analytics.

During the final three months of the year, Apple shipped 78.3 million devices, up from 74.8 million during the same period in 2015. Rival Samsung shipped roughly 800,000 less — allowing Apple to seize the lead for the fiscal quarter with 17.8 percent of global market share, compared to Samsung’s 17.7 percent.

More: Apple manages to sell a record 78 million iPhones in the first fiscal quarter

Strategy Analytics notes that Samsung’s fourth-quarter shipments were down 3.8 million year-over-year, which the firm attributed to the Galaxy Note 7 battery controversy. The South Korean company’s 17.7 quarterly share and 20.8 annual share are its lowest since 2011. Despite the slide, Samsung still managed to sell 309 million smartphones in 2016, while Apple moved 215 million.

Strategy Analytics

Insights from Apple’s earnings call on Tuesday support the claim that the company benefited from Samsung’s botched launch. CEO Tim Cook shared that 50 percent of Apple’s sales in China during what it terms the first quarter of 2017 (the fourth quarter of calendar year 2016) went to switchers and first-time buyers, as opposed to existing iPhone users, and that the total install base “continues to grow [in China], in the strong double digits.”

Apple’s boost in market share was mirrored by a strong quarter for the company’s Services segment, which encompasses digital content revenue streams like the App Store and Apple Music. Over the same span, the division earned $7.17 billion — a growth of 18 percent from the $6.05 billion earned the previous year.

Beyond Apple and Samsung, other players in the smartphone industry have seen key gains. Third-place Huawei broke double-digits in market share for the first time ever, reaching 10.2 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 8.1 percent in the closing months of 2015. Oppo followed with its own historic reporting period, doubling its share of the global market year-over-year to 6.7 percent, good for fourth position.

Although the top two companies overall shipped less devices throughout the entirety of last year than they had in 2015, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and others picked up the slack to make 2016 a record year for smartphone sales. Manufacturers shifted 50 million more units in 2016 compared to the previous year, making for a total of 1.49 billion sold globally.

Best Accessories for Amazing Selfies

Taking photos alone? Make them better with these affordable finds.

The front-facing camera is there for one reason and one reason only: to shoot pictures of you! Don’t let people judge you for whipping out a selfie stick, either — how else are you supposed to fit yourself, your family members, and your friends into a photo with a beautiful mountain range as your backdrop?

Smartphone accessories may be a nuisance for some, but as long as you’re using them responsibly, they’re extremely helpful for capturing that one shot. Here’s how to equip yourself if you’re often shooting yourself alone with your smartphone’s capable front-facing camera.

• CamKix Bluetooth Shutter Control
• Umsky Selfie Ring Light
• Foneso Extendable Monopod
• E-PLG Smartphone Attachment for Pet
• Amir 3-in-1 Lens Camera Kit

CamKix Bluetooth Shutter Control

This is a solid Bluetooth remote. I have several of these floating around in my house and I’ve paired them with various devices so that they’re handy when I need to shoot a scene with just my smartphone.

I’ve never had issues pairing them, either, and they come in several different colors to match your kit. These shutters are also compatible with iOS, in case you’re living that dual-platform lifestyle.

See at Amazon

Umsky Selfie Ring Light

I have several of these floating around, too. Not only do they provide the right kind of light when you’re filming a Snapchat confessional or video-chatting with family across the world, but you can clip then on to anything to shine a bit of light where you might need it.

This selfie rings work with almost every smartphone and tablet and offer three varying levels of brightness.

See at Amazon

Foneso Extendable Monopod

It’s a selfie stick and a self-supporting tripod in one! The metal tripod is seven inches long but can extend up to 32 inches for taking selfies with beautiful backdrops.

The adjustable phone holder fits most phones that are less than three inches in width and features soft padding so it doesn’t scratch up the chassis of your device. The 1/4-inch screw is compatible with other cameras, too, like a GoPro or an Gear 360.

See at Amazon

E-PLG Smartphone Attachment for Pet

This is just a tennis ball that affixes to your smartphone, but it’s the perfect ruse to get your dog to sit still for a second.

Use the ball as bait to get your dog looking forward and then once you snap the selfie, throw the ball to give your dog a well-deserved run around the lawn. Good boy!

See at Amazon

Amir 3-in-1 Lens Camera Kit

Shoot a fun selfie session with these clip-on smartphone camera lenses. This three-in-one kit lets you shoot with the aforementioned fisheye, wide angle, and macro, which can be handy if you’re going close up on your face. You can easily clip the lens on to the rear-facing or front-facing camera and swap them out as you please. The kit comes with a soft carrying case and three lenses.

See at Amazon

Your choices?

What are your best selfie bets? Let us know in the comments!

Barnes & Noble recalls Nook 7 tablet chargers over electrical shock concern

You now have another reason not to buy this tablet.

There are plenty of issues with the Barnes & Noble Nook 7 tablet (not the least of which being its questionable software), but B&N is also now issuing a recall of the Nook 7’s charger. Together with the U.S. CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), Barnes & Noble identified that some chargers were breaking under pressure and exposing internal components, which posed an electrical shock risk.

Chargers with the issue are those shipped with the Nook 7 tablet that have the model number TPA-95A050100UU. If you’re unsure of which Nook you have, these chargers were bundled with the model BNTV450.

To get your charger replaced, head to Barnes & Noble’s recall page and register your product using the serial number from the tablet. You’ll get a replacement charger for your Nook 7, as well as a B&N gift card when you return your recalled charger.

While you wait for a replacement, you can continue to use the included USB cable to charge the Nook 7 with any computer or other charger adapter you may have around.

Republicans poised to roll back environmental protections

With astonishing speed, US Republicans are set to strike down laws or vote on a new bills that eliminate environmental protections for the air, streams and national parks. The measures are being tabled so quickly that it has been difficult for environmentalists and Democrats to muster opposition. Much of the Republican strategy depends on a little used law called the Congressional Review Act, signed into power by Bill Clinton in the ’90s to prevent presidents from creating new laws on their way out of office.

Since Obama put some of the laws in place during the end of his term, the rule will let Congress strike them down without much fuss, and President Trump isn’t likely to veto those actions. “During a presidential transition when we’re transferring from one party to another party, that’s the only time when it really makes a difference,” energy lawyer Scott Segal told the Washington Post last year.

The most contentious is a bill to repeal the National Park Service’s 9B rule updates, a move that paves the way for weaker oil and gas exploration regulations on pristine public land. “If the Park Service’s drilling rules are repealed, national parks across the country would be subjected to poorly regulated oil and gas drilling, threatening parks’ air, water and wildlife,” said National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) head Nicholas Lund.

Forty parks in the US have “split estate” ownership, where the federal government owns the land but cedes below-surface mineral rights to private companies. The rules require detailed planning, but Congress wants to strip out recent protection updates from President Obama and make it harder for future governments to re-introduce them.

Ever since Republican Teddy Roosevelt spurred their expansion over 100 years ago, there was a broad consensus across political lines to protect parks. However, the so-called “anti-parks caucus” has recently angled to unlock more public land for drilling and development.

Oil rig near Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Ken Cedeno/Corbis via Getty Images)

Oil and gas exploration in parks could disrupt wildlife migration routes, cause oil spills that can ruin waterways, strip the land of vegetation, and pollute otherwise crystal-clear air. Moreover, “the visitor experience is impacted by this type of structure [drilling rigs],” Theodore Roosevelt national park superintendent Wendy Ross told the Guardian last year.

In a statement, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar said that President Obama “has exceeded the intent of the Antiquities Act more than any other president in the history of this country” by designating 24 new monuments and locking up 4 million acres of land. However, a recent Center for American Progress poll showed that 71 percent of Americans are opposed to oil and gas drilling in parks. It also notes that parks, monuments, forests and wilderness areas generate $646 billion in consumer spending, more than the mining, oil and gas drilling and logging industries combined.

The House will also vote today to eliminate laws that protect streams from coal mining developments. The aim of the rules, developed over years by the Interior Department, was to prevent coal waste from contaminating water sources around mountain-top mines. However, Republicans say the law goes too far and makes coal projects economically unfeasible. “Tomorrow, we’re turning the page on Obama’s war on coal,” said Virginia Republican Rep. Evan Jenkins.

A mountain top coal mine in West Virginia (Andrew Lichtenstein via Getty Images)

Ironically, stream protection laws were first put in place by Ronald Regan in 1983. The original aim was to prevent sensitive waterways from being buried under coal mining rubble “that can destroy or gravely endanger rivers,” said NPCA director Chad Lord. Other risks to waterways include heavy metal contamination, soil erosion and the lowering of groundwater levels. The Obama administration effectively restored parts of the laws that were stripped out under President George W. Bush.

The proposed Republican rule, environmental groups claim, would eliminate much of the oversight related to coal mining operations. “The attacks on this rule are shortsighted and an insult to the tens of thousands of citizens who spoke up for strong stream protections,” says Appalachian Voices’ Thom Kay.

On Friday, Republicans also hope to chop an Obama administration law that would force oil refiners to get a better handle on methane leaks at oil and gas facilities. It was designed to prevent disasters like the Aliso Canyon methane leak (below), which dumped 107,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere. Since methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the leak was equivalent to the CO2 emissions from a half million cars.

Scott L/Wikimedia Commons

Experts estimate that there are methane infrastructure leaks everywhere, causing unknown amounts of pollution around the nation. However, the oil and gas industry argued that it is independently solving the issue, so the recent rules were “unnecessary and redundant.”

Another law on the chopping block is a 2011 regulation requiring automakers to achieve an average 54.5 mpg fuel economy rating, a rule that would force them to build more electric cars. Given their age, those rules will be more difficult to undo, as the EPA would need to put a replacement law in place. However, the Trump administration reportedly plans to attack it by going around the EPA and through the Department of Transport.

We’re not surprised at what they’re doing, but maybe a little surprised at how fast and furious it’s all happening. But we were bracing for it and we’re ready.

Opposition groups have accused Republicans of kowtowing to industry, ignoring multiple stakeholder groups that helped the last administration craft the rules. On its website, the Sierra Club criticized proposed Trump EPA chief Scott Pruitt, saying he “led the fight against climate action and the Clean Power Plan, doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry.”

Recent polls have shown that the majority of Americans, including Republicans and Trump supporters, support renewable energy over coal and oppose the rollbacks by Congress. That will no doubt mean more public protests against the rules, and environmental groups say they’re also ready for a fight. However, the Republican-controlled House is killing multiple protection laws nearly simultaneously, making it difficult for environmentalists, the public and industry to react quickly enough.

“We’re not surprised at what they’re doing, but maybe a little surprised at how fast and furious it’s all happening,” Sierra Club Legal Director Pat Gallagher told PBS News Hour. “But we were bracing for it and we’re ready.”

Source: Reuters

Volkswagen agrees to yet another diesel cheating settlement

Volkswagen has agreed to pay at least $1.2 billion to compensate US owners for lying about emissions on 3.0-liter diesel vehicles. Owners of 20,000 model-year 2009-2012 cars — which can’t be fixed to meet legal standards — will be offered a buyback or trade-in and from $7,755 to $13,880 in compensation, depending on the model. Buyers of 58,000 newer cars will have their vehicles repaired and receive up to $16,114. However, if the FTC isn’t satisfied with the fixes, VW could be forced to buy back those cars too, making the settlement as high as $4 billion.

The deal covers 78,000 Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche cars with 3.0 liter TDI engines. The company already agreed on a $14.7 billion settlement for around 500,000 smaller 2.0-liter diesels. With this latest deal, “all of our customers with affected vehicles in the United States will have a resolution available to them,” said Volkswagen Group of America chief Hinrich J. Woebcken.

All of the models were equipped with “defeat devices” that only kicked in emission controls when they detected that pollution tests were underway. Once vehicles hit the road, they were turned off, allowing for driver-pleasing power levels but 20 times the legal amount of nitrogen oxide, an exhaust gas that kills tens of thousands of people a year.

This order completes the FTC’s case against Volkswagen by ensuring that all consumers who purchased a TDI diesel engine vehicle will be fully compensated for their losses.

“This order completes the FTC’s case against Volkswagen by ensuring that all consumers who purchased a TDI diesel engine vehicle will be fully compensated for their losses,” the FTC said in a statement. Volkswagen CEO Volkmar Denner also said that the company is anxious to move on and focus on its next-gen EVs and other projects. However, the company is still dealing with potential fines and penalties in the EU and elsewhere.

Now that it’s all over, how much has VW paid out in the US? While it’s hard to gauge the price of the destruction the cars wrought on the environment and our health, $21.4 billion is far and away the steepest settlement ever paid by a corporation (the company earned $8.3 billion in the first half of 2016). Perhaps more importantly, it should stand as an abject lesson in corporate morality, for anyone who still thinks that self-regulation is a good idea. The following chart details all the settlements.

Source: FTC

PlayStation VR bundles are back

Sony knows that you probably don’t have the camera and Move controllers needed to make use of its PlayStation VR headset, so it’s reviving and expanding its virtual reality bundles to help get you started. On top of the original bundle, which includes the necessary hardware, the PSVR demo disc and PlayStation VR Worlds, there’s a new GameStop/EB Games exclusive bundle that packs in the on-rails shooter Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. Both will cost the same $499 as the previous bundle, and it’s really just a question of when you can get them: the regular bundle will hit stores next week, while the Rush of Blood kit will be available later in February.

Source: PlayStation Blog

‘My Brother’s Keeper’ uses new VR tech to reenact the Civil War

A story about two estranged brothers facing off on a Civil War battlefield might seem like a strange fit for a virtual reality film, but My Brother’s Keeper isn’t your typical VR movie. The PBS film, which premiered at Sundance last week, uses its period setting to show off several new filmmaking techniques, including the first 120FPS slow motion recording in VR and the use of a customized action camera rig. But most importantly, it uses all of that technical wizardry to craft a genuinely moving story.

My Brother’s Keeper is set around the battle of Antietam, which is notorious for being the deadliest single-day fight in American history. Amid the conflict — which involves over 150 Civil War re-enactors — the two brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the fight. At a short running time of just nine minutes, we only get glimpses at their lives, but they’re enough to make an emotional impact. The film, which was written and directed by Connor Hair and Alex Meader and produced by StoryTech Immersive and Perception Squared together with the Technicolor Experience Center, is also partially inspired by the PBS Civil War series Mercy Street.

“We are witnessing the birth of a new medium, so there is a lot for us to learn and invent at every point in the process; from pre-production, production, post-production and distribution, there is a lot of innovation happening,” PBS producer Don Wilcox said in an email to Engadget. “Hardware continues to improve, capabilities expand, and shooting and editing techniques continue to mature. One thing that will help us over time is the development of standard formats — today just about every platform has its own requirements, which creates extra work and inconsistency in what viewers ultimately see, depending on their device.”

There’s no shortage of ways to view My Brother’s Keeper. It’s available on just about every VR video platform, including YouTube, Facebook, VivePort (for HTC’s Vive), Oculus Rift and Samsung Video for the Gear VR. You can also view it in standard 2D 360-degree video on YouTube and Facebook, but those options only match a fraction of the experience. With a VR headset, you get a full stereoscopic 3D view of the film, which offers much more depth and clarity than the flat version.

Based on the VR films I’ve seen so far — which includes Obama’s ode to Yosemite and his farewell tour of the White House — there’s little reason to watch one that isn’t rendered in 3D. The whole point of strapping on a VR headset is to achieve a sense of “presence,” the idea that you’re transported somewhere else and watching it in person. That’s a tough sensation to convey when you’re just watching a 2D video wrapped around your eyes. In My Brother’s Keeper, the 3D filming was particularly striking in its long shots of wheat fields and battle scenes, as well as closeups of the lead actors.

As for the new things the film brings to the table, I particularly enjoyed its implementation of slow motion. The filmmakers were the first to use Jaunt’s VR rig to achieve 120-fps recording, and the result is a silky smooth virtual image. It almost feels like time is slowing down around you a bit. The effect is mostly used during the battle scenes, which gives you time to soak in the detail in the actors’ costumes and the carnage happening around you. Helping out the slow motion is a new action rig, which allows the camera to smoothly flow through space. (Typically VR filmmakers just plop their cameras down in a single spot.)

I wasn’t as big a fan of the film’s use of 180-degree framing, which basically just blurs a large portion of the image to focus on what’s in front of you. It feels a bit like the shallow focus trend we’re seeing in TVs and films today (like how the show Louie is shot), but it’s just needlessly limiting in VR. I actually thought something was wrong with the Daydream headset I was wearing the first time I saw the blurry effect.

And as Wilcox tells us, there are still plenty of challenges for shooting in VR: “There is no ‘fourth wall’ since the camera can see in all directions,” he noted. “This creates challenges for the crew, who need to get out of the shot. This required us to hide behind trees, haystacks and cornfields to stay out of sight.” Actors also have to be more mindful of their own performances, since they can’t be closely monitored by the director.

Wilcox describes VR post-production as “significantly” more complex than traditional films. “Camera rigs must be painted out, visual effects have to be rendered multiple times to fill the surround format and stitching together the different camera views takes skill and precision,” he said.

In My Brother’s Keeper, we can see glimpses of where VR filmmaking is headed. As a medium, VR is still very much in an early stage, and there are bound to be issues as artists explore new technology and techniques. But that just makes the successful attempts that much more exciting.

Kickstarter acquires live streaming company Huzza

Kickstarter today announced that it has purchased Huzza, the live-streaming startup that helped create Kickstarter Live. Like Twitch for creators, Live is a video platform that helps facilitate Q+As and connect people asking for money to people that have it. According to Kickstarter, 74 percent of creators who stream on the platform get funded, with the average viewer spending over 16 minutes watching livestreams.

Founded in 2015 by entrepreneurs Justin Womersely and Nick Smit, Huzza has swiftly struck the big time. The acquisition implies that live video will be a key part of the company’s crowdfunding platform moving forward. Huzza’s co-founders will head up a new Kickstarter office based in Vancouver, Canada, where they’ll lead a team of engineers that will continue to develop Kickstarter Live.

Source: Kickstarter

Bill Nye and Buzz Aldrin do a little turn on the catwalk

Never in a million years did I think I’d see Bill Nye and Buzz Aldrin walk a runway together, but that’s exactly what happened. Both were part of designer Nick Graham’s Fall 2017 fashion show in New York City, where he revealed his new “Life on Mars: F/W 2035” menswear collection. Graham says the event was inspired by our need to explore the Red Planet, as well as his admiration for Aldrin’s space travel accomplishments — like being one of the first humans to land on the moon. That’s why you’ll see garments with prints of rockets and planets, or designs in red that are meant to represent Mars’ famed hues.

As for Nye being the master of ceremony, the “Science Guy” said Graham had designed bow ties for him before. Eventually, they developed a friendship and decided to work on this project, which isn’t surprising considering the motif speaks to Nye’s heart. At the show, Nye gave attendees a talk before the models walked the runway, in which he shared his knowledge on space and expressed how important it is for humans to keep exploring planets.

Let’s take a look at what else happened at this fashion show, which appropriately featured David Bowie’s Life on Mars as its theme song. It was only right.

Tesla drops ‘Motors’ from its name

In a move designed to cement the company as more than just a car maker, Tesla has dropped the “Motors” from its name. The firm posted the necessary SEC paperwork this morning and comes as Elon Musk moves his business well beyond its original mission. After all, with the purchase of Solar City, launch of Powerwall and the solar roof, Tesla is as much of an energy company as it is a car maker.

The obvious, tedious comparison to make is with Apple, which chose to ditch “Computer” from its name way back in 2007. It was the moment that the company signposted that the iPod wasn’t simply a fluke and that it saw its future in consumer electronics. After all, the change was announced on the same day that it announced the first generation iPhone.

Tesla Motors has changed its name to Tesla. https://t.co/u2AENjVoxR

— Alistair Charlton (@AlistairJ90) February 1, 2017

Last summer, Elon Musk unveiled the second part of Tesla’s grand master plan for his transportation business. The document included merging the energy generation and storage businesses he was involved with, as well as widening Tesla’s vehicle portfolio. But beyond that, Musk wants to build super-safe autonomous vehicles and enable people to rent those cars out when they’re not in use.

All of that would turn Tesla into a conglomerate with divisions in car and battery production, energy generation, artificial intelligence and an Uber-style transportation marketplace. You can see why anyone would think having Motors in the name would feel a bit like a straitjacket.

Via: Alistair Charlton (Twitter)

Source: SEC