Apple explores using an iPhone or iPad to power a laptop

The notion of using a phone to power a computer isn’t new — we’ve seen companies like HP and Motorola try, and ultimately fail, to make it a reality for years. But that’s not stopping Apple from considering the idea. The USPTO issued a patent filing this morning detailing how an iPhone, or an iPad, could be used to power an ultraportable laptop, AppleInsider reports. As usual, the patent idea likely won’t end up turning into full-fledged product (it was originally filed last September). But it gives us an idea of how Apple is looking at the future of mobile devices and ultraportables.

The patent filing shows off multiple forms of a potential “electronic accessory.” One features a slot near the trackpad area where you can drop in an iPhone, which provides all of the hardware necessary to run the Macbook-looking ultraportable. And, in a truly unique spin, the iPhone would also serve as the actual trackpad. Another concept describes sliding an iPad in the screen area to power the accessory. Apple also considers plugging additional batteries and GPU hardware in the accessory base to buoy the performance of the iPhone or iPad.

This might all seem a bit crazy, but it makes sense for Apple to be considering new ways to use its mobile hardware. Both the iPhone and iPad are getting faster every year, and such a nimble accessory could give Apple some intriguing ways to combat the rise of convertible, touchscreen-equipped PC laptops. We’re in a world where Microsoft’s Surface devices are demonstrating far more innovation when it comes to portable computing, and where Apple is being forced to respond with its iPad Pro line. It’s about time for the Cupertino company to try something new.

Via: AppleInsider

Source: USPTO (1), (2)

US ordered social media checks for some Visa applicants

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ordered “mandatory social media checks” on all visa applicants who visited ISIS-controlled regions, according to memos seen by Reuters. That could explain why some visitors to the US have complained about increased demands by customs officials to access phones and passwords for Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts.

The four memos instruct agents on how to implement President Trump’s latest ban on immigrants from six Muslim-majority nations. Secretary Tillerson reportedly issued the memos and then retracted some of later in response to court rulings in Hawaii and elsewhere that temporarily suspended key parts of the order.

Another cable instructs consular chiefs in each diplomatic mission to identify populations “warranting increased security.” Those groups, which could vary depending on the country, could then be screened more carefully by customs officials, according to the memo. Former US officials told Reuters that the “broad, labor intensive” screening described in the memos are currently done rarely, and would significantly increase the workload for consular officials.

US immigration officials use specific set of factors developed over years to target specific applicants for increased scrutiny. However, the new orders would broaden the rules and possibly lead to religious or ethnic profiling, an immigration lawyer told Reuters.

Back in 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Obama started formulating a plan to check the social media accounts of Visa applicants following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. In December, it added social media fields in Visa Waiver applications, but the information was optional and the DHS didn’t ask for passwords and credentials.

However, in January the agency started checking visitors’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, threatening to deny entry if they didn’t comply. Last month, the DHS told congress it would consider demanding social media passwords as well from US visitors. Shortly after, visitors (including a US-born NASA scientist), said they were ordered to unlock their phones and hand over passwords and other info.

Source: Reuters

Spotify’s latest music documentary chronicles Green Day’s rise

Spotify’s Landmark music documentary series debuted back in August with four episodes on the early days of Metallic. Today, another installment is premiering on the streaming service and this time you’ll get to relive the grungy angst of the early ’90s with Green Day. The first episode is available today with the other three to follow each Thursday through April 13th.

The Green Day version of Landmark starts with the band’s origins at Berkley’s Gilman Street venue in the late ’80s through the release of its platinum album Dookie in 1994. The show catches up with the band today and includes other artists who cite the group as an influence — acts like Ed Sheeran, All Time Low and more. Each episode in the series so far has been around 10 minutes or less, so you won’t have to dedicate much time to watching them. You can stream them via Spotify’s iOS and Android apps as well as on the desktop from the “Video Series” page.

As Spotify continues to debut new installments of Landmark, the streaming service is padding its content offerings elsewhere as well. Earlier this month, the company announced it would make WNYC podcasts available to stream. That list includes popular shows like 2 Dope Girls, Radiolab, Freakonomics Radio, On The Media and more. The service still has quite the lead in terms of users, but with Apple willing to shell out considerable amounts for limited exclusives, original video content and podcasts may help further pad those numbers.

The panic and pleasure of online dating as a woman in her 40s

Dating in my twenties and thirties made me feel like Odysseus, trying to choose between dashing myself on the ego-bruising rocks of casual romps or a slow death from unrequited lust for garbage humans. There was the ex who brutally dumped me but wouldn’t stop emailing me for months, whose presence at dorky work gatherings made me dizzy; the sociopathic film critic whose shoulder I virtually cried on; the go-nowhere first dates; and the great, wide swaths of time spent single, usually pining after some unavailable director or writer who’d relish my attention and nothing else. And lots of therapy.

There were a few things that sent me into a panic about turning 40, but the biggest — looming larger than the golden ring of a book deal or a staff job or, like, finally going back to yoga — was what it meant for me to still be single and actively looking for a partner at that age. Not so much even that I was single, but that I cared and what that implied. It just felt really basic, to be frank. There are plenty of things I simply do not give a single solitary fuck about when it comes to what women my age are supposed to be doing. So why did this one detail bother me?

Algorithms.

If you’re not familiar with the exciting world of online dating, sites and apps let you set search parameters that range from location to body type to education and, yes, age range. Just as there are movies on Netflix you might never stumble across in your bleary-eyed scrolling, there are plenty of people you might never see through some whim of programming code. Moreover, there’s the human factor; it’s much easier to reject someone arbitrarily than it is to make an exception. Those exceptions take effort, and online dating is like Amazon Prime for sex. (And love, ideally.) If it weren’t for the algorithms, I could meet all of these people IRL and they wouldn’t know I was 40 unless I showed them my birth certificate — ah, the very idea made me irate. How dare they reject me before I could reject them!

I’ve had dating profiles on and off for years. Whether they were the ancient Nerve.com ads I helped beta test as an intern or the old standby OKCupid, I’d invest time and energy into meeting men I wouldn’t otherwise come across in my day-to-day life (read: freelancing at home, usually pantless). Eventually, I’d get fed up with the banality of it all, hide my profile or delete the app. It has generally been rote and fruitless, with occasional flurries of excitement, but for someone who makes their living with words, I’ve had a weirdly difficult time wooing dudes with them.

Still, the day after I turned 40, I decided to fire up an old profile and see what happened. I’d taken a break from dating after a quick but hot liaison with a punk I’d met at a Damned concert petered out, but I wanted to, you know, put the vibes out there into the universe. As I waded through OkCupid’s endless questions and block of text, I imagined the countless men of New York City setting their age filters to 35 or, gasp, 39, and I wondered if it was true that anyone who didn’t accept me as I am isn’t worth knowing.

It never occurred to me in a serious way before this to lie about my age, even when I hit 30 or 35. In the context of dating, those ages felt a lot less damning than 40; they felt a lot more viable. Like my eggs. As ambivalent as I am about having my own children, there’s something haunting about that scene from My Cousin Vinny where Marisa Tomei stomps her foot about her biological clock ticking. My clock didn’t begin ticking louder when I turned 40, but the echo of her boots on the floor did.

Before now, the single men I wanted to date weren’t interested in nubile twenty-somethings — at least not exclusively — and even in my mid-thirties competition from younger women didn’t concern me. I had time, and if someone wanted to get up in my grill about having kids eventually, well, my mom had me when she was 38 and I turned out mostly okay. But now I’m encountering divorcees and mid-life crises and men who themselves lie about their ages and cheekily confess, “Haha, just hoping you’d be so charmed by the time you clicked that it wouldn’t matter!”

So, is lying the answer? My friend Chelsea G. Summers, who is 54, is firmly in favor of skimming a few years off one’s age, though always coming correct with current photos. Like me, she straddles the digital divide; we remember a time before DOS, but not a lot of dating without the accompanying click and beep of a modem. “I’d call it a slow attrition of diminishing returns,” Chelsea said about dating in NYC. “I feel as if I make out with a guy and tell a guy I’d like to enjoy sexual congress, he should be stoked. I had about a year-long run of being semi-seduced by men to have them hightail it, like scared little bunnies. It was making me feel like crap, so I went to Europe, specifically Stockholm, and immediately got laid.”

For the time being, going to Europe is off the table for me, if only because I hid my passport from myself after a long-distance tryst with someone I’d met on a work trip went sideways. Luckily, OKCupid’s data is much more optimistic than my friend Chelsea. Data scientist Dale Markowitz wrote via email, “When it comes to receiving quality messages on OkCupid (that is, first messages that turn into conversations), there is no penalty to being 40 or over. In fact, the proportion of men to women on OkCupid grows with age; women over 40 get on average more messages than women under 40, and have the pick of the litter, so to speak.”

If Markowitz is right, then perhaps being 40 could be to my advantage. Michael, a gorgeous musician who used to bartend at my local watering hole, is one such sensitive younger dude; he’s an old hand at online dating whose sexploits have singed the eyebrows right off my face, but he’s also articulate, smart and funny. (You might recognize him from being quoted at length in Vanity Fair’s “Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’” story, which makes him an expert of sorts). Michael also prefers older women though I assume he wouldn’t kick a younger woman out of his bed for eating crackers.

“Since I was about 17, I’ve always found something alluring about ‘older’ women,” he wrote me. “Now that I’m 31, I realize that I just liked WOMEN. My current girlfriend is four years older than me, but I definitely see her as my equal. When I was younger, I saw the girls (and the guys, for that matter) my age to be kids, which I was too. Older women were how I escaped that feeling.”

Michael isn’t alone in his desires though they’re not always reciprocated. My friend Brooke, who is a similarly fresh-faced 40-year-old, divulged over Gchat, “I joined OKCupid [when I was 39] and actually had to quit because I was INUNDATED by men in their 20s — though I put an age range and that is well below it. They were like ‘Would you consider a guy below your age range? U so hot.’ I wonder if it’s some cougar thing. Like they think I know shit about sex? And can teach their useless baby bodies what to do?”

Jon Turi / Engadget

While I have encountered a few boychiks who are curious about bedding older ladies and nothing more, my inbox hasn’t been a total waste of space. There has been no shortage of men under 39 sending me messages and little “likes” through the ether. And while they’re not all necessarily piquing my interest, they’re also not the horrible fuckboys whose janky messages and blurry cock shots you see screenshotted on Tumblr and Instagram.

Then there are the men I’ve met online who are actually my age, chronologically and emotionally, who seem to click with my weirdness in all the right ways. Some are people whose social circles overlapped with mine but whom I’d never have otherwise met; whose emails wake me up at 5 a.m. with anticipation; who encourage me to be a bit of a mush about Valentine’s Day and Jerry Maguire, much to my surprise; who don’t blink twice at comparing natal astrology charts; who inspire me to take classes and write more and wear red lipstick because it looks good on me. Some are delightful surprises because sometimes it’s about being at the right place at the right time when you’re the right age.

Screw the algorithms.

Instagram will start blurring ‘sensitive’ photos in your feed

In recent months, Instagram has taken some long-overdue steps to reduce abuse on its platform and generally make the experience better and safer for all users. Today, the company has announced another change in line with those goals. When you’re browsing pictures or a user profile, you might start seeing a filter over images marked as “sensitive.” Instagram says that these images are ones that other users have reported but don’t technically violate the service’s guidelines.

While full nudity isn’t allowed on Instagram, for example, you can still get away with posting pretty racy images. If those images have been reported and Instagram’s team deems them “sensitive,” they’ll be blocked by default. You can simply tap the screen to get the full image, though. It’s not a bad addition, but Instagram should probably offer a way to turn the setting off for people who don’t really care about having images filtered.

Another change announced today is one everyone should take advantage of: two-factor authentication. It’s been around in limited fashion for a while, but now it’s available to everyone. It works just like you’d expect — once turned on, you’ll need a code sent to your phone via text message every time you log in. Before you turn it on, just make sure that the phone number linked to your Instagram account is the current number you’re using.

Instagram has also launched a stand-alone website as a one-stop shop for keeping your experience on the service safe and positive. It’ll give you an overview of things like blocking accounts, tagging photos, managing comments and other things you’ll use to control your experience. All these features should be rolling out today, so check the Instagram app and site if you want to try this all out.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Instagram

What we love and hate about ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’

A veteran Mass Effect player and a complete novice walk into a bar.

This isn’t the beginning of a terrible joke: Instead, it’s the premise of a conversation between Engadget associate editor Timothy J. Seppala and senior reporter Jessica Conditt, both of whom have been playing the latest Mass Effect game, Andromeda, over the past few weeks. Tim has devoured and adored the Mass Effect series for almost a decade while Jessica has never touched the games before.

How does Andromeda compare to previous Mass Effect games? Does it stand on its own as a worthy addition to the sci-fi genre? Are the animations always this messed up? In the following conversation, Tim and Jessica discuss Andromeda’s highs and lows from two vastly different perspectives — and somehow, they end up with similar conclusions.

Spoilers for the entire Mass Effect series reside below; you’ve been warned.

Timothy J. Seppala, Mass Effect fan

Jess, it pains me to say this, but I don’t want to play more of Mass Effect: Andromeda. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in that universe, playing through the previous trilogy a handful of times as the altruistic Timothy J. Shepard and as his evil counterpart Toni Shepard. Together, they helped form some of my fondest recent gaming memories. The games were nowhere near perfect, but their rough charm made them all the more endearing. It was easy to overlook how awful the UI and cover system were in the first game when I had a team of ridiculously well-developed alien compatriots along for the ride. More than in any series prior, Mass Effect’s characters felt like friends.

The bond I formed with those characters helped carry me through the sequels and their increased focus on being action RPGs versus the hard-core role-playing games developer BioWare was known for. I’ll never forget my reflexive scream when Legion, a former enemy robot, and Tali, a mysterious helmeted scientist, sacrificed themselves in Mass Effect 3 within moments of each other. I thought I’d saved them both from certain doom before that cliffside conversation. Watching helplessly as Legion gave his life and Tali took her own was a 1-2 punch to the gut after all the time we’d spent together.

It wasn’t easy, but I managed to keep my expectations tempered going into Andromeda. And somehow, I’m still disappointed. You’ve never played a Mass Effect prior, so I’m curious how you’re feeling about the game. After all, it’s a new story line that’s set in an entirely new galaxy, so it should be a good starting point for people, right?

I was worried I’d have to argue that one of your favorite series is actually generic and janky garbage, so I’m glad you came out and said it first.

Jessica Conditt

Jessica Conditt, Mass Effect noob

You’re absolutely right that Andromeda should be an ideal introduction to the series for new Mass Effect players — emphasis on “should.” I’ll be honest, it’s a relief to hear you’re not thrilled with this game. I’ve never played Mass Effect, even though I’m a fan of the sci-fi genre in general, and Andromeda has certainly not won me over so far.

I was worried I’d have to argue that one of your favorite series is actually generic and janky garbage, so I’m glad you came out and said it first.

I can love something and still admit it has flaws! It’s called being a rational adult.

You’re a saint — and I might have been a little harsh. I’m only a few hours into Andromeda, and I realize this game is not representative of the entire Mass Effect franchise. However, as a new player, it’s all I have to go on. And so far, I simply don’t understand the hype.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is broken. When I think about my time with the game, the first thing that springs to mind is how busted some of its mechanics, animations and narrative arcs are. The camera angles during dialogue scenes look as if they were directed by a film school sophomore attempting to “recapture Kubrick’s melodrama” and the characters’ facial animations are distractingly stilted, as the internet has already noticed.

It’s not all terrible though. I truly enjoy Andromeda’s combat; these scenes remind me of Halo and Gears of War but with a fun super-powered twist. I also love how my character looks: I’m playing as Chenault Ryder, a female model with neck and face tattoos and cotton-candy pink hair. It’s wonderful to see her flying around deep space, kicking ass.

What I’m most curious about is the story. So far, Andromeda’s narrative has felt uninspired, and I’d always had the sense that Mass Effect was a rich and unique sci-fi landscape. So, Tim, tell me: How does Andromeda’s story compare with previous Mass Effect games?

Well, so far, the narrative is on a much smaller scale — the polar opposite of the previous games. The Shepard trilogy was a gigantic space opera about saving the galaxy from a race of ancient machines that emerge from their hiding spots and wipe the galaxy of all organic life every 50,000 years. You know, the usual. On top of that, Shepard him/herself had to represent humanity to the rest of the galaxy and prove that we aren’t just a bunch of bullies. Or not. I mean, if your evil-speech skill was high enough, you could coerce the end boss to commit suicide.

A tale of two Ryders: Jessica’s Chenault (pink hair) and Tim’s Veronica (brunette)

In contrast, Andromeda feels a little more personal and self-contained. As one of the twentysomething Ryder twins (above), you’re out to find your dad and somehow settle an entirely new galaxy. And then a few laborious hours of generic third-person shooting and an overlong vehicle segment later, Andromeda reveals its hand and shows what the game is really about. Rather than appeasing the Space United Nations, you’re dealing with interpersonal conflicts. There are larger implications from your actions though. Will your first outpost on an alien world be a research facility focusing on science? Or is setting up a military to help guard against the Kett, your cannon fodder for the game, more your style?

Kill everyone, obviously.

Jerk. See, I picked science because (at least in video games) I’m idealistic and want to show the galaxy that we don’t always need to pull a gun to get a point across. That choice is already bearing fruit. Those narrative themes work for me; establishing an identity for the human race and settling worlds is kind of my jam. But Andromeda has other story ideas in mind too. Like the Kett leader who’s a religious fanatic and effectively turns the game’s new alien race into zombies. I could not care less for this. I’m guessing at some point I’ll have to put my terraforming efforts and search for Dad aside and kill him. My hangup is that it’s a generic sci-fi trope, and one that’s been done many times over in other games. ‘Sup, Halo?

More damning than that, Andromeda is doing a poor job of getting new players up to speed with the galaxy’s goings-on. The story takes place 600 years adjacent to the original trilogy, but (spoiler) there are some returning names. Words like “genophage” and “geth” are peppered casually throughout conversations with no real explanation for what they are. Or when they are detailed it feels shoehorned in, like half-assed fan service.

In Andromeda your ship’s pilot is a Salarian.

To your larger point, what I’ve always loved about the series is its absurdly detailed world building. At the risk of oversimplifying, the Salarians and Krogan hate each other because the former used genetic engineering to reduce the latter’s population. Krogan are a race that thrives on war and conflict, so in the interest of the greater good a vast majority of the race was sterilized with the genophage. In Mass Effect 3 I reversed that, and Mordin Solus, my crew’s Salarian scientist, sacrificed his life doing so. The Krogan/Salarian relationship was one of many like it, and they were all incredibly well done.

That is what I’m missing from Andromeda: The sense of a living, complex universe.

See, I thought it was just me.

One of my other gripes is that in the Shepard games, story and character development we not only delivered via exposition dumps or conversations but also peppered into combat. Picking my two squadmates before going planetside was dictated as much by who I wanted to learn more about as it was by their combat abilities. They’d chatter among themselves during quiet moments, and, in a firefight, I could use space magic to lift an enemy off the ground and have one squadmate slam him back into it while another sniped from a distance.

As far as I can tell, that isn’t the case here. I spent the majority of my time on Havarl, the fourth planet, with two lockjawed squadmates. And aside from ordering my Krogan, Drack, to move to one position and Jaal the Angaran to another, there isn’t much by way of tactics. It feels like a huge step backward both for gameplay and narrative reasons. In Andromeda I can sub in basically any squadmate and the sortie will feel the same. The combat is fine (aside from the finicky cover system), but it definitely doesn’t feel like Mass Effect.

“The combat is fine” sums up my feelings as well. I actually enjoy the shooty-shooty-bang-bang portions of Andromeda so far, though I’ve played more-enthralling action games already this year. Of course, I’m not comparing Andromeda to the teamwork mechanics of previous games.

As for the narrative — I love the idea of colonizing a new galaxy for the human race. That’s an incredible premise for a video game, though it definitely has been done before. With such a pure sci-fi premise, Andromeda has to nail its storytelling arcs and build believable, complex characters and relationships; otherwise, the entire game becomes bland. Unfortunately, the details are precisely where the story falls apart for me. I don’t care much about my crewmates yet, partially because I can hardly see their faces while I’m talking with them, and the story beats don’t always align with the personality choices I make.

At one point, I land on an alien planet for the first time and instruct my crew to be vigilant yet respectful. “We’re the aliens here,” I say around bubblegum-pink lip gloss (Chenault is very on trend). A handful of minutes later, I’m pumping a horde of strange creatures full of lead and lasers, and my squadmates are telling me to shoot any other aliens that I see on sight, in a “give ’em hell, kid” kind of way. The transition from cautious explorer to violent conqueror is whiplash-inducing.

I love the idea of colonizing a new galaxy for the human race. That’s an incredible premise for a video game. Unfortunately, the details are where the story falls apart.

Jessica Conditt

I love the epic scope of Andromeda. I think this kind of story — one that deals with the cosmic future of the human race — is relevant right now, as private companies are gearing up to colonize Mars and NASA is discovering potentially habitable planets in nearby galaxies. Essentially, it feels as if Andromeda represented a brilliant opportunity to tell a powerful story about humanity’s future, and BioWare took the whole thing in an expected, generic direction.

It’s not bad. It’s just kind of boring.

Portions of Andromeda are gorgeous, though these are mainly cut scenes, and I adore my own character. The combat moments are engaging and fun, though so far they represent a minority of the gameplay. Much of Andromeda deals with dialogue choices and building personal relationships among the characters, but so far I haven’t formed any memorable friendships, foes or love interests.

There’s nothing about Andromeda that makes me want to boot it up at the end of the day; I don’t ponder its story or crave its mechanics when I’m not playing. Unfortunately for BioWare, 2017 is a great year for role-playing games, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn already on the market. In my mind, Andromeda just doesn’t compare — no matter how cool my character’s hair is.

“Andromeda is about new beginnings.” That wasn’t a quote from a developer or a PR rep; it came from a Krogan I happened upon in the game. While he was speaking directly about the titular galaxy, to me he was describing Mass Effect as a whole. If you want to take it even deeper, you could argue that the game’s story of being prematurely forced into your dad’s old role is allegorical for BioWare itself. We watched as numerous key talent left during Andromeda’s development cycle – – including longtime executive producer Casey Hudson and, prior to that, studio founders Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk – – and I can’t help but feel some of that is reflected in the game’s narrative. That’s not to mention the wildly inconsistent nuts and bolts of its gameplay.

If it weren’t for the promise that everything I do in this game will carry forward, I wouldn’t give a second thought to putting Andromeda down for good. Really all I want to do is drop the difficulty to “easy” so I can enjoy the best aspect of what I’ve played so far: lengthy bouts of talking with my crew. I’m well past the awful beginning hours that’ve plagued the series since 2007. Now? I want to get to the good stuff as frequently as possible. I have some time before the sequel though, so like you I’m going back to Zelda and Horizon. What makes Andromeda so troubling is that I’m not sure if Mass Effect is still for me and if BioWare remembers what made the previous games so special.

WikiLeaks: CIA has all sorts of tools for hacking your Mac

One of Apple’s big talking points is that Macs don’t get viruses and that they’re relatively safe when compared to Windows PCs. Well, WikiLeaks would like you to reconsider that notion with more info about Vault 7. The organization’s latest dump is a handful of documents from the Central Intelligence Agency that detail, among other things, how the agency can infect a MacBook Air during its boot cycle via a modified Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter. With “Sonic Screwdriver,” the CIA’s monitoring tools are stored on the dongle and the machine can be infected even if it’s password protected. Considering how dongle dependent the new MacBooks are, this sort of exploit becomes even more worrying.

Next on the nightmare list is a project called “Dark Matter” which is an umbrella for a handful of other spying initiatives. Perhaps most troubling is that these infections can persist even if you reinstall OSX. Then there’s “NightSkies 1.2” which, as of 2008, was used to infect brand new iPhones.

“While CIA assets are sometimes used to physically infect systems in the custody of a target, it is likely that many CIA physical access attacks have infected the targeted organization’s supply chain, including by interdicting mail orders and other shipments (opening, infecting and resending) leaving the United States or otherwise,” WikiLeaks writes.

So, the CIA was intercepting iPhone orders, putting their malware on them and then making sure the devices got to their targets. WikiLeaks also notes that despite some of the comparatively ancient dates on the documents, it appears the CIA continues using and updating at least a few of them.

We’ve reached out to Apple for more information and will update this post should it arrive. In the case of the intercepted iPhones, there isn’t much you can do. But for everything else, just remember: Don’t leave your laptop unattended in the open, and do not plug anything into your computer that was given to you by a stranger.

Source: Wikileaks

Senate agrees to let carriers use your data however they want

The US Senate on Thursday voted in a resolution that will effectively eliminate the consumer privacy rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted back in October. These rules had required service providers like Verizon and AT&T to obtain the customer’s permission before selling their data to advertisers.

The bill’s author, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) argues that these privacy regulations place an unfair burden on service providers compared to websites like Google and Facebook, who also collect user data, and constitute a “bureaucratic power grab”. This data includes “precise geo-location, financial information, health information, children’s information, social security numbers, web browsing history, app usage history and the content of communications,” according to an FCC statement.

“Passing this [Congressional Review Act] will send a powerful message that federal agencies can’t unilaterally restrict constitutional rights and expect to get away with it,” Flake said in a statement. If also passed by the House and signed by the president, the bill would leverage the CRA to halt the implementation of these rules and prevent the FCC from passing “substantially similar” regulations in the future. That means that we’ll go back to having to actively opt out from service providers selling our data.

A number of Democratic Senators rallied against the bill before the vote, arguing that it would weaken consumer protections. “Passing [the resolution] will take consumers out of this driver’s seat and place the collection and use of their information behind a veil of secrecy,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), “despite rhetoric surrounding our debate today suggesting that eliminating these common-sense rules will better protect consumers’ privacy online or will eliminate consumer confusion.”

The ACLU also made a statement denouncing the bill’s passage. “It is extremely disappointing that the Senate voted today to sacrifice the privacy rights of Americans in the interest of protecting the profits of major internet companies, including Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon,” an ACLU representative wrote. “The resolution would undo privacy rules that ensure consumers control how their most sensitive information is used. The House must now stop this resolution from moving forward and stand up for our privacy rights.”

This isn’t the first time that the Republican majority in Congress have used a CRA to reverse Obama-era regulations. In February, the president signed three such acts: one of which rolled back protections against the mentally ill purchasing firearms, another that had prevented coal mining operations from dumping waste into waterways and a third that required energy companies to disclose financial donations to foreign governments.

Source: Hill

Google improves Photos and Duo for lousy connections

Google’s been pretty busy this week. It added a location-sharing feature to the Maps app, started allowing sports teams and artists to post directly to its search results, teased us with a preview of Android O and vowed to make sure all Android phones are updated quickly. But it’s not done. The company also introduced ways to improve the speed of its Photos and Duo apps, even when network signals are weak.

Those who use Photos on Android should experience faster image backups when they’re not connected to WiFi, as the app will automatically save files in a lightweight preview quality first. When a WiFi connection is later detected, Photos will replace these with the full, high-quality versions. The iOS and Android versions of the app will do the same when you’re sharing pictures with your friends on low connectivity — first sending them a lower-resolution image and then pushing the full-quality original over when a stronger signal is detected.

As for the video-calling Duo app, Google is adding a voice-only option so you can talk to your friends without the image stream sucking up all your bandwidth. The company said in a blog post that this feature will “work well on all connection speeds” and rolls out first in Brazil before going live in the rest of the world “in the coming days.”

Google’s chat app Allo also gets an update to support document-sharing, so those who use the app on Android can send .pdf, .mp3, .apk, .zip and .doc files to each other. This addition isn’t related to connection speeds, but it’s a handy tool that makes Allo more useful than before. The connectivity-related optimizations for Duo and Photos, on the other hand, are sure to be welcome by those who either have limited data plans or often find themselves in areas with poor coverage.

Source: Google

How to use recovery mode to fix your Android phone or tablet

If your Android phone or tablet isn’t acting right, or you’re trying to tackle malware, you should try entering recovery mode. When your phone is not responding, or you’re having trouble doing things using your device’s normal software settings, recovery mode can likely help alleviate the device.

More: Selling your phone or tablet? Here’s how to ‘completely wipe’ your Android device

Recovery is an independent, lightweight runtime environment that’s included on a separate partition from the main Android operating system on all Android devices. You can boot directly into recovery mode and use it to factory reset your device, delete the cache partition, or apply software updates.

You can enter recovery mode via your device’s hardware keys, so it’s often a last resort for people troubleshooting a device, especially if the screen is unresponsive. Not every device uses the same method — we’ll run through a couple of popular models — but you can generally find this information for every device via your respective manufacturer or carrier website.

How to boot into recovery mode on a Google Pixel or Nexus device

If you have a device like the Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6P, or Nexus 9 that runs stock Android, then these are the steps required to boot into Recovery mode:

Hold down the Power key and select Power off. If the touchscreen is unresponsive, then you can simply keep holding down the Power key for several seconds until the device turns off.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume down key. You should see the Android mascot on his back, a bunch of information about your device, and Start at the top of the screen.
To navigate through the menu options, you use the Volume up and Volume down keys. The Power key is used to make a selection. Press Volume down twice, and you should see Recovery mode in red up at the top right. Press the Power key to select it.
The white Google logo will pop up followed by the Android mascot on his back again with the words No command underneath.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume up key for around three seconds, and then let go of the Volume up key, but keep pressing Power.
You should see the Android system recovery options pop up at the top of the screen. Use the Volume keys to highlight the options and the Power key to select the one you want.

How to boot into recovery mode on other Android devices

We aren’t going to go through every device here, but you can find this information for your phone with a quick Google search. Make sure you find the right method for your device from a trustworthy source before you start. The method to factory reset a device using the hardware keys always includes instructions on how to get into recovery mode.

Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S6, S5, S6 Edge, Note 5, Note Edge (and other Galaxy devices)

Hold down the Power key and select the Power off option. If the screen is frozen or unresponsive, you can hold down the Power key for several seconds until the device switches off, or pull the battery where possible.
Press and hold the Power key, the Volume up key, and the Home button together. Release when you see the Samsung logo. You can select the option you want from the menu using the Volume keys to highlight and the Power key to select.

HTC 10, One M9, M8

HTC phones are a little different:

Go to Settings > Battery and uncheck Fastboot.
Turn the device off by holding the Power key.
Press and hold the Volume down key and the Power key.
You should see a bootloader screen where you can use Volume down to highlight RECOVERY and then the Power key to select it.

LG G6, G5, G4, G3, V10, V20

Press and hold the Power key, and turn the LG G4 off.
Press and hold the Power key, and the Volume down key together.
When you see the LG logo let go of the Power key and then press it again (you should keep pressing the Volume down key throughout).
The menu will appear and you can use the Volume keys to highlight an option and the Power key to select it.

Motorola Droid Turbo 2, Moto Z, Moto G (any generation), Moto X Style

• Hold down the Power button and turn your phone off.
• Press and hold the Volume down and Power buttons simultaneously until the device turns on.
• You can use Volume down to highlight Recovery mode and the Power button to select it.

OnePlus 3, 3T, 2, OnePlus X

• Hold down the Power button and select Power off to turn your OnePlus off.
• Press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons together.
• You can use the Volume buttons to highlight an option and the Power key to select it.

Recovery mode options

The options you are presented with may vary depending on your device, but there are certain standards that are always there. You can always choose from:

• Reboot system now: This will restart the device normally.
• Apply update from ADB: The Android Debug Bridge allows you to plug your device into your PC and issue commands from there. It’s designed for developers and requires you to install the Android SDK (software development kit). If you’re interested you can find out more at the Android developer website.
• Wipe data/factory reset: This will wipe all of your data — photos, videos, music, apps, everything — and return your phone to its original factory condition. This will also wipe the cache partition.
• Wipe cache partition: This is temporary system data largely related to app installations, and you can delete it without losing any personal data or settings. Wiping the cache partition can solve a host of issues and you won’t lose any data or settings, so there’s no real risk involved. We recommend this as a fix for a lot of common Android problems.

A word of warning about Factory Reset Protection

Every device running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later has Factory Reset Protection (FRP) turned on by default. What this means is that you’ll be prompted to enter the user name and password for your Google account, even after performing a factory reset.

The idea behind this measure is to deter thieves, since even a factory reset via the recovery menu won’t give them access to your phone. However, it’s worth keeping in mind if you plan on wiping your phone prior to selling it or passing it on to someone else. To avoid FRP, make sure that you go to Settings > Accounts and remove your Google account before performing a factory reset.

Custom Android recoveries

The open-source community has also produced a number of custom Android recoveries that offer additional features such as backup and restore, the ability to apply updates that haven’t been approved by the manufacturer or carrier, the ability to selectively delete data, and some other bits and pieces of extra functionality. Two very popular options are ClockworkMod (CWM) and Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP).

If you want go down this route, then check out our overview of how to root your Android phone or tablet first.

If you run into any problems with recovery mode, or you want to know more, we recommend you check out the XDA Developers forum.

This article was originally published August 4, 2014, and updated on March 17 by Simon Hill to include new models and advice on wiping the cache partition.