LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: What’s the difference?

LG announced its latest flagship smartphone on 26 February 2017 in the form of the G6. The new device brings some exciting features with it, including a huge HDR display in a small premium and waterproof body.

It seems to right the wrongs of the G5, at least on paper, but how does it compare to its competition? We’ve put the LG G6 up against Google’s brilliant Pixel and Pixel XL to see how they compare and what the differences are.

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Design

• Pixel is the smallest and lightest
• LG has waterproofing
• All three have USB Type-C

The LG G6 features a lovely metal, premium build with a glass finish on the rear. There is a circular rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, coupled with a dual-lens main camera and USB Type-C.

LG has introduced IP68 water and dust resistance to the new device, while also significantly slimming down the bezels surrounding the display and rounding off the corners for a lovely looking device. The LG G6 measures 148.9 x 71.9 x 7.9 and hits the scales at 163g.

The Google Pixel and Pixel XL also both have great premium metal bodies, along with glass on the rear, though only the top third of their backs is glass, while the rest remains metal. The camera setup is much more subtle than the G6, but they both have a rear-mounted circular fingerprint sensor.

Both models feature USB Type-C and neither has any physical buttons on the front, though the bezels surrounding the display are slighty wider than the G6. The Pixel measures 143.8 x 69.5 x 8.6mm and weighs 143g, while the Pixel XL measures 154.7 x 75.6 x 8.6mm and measures 168g.

The LG G6 is therefore the slimmest of the three devices being compared here, but it sits in the middle of the Pixel and Pixel XL in terms of weight and size. Neither Pixel device is waterproof.

• LG G6 preview

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Display

• G6 has largest, sharpest display
• G6 has HDR
• G6 has wider aspect ratio

The LG G6 has a 5.7-inch display which features a Quad HD+ resolution at 2880 x 1440, resulting in a pixel density of 564ppi. It has an 18:9 aspect ratio and HDR, with support for both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision.

The Pixel has a 5-inch display, while the Pixel XL has a 5.5-inch display, meaning the G6 is bigger than both models, despite having a smaller body than the Pixel XL. The Pixels have an AMOLED display however, while the G6 opts for LCD, meaning colours could be punchier on the Pixels.

The Pixel XL has a Quad HD resolution and the Pixel has a Full HD resolution, putting both their pixel densities lower than the G6 at 440ppi and 534ppi, respectively. Both are protected by Corning Gorilla 4.

• What is Mobile HDR?

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Camera

• G6 has a dual-rear camera with two 13MP sensors
• Pixels have higher resolution front camera
• G6 has OIS

The LG G6 has a dual-rear camera setup featuring two 13-megapixel sensors, one of which has a 125-degree wide-angle lens that is designed to offer the same field of vision you see with your eyes. One sensor has a f/1.8 aperture with OIS and phase detection autofocus, while the other has a f/2.4 aperture and no autofocus.

The 5-megapixel front-facing camera on the G6 has a f/2.2 aperture and it too has a wide-angle lens, albeit a little narrower than the rear at 100-degrees.

The Pixel and Pixel XL both have a 12.3-megapixel rear camera with 1.55µm pixels and an aperture of f/2.0. They feature both laser autofocus and phase detection autofocus, but no optical image stabilisation. The front camera has an 8-megapixel resolution with 1.4µm pixels and an aperture of f/2.4.

• Google Pixel XL review

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Hardware

The LG G6 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, supported by 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage, both of which have microSD support. There is a 3300mAh battery, charged via USB Type-C as we mentioned.

The Pixel and Pixel XL both have the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and 4GB of RAM, but their storage options are 32GB or 128GB, neither of which offer microSD support. The Pixel has a 2770mAh battery, while the Pixel XL has a 3450mAh battery, both of which are charged via USB Type-C.

Like we said previously, all three devices have a fingerprint sensor on the rear and all three also have the 3.5mm headphone jack.

• Google Pixel review

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Software

• Android Nougat on all three
• G6 has extra software

The LG G6 runs on Android Nougat with the LG UX 6.0 software over the top, offering a range of new features, some of which are designed to make full use of the 18:9 display.

The Pixel and Pixel XL on the other hand run pure Android Nougat, with no extra bloatware. They are the poster boys for the Android experience so they will offer a more refined interface than the G6, though some may like the extra features offered by the G6.

LG G6 vs Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: Conclusion

The LG G6 and the Google Pixel XL and Pixel all have lovely, premium designs made from a combination of metal and glass. Some will prefer the G6, while others will prefer the Pixels.

The G6 has waterproofing, a huge display with very minimal bezels and its screen has a higher resolution and supports HDR. The G6 also has microSD support and a dual-lens rear camera. The Pixel XL has the largest battery capacity of these three devices, along with pure Android software, like the Pixel and the cameras on both Pixels are great.

All three of these smartphones have the same processor and RAM support so in terms of performance, they should be similar, meaning the decision comes down to design and software preference.

31 best, stupidest and most famous internet memes around

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “meme” as “an image, video, piece of text, typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.”

And if you’ve spent any time on Reddit or Buzzfeed then you’ll probably find many who believe this is what the internet was made for.

Well, they say laughter is the best medicine so crack a smile at some of the best, stupidest and most famous memes we’ve found from around the web.

Doge

wallpapersafari

Originating in the depths of 2010, this meme came to life thanks to some glorious photos of Shiba Inus – a breed of tiny and agile Japanese dog with a quizzical face. Posted on a personal blog, the original photos appeared with one such dog named “Kabosu” casually lounging on a sofa with a sideways glance at the camera.

With the help of Reddit, “Doge” was then born. Images of the dog are Photoshopped into various poses and situations, plastered with internal monologue quotes in Comic Sans font and delivered to the internet for the world to enjoy. 

This popular meme spawned a trademark claim, a satirical form of cryptocurrency (Dogecoin) and much more besides.

Grumpy Cat

Deviantart

Grumpy Cat is a particularly irritable looking pussy who goes by the real name “Tardar Sauce”. This meme again took off thanks to Reddit, in late 2012 when original photos of Grumpy Cat were posted online.

Various Photoshopped pics of Grumpy Cat appeared online with captions expressing his distaste for whatever the topic happened to be about.

Grumpy Cat proved so popular that it spawned all sorts of spin-offs including stuffed toys, books, t-shirts and even a coffee drink.

A sneak peek for our Twitter fans. Coming soon. #grumpycat #Grumppuccino http://t.co/S4vnf4aEfw pic.twitter.com/ZkZg9M8CNg

— Grumpy Cat (@RealGrumpyCat) 28 July 2013

Success kid

The Verge

Success kid (also known as “I hate sandcastles”) became popular in around 2008 when a photo of a smug baby at the beach was used across the web on social media, mainly as personal profile photographs.

Later, the photograph was Photoshopped and turned into thousands of different memes in the animal advice style or referencing his apparent hatred for sandcastles.

Success kid goes by the real name Sammy Griner and has now aged a few years, but still seems just as pleased with himself in all the recent photos we’ve seen. His fame also helped to successfully pay for his father’s new kidney after a plea for funding for a transplant went online in the middle of 2016. So maybe he is successful after all!

Ermahgerd girl

Maggie Goldenberger

In 2012, a post titled “Just a book owner’s smile…” was submitted to Reddit and, shortly after, the glory that is Ermahgerd girl was born. Featuring a young girl, awash with nerdy excitement and brandishing a trio of Goosebumps books, the photo soon became synonymous with “oh my God” levels of excitement.

Some say the misspelling of “oh my God” as “ermahgerd” is meant to represent the difficulty that would come speaking with teenage braces. As a result, the text accompanying these memes is often misspelt along the same lines.

Ermahgerd spawned many spin-off memes in the form of various excited animals eying up treats and tasty morsels.

The girl in the original photograph was eventually found. Maggie Goldenberger was actually just playing dress-up with friends when the snap was takenand found it hilarious many years later when told about the meme.

The most interesting man in the world

Huffington Post

In 2006, Jonathan Goldsmith appeared in a series of advertising campaigns for Dos Equis beer in which he was pitched as “the most interesting man in the world”.

During that campaign his catchphrase was “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis…”. The campaign took off and the resulting meme was born – all using the same format “I don’t always…” and finishing “…but when I do…”

Video spin-offs popped up all over the place and Jonathan Goldsmith even appeared in a Reddit Ask Me Anything.

Memegenerator

Shut up and take my money!

IMGUR

Animated science-fiction series Futurama features a down-on-his-luck delivery boy Philip J. Fry who finds himself trapped somewhere in the 31st Century after an unfortunate incident with a cryogenic freezing machine.

In season six, an episode aired called “Attack of the Killer App” in which the creators parodied Apple with the release of the new “eyePhone”. Fry rushes to purchase one of the new devices and interrupts the sales genius with the phrase, “Shut up and take my money!”

Fry’s words and a screengrab of him waving money quickly became a famous internet meme and a subreddit.

Many other nerdy memes also appeared along similar lines and became a simple expression of desire for an invention, proposed idea or consumer product.

IMGUR

Sad Keanu

Splash News

Keanu Reeves is something of an internet legend to the point that some have said he might be immortal. There’s even a Snopes page dedicated to dispelling (or enforcing) some of the myths.

So when he was snapped by paparazzi miserably snacking on a sandwich on a bench in New York city, “Sad Keanu” was born.

The photograph first became a meme in 2010 when it appeared on Reddit and Green-ovale and from then on lead to Keanu being Photoshopped, sandwich and all, into other photos and settings across the world.

The meme got such attention that the BBC even asked Keanu about it in an interview with him in 2011.

Joseph Ducreux

Know Your Meme/Meme Generator

Joseph Ducreux was an 18th Century French artist known for a peculiar style of portrait paintings. In 2009, his particularly quirky self-portrait joined the world of internet memes when superimposed with rap lyrics.

The words often featured on these memes include an archaic reinterpretation of the original lyrics with an 18th Century spin. The first recorded version read “Disregard Females, Acquire Currency” – a take on Notorious B.I.G’s song Get Money but has since seen many variations.

Be like Bill

Be like Bill

In the wonderful world of the web, keyboard warriors and discourteous people are rife. “Be like Bill” is aimed at combatting that plague and trolls in general by sending a message of common sense through means of a simple stick figure called “Bill”.

In a series of single frame comic strips, Bill is put into different everyday situations with simple guidance on how to act – basically tips on how not to annoy other people in real life and online.

Ceiling Cat

Umad

Ceiling Cat is perhaps one of the earliest known internet memes dating back to 2003 when the original photograph of a ginger cat peering through a hole in the ceiling was submitted to FunnyJunk.

The image later became a Photoshop meme and appeared in many different variations across the web. The most popular and common version didn’t appear until 2006 when the photo was given the wording “Ceiling Cat is watching you…”.

So popular was this meme that a mythology appeared around it which purported that Ceiling Cat was the LOLcat equivalent of God and his nemesis Basement Cat was akin to the devil.

Good Guy Greg

Quick Meme/Meme Wow

Good Guy Greg is rumoured to have its roots in the murky depths of 4chan. This simple photo of a cheerful chap is meant to symbolise a kind and generous human being who we’d all be happy to call our friend.

The actual subject of the original photograph is unknown and was a matter of some debate on Reddit in 2011. Nonetheless, Good Guy Greg has been spreading his excellent attitude ever since.

Scumbag Steve

Daily Dot

Scumbag Steve is the antithesis of Good Guy Greg. He stands for everything Greg does not. He is selfish and doesn’t care about your feelings or being polite.

The original photo of Scumbag Steve features a young man with a baseball cap on sideways standing in a doorway. The photo appeared on Reddit in 2011 and quickly caught on as a popular meme. It often features text portraying Steve as a bad buy who’d happily steal medication from his grandparents or borrow money and never pay people back.

The real subject of the photograph is Blake Boston a rapper from the group “Beantown Mafia” who purports not to be a bad guy after all. Though he’s certainly making the most of his internet fame. 

Donald Trump’s first order of business

Huffington Post

US President Donald Trump has been the subject of many a meme in the run up to and well into his Presidency.

One of our (and the internet’s) favourites is the Photoshop meme that shows various drawings, doodles and delightful scribbles on the open folder that in reality displayed his signature on an executive order from January 2017.

This all started on Reddit with the posting of a Dickbutt GIF.

IMGUR

Then various examples of the meme found their way onto Reddit and the joyful Twitter account that is @TrumpDraws was also born.

cooky pic.twitter.com/bQbWdf9V1l

— Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) 13 February 2017

That escalated quickly

Quick Meme

A favourite meme for when things get a bit crazy or out of control on the internet, this meme comes from a memorable quote by Will Farrell when he played character Ron Burgundy in 2004’s Anchorman.

This phrase was heavily quoted across the web on message boards, social networks and in blog comment systems. The Anchorman film has spawned a number of other memes due to its popularity, but this is perhaps the most well-known.

Domo

Know Your Meme

Domo-kun is of Japanese origin and was originally a mascot for one of the major TV stations there. He was originally seen in sketches in 1998.

The character first appeared in meme form when two Domo-kuns were photoshopped into an image to look like they were chasing a kitten a relevant threat about God killing a kitten. 

That meme saw many different iterations itself, then Domo-kun began making appearances in disaster-based photos giving the impression that he was the cause of the misery.

Disaster girl

Dave Roth

In 2004, a photograph of a young girl with a devilish smile in front of a burning house appeared online. It was picked up four years later by Buzzfeed and soon got the attention of the internet with posts and re-posts all across the web.

Zoe’s face has since been doctored onto a multitude of disaster scenes ranging from WW2 to modern sinkholes and natural disasters.

Know Your Meme

First World Problems

Good3d

This meme takes several different forms and often uses a variety of photographs commonly including a woman crying with head in her hands, a tearful photo of James Van Der Beek from 90’s TV Show Dawson’s Creek and more.

The idea behind this one is the summing up of the (often insignificant) frustrations of privileged peoples of the developed world. These memes are meant to be delivered with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humour poking fun at how trivial first world problems are.

A taste of the issues are playfully demonstrated in this video:

I will find you and I will kill you

Know Your Meme

From the Liam Neeson film “Taken” comes a meme based on his character’s memorable quote paraphrased to “I will find you and I will kill you.”

The meme is used to show annoyance with frustrating situations in everyday life, often in a similar way to the First World Problems meme.

One does not simply walk into Mordor

Youtube

Dating back to 2001, this meme originates from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and features Boromir (played by Sean Bean) explaining how “One does not simply walk into Mordor” to throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom.

The meme features a picture of Sean Bean and is often used to express the difficulty of doing something particularly arduous. The meme proved so popular that it even appeared as an Easter egg on Google Maps.

Winter is coming

HBO

Sean Bean has proven popular in the meme world, so much so that he made another appearance thanks to his character Ned Stark from Game of Thrones.

Here the character’s quote “brace yourselves, winter is coming” has been used in various ways to humorously predict the influx of internet posts about a specific event or product. The classic example being an increase in the number of people complaining about changes to their Facebook newsfeed.

Know Your Meme

What if I told you/Matrix Morpheus

Moddb

This meme is a paraphrasing of a scene from the Matrix. In the film, the character Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) is explaining to the main character Neo (Keanu Reeves) that he exists inside a computer simulation. He poses a choice between two pills to find out the truth or to carry on living in blissful ignorance.

Like many other memes, this one apparently first appeared on Reddit and has since been used to show a revelation about a particular behaviour.

Philosoraptor

Meme Generator

Philosoraptor is an unusual one in the meme world as it came about after the creation and copyrighting of a design for a new t-shirt.

However, that may well have had some inspiration from the web too as in 2007 a Photoshopped image was posted to 4Chan of a Velociraptor from Jurrassic Park holding a book by Plato.

Since then, the Philosoraptor t-shirt image has been the subject of many memes and is simply accompanied by various philosophical questions that an intelligent dinosaur might ponder.

Examples include “is a key still a key if there is no lock?” and “is a fly without wings called a walk?”

Bad luck Brian

Youtube

This meme features a young lad with braces wearing a tartan vest and a cheeky smile. It originally appeared on Reddit in 2012 and was used with an accompanying caption to describe various embarrassing circumstances.

The photo was later revealed to be of Kyle Craven who rose to some level of internet fame after revealing himself in a Reddit AMA. Kyle also has a claim to fame after being spotted (and recognised) by Seth Rogan when out in public.

By all accounts, he’s not as down on his luck as the internet would have you believe.

Walking Dead “Carl!”

Know Your Meme

The Walking Dead is a very popular, often controversial TV show about zombies. Also popular is poking fun at the way the show’s character Rick Grimes pronounces his son’s name “Carl”.

He said/shouted and called it a lot during the various seasons:

And is often heard mispronouncing it as “Coral”.

Besides this, the scene where Rick discovered his wife was dead also reached the internet in meme form but this time as a comic strip for poor dad jokes.  

That’d be great

Memeful

From the 1999 classic “Office Space” comes a meme derived from Gary Cole’s character Bill Lumbergh. His sole purpose in life seems to be getting people to finish paperwork and work extra hours over the weekend.

The meme is inspired by this scene where Peter tries to duck out of the office on Friday but is caught at the last second by Bill who asks him to come in on Saturday.

This is phrase is then turned into a meme where something horrible is requested followed by a non-confrontational “that’d be great”.

Drunk baby

Meme Generator

What’s funnier than a baby drinking beer? An intoxicated infant spouting drunken wisdom that’s what. And that’s how this meme was born when a photo of a child sitting next to a pint was uploaded to Reddit in 2012.

This simple meme gained popularity on 9gag, Facebook and more with a variety of different captions being added to the original photo.

Ain’t nobody got time for that

Image Flip

In 2012, Kimberly Wilkins (aka Sweet Brown) was interviewed by a local news station in Oklahoma City after being evacuated from an apartment building that was on fire.

Her quote finished:

“….I said ‘Oh Lord Jesus, it’s a fire’, then I ran out, I didn’t grab no shoes or nothin’ Jesus! I ran for my life. Then the smoke got me. I got bronchitis. Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Which made hilarious waves on the internet, especially when autotuned:

In the meantime, the perfect meme was created and could easily be used for anything taxing that you might not have time for.

The Indestructible Nokia 3310

Risasinmas

The classic Nokia 3310 mobile phone has developed somewhat of a legendary status over the years. Originally released in 2000, this phone was a brute of a device; hard-wearing and long-lasting compared to today’s fragile phones.

The result has been many an amusing meme purporting the 3310 to be indestructible with near God-like qualities.

Know Your Meme

Strutting Leo

Know Your Meme

In 2010, Leonardo DiCaprio was caught on camera merrily strutting around the set for blockbuster hit Inception.

The image of DiCaprio was promptly cut-out and put online as an exploitable template on a transparent background which meant that anyone could have their way with it and thus, Strutting Leo was born.

The cut-out photo then found its way into a variety of different scenes including one of Leo strutting his way casually into Mordor and across the moon.

Know Your Meme on the moon

Facepalm

IMGUR

The classic facepalm is a well-known symbol for dismay at someone’s foolish actions – especially where a lapse in judgement or common sense might apply.

The most common usage of this meme features an image of Patrick Stewart playing Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek with his head in his hands in reaction to events unfolding on the bridge of the Enterprise.

There have been many other instances since, including the joy of double facepalms and this wonderful collage.

Meme Centre

Yo dawg

Meme Generator

This classic meme was inspired by American TV show Pimp My Ride. In it, host Xzibit and his team improved people’s automobiles, usually by adding something they liked into the vehicle so they could experience it while out and about. And thus the meme was born.

This meme follows a simple formula where X and Y are replaced with the relevant subject matter:

“Yo dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an X in your Y so you can VERB while you VERB”

This simple yet effective humour lent itself to thousands of memes across the years, with Xzibit’s smiling face happily photoshopped into relevant images.

Tech companies and game devs are gearing up for AR

Last year’s Game Developers Conference was ruled by virtual reality. From Sony detailing its PSVR launch plans to Oculus showcasing the first batch of games for the consumer Rift headset, you couldn’t swing a Meowth at the event without hitting a VR booth. But, perhaps fueled by the success of Pokémon Go in 2016, augmented reality has become the new industry darling. That’s not to say VR has been kicked to the curb completely, but at GDC 2017 we saw the emergence of AR as a compelling technology for gaming and beyond.

Take Epic Games, the maker of game-development platform Unreal Engine — it showed the potential of high-end augmented reality with “Project Raven.” The company created a tool that lets content creators, like filmmakers, merge visual effects with live action shots. Epic Games said at its GDC 2017 keynote that in TV or movie shoots, a single computer-generated frame typically takes hour to render and days of editing before it can resemble a “photoreal” image. With Project Raven, which will be coming to Unreal Engine later this year, a director of photography can essentially get a live preview of what a CGI scene will look like. For Hollywood, this could be a game changer.

Epic Games also partnered with Chevrolet to create an experience for Google Tango that gives users a 360-degree view of a Camaro ZL1. The software uses 3D depth-sensing features from a compatible device, such as Lenovo’s Phab 2 Pro, to show different angles of the car as you configure it to your liking in real time. Right now it only works when you change the ZL1’s color, but there may be options to tinker with the rims, headlights and other parts later on. Epic says the idea is to give you a more immersive view of your dream car, rather than just imagine it by looking at mockups from still images.

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced at GDC 2017 its plans to bring mixed-reality to the Xbox in 2018. That’s going to be huge for consumers, particularly those who own one of the company’s latest consoles. Even though Microsoft prefers to refer its efforts in the space as mixed reality, not augmented, they’re both basically the same thing. The goal with AR and MR, unlike with VR, is to blend digital objects with environments from the real world. Up until now, Microsoft’s been showing the capabilities of mixed-reality through HoloLens, but that’s a $3,000 device which not every consumer (or even some developers) can afford.

That’s where Acer’s Mixed Reality headset, revealed last week, comes in. While the price remains unknown, it’s expected to cost much less than Hololens. Microsoft says this will give more developers a chance to build mixed-reality experiences for Windows devices, including its PCs and Xbox — which could be an alternative to Sony’s PSVR. The tech giant was coy about its strategy for mixed reality and consoles, but we’ll likely learn more about that at its Build conference or at E3, happening in May and June, respectively.

In case the augmented reality boom wasn’t clear enough, Pokémon Go capped it all off by winning Best Mobile/Handheld Game at the GDC awards. The title from Niantic edged out Nintendo’s Super Mario Run for the top honor in the category, showing how important the AR game was to the industry. As for why augmented reality could more compelling than virtual reality, it may come down to a couple of factors: motion sickness and hardware setup. “For a very significant portion of the population, it doesn’t take very long for you to feel nauseated using it [VR],” said an executive for a major technology company involved in the AR space, who asked to remain anonymous.

The exec went on to say that one of the main problems with VR headsets, at least high-end ones like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive , is the amount of work that goes into setting these up before you can them. “The primary reason that these devices will get returned is people gave up when they were trying to set them up,” the executive says. “The positional-tracking, drilling holes in your walls or getting the beacon, it’s way harder than it seems like it should be.”

There’s no doubt augmented and virtual reality can coexist, and it’s up to consumers to use the medium best suited for their needs. We know what developers can do for gaming with both and how fun it can be. But, there are areas where AR has the potential to be more useful than VR, including medicine and education — where you need to have some sort of real-world interaction to make the most out of the technology.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from GDC 2017!

Blue Origin shows how ‘New Glenn’ rocket will fly and land

Yesterday Blue Origin showed off the BE-4 engine for its “New Glenn” rocket, and today CEO Jeff Bezos revealed its launch customer and an animation showing how it’ll fly. Its new ship is capable of putting a 50-ton payload into a low-Earth orbit or 14 tons in a geosynchronous orbit and then landing the first stage on a moving barge (video, below). That’s nearly identical, of course, to what the SpaceX Falcon 9 can do. Blue Horizon has also landed the New Shepherd’s first stage multiple times (on land), but it’s not an orbital-capable rocket like the Falcon 9.

At the Satellite 2017 event in Washington DC, Jeff Bezos also revealed that the New Glenn’s launch customer with be Eutelsat, a France-based TV, corporate network and mobile communications provider. Blue Origin will launch geostationary satellite for the company sometime in the 2021-2022 timeframe, Eutelsat said in a press release.

Bezos said that the company’s overall goal is to reduce launch costs via reusability, much like SpaceX. New Glenn will come in two versions — the one shown in the animation will be a two-stage vehicle that uses multiple BE-4 rockets. Blue Origin will also build a three-stage version that could launch the company’s “Blue Moon” cargo lander to the moon. None of the rockets will take off until at least 2020, however.

The take-off, flight and landing sequences shown in the animation do bear a lot of resemblance to what SpaceX does, especially the part about landing on a barge. However, Blue Origin was actually the first company to land a reusable rocket, albeit a much smaller one, with the New Shepherd. There are also some significant differences between the vehicles, most notably the aerodynamic control surfaces used to help guide New Glenn’s first-stage in for a landing. Reportedly, that negates the need for a re-entry deceleration burn.

Source: Blue Origin (YouTube), Blue Origin (Twitter), Eutelsat

Hyperloop One offers a proper glimpse at its Nevada test site

Hyperloop One has been showing off bits and pieces of its high-speed tube transport system over the past several months, but now it’s ready to show something more complete. The company has offered a fuller look at its in-progress Nevada test tube, the DevLoop, and… it’s a long tube. Really, though, this shows that the 1,640ft-long project is progressing and should be ready for its first public trial. However, you might be waiting a little longer than expected to see it in action.

The company now says that its public test kicks off in the first half of 2017, not the first quarter of the year as previously mentioned. That’s not a gigantic delay, but it hints that Hyperloop One’s vision of fast transport is still a ways off. However, the very fact that DevLoop is approaching completion is a good sign — it shows that Hyperloop One is one step closer to ditching its endless concept images and making a system you can actually use.

Source: PRNewswire, Hyperloop One

Meet the automated triage nurse of the future

If you think that the march of automation isn’t going to affect jobs in the medical profession then, uh, you better sit down. A Belgian company called BeWell is showing off Wellpoint, a self-service kiosk that’s designed for patients entering hospitals or clinics. The Wellpoint is a touchscreen-enabled booth that operates as a first port of call for visitors, quickly checking your basic vitals before you see a medical professional.

According to BeWell’s, initial contact with a nurse where your blood pressure, pulse oximetry and weight were tested, it would take seven minutes. Then, of course, there would be an additional few minutes where that nurse would take that data and enter it into the hospital’s internal IT system. Wellpoint, by comparison, can do it in three minutes and instantly update your medical records.

In addition, the touchscreen can also be used to run through a series of pre-analysis questions to update your medical history. As such, medical professionals could avoid going through the tedious form-filling process that begins every consultation. In addition, the unit has apparently already proven effective, raising the alarm when it found a patient on the edge of an embolism during a test in a European hospital.

The process begins by sitting down at the booth and activating the test, which would normally require offering up your hospital ID card. You’re then asked to slide your arm into an automated blood pressure cuff on the left side and pushing the start button when ready. Once that’s done, you stand up as the footplate of the booth doubles as a scale. Finally, you sit back down and shove your finger into an oximeter to test your levels of oxygen saturation.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/198964701?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

So far, a history and the three measurements outlined above are all that the device can do, but that’s likely to change soon. The company is eyeing up a way of connecting people’s blood sugar monitors to the hardware, letting them share their diabetes testing data to their records.

It’s also not the most expensive piece of gear, especially considering the usual high price of medical equipment. One unit would effectively cost a hospital around €8,400 ($8,800) a year. And, given that the average US nurse earns around $67,000, you can see why there would be interest.

WikiLeaks claims to have the CIA’s hacking toolkit

WikiLeaks just ignited another powder keg. Julian Assange’s outfit has posted the first of a string of CIA leaks, nicknamed Vault 7, that purports to reveal the agency’s “entire hacking capacity.” The information is said to have escaped an “isolated” secure network at the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Virginia, and indicates that the organization has far-reaching abilities to snoop on modern technology… including encrypted apps that are supposed to be tough to crack.

According to WikiLeaks, the CIA has horded a slew of zero day (that is, unpatched) exploits that let it infiltrate a slew of platforms, including current desktop and mobile platforms, network routers, smart TVs and antivirus software. Notably, the CIA is capable of bypassing the encryption for secure chat apps like Confide, Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp — the agency compromises the phone and intercepts message traffic before encryption kicks in. The mobile teams have reportedly produced malware that can compromise Android and iOS devices that run or have run “presidential Twitter accounts,” too.

Other infiltration methods are similarly sneaky. An attack against Samsung smart TVs, built in tandem with the UK’s MI5 agency, quietly leaves a set turned on so that it can record conversations like a giant wiretap device. And when the CIA needs physical access to a device, it sends an agent out with a USB drive that grabs data from a PC while a decoy app runs in the foreground. Malware is designed to avoid any fingerprints that would lead back to the CIA or its partners, and even the infection patterns are meant to throw people off the scent. Code can lurk in a device for years.

The leak also goes into some of the organizational structure of the CIA’s digital surveillance efforts, including some security concerns. It notes that the US consulate in Frankfurt doubles as a base for CIA hackers targeting Europe, the Middle East and Africa, giving them freedom to travel throughout much of Europe once they arrive. However, it also appears that the agency’s malware, command and control tools and listening post software are all labeled as unclassified — there’s not much officials can do if it gets out into the wild, which it clearly has given the leak. There’s a similar worry that the CIA’s propensity to hog zero day exploits is violating the government’s Vulnerabilities Equities Process, which promises that the government will share flaws with companies on a continuous basis.

And the very fact that the CIA has a substantial, dedicated hacking division may be a problem. Effectively, the agency has an NSA-like branch with less accountability — it can draw on some of the NSA’s hacking capabilities without the same disclosure and oversight requirements.

WikiLeaks’ source is ostensibly releasing the info to foster a public debate over the possibility that the CIA’s hacking abilities “exceed its mandated powers,” its oversight and the problems of creating cyberweapons that can escape into the wild. It’s another Edward Snowden in the making, if you believe Assange’s outfit. However, the timing is bound to raise eyebrows. While WikiLeaks swears that it posted the leak the moment its “verification and analysis” was ready, it comes right as President Trump has been railing against intelligence agencies over leaks suggesting his campaign staff spoke to Russian intelligence officials months before the election. Intentional or not, the WikiLeaks revelation steers the attention to the CIA’s methods (however questionable), and away from what it may have learned.

Via: WikiLeaks (Twitter)

Source: WikiLeaks

Nest Adds Two-Factor Authentication to Increase Security for Nest Cams and Thermostats

Smart home accessory company Nest today announced the addition of two-factor authentication into its mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, which will act as an extra layer of security that prevents intrusions into a user’s Nest account. The company said that these extra security measures can help prevent malicious access to private information, particularly camera feeds of Nest Cam products.

To activate two-factor authentication, users can find a toggle menu in the Account Security settings of the official Nest app. After “2-step verification” is toggled on, users will have to sign in again by typing in a traditional email and password. Two-factor authentication makes the process more secure by then texting a verification code to an approved device, which Nest owners will then have to enter into the app to gain access to their Nest products.

We all know data security is a moving target. Technology keeps advancing, but so do the people who want to break into your email, your credit card or any other account they can get their hands on. But your home is your safe haven, where private information should stay private. So today we’re adding a new layer of security with the introduction of two-factor authentication.

You may have seen or used two-factor authentication before, probably to get into your email or bank account. It’s simple but very effective – even if someone figures out your password, they still need to actually get their hands on your phone to get into your account. It takes a minute or two for our customers, but for hackers working from computers all over the world, things get a whole lot harder.

Nest said that this isn’t the first time it has updated security across all of its products, and the company intends to continue rolling out security and privacy-focused tweaks to Nest Thermostats, Nest Protect smoke alarms, and Nest Cameras “as new technologies become available or we learn about new threats.”

Tag: Nest
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FreedomPop launches a cheap phone to go with its free SIM

Well, this is unexpected. FreedomPop has unveiled its own Android phone today, for the darn-cheap-but-not-quite-free price of £59. The new FreedomPop V7 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 2,100mAh battery. Not the best components, but respectable ones given the asking price. From the front it looks like a typical low-end handset, with less than stellar bezels and three capacitive touch buttons underneath the display. Flip the phone over, however, and you’ll find a slick aluminium frame and what looks like a skateboard-style grip tape finish on the back — we’re getting some serious OnePlus One vibes here.

Front and centre is a 5-inch, 720p IPS LCD display, which will serve up Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) out of the box. There’s no word on software updates (a Nougat release seems unlikely) though it does appear to run a close to stock version of Android. A 13-megapixel camera sits on the back, while a 5-megapixel selfie snapper hangs out on the front. The phone comes with 16GB of internal storage, and while there is a microSD slot, it only supports cards up to 32GB. Clearly, FreedomPop hasn’t built this phone itself — the company won’t tell us who it’s partnered with, however.

The point of the phone, of course, is to be a vessel for FreedomPop’s SIM card, which offers 200 minutes, 200 messages and 200MB for free every month. You might be wondering how the company makes money: Well, it has four Premium plans too, which range from £4.99 to £19.99 per month.

Curiously, the FreedomPop V7 has a dual-SIM card slot, and isn’t restricted to FreedomPop plans. That means you can use another SIM card with the phone, or switch your FreedomPop SIM to another handset whenever you like. The phone itself, then, feels more like a marketing stunt then a genuine hardware push. Indeed, the phone is only available in the UK and Spain, and in limited quantities. If you’re keen, it’ll be available starting today from freedomshop.com “on a first come first serve basis.”

Facebook reports the BBC for flagging sexualised child images

A BBC investigation has criticised Facebook for failing to tackle inappropriate content posted by its users, specifically sexualised images of children. Reporters tested Facebook’s moderation tools by flagging 100 images which it thought broke company guidelines.

These included photos of people, aged 16 or under, “in highly sexualised poses,” and with “obscene comments” posted underneath. The BBC also reported group pages with names including “hot xxxx schoolgirls,” which contained stolen images. One photo in particular appeared to be a screenshot from a video containing child abuse.

According to the BBC, only 18 images were removed by Facebook’s moderation team. The remaining 82, which included the video still, were left alone.

The BBC showed some of the images to Damian Collins, an MP and the chair of the UK’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee. He told the BBC on its Radio 4 Today programme: “I think they are disturbing. I think they do show sexualised images of young children. I don’t believe they should be on the internet and on sites like Facebook. I think they are a breach of the community guidelines that Facebook set for themselves.”

He added: “What is disturbing is when these images were brought to Facebook’s attention, then they have not taken action to remove all of these images, nor have they provided any explanation as to why that is the case.”

BBC reporters wrote a similar story last year about private Facebook groups used by paedophiles to swap images. For its follow-up investigation, the BBC flagged five users who were also convicted sex offenders. Such a background is against Facebook’s rules, however the company didn’t remove them.

The BBC’s Angus Crawford wanted to question Facebook about its decisions. But Simon Milner, the social network’s director of policy, would only agree to an interview, reportedly, if the BBC provided “examples” of the images it believed broke Facebook guidelines. The BBC did, but was surprised when Facebook reported both the images and its organisation to the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

Facebook says it “carefully reviewed the content referred to us” and “followed our industry’s standard practice” by reporting it to the authorities.

“We also reported the child exploitation images that had been shared on our own platform. This matter is now in the hands of the authorities,” Milner clarified. In a statement, he said Facebook has “now removed all items that were illegal or against our standards. This content is no longer on our platform.”

It’s not clear whether all 100 images have now been pulled, however, or if Facebook deemed just a subset — a number that could be anywhere between 18 and 100 — breached its rules.

Milner pulled out of the proposed interview once the BBC had shared the images it had discovered on Facebook. David Jordan, the BBC’s director of editorial policy, said he was surprised by the company’s actions, especially its decision to report the BBC to the authorities. “The fact that Facebook sent images that had been sent to them, that appear on their site, for their response about how Facebook deals with inappropriate images…the fact that they sent those on to the police seemed to me to be extraordinary.”

He added: “One can only assume that the Facebook executives were unwilling or certainly reluctant to engage in an interview or a debate about why these images are available on the Facebook site.”

But the chain of events that led to Facebook reporting the BBC, and the images it had discovered on Facebook, could be more complex. As the social network tells it, Facebook representatives met with the BBC to discuss its findings. During that meeting, they told the BBC’s law enforcement team to report the content should it believe the images break the law. The BBC felt — or so the story goes — that the images breached Facebook guidelines, but were not illegal. As such, it was happy to share them with Facebook, presumably to secure the interview with Milner.

Facebook reviewed the images and came to a different conclusion. It then followed what it believes to be proper procedure, reporting both the content and the BBC’s involvement to the NCA, through the CEOP.

A spokesperson for the NCA told Engadget: “We are alive to the threat of those with a sexual interest in children seeking to exploit online services including social media for their own ends. It is vital that social media platforms have robust procedures in place to guard against indecent content, and that they report and remove any indecent content if identified. Social media platforms should also provide easy to use and accessible reporting mechanisms for their users.”

They added: “Anyone who unwittingly encounters indecent images of children on a social network, or is concerned that a young person is being sexually exploited online, can report the matter to us via the Click CEOP button on our website.” The spokesperson would not comment on the Facebook-BBC investigation specifically.

Collins added on the BBC’s Today show: “It’s not just the images themselves, it’s the context within Facebook that they sit. They are on groups where people are discussing them, and the comments that people have posted clearly show that people are engaging with these images as sexualised content of young people. I think most people would look at those images and say ‘I don’t understand why action wasn’t taken as soon as it was brought to Facebook’s attention.’”

Source: BBC