Galaxy S8 First Listen: An hour on Samsung’s latest success! [#acpodcast]

The Galaxy S8 is really real and officially official! We’re live in New York hours after the big reveal chatting about Samsung’s Next Big Thing!

Join Daniel, Andrew, Derek, Phil (Modern Dad) and Michael Fisher (MrMobile) as they talk about, and pass around, the Galaxy S8!

This podcast was recorded live, and has some intermittent cursing (and a few ambulance sirens — thanks, New York) so you may want to listen to it without kids nearby.

• Follow Modern Dad on YouTube!
• Follow MrMobile on YouTube
• Catch up on everything Galaxy S8 at Android Central

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral330.mp3

Facebook Personal Fundraisers: How do you start one, are there fees, and does it work like GoFundMe?

Facebook isn’t done copying competing, popular services, apparently.

Mere days after it completed its assault on Snapchat by launching Facebook Stories, the social network has launched another new feature that aims to make GoFundMe and other charitable-giving services obsolete. This new feature is called Personal Fundraisers, and it essentially gives Facebook users a way to fundraise for nonprofits or just raise money for themselves. Here’s what you need to know.

• What’s the point of Snapchat and how does it work?
• What is Facebook Live, how does it work, and which devices support it?

What are Facebook Personal Fundraisers?

Facebook said its Personal Fundraisers tool allows people to “raise money for themselves, a friend, or someone or something not on Facebook”. In other words, Facebook is letting users raise money on behalf of themselves and others, so that they can help cover the cost of medical bills, tuition, crises, or whatever. At launch, the tool covers six specific categories for “critical financial needs”:

Education (such as tuition, books, or classroom supplies), Medical (such as medical procedures, treatments, or injuries), Pet Medical (such as veterinary procedures, treatments, or injuries), Crisis Relief (such as public crises ,or natural disasters), Personal Emergency (such as a house fire, theft, or car accident), and Funeral and Loss (such as burial expenses).

How do you use Personal Fundraisers?

Facebook’s Personal Fundraisers feature is almost an exact copy of GoFundMe, which has become a go-to crowdfunding site when raising money for personal causes or charities. Only now, your profile is attached to the fundraiser, which helps with reach as well as legitimising your cause.

Start a fundraiser

• To create a fundraiser for a nonprofit, click Fundraisers in the left menu of your news feed.
• Click + Create Fundraiser, then select Nonprofit, and search for a nonprofit.
• Choose a cover photo, then fill in the fundraiser details, and click Create.
• To create a personal fundraiser for yourself or a friend, click Fundraisers in the left menu of your news feed.
• Select a category, then add a cover photo, and fill in details about your fundraiser. Click Create when done.
• Facebook has a 24-hour fundraiser review process for security purposes.

Set up payments

• If you’re the fundraiser creator, set up your bank account to receive payments.
• Click Fundraisers in the left column of news feed, and then click Created in the left column
• Click the fundraiser you’d like to set up payments for, and then click More below your fundraiser title.
• Click Setup payments and fill in your payment details.
• Facebook supports American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa.

Invite people

• To invite people to join your fundraiser, click Invite and select Choose Friends from your fundraiser.
• Select the friends you’d like to invite, and then click Send Invites. You can only invite Facebook friends.

Are there any fees?

Yes, Personal Fundraisers will have a 6.9 per cent + $.30 fee. Facebook said this fee will go to payment processing, fundraiser vetting, security, and fraud protection – it’s not trying to make a profit off the feature. GoFundMe takes 7.9 percent + $0.30 per donation in the US.

When are payments issued?

Payments are issued on Wednesdays. Facebook said donations will be held for “a minimum of 7 days or a maximum of 13 days, depending on when the donation is made”, and that it may take your bank a few additional business days to deposit payments into your account.

When can you use Personal Fundraisers?

Personal Fundraisers will launch as a beta in late March or early April.

Where are Personal Fundraisers available?

Personal Fundraisers are available in the US for people 18 years or older. We expect the feature to get a wider rollout one day.

Want to know more?

Check out Facebook’s blog post and help hub for more tips and tricks.

Microsoft is letting people grab the Creators Update a week early

Although Microsoft already announced a launch date for its next major update to Windows 10, it’s decided to let users grab it one week earlier.

Microsoft will start its multi-stage rollout of the Windows 10 Creators Update starting on 11 April, but if you’re excited and want it sooner, you can manually download it on 5 April. The company said in a blog post that it will make the Creators Update available through its Update Assistant. You just have to be using a licensed version of Windows 10 to be eligible to install it a week ahead of the official rollout.

Microsoft explained:

“For the those of you who are eager to get the Creators Update right away, you will be able to initiate the update manually, starting on April 5th, via Update Assistant. This option is intended for advanced users on devices running a licensed version of Windows 10.”

Keep in mind you can have access to the public Creators Update build right now via the Windows Insider program. We recommend just waiting for the update to arrive, or that you grab it manually, but if you’re super impatient, go to Microsoft’s Windows Insider website, sign into your Microsoft account, and click Get Started to become a Windows Insider. It’s free to join the beta-testing program.

Go here for more information on the Update Assistant and how to manually get the Creators Update a week before the official launch. And if you want to know more about the Creators Update itself, Pocket-lint has a guide on that, too.

• What’s new in Windows 10 Creators Update?

Tech’s biggest players tackle climate change despite rollbacks

Some of America’s biggest tech companies say they’re still committed to battling climate change, Bloomberg reports, two days after President Trump signed a sweeping executive order that rolls back many Obama-era climate policies. Not only will it be good for the environment, they say, it will be good for their bottom line.

Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are some of the 154 companies that agreed to embrace clean energy during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. The American Business Act on Climate Pledge set ambitious, concrete goals like reducing emissions by 50 percent and water usage by 80 percent, achieving zero waste-to-landfill and purchasing 100 percent renewable energy.

“We believe that strong clean energy and climate policies, like the Clean Power Plan, can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth,” the companies said in a joint statement.

But, President Trump’s executive order targets those environmentally friendly policies. Under the order, the current administration can rewrite carbon emission rules for new and existing power plants, and it won’t have to consider how federal actions might impact climate change when conducting National Environmental Policy Act reviews. The order will also restart the federal coal leasing program, which allows energy companies to buy the rights to mine on federal lands.

Their stance is in opposition to lobbyist organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, who support the executive order. They believe it will stimulate the US energy market and the economy, and allow for the construction of more highways, bridges and railroads.

Still, many companies are expressing disappointment with the order, and say they still support Obama’s policies. “Most big companies in the US recognize that climate change is real,” Geoffrey M. Heal, a professor at Columbia Business School, told Bloomberg. “They need to move ahead on the climate change front no matter what Trump’s government does.”

Source: Bloomberg

Watch SpaceX relaunch the first rocket it landed on a barge (update: it was a success)

SpaceX is getting ready for one historic flight. The private space corporation has announced on Twitter that all systems are ready for today’s launch — the weather seems to be cooperating, as well. In 60 minutes or so (around 6:30PM Eastern), we might see the company send the first rocket it landed on an ocean platform back to space. It’s the first orbital mission ever to use a recovered rocket and will prove that Falcon 9 truly is reusable. The flight will ferry the SES-10 communications satellite to orbit, so it can provide broadband and mobile services in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. You can watch the event unfold through the company’s live broadcast after the break.

Update: The flight was a resounding success. SpaceX has landed the booster on a barge (yet again), marking the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

~60 minutes until launch window for SES-10 opens. All systems and weather are go. Watch here https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z pic.twitter.com/KNUujBCDa7

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 30, 2017

Source: SpaceX (Twitter)

Streaming made last year the music industry’s best since 2009

When the RIAA released its annual report last year tracking sales in 2015, it came with a significant milestone: streaming revenue had surpassed that of downloads, if only by less than a percent. But the subscription-based model continues to grow — and make history. As the agency’s newest report notes, retail revenue in 2016 grew to $7.7 billion, making it the best year for the music industry since 2009. And streaming services accounted for 51 percent of music money made in the US.

Consider that streaming accounted for only 9 percent of total American music revenue in 2011, and the continual growth sounds extremely promising. — and it’s not just ad money from folks listening for free. In the US, paid accounts doubled from 10.8 million in 2015 to 22.8 million last year, which brought in about a third of the total American music revenue. It’s unclear how many more users there are left to convert before these numbers plateau, but for now, they’re finally the biggest money-making model in the industry.

While the industry is improving overall, revenues are only about half of what they were in 1999. That seems to be the zenith before a long decline that streaming is only now starting to reverse. Digital download revenue from online retailers like iTunes continued to fall, from about $2.8 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion last year. And as digital rises, physical sales continue to drop, falling 16 percent to $1.7 billion. They had represented over half of all sales as recently as 2010, the report points out — but vinyl continues its tiny renaissance, enjoying its best year since 1985.

Via: Pitchfork

Source: 2016 RIAA Shipment and Revenue Statistics

SpaceX successfully relaunched a Falcon 9 rocket

Today’s SpaceX launch will be logged in the history books as the first time a flight-proven orbital class rocket has successfully been relaunched and returned to Earth. “We just had an incredible day today,” CEO Elon Musk said after the first stage Falcon 9 rocket made a clean landing “right in the bullseye” on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. “This is gonna be ultimately a huge revolution in spaceflight,” Musk said. “It’s been 15 years to get to this point. I’m sort of at a loss for words. It’s been a great day for SpaceX and space exploration as a whole.”

Stage 1 of the Falcon 9 rocket that launched today was first used to boost a Dragon vehicle on a supply run to the International Space Station. The same rocket was also the first to successfully land on SpaceX’s drone barge. The first stage represents about 80 percent of the cost of a rocket launch, so when Musk describes the next era in space exploration, he is referring to the new opportunities that will come with the significant cost savings.

WATCH: SpaceX rocket blasts off from Florida in first launch of recycled Falcon 9 booster https://t.co/0ebx5yanKb pic.twitter.com/acMN9preZH

— Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) March 30, 2017

Falcon 9 first stage has landed on Of Course I Still Love You — world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 30, 2017

Meanwhile, the SES-10 vehicle that topped today’s rocket launch will go on to a geostationary orbit where it will deliver direct-to-home broadcasting, broadband and mobile services in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

iOS 10.3 Fixes Exploit That Caused iPhones to Repeatedly Dial 911

iOS 10.3, released earlier this week, fixes a major vulnerability that could cause iPhones to repeatedly dial 911, reports The Wall Street Journal. In the United States, 911 is an emergency telephone number that summons police, fire, and EMS services.

The 911 security flaw surfaced in October after an 18-year-old iOS developer in Arizona discovered and published code that would cause an iPhone to dial 911 over and over again. The teenager was arrested after the 911 system in Surprise, Arizona was overwhelmed with more than 100 hang-up calls in just minutes.

Because the code was published online, thousands of accidental 911 calls were placed across the United States, demonstrating an effective cyberattack method that could severely disrupt emergency services.

The code exploited an iPhone feature that allows users to click on a phone number in a text message or on a webpage and immediately dial that number. With the iOS 10.3 update, iPhones always require secondary confirmation before automatically calling a number using that method.

Apple says the update supersedes that capability and now requires users to always press a second confirmation before initiating a call.

Apple says it initially worked with app developers to fix the vulnerability, and this update will now prevent it from happening even on apps that hadn’t already fixed the issue.

iOS 10.3, which introduces features like Find My AirPods and a new Apple Filesystem, also includes dozens of major security fixes. Another major iOS 10.3 bug fix, which could result in endless Safari pop-ups that “locked” the Safari app, was outlined earlier this week.

Related Roundup: iOS 10
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Apple and SAP’s Enterprise Cloud Platform SDK for iOS Now Available

Back at Mobile World Congress in February, Apple and enterprise application software company SAP, which first teamed up in 2016 announced plans to launch the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS in March, and as of today, the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS has been made available.

The platform features a toolset that is designed to help developers quickly and effortlessly build “enterprise-grade” apps for iOS devices. It uses Apple’s Swift programming language to present developers and designers with a collection of pre-built UI components and easy access iPhone features for accelerated app development.

Apple announced the launch of the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS on its developer website.

Apple and SAP are working together to make it easier than ever to reinvent business processes and workflows everywhere. With the new SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS, you can build powerful native iOS apps that integrate seamlessly with the SAP Cloud Platform.

Apple’s dedicated SAP page better explains the partnership between the two companies and the benefits of the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS for enterprise customers.

Tags: enterprise, SAP
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The LG G6: First impressions

We received our LG G6 a little over a day ago and while that is nowhere near enough time for any kind of review, we do have some opinions on the LG G6 already. While we are keeping an open mind for our full review, the LG G6 has impressed us in some areas and disappointed in others so far.

To be honest, a lot of people are going to overlook this device. The Samsung Galaxy S8 was just announced and the screen is bigger, the processor is newer and potentially faster, and the base storage is twice that of the LG G6. Those are all valid reasons to choose the S8 over the G6, but that doesn’t mean the G6 is a bad phone when looked at in a vacuum. It still has a very powerful processor, more than enough RAM and storage, and quality of life features like water resistance and quick charging.

Here are some of the things we’ve noticed right off the bat. We’ll continue to test the LG G6 for a few weeks and bring you our full review soon.

Build quality

I’ve owned the LG G2, G3, G4 and I had the G5 for three weeks while I reviewed it (full review here). To say I’m familiar with LG’s design language would be an understatement. That’s why I’m so blown away by the LG G6’s construction and build quality.

A few years ago, starting the Galaxy S6, Samsung redesigned its flagship phones and started using higher quality materials like metal and glass to make the devices feel more premium. LG didn’t follow that track and stuck to plastics, leather, and painted metal on its devices. Premium, they were not.

But LG changed that with the G6.

If you like how glass feels, you’re going to love this device. The front and back are almost entirely covered with glass with aircraft-grade aluminum on the sides. There aren’t any curved edges like the S8 and S8 Plus, but the back is slightly curved to help you pick it up when it’s laying flat. The G6 feels as well-built as any phone on the market right now besides maybe the iPhone and OnePlus 3T. I am extremely impressed by what LG was able to design in just one cycle.

Fingerprint magnet

The downside of all that glass are the fingerprints. Our black version looks gorgeous when it’s clean, but once you pick it up all that grease from your fingers is instantly transferred to your G6. It’s an easy wipe to get rid of it, but it doesn’t look great.

I’m actually kind of surprised at how many fingerprints the front glass is picking up. I’ve gone through several devices recently and none have held fingerprints on the display like the G6. I don’t know if LG used a different kind of oleophobic coating on the display of the device, but it’s very obviously different from other devices. I’ll probably keep a microfiber cloth with me just to keep the G6 fresh.

Smaller is better

The smaller bezels make a huge difference. There is almost no space between the 5.7″ display and the side of the phone. When viewing apps, pictures, or video with a dark background you can’t tell where the screen ends and the rest of the phone begins. It’s an awesome effect that almost no phone out there can emulate right now.

LG, in its wisdom, didn’t curve the edges of the G6. The phone feels more like an old school Apple iPhone 5 than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and that is a huge plus. With the flat edges, you actually have somewhere to hold your phone. Yes, in the world of disappearing bezels and thinner phones, we do need somewhere to grip the device.

Due to the smaller bezels, the screen size was increased. Yes, the screen was stretched out 5.7″, but it was also given a different aspect ratio. Most phones follow the 16:9 ratio to match televisions. The LG G6 (and Samsung Galaxy S8) moved to a new 18:9 ratio to increase screen size without making the devices any wider.

The issue with this new display ratio is how the phone interacts with apps. Apps have generally been made to fit into 16:9 screens but now have to either stretch to fit the 18:9 screen or be shown with black bars on the top and bottom fo the app.

LG gives you options in the software to choose how you’d like your apps displayed. I’ve only played around with the ratio on a few apps because most of my apps have (so far) played nice. One of my most used apps, Ishtar Commander, had a menu at the bottom covered up but a quick hop into the settings menu to change how the app is displayed and I was back in business.

This will be a problem for some apps but LG has done a good job in the software to make everything work correctly until app developers update their apps to work in a native 18:9 environment.

Other thoughts

Here are some other thoughts that we’ll touch on more in a full review.

Auto brightness: LG still struggles with auto brightness. Putting it on automatic keeps it too low in most cases. LG has had issues with this on every device I’ve ever owned or used made by them.

Quick charging: A lot of users on Reddit are complaining that included charger doesn’t charge all that fast. The G6 should have Quick Charge 2.0 enabled but we’ll test exactly how fast the included charger can refill the embedded battery in our full review.

Cameras: Everyone is doing a dual-camera setup these days. LG was one of the first and continues to be one of the best. We’ve only taken a few snaps so far but the pictures look excellent, especially in low light.

Fingerprint scanner: It’s blazingly fast. I’ve yet to have a misread (but keep mind, it has only been one day). The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, always on display, and knock-on are a perfect combination to stay on top of whats going on your device.

Software: Many of my friends know how much I absolutely hate LG’s skin. I admit that the first thing I did when setting up the phone was switch the to preloaded dark theme and install Nova launcher. Obviously, for our full review we’ll use the phone’s stock launcher so you can know what to expect when the phone comes out of the box, but the fact that there are 5 pre-installed themes is promising.

Early Conclusion

Like we said above, we’re keeping an open mind until the full review is complete, but color us impressed. LG has put together a very solid, if unspectacular device. I think if Samsung wasn’t releasing the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus at the same time, people would be all over the G6. The build quality is very good, the software seems to have taken steps forward, and there are a lot of other little improvements.

While we’re impressed with what we see so far, there are some definite weaknesses too. The fingerprints are a big one, but we’re also seeing a weak bottom firing speaker, some slight sluggishness in the software under load, and charging speeds.

Is the LG G6 worth your $650? We’re inclined to say yes at this point, especially if you can score some of the awesome preorder bonuses. If you’re interested in picking one up, check out our post on when and where you can buy the LG G6 and the bonuses you may entitled to.