Google tweaks the Pixel C tablet to be a little more like its Pixel phones

Why it matters to you

Google hasn’t forgotten about the Pixel C. A recent update brings its features in line with the company’s Pixel phones.

The Pixel C, Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface and Apple’s iPad, never really caught on — a year and a half after the tablet’s launch, sales are stagnant. But fortunately for buyers who took the plunge, Google hasn’t forgotten about it. Last week, the search giant began rolling out an update, Android 7.1.2, that brings the tablet’s features in line with Google’s Pixel-branded smartphones.

The multitasking menu has been tweaked slightly. Now, it’s more like the Pixel’s interface — when you switch apps, you get an animated grid-based system that shows the apps running in the background. Unfortunately, it’s limited to the eight most-used apps — unlike on the Pixel, scrolling through additional apps doesn’t appear to be possible.

More: Google reaches for the stars with rumored do-it-all laptop running new “Andromeda”

That’s not all that’s changed. Android 7.1.2 introduces new navigation menus close in styling to the Pixel and Pixel XL — they’re now all white, and the home button is a solid circle. The settings menu has adopted the blue color scheme of Google’s phones. And the Pixel Launcher, Google’s proprietary home screen app, now comes pre-installed with an app drawer and weather widget optimized for the tablet’s screen size.

Android 7.1.2 will roll out broadly in the coming weeks.

This could lay the groundwork for a broader transformation. Rumor has it that Google is developing a new operating system, Andromeda, that will merge its Chrome OS platform with Android. A few of the rumored features include notification syncing between Android devices enhanced with machine learning — reportedly, notifications will only display on a device that’s actually in use.

As recently as September 2016, two manufacturers were said to be working on Andromeda devices. Google is rumored to be planning to unveil the operating system this year, potentially alongside new devices.

One of those devices could be a follow-up to the Pixel C, according to Android Police. It’s the result of a collaboration between the Pixel, Android, and Chrome OS teams, and is reportedly thinner than Apple’s MacBook Air at 10mm and 12.3 inches. A backlit keyboard’s said to house a “glass trackpad” that has force detection similar to the MacBook, and an Intel Core M3 or i5 processor reportedly powers that tablet’s operating system.

Other rumored specs include 32 or 128GB of internal storage, 8 or 16GB of RAM, two USB Type-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a range of sensors, stylus support, stereo speakers, quad microphones, and a battery that lasts 10 hours.

The device will be aimed at the enterprise market, as rumor has it. Its starting price is $800 (within striking distance of Microsoft’s $900 Surface Pro 4), and it is expected to launch sometime between April and July 2017.

Amazon Cash lets you trade your paper bills for online credit

Why it matters to you

Ever want to buy something on Amazon with physical bills? Amazon Cash makes that possible.

If you’ve ever wished you could pay for goods and services on Amazon in cash, good news: Now you can. On Monday, the internet retailer launched Amazon Cash, a new service that allows customers to add hard-earned dollars to their account at participating brick-and-mortar retailers.

If you stop in a CVS Pharmacy, Speedway, Sheetz, Kum & Co, G&W Fresh Market, Family Fare Supermarket, VG’s Grocery, or the one of the other more than 10,000 participating retailers, you’ll be able to take advantage by heading to a register. Once you’ve pulled up Amazon Cash by navigating to Amazon.com/cash or searching for “amazon cash” (without quotes) in the Amazon mobile app, you’ll get a reusable bar code that can be added to the Wallet app on iOS or as a home screen shortcut on Android. Hand the cashier the bar code and the amount of cash you want to deposit (between $15 and $500 in a single transaction), and you’re good to go.

More: Amazon retail stores could use augmented reality to sell furniture, appliances

Money added via Amazon Cash is available as soon as you checkout at the register — you’ll be alerted with an email, text, and push notification. There aren’t any fees, and the funds can be used anywhere on Amazon’s site. You can check your balance by heading to the Manage Gift Card section of the Amazon mobile app.

Previously, adding cash to an Amazon balance wasn’t easy. You’d have to buy an Amazon Gift Card in a designated amount or add cash to a prepaid balance card.

More: Amazon’s futuristic grab-and-go store has reportedly hit a snag

Amazon’s after a demographic that’s wary of forking debit and credit card information over online. As many as 85 percent of all transactions globally (and 40 percent in the United States) are carried out in cash, particularly transactions involving small amounts of money. And according to researchers at IDC, so-called “cash customers” account for 27 percent of consumers.

The retailer’s not the first to target the market. In April 2016, PayPal added the ability to deposit cash at CVS, Rite Aid, and 7-Eleven locations via the mobile app for Android and iOS. Unlike Amazon, though, PayPal charged a $4 deposit fee for the privilege.

Fans get Bixby up and running on Galaxy S7, though not without some problems

Why it matters to you

Samsung’s new personal assistant may never make it to older devices in an official capacity, so this may be the best chance users have at trying out Bixby without buying a new phone.

Still enjoying your Samsung Galaxy S7 but wish you could get in on the Bixby craze? Enthusiasts over at XDA Developers might have you covered, as they have Samsung’s new personal assistant partially up and running on last year’s flagship.

To make it happen, you will need to install the APK files for the Galaxy S8’s launcher, then Bixby. After activating both in the settings and a quick reboot, you should have both ready to go. Although many respondents on the forum appear to be using S7 devices, theoretically any Samsung phone running Nougat should be able to also run Bixby.

More: Boring Bixby isn’t a reason to buy the Galaxy S8, but it is a reason to use Google Assistant

However, it must be said that there are a couple of caveats. First, you are in effect overwriting stock applications on your device with software that was never intended for it, and that carries some risk — so definitely think twice before giving this a shot. Second, your mileage may vary. While many users have reported successful installs, a decent amount also have not. Without the S8’s dedicated Bixby button, it appears all you get from installing the APK is the Google Now-like Bixby screen with cards.

While Hello Bixby appears to be operational for some, Bixby Assistant doesn’t seem to be working for anyone. It could be that installing the application files alone aren’t enough to get the full Bixby experience on older Samsung phones and that rooting and modifying the phone’s operating system may be necessary. If that is the case, the community will no doubt be hard at work until it has discovered a better method.

The possibility of Bixby running on existing Samsung devices is an enticing one, considering there is no indication the company plans to enable the assistant through future updates. The S8 was obviously designed from the outset with it in mind, and although Samsung would likely rather use Bixby as a selling point to encourage prospective buyers to drop hundreds on brand new hardware, it is also true that the Bixby experience as the company has envisioned it relies heavily on that little button on the side of the S8.

Samsung may not be comfortable with porting the assistant to older products that lack the dedicated key. Then again, Bixby just doesn’t seem ready for prime time yet — so perhaps we are not missing out on much.

Security expert: Samsung’s Tizen OS is riddled with vulnerabilities

Why it matters to you

Tizen isn’t the most secure operating system on the block — and that’s bad news for Samsung.

Tizen, Samsung’s open-source operating system, is riddled with vulnerabilities. That’s according to Motherboard, which spoke with an Israel-based Tizen security expert.

Samsung’s Tizen contains as many as 40 unknown bugs, or zero-days, that could allow a cyber criminal to hack devices without needing to physically access them. “It may be the worst code I’ve ever seen,” Amihai Neiderman, a Kaspersky Labs researcher, told Motherboard. “Everything you can do wrong there, they do it. You can see that nobody with any understanding of security looked at this code or wrote it.”

More: South Korea’s antitrust watchdog concerned Google meddled with Samsung’s Tizen

One security flaw involving TizenStore, Tizen’s app store, could let a hacker pack malicious code with a software update. TizenStore takes measures to ensure that only verified software is installed on Tizen devices, but those measures can be overridden. “You can update a Tizen system with any malicious code you want,” said Neiderman.

Another flaw exploits buffer overrun, a condition that occurs when the space to which data is being written is too small for the data. Tizen’s protections against it are insufficient, Neiderman said.

And Tizen failed to use encryption for secure connections when transmitting certain data. “They made a lot of wrong assumptions about where they needed encryption,” Neiderman told Motherboard.

More: Samsung launches a new contest to attract developers to its nascent Tizen platform

The problem stems in part from unwieldy code. Neiderman told Motherboard that much of the Tizen code base is old and borrows from previous Samsung projects, including Bada, a discontinued mobile phone operating system. “You can see that they took all this code and tried to push it into Tizen,” he said.

That’s bad news. Samsung, in a long-running effort to reduce its reliance on Google’s Android operating system, is shipping a growing number of devices with Tizen.

“Tizen is going to be Samsung’s next biggest thing. We might see the new Galaxies running Tizen, it could happen that soon. But right now Tizen is not safe enough for that.”

More: Samsung hopes to entice developers to build apps for Tizen TVs with update

Tizen powers more than 30 million of the company’s smart TVs, tens of millions of Samsung Gear smartwatches, and prototypical smart washing machines and refrigerators. And it’s in smartphones as well. Samsung has Tizen running on phones in countries like Russia, India, and Bangladesh, and plans to have 10 million Tizen phones in the market this year.

Samsung told Motherboard that it’s working with Niederman to address the bugs. “We are fully committed to cooperating with Mr. Neiderman to mitigate any potential vulnerabilities. Through our SmarTV Bug Bounty program, Samsung is committed to working with security experts around the world to mitigate any security risks.”

Security expert: Samsung’s Tizen OS is riddled with vulnerabilities

Why it matters to you

Tizen isn’t the most secure operating system on the block — and that’s bad news for Samsung.

Tizen, Samsung’s open-source operating system, is riddled with vulnerabilities. That’s according to Motherboard, which spoke with an Israel-based Tizen security expert.

Samsung’s Tizen contains as many as 40 unknown bugs, or zero-days, that could allow a cyber criminal to hack devices without needing to physically access them. “It may be the worst code I’ve ever seen,” Amihai Neiderman, a Kaspersky Labs researcher, told Motherboard. “Everything you can do wrong there, they do it. You can see that nobody with any understanding of security looked at this code or wrote it.”

More: South Korea’s antitrust watchdog concerned Google meddled with Samsung’s Tizen

One security flaw involving TizenStore, Tizen’s app store, could let a hacker pack malicious code with a software update. TizenStore takes measures to ensure that only verified software is installed on Tizen devices, but those measures can be overridden. “You can update a Tizen system with any malicious code you want,” said Neiderman.

Another flaw exploits buffer overrun, a condition that occurs when the space to which data is being written is too small for the data. Tizen’s protections against it are insufficient, Neiderman said.

And Tizen failed to use encryption for secure connections when transmitting certain data. “They made a lot of wrong assumptions about where they needed encryption,” Neiderman told Motherboard.

More: Samsung launches a new contest to attract developers to its nascent Tizen platform

The problem stems in part from unwieldy code. Neiderman told Motherboard that much of the Tizen code base is old and borrows from previous Samsung projects, including Bada, a discontinued mobile phone operating system. “You can see that they took all this code and tried to push it into Tizen,” he said.

That’s bad news. Samsung, in a long-running effort to reduce its reliance on Google’s Android operating system, is shipping a growing number of devices with Tizen.

“Tizen is going to be Samsung’s next biggest thing. We might see the new Galaxies running Tizen, it could happen that soon. But right now Tizen is not safe enough for that.”

More: Samsung hopes to entice developers to build apps for Tizen TVs with update

Tizen powers more than 30 million of the company’s smart TVs, tens of millions of Samsung Gear smartwatches, and prototypical smart washing machines and refrigerators. And it’s in smartphones as well. Samsung has Tizen running on phones in countries like Russia, India, and Bangladesh, and plans to have 10 million Tizen phones in the market this year.

Samsung told Motherboard that it’s working with Niederman to address the bugs. “We are fully committed to cooperating with Mr. Neiderman to mitigate any potential vulnerabilities. Through our SmarTV Bug Bounty program, Samsung is committed to working with security experts around the world to mitigate any security risks.”

It sounds crazy, but NASA is seriously growing space crystals to help make better drugs

Why it matters to you

Space-grown crystals may help chemists discover more effective drugs faster.

Crystals grow differently in space than they do on Earth, and astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have been tasked with finding out why. In a series of experiments, the ISS scientists will try to determine why crystals often have fewer imperfections and bigger sizes when grown in microgravity, research that may help accelerate drug development here on Earth.

In order to efficiently design drugs, chemists must first understand the structure of the proteins the drugs are intended to interact with. The problem is that proteins are tiny and have to be crystallized to reveal their 3D blueprint. By growing higher-quality crystals in space, researchers may be able to unravel the complexities of some of these proteins and adapt their crystal-growing methods to create better blueprints.

Scientists are unsure why crystals grow with fewer imperfections in outer space, though most theories attribute the quality to slower growth. One of the ISS experiments (The Effect of Macromolecular Transport on Microgravity Protein Crystallization — or LMM Biophysics 1) will investigate these theories.

The other experiment (Growth Rate Dispersion as a Predictive Indicator for Biological Crystal Samples Where Quality Can be Improved with Microgravity Growth — or LMM Biophysics 3) will try to discern which crystals are best grown in space, since past research has shown that only certain proteins benefit from microgravity.

More: Rift-exclusive ‘Mission: ISS’ simulates life on the International Space Station

“Some proteins are like building blocks,” Edward Snell, LMM Biophysics 3 primary investigator, said in a press release. “It’s very easy to stack them. Those are the ones that won’t benefit from microgravity. Others are like jelly beans. When you try and build a nice array of them on the ground, they want to roll away and not be ordered. Those are the ones that benefit from microgravity. What we’re trying to do is distinguish the blocks from the jelly beans.”

By distinguishing blocks from jelly beans and determining why microgravity effects growth, the hope is that these ISS experiments will accelerate drug discovery by allowing for better protein mapping.

Now you can download Netflix shows for offline playback on Windows 10 PCs

Why it matters to you

If you often find yourself with your laptop in an area without Wi-Fi, this should help keep you entertained.

Late last year, Netflix introduced a feature that many people had been begging the service to add: offline playback. The service initially launched on iOS and Android, which makes sense, as phones and tablets are the devices people are most likely to have with them on the go. Of course, people also travel with laptops, but at launch, those were left in the lurch.

You still can’t catch up on your favorite shows on your MacBook without Wi-Fi, but Windows 10 users can now stock up before they head out. The Netflix app available in the Windows 10 app store now features support for offline playback, Windows Central reports. For the time being, this only applies to PCs, as the Windows 10 Mobile version of the app has not added offline support.

More: LeEco, the ‘Netflix of China,’ ramps up U.S. push by offering products at retailers

The best part is that Netflix hasn’t limited this feature to just some subscription tiers — rather, regardless of what plan you may have, you can start downloading and watching offline today. As long as you’re using a compatible devices and software, offline viewing is now a possibility.

There are some stipulations, of course. As mentioned above, Netflix’s own series are the first to be available for download, and it’s not yet clear how many titles outside of Netflix’s own creation will be available. The service is also currently limited to mobile devices and won’t work on a laptop, so those who want to watch a larger screen will need to do so on a tablet. Still, this is a major move for the service, especially for those in areas where high-speed internet is hard to come by.

You will, of course, have to update the Netflix app on your device to the latest version in order to take advantage of the new feature, but that hardly seems like a steep price to pay for binge watching your favorite programs just about anytime, anywhere. So consider this an early holiday present from Netflix.

Updated on 04-03-2017 by Kris Wouk: Added that offline playback is now available on Windows 10 PCs. This story was originally published on 11-06-2016.

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs. Galaxy S7: Should you upgrade?

The relentless march of smartphone upgrades continues.

The hot new Galaxy S8 is here, and suddenly people with perfectly good Galaxy S7s are looking longingly at the order page considering an upgrade after a year (at most) with their phone. The Galaxy S8 introduces a fresh design, new hardware features and a few pieces of altogether new software, but that doesn’t mean the Galaxy S7 feels like a fossil.

Let’s take a look at the Galaxy S8 and see what you’re missing out on, and whether or not it make sense to make the jump to the latest version.

Hardware, specs and features

The Galaxy S8’s hardware design may not be as mind-blowing revolutionary as Samsung claims, but it has definitely progressed nicely from its predecessor. The biggest changes are actually not altogether new to the Galaxy S lineup, but more so the function of Samsung is using the same design for both sizes of the Galaxy S8 and S8+. In 2016, the smaller Galaxy S7 was the “standard” or “flat” model, while the Galaxy S7 edge was curved and a bit more futuristic — now, both models adopt that future-looking design, and it makes the Galaxy S7 look a tad old by comparison.

This just reiterates that the core Galaxy S7 experience is still strong in 2017.

The Galaxy S7’s display is plenty large for its body size, but the Galaxy S8 really stretches things out to give you a ton of extra display for not much extra size. The Galaxy S8, despite being taller, is the same width as the Galaxy S7 — so there aren’t many usability issues with bumping up to the larger size. In return, you just get more screen to look at every day. You also get a more modern on-screen navigation bar, finally leaving behind the capacitive keys — you can even switch the order to have the back button in the “right” place … to the left of the home button.

Speaking of display, the Galaxy S8’s is definitely a step up — Samsung improves each and every year — but the Galaxy S7 could easily still be considered one of the best panels out there. Aside from the nice-looking subtle curves that give it a bezel-free look on the sides, there isn’t too much to be jealous about here.

When it comes to specs and hardware features, the Galaxy S8 doesn’t exactly leave its predecessor in the dust. The new phone has the same rear camera experience, same 4GB of RAM, 3000mAh battery capacity, waterproofing, SD card slot, wireless charging and single speaker. The Galaxy S8 of course has a faster and more efficient processor and 64GB of storage, along with a forward-looking USB-C port, but none of that is game-changing over the already capable Galaxy S7.

Software and experience

A year on from release, the Galaxy S7 has actually kept up with the times having just received its Android 7.0 Nougat update. When it comes to daily use and the general look-and-feel of the Galaxy S8, things haven’t changed much from that latest GS7 update. There’s a new launcher layout and fresh icons throughout, but the main interface hasn’t changed a whole lot. You’ll find a tweaked camera interface, some features brought over that were originally in the Note 7 and a bit of tidying up all around, but not much altogether new software here. There’s a good chance the fresh icons and launcher could come to the Galaxy S7 in its next major update, but this isn’t something you should be upgrading your phone for.

Where the Galaxy S8 steps ahead is in its handful of new headline features — though each one is part software, part hardware, meaning they can’t come back to the Galaxy S7 in full with a software update. Iris scanning and facial recognition are new in the Galaxy S8, and they’re tied into the new sensors as a one-two punch of quickly getting you into your phone and then providing biometric security for proper authentication in the software.

There are some big hardware-backed features, but nothing majorly new in the interface.

Then there’s Bixby, the on-device voice assistant interface, is more of a forward-looking feature than one that provides immediate utility, especially as Samsung continues to expand it to the entire interface and all built-in apps. While the voice assistant could technically come back to older models like the Galaxy S7 through a software update, the chances are slim — Samsung even includes a dedicated hardware button on the GS8 for Bixby, and that’s something it can’t add to previous phones.

DeX is the Galaxy S8’s pseudo-desktop interface that brings your phone’s capabilities to a larger screen, and this is also something that’s going to stay on the Galaxy S8 line. The DeX dock is a USB-C peripheral, so it’s hard to see that Samsung would go through the trouble of creating a different version for the Galaxy S7 — not to mention porting back all of that advanced software — even though the Galaxy S7’s hardware could likely handle such features.

Bottom line

As much as we lust after the newest devices and want to have the latest technology, there’s actually a good chance that your Galaxy S7 still does what you need it to do a year into its life. If you’re still happy with the performance of your Galaxy S7 and don’t need any of the fringe features on offer in the Galaxy S8, you’ll feel right up to date there. The Galaxy S8’s performance will be a little better and it has a larger, better display, but the battery life will shape up to be similar and the rest of the hardware features and specs are nearly the same.

You may actually want to save your money this time around.

When it comes to the software, the combination of subtle interface changes aren’t worth buying a new phone for. And even if you’re bullish on the future prospects of Bixby and DeX, you may not see the features of either platform being important enough in the near term to warrant jumping to the Galaxy S8 right away.

The only real changes that could get you to drop your GS7 for a shiny new GS8 are in the design and size. Perhaps a year on your Galaxy S7’s 5.1-inch display is feeling a bit small and you want something larger — the Galaxy S8 has you covered there, and the display is fantastic. The Galaxy S8 is also just downright beautiful and feels futuristic. There’s something to be said for that weighing into your decision.

The Galaxy S8 is going to set you back a solid $750, and your Galaxy S7 is probably only worth a few hundred dollars to sell and cover some of the cost. Only you know how much these handful of subtle changes are worth — but be sure to do the calculation before you jump to the Galaxy S8 from your Galaxy S7.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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Android surpasses Windows as the world’s most popular OS

Android is the world’s most popular operating system, according to internet usage statistics.

According to the independent web analytics company StatsCounter, Android reached a very big milestone in March, overtaking Windows as the world’s most popular operating system in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile combined. It was marginal, but Android topped the worldwide OS internet usage market share with 37.93%, with Windows just behind at 37.91%.

According to StatsCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen, the main drivers of this breakthrough have been the global growth of smartphones usage for connecting to the internet, decline in sales of traditional PCs, and the impact of Asia on the global market. Microsoft Windows still owns the majority market share among desktop operating systems (PCs and laptops) and also remains the dominant operating system across all platforms in North America (Windows at 39.5%, iOS at 25.7%, Android at 21.2%), but Android’s growth on the global stage does highlight our growing reliance on mobile technology.

“Windows won the desktop war, but the battlefield moved on,” said Cullen. “It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile, but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in Augmented Reality, AI, Voice or Continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft-powered phone).”

While Windows will likely continue to dominate the desktop market, it will be interesting to see whether Samsung’s new Dex dock will catch on and eat into Microsoft’s market share further.

You can dive into StatCounter map deeper statistics and maps from March here.

Apple Discounts Beats Speakers and Headphones in New Promo

Apple today debuted a new promotion for some of its older Beats products, dropping prices by as much as $50 depending on the item.

The Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones in the Luxe line of colors are available for $149.95, a $50 discount off of the regular $199.95 price. Beats Solo2 Headphones are the previous-generation model without wireless connectivity and Apple’s new W1 chip. All Luxe colors are discounted, including Red, Silver, Blue, and Black, but other Solo2 models are not available for a lower price.

Apple’s lower-priced Beats EP On-Ear Headphones are available for $99.95, $30 off the regular price of $129.95. Also available in Red, Blue, White, and Black, the Beats EP are a newer budget product line that was unveiled in September.

Along with the two sets of headphones, Apple is also discounting its Beats Pill+ Portable Speaker, dropping the price from $229.95 to $199.95. The Pill+ is available in Red, Black, and White.

Apple does not say how long the discounts on its Beats products will last, so customers hoping to get a deal on a speaker or a set of headphones should purchase right away. Discounts are also available in Apple’s retail stores.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
Tags: Beats, Beats by Dre, Beats Pill+
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