BlackBerry KEYone will be available in the U.S. and Canada on May 31

Keyboard addicts, start your engines…

The BlackBerry KEYone is coming to the U.S. and Canada on the last day of May. That’s the official news out of TCL, purveyor of all things BlackBerry hardware these days. The phone was initially supposed to launch in April, but unforeseen delays pushed its release back to the edge of summer.

Back at MWC, BlackBerry Mobile said that the KEYone would cost $549 unlocked, and we can now confirm that there will be two models available at launch, one for AT&T and T-Mobile and another for Verizon and Sprint. The latter carrier will also reportedly stock the phone in stores later this summer, and BlackBerry Mobile is keeping the door open for other carriers, too, though none are being announced at the moment. More information on that front will be shared later in May.

Keyboard addicts can get the phone in just over a month.

More concrete are the KEYone’s release details for the Canadian market, which despite market share declines still has a sizeable following of BlackBerry loyalists. Also available starting May 31, the KEYone will be sold at Bell, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel and Telus Business (but not consumer) for $199 on a 2-year term, which likely translates to $699 outright. The phone goes up for pre-order on May 18.

The KEYone is a big deal for the nascent BlackBerry Mobile brand, which is putting a considerable amount of marketing power behind the phone. While its seemingly-antiquated design necessitates a stubbier screen than a typical smartphone, the excellent hardware keyboard feels perfect — just as it did years ago on older BlackBerry models. Reviews are coming soon, so stay tuned.

BlackBerry KEYone

• BlackBerry KEYone hands-on
• BlackBerry KEYone specs
• The latest KEYone news
• KEYone vs. Priv: Battle of the BlackBerry keyboards
• Join the discussion in the forums

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How to disable icon notification badges on the Galaxy S8

This could be your favorite feature … or it could annoy you every single day.

One of the features on Android that’s requested frequently, particularly by anyone who’s used an iPhone, is notification badges on app icons. That means that as notifications for that app pile up, a small circle with a number indicating the amount of unread notifications is placed on its icon. Listening to demand, Samsung includes this feature in the Galaxy S8 — but it isn’t perfect.

So long as the app supports these notification badges, you’ll see the number of unread notifications on that app icon. Unfortunately, unlike iOS this isn’t a standard framework for Android apps, so only some of your apps have badges while others don’t. That’s annoying.

No matter which side of the issue you fall on, we can all agree that having a setting in the phone to turn off these icon badges would be a beneficial thing. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t give us such a setting, so we have to go our own way.

To get this done, we have to start by installing an app from the Play Store. The app we’ve used with success is called Package Disabler Pro (Samsung) — it’s $1.49 and worth every penny even if you just use it for this one task. There are many other package disablers out there, and some may even work for this purpose, but the one linked above is the one we’ve used and can speak to.

So with that app installed, here’s the process you need to follow.

• IMPORTANT: Before going through this process, you must clear all icon badges from your apps and make sure they stay clear until you disable the icon badge package. If you have unread icon badges at the time of doing this process, the badges will be stuck there until you start all over — it’s not permanent, but it’s annoying and wastes your time.

With icon badges cleared, open Package Disabler Pro from your app drawer.
Enter your own passcode in the text field to enable device administration and tap Enable Admin.

• The passcode is local to this device and doesn’t have to match any other passcode you have on the phone.
• Remember the passcode!

On the next screen tap Activate at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll down and find BadgeProvider and check the box next to it.

WARNING: Do not check any additional boxes without first knowing what you’re doing. Some of these packages are critical to the function of your phone.

And that’s it! So long as you keep Package Disabler Pro installed and the checkbox checked, icons will not have notification badges on them. If you ever want to revert the process you can simply open Package Disabler Pro, revert your changes and uninstall the app — no damage done.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• 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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Understanding the Galaxy S8’s display resolution options

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ default to ‘Full HD+’ resolution, but it’s easy to go higher or lower. Here’s why you might want to do that.

The Galaxy S8’s Quad HD+ SuperAMOLED panel is one of its standout features. Indeed, that big, almost bezel-free display features heavily in Samsung’s ads for the phone. By default, though, it’s not set to run at its full, native resolution of 2960×1440, instead it’s downsampled to “Full HD+,” or 2220×1080. And if you want, you can set it to go even lower, down to “HD+” — 1480×720.

Let’s take a look at the Galaxy S8’s resolution options, and examine which level you might want to pick.

How to change the Galaxy S8’s screen resolution

The screen resolution option is easy to find.

Open the notification shade by swiping down from the top of the screen.
Tap the cog icon to open the Settings app.
Tap Display
In the menu that appears, tap the Screen resolution option.

From here, you can adjust the slider to choose HD+, FHD+ or WQHD+. After selecting your option, tap Apply to set it, or Cancel to go back without changing anything.

The resolution slider affects the sharpness on the screen appear — the native WQHD provides the best picture quality, however setting a lower resolution may improve battery life. The default FHD+ resolution doesn’t push the display to its limits, but may provide modest battery life improvements compared to WQHD.

As you might expect, the jump from FHD+ to WQHD+ is more noticeable on the larger Galaxy S8+, thanks to its larger 6.2-inch display size. But it’s worth switching and switching back to see how noticeable the change is to you. Depending on how you use the phone — and which size of S8 you own — the change may or may not be noticeable.

Note: Changing the resolution setting on the phone won’t affect the picture quality when using the Samsung Gear VR.

The jump up to WQHD+ is most noticeable on the larger S8+

So you may want to switch up to WQHD+ if you have a Galaxy S8+ and getting the very best possible picture quality is more important than the slight battery hit you may take. (We haven’t noticed much of a reduction in longevity when running at the higher resolution on the S8+, for what that’s worth.)

On the smaller, S8, with a smaller screen and smaller battery, the increase in pixel density is harder to notice, and the dent in battery life slightly more apparent if you switch to WQHD+.

As for the lower HD+ option, most of the time you’ll want to leave this alone. In a pinch, you may want to switch to the lowest resolution option as a temporary measure to improve battery life. (The Galaxy S8 also has other battery-saving options under Settings > Device maintenance > Battery, by the way.) Another reason would be if you have reduced vision to the point where there’s no visible difference between the three resolution settings.

For the majority of Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners, the default FHD+ will be just fine, providing good display quality and balanced battery life.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• 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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BlackBerry KeyOne now available in the UK, exclusively from Selfridges

BlackBerry, under license by TCL Communications, has launched its latest Android-powered flagship smartphone, the KeyOne, in the UK. It’s currently available to buy exclusively from Selfridges on Oxford Street, but will be available from Carphone Warehouse stores nationwide from 5 May.

• BlackBerry KeyOne preview: Fingerprint scanner and QWERTY keyboard for BB’s next flagship

The KeyOne is the successor to the BlackBerry Priv, and features, in true BlackBerry style, a full physical keyboard. Each key can be assigned to a different shortcut and a fingerprint scanner is integrated into the space bar.

Other long standing BlackBerry features to make their way across to the KeyOne include the company’s security features. The pre-installed DTEK app will keep an eye on your phone’s security status and will let you know if any apps are taking advantage of any permissions they’ve been granted.

The KeyOne will also come pre-installed with Android Nougat 7.1 with full access to the Play Store for apps and games and the battery, the largest ever to be fitted to a BlackBerry phone, claims to last up to 26 hours.

Elsewhere specs could be considered lower-than-flagship status, with a full HD display with 3:2 ratio, Snapdragon 625 processor and 3GB of RAM. A 12-megapixel image camera adorns the rear of the phone, while an 8-megapixel camera is on the front for selfies, complete with 84-degree wide-angle lens.

• BlackBerry KeyOne: Release date, specs and everything you need to know

The BlackBerry KeyOne is available to pick up now from the Home and Tech department at Selfridges for £499 SIM-free.

When QLED meets Galaxy S8: A guide to Smart View, Samsung Connect and controlling your Samsung TV with your phone

Modern TVs are hyper-connected, with the likes of Samsung packing a whole range of functionality into its smart TVs. 

For many, the relationship with the TV is all about the remote control and the TV’s native apps, but there’s a whole world of interaction with your smartphone too. 

Samsung is building itself an ecosystem, with the smartphone at the very core, but with the TV at the heart. These two categories of devices dominate your time at home: the TV is your biggest and best screen, it’s where you relax and consume content, but your smartphone is your most intimate device, always in your hand and vying for eye time too.

Here’s how Samsung offers you more when these devices are working in tandem. For this feature, we’ve used the very latest 2017 Samsung QLED TV with the Samsung Galaxy S8+, with a range of helpers along the way.

Samsung Connect

Samsung Connect is a newly branded hub, appearing on the Samsung Galaxy S8 as a centre point for your connected home devices. It’s closely tied into Samsung’s connected home arm at SmartThings, but also to other connected Samsung devices. 

In addition, Samsung Connect is a home for your Bluetooth devices, listing everything you have connected to your phone and giving you individual control, replacing the Quick Connect option of older devices.

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It’s also somewhere that your Samsung TV will show up. We’re using the Samsung QLED Q7F, a new 2017 television, but this will also work with some of Samsung’s older smart TVs too, like the 2016 KS models. 

From the Samsung Connect app you can tap on your detected TV and once you’ve accepted the connection request on your TV’s display, you’ll be given a controller on your phone and a whole load of other functions. 

This controller reflects the physical smart remote that comes with the TV (for the QLED at least), giving you volume and channel controls, guide access, the home button to open your TV’s hub, four-way controller and pause controls. There’s also a “more” button that gives you other clever options, like the ability to turn off your connected set-top box. 

At the bottom of the controller you get a range of other options – browse content, mirror screen, view TV on phone and play TV sound on phone. 

Those first two options – browse content and mirror screen rely on a separate system called Samsung Smart View, which we’ll look at in a second. 

The latter two options offer a function that’s available between Samsung phones and TVs for a while. To save confusion, we’ll deal with these individually below.

Top tip: You don’t have to open the Samsung Connect app itself to access these functions. If your phone and TV are connected, you’ll be able to access those controls directly from a banner in the notifications tray.

It’s worth adding that we’ve found Samsung Connect to be really solid when it comes to controlling the TV. We’ve found the connection stable, so it’s a useful feature when your remote is out of reach.

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How to watch your Samsung TV on your Samsung phone 

If you’re lucky enough to have both a Samsung Smart TV and a Samsung Galaxy S phone (compatibility depending, we’re using a Q7F and Galaxy S8+, but we’ve done this with the KS9500 and Galaxy S7 before) then it’s possible to watch your TV on your phone.

This is ideal for those who want to move to a different room without missing out – perhaps going to the bathroom – or if you’re watching a movie with the family and you have to cook dinner and don’t want to miss out. 

If you’ve got Samsung Connect on your phone, as we said above, there’s the option to watch TV through that app. You simply have to tap that option and the TV will be mirrored on your phone. There’s a minor delay, as the TV content is sent to your phone, so it’s slightly out of phase. 

If you have an older phone, you might find this option in Quick Connect instead, although we suspect that will be phased out so Samsung Connect becomes the sole terminology used.

The word mirrored is important because you can’t watch something else, this isn’t a fancy alternative to Sky Q or EE TV’s multi-tuner options, you all have to watch the same thing. If you’re watching football on the toilet and someone changes it to Pokemon XYZ on Netflix, that’s what you’ll be watching. That said, you can watch anything that’s showing on your TV – streaming content, Xbox gaming, whatever. 

It’s not only watching you can do, however, as you get controls too. This is where it becomes important to set-up your TV and connected devices correctly. As the latest QLED TVs will control attached devices, you can use your mirrored phone to change channels on a connected set-top box, for example to switch your YouView box to a different channel. Now that’s clever. 

How to listen to your Samsung TV sound on your phone 

This is a popular option for those who want to watch something noisy after hours, perhaps when the kids are in bed or when you don’t want to disturb anyone else. It lets you watch on your TV, but through a connected pair of headphones you can listen privately. 

Again, this now falls into the Samsung Connect app, so on the Galaxy S8, it’s just a case of tapping that option from Samsung Connect and the audio track is sent over.

It’s pretty good and having used this option, we found that the lip sync was good enough. It’s not quite as connected as watching through the TV’s own speakers or a sound system, but it certainly works.

Samsung Smart View

We’ve mentioned Smart View a couple of times and this is something that appears two-fold on Samsung phones:

Smart View/Screen Mirroring in Quick Settings

Samsung has offered screen mirroring for some time. In older devices this is simply called screen mirroring, but in the Galaxy S8 it’s now called Smart View. In both cases you’ll find an option in the Quick Settings (the swipe-down area of shortcuts) and you can then send your phone content to your TV. 

This is a quick and simple option for mirroring, with everything on your phone appearing on the TV. The quality is designed for convenience so it’s not great, but it works with everything, so any content on your phone will appear on your TV – photo albums, streaming video, websites, the lot.

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In some cases it’s integrated into Samsung apps too. For example, open the Samsung Gallery and you’ll have the option to send that directly to your connected TV. 

Bonus point: for those using the Galaxy S8 or S8+, you’ll know that you now have an 18.5:9 display and your TV is 16:9. Fear not. Within your phone window you’ll see the settings cog. Tap here and you can change the aspect of the content while you’re casting, so it fills the TV properly. Remember to hold you phone in landscape, naturally.

Smart View the app

Here’s where it gets really confusing, because Samsung offers an app called Smart View too. This is a universal app that’s been around for a few years for all Android devices as well as iOS devices, providing connected functions for those using Samsung phones as well as those not using Samsung phones. We’ve tried it on the Google Pixel XL and iPhone 5S with the QLED Q7F and this is how you get controller functions without having access to Samsung Connect.

Confused? There’s no need to be. If you have a Samsung phone, you’ll only need the Smart View app to enable the browse content option we mentioned above, if you don’t have a Samsung phone, you’ll need to download the app to get a smartphone controller for your TV.

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The browse content option presents you with a selection of thumbnails for the apps installed on your TV, e.g., Play Movies, Netflix, Amazon Video and basically launch those apps and control them. That means you can use your phone to open Amazon Video on your TV, select what you want to watch and hit play.

You can also browse through content here, so select the show you want to watch on a particular service, before hitting the button and getting your TV to play it.

That’s great, but it’s not that simple. Unlike Samsung Connect, the Smart View app is a poor performer. Even on Samsung’s new flagship S8+ smartphone, the app frequently disconnects and then refuses to reconnect. The same applies to the iOS version, to the extent that it’s more frustrating than useful. 

But that’s not the end of the world, it’s just a limitation and it’s difficult to tell if it’s the TV, the phone, the app or your everything that’s causing the problem.

Using casting with your Samsung TV 

So Smart View (the app, not the mirroring part from Samsung phones) is a bit of a dog, but it’s not the only option you have for taking control of your Samsung TV with your phone. There’s a neat casting option too that you can use for some applications. 

Let’s make this point first: Samsung does not support the Google Cast protocol, you can’t send everything that’s Google Cast enabled to your TV, but some services use a different protocol called DIAL.

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The good thing about DIAL is that it’s integrated into the cast button at the top of an app, exactly the same as if you were using a Chromecast. The apps that currently work in this way include Netflix and YouTube (and not just with Samsung TVs, but with a whole world of connected devices).

The advantage they offer is that you can browse the content on your phone, find what you want, hit the button and play it on your TV. Unlike mirroring, the TV then picks up the online stream, retrieving the highest quality it can support. For example, cast Luke Cage on Netflix and while it would be in HD on your phone, it plays in 4K HDR on your TV. 

While Google has pushed its own casting option and that’s compatible with loads of services if you have a Chromecast, as it stands, Netflix and YouTube are your only option on your Samsung TV out of the box.

What if you’ve got a Chromecast already?

Well you’re in luck if you’ve got a Chromecast already for one main reason: automatic HDMI switching. If your Chromecast is connected to your Samsung TV’s One Connect box, then when you cast something to it, the TV will automatically switch to that input so you can start playing without needing to use a remote control, without having to change input or anything else. Again, Chromecast will select the highest quality stream it can play, and off it goes.

So course, Samsung’s smart TVs offer pretty much all the apps you might want to cast, in which case a Chromecast isn’t really worth buying, just so you don’t have to use the remote control. Chromecast is a better addition to older dumb TVs, to widen their skillset, but that said, if you’re used to using Chromecast with your phone, then it’s still a slick experience, especially with the new Chromecast Ultra. Just remember to switch on the HDMI UHD Color option in the settings menu.

What about Bixby?

Good question. Bixby is Samsung’s new AI assistant. Launched on the Galaxy S8, Bixby has plans to span all Samsung devices to bring connectivity and convenience.

At the time of writing, however, there’s no Bixby cross-over at all. We suspect that Bixby will become a controller for Samsung Connect, but as it stands, you can forget about Bixby for the timebeing.

That said, the latest Samsung QLED TVs offer voice control through the remotes and it behaves in much the same way as Bixby voice control on smartphones, so we suspect it’s the same underlying system.

• What is Bixby? Samsung’s smart AI explained

Forza Horizon 3 update adds crazy Hot Wheels tracks to muck around on

There have been plenty of great downloadable content for the Forza games over the years but few have us as excited in Pocket-lint Towers as the latest.

As of 9 May, Forza Horizon 3 will be getting a major, game-changing expansion. It adds a new location, new cars and, most importantly, loop-the-loops, stunts and other orange track-based shenanigans.

That’s because it is based on and licensed by Hot Wheels, the toy car system that specialises in crazy action, jumps and the like.

Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels will be available for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC version of Forza Horizon 3 as DLC for the main game. Its price it yet to be revealed, but it will also be included as part of the game’s Expansion Pass, so if you’ve purchased that already you’ll get the download from release day as part of your initial payment.

The expansion adds an all-new campaign, which culminates in a final stunt showdown on a massive Hot Wheels Goliath track. Along the way you’ll race using boost pads, high-bank turns, half-pipes, jumps and giant mechanical dinosaurs. There is also a new stunt swap feature that lets you customise tracks for your friends to check out and race on.

There will also be 10 new cars and a new barn find to discover.

The Morning After: Thursday, April 27th 2017

TV dinners for foodies? The beginning of the end for net neutrality? Someone beating up a poor robot? Must be a Thursday. We also hear more on the next Call Of Duty title and Amazon’s new fashion camera. Really.

Profits are up, and ‘Pokemon’ is pretty much a license to print money.
Nintendo Switch could outsell the Wii U in its first year

Nintendo’s profits are up. It’s claimed an operating profit of $1.6 billion (178 billion yen) for the last quarter, which is almost a billion dollars more than the same quarter in 2016. It’s the company’s first financial results after its Switch console went on sale, and since March 3rd, it’s sold 2.74 million units. The company believes sales will stay strong, forecasting 10 million more Switch consoles sold by this time next year. That prediction, shy of 13 million, would put it toe to toe with the total sales of its predecessor, the Wii U, over its entire lifetime.

Ajit Pai wants to do away with rules preventing throttling, blocking and paid prioritization.
FCC Chairman outlines his plan to gut net neutrality

The future of net neutrality has been uncertain since the November election of Donald Trump. His FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, has made it clear he intends to scale back some of the regulations surrounding ISPs, but details have been scarce. Now we have an idea of the framework the commission will be pursuing, and it begins with revoking the classification of ISPs as a “common carrier” service under Title II, which has essentially treated the internet as a public utility for the last two years.

Drunkenly attacking a connected bot with cameras wasn’t smart.
Man arrested after knocking over a 300-pound security robot

The Knightscope’s K5 may not be the cutest robot, but that doesn’t mean drunks get to knock it over.

Return of the webcam?
Amazon Echo Look is a voice-controlled camera for fashion tips

Meet Echo Look, an Alexa-powered camera designed around taking your own fashion photos and videos. If you want to show off your daily wardrobe, you just have to ask the Look to take a snapshot — you don’t have to take a selfie in front of a mirror to get a full-length picture. And since it includes a depth-sensing camera, it can blur the background to make shots pop. The real party tricks come when you’re not sure about your outfit, however. The Look’s Style Check service blends AI algorithms with fashion specialist advice to provide a second opinion — and hopefully get you buying more outfits, you clothes horse.

It’s a step back in time for the franchise for a few reasons.
‘Call of Duty: WWII’ takes you back to Omaha Beach November 3rd

Call of Duty: WWII will launch November 3rd on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As you might expect, the game takes place largely in Europe between 1944 and 1945, ultimately pushing toward Germany after fighting through Nazi reinforcements on Normandy Beach and through the grimy streets of France and Belgium. As for the story, there’s a big focus on the brotherhood of your squad — something captured in HBO’s Band of Brothers and Steven Spielberg’s epic Saving Private Ryan.

Mobile earnings dropped off in Q1, but it expects the Galaxy S8 will turn things around.
Samsung’s chip business kept things looking up to start 2017

Samsung’s quarterly earnings are in, showing the company’s highest quarterly profit since Q3 2013. That’s despite the Galaxy Note 7 recall, and a markdown in the price of its Galaxy Note 7, apparently because the company’s chip business (making memory, processors and camera sensors for phones) is booming. As a company, it brought home the $8.75 billion in operating profit expected, and looks forward to better results next quarter, since it will include sales of the new Galaxy S8 phones.

But wait, there’s more…

• Nomiku Sous Chef essentially offers TV dinners for foodies
• ‘White Collar’ crime tracker mocks police profiling bias
• How ‘Puyo Puyo Tetris’ tricked me into liking puzzle games
• ‘The Protectors’ shows how VR can help save African elephants

BlackBerry KEYone reaches the US on May 31st

To say that the launch of the BlackBerry KEYone has been protracted would be an understatement. BlackBerry and TCL teased the high-profile phone in January, dished out proper details in February, and has left people wondering about a specific US release date ever since. At last, you can relax: BlackBerry and TCL have revealed that the keyboard-equipped Android phone will reach both the US and Canada on May 31st. Americans will be limited to buying the $549 unlocked CDMA or GSM versions at first, but take heart — there will be carrier deals, including a Sprint launch sometime in the summer. If you thought the up front price was too much to swallow, you’ll have a way of softening the blow.

In Canada, the handset will be available through Bell, Rogers, SaskTel and Telus for $199 CAD on a 2-year contract. For context, a Galaxy S8 is typically $250 CAD on similar terms. That might give you a hint as to what you could expect for American carrier pricing — it’ll be considered high end, but might not be as expensive as certain flagships.

The US carrier deal is important. BlackBerry’s previous Android phones, the DTEK series, were virtually non-existent in the States for anyone besides business customers and dedicated fans. A carrier deal not only makes the KEYone more palatable to price-conscious buyers, it puts the phone on the map for shoppers who won’t even consider a phone if don’t see it in a local provider’s store. While the KEYone is unlikely to be a runaway hit, that exposure might help BlackBerry regain some of its long-lost reputation.

Source: BlackBerry

UK ebook sales flounder as interest in print copies rebounds

Book sales in the UK are on the rise, but not because of ebooks. Figures for 2016 released by the Publishers Association show a 7 percent rise over 2015, the largest year-over-year growth in a decade. Physical book sales were up 8 percent, however ebook sales fell by 3 percent to £538 million. The biggest contributor to the drop? What the industry calls “consumer ebooks” — novels, autobiographies and the like — which slipped 17 percent to £204 million. As The Guardian reports, the numbers suggest a shift back towards printed books. We spend much of our time on smartphones, laptops and tablets, so for many reading is an opportunity to disconnect.

“There is generally a sense that people are now getting screen tiredness, or fatigue, from so many devices being used, watched or looked at in their week,” Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association said. “[Printed] books provide an opportunity to step away from that.”

That’s not to say ebooks don’t have a place in the industry. So-called “digital sales” increased by 6 percent to £1.7 billion, and now account for 35 percent of industry revenue. That’s mostly due to academic journals and professional books, which climbed 6 percent to £277 million in 2016. The ebook market is important for smaller authors who want to self-publish or write novella-length works. That breadth of titles, some of which you’ll never find in a brick-and-mortar store, is part of what makes ereaders so attractive. If nothing else, today’s numbers show that the two formats can happily coexist, facilitating readers in different, but equally valuable ways.

Source: The Publishers Association, The Guardian

Inmates used smartphones to swap child porn in prison

Prosecutors have charged a group of inmates at a federal prison in New Jersey for downloading child porn from the dark web to their smuggled phones, according to NBC News. They even stored videos and photos that show kids, including babies and toddlers, being sexually abused in a cloud account they all shared. While the prosecutors announced charging five people to the public — and all five were imprisoned for child pornography — one of them secretly collaborated with the investigation.

Based on the info they got from the wire their mole wore, the group employed lookouts positioned in every stairwell that can notify them when a housing unit’s corrections officer leaves. Since it’s a low-security prison, they didn’t have to worry about more than one guard, but they still hid their phones carefully in light fixtures, closets, under their lockers and in jacket linings.

Feds named Anthony Craig Jeffries, who’s serving 14 years for distributing child porn, as the group’s ringleader. He reportedly purchased a phone for around $900 to $1,000 and then rented it out to inmates for anywhere between $4 to $10 an hour. Jeffries and the other three were officially charged after the mole got them talking about the videos and images they were downloading from the dark web.

This is far from the first time inmates were able to hide machines from guards and use them for nefarious purposes while behind bars. Back in 2015, two inmates in an Ohio prison fixed decommissioned computers and hid them in the ceiling. They used the computers to take out credit cards under other prisoners’ names, create access cards for restricted areas and to download porn.

Source: NBC News