OnePlus referral program arrives right before expected unveiling of OnePlus 5

Why it matters to you

If you’re a OnePlus fan, you can earn rewards for recommending the company to your friends.

OnePlus is going through quite a transition period right now. The company is selling out of the OnePlus 3T, which happens to be the last phone it has on sale. It is likely that the device will sell out right in time for the upcoming OnePlus 5.

Also in time for the OnePlus 5, OnePlus initiated a referral program with discounts on purchases, as well as a new point system which you can earn points for OnePlus products you buy online. Those points can then be used to get you some free or discounted OnePlus gear.

Of course, there is a catch — to qualify for the referral program, you have to have bought your phone from OnePlus to receive a referral code. Then, when you have that code, you can share it with friends — and if one of them buys a phone from OnePlus, they get a $20 discount on accessories and you receive 100 points.

“Anyone who’s ever bought a OnePlus smartphone past, present, or future, can get a unique referral link. Once you’ve got a link, just share it with someone interested in buying a OnePlus device and wait for them to hit the order button,” OnePlus said in a post on the OnePlus forum. “We hope you’re as excited about this program as we are. We know that for years, you guys have been telling your friends about OnePlus for free. With the referral program, we want to reward you for all that you do for us.”

The OnePlus 5 is shaping up to be quite a device. The device has been rumored for some time now and will, at least according to rumors, feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. There is no word on pricing yet, however, OnePlus has traditionally sold its flagship-spec phones at a much lower price than others.

Chinese company will train U.S. coal miners for a future in clean wind energy

Why it matters to you

Wind-energy companies are looking to transform the floundering coal industry and provide jobs for those in need of one.

Coal has dominated global energy markets for decades, however, the sector is changing both domestically and abroad. At a news conference in Wyoming, a Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer announced it would be offering free wind farm technician training to local coalminers.

Wyoming is the largest coal producer in the United States. In fact, the state produces nearly four times as much coal as West Virginia. For a welcome dollop of irony, the site of this future Goldwind Americas’ wind farm, Carbon County (named for its extensive coal deposits), was actually the first coal mine in the state. However, the region is undergoing a tremendous economic transformation.

Increased mechanization in the coal industry and falling demand has caused massive layoffs. Last year alone, hundreds of coal miners lost their jobs across the Cowboy State. To say Wyoming has been reluctant to change would be a gross understatement. At one point in time, the state imposed a tax on wind-energy generation. Nonetheless, the wind industry is offering a host of economic and employment opportunities for an area in dire need of job growth.

This staunch resistance to the burgeoning wind-energy market is also inherently paradoxical. Wyoming has some of the highest annual wind speeds in the U.S. and also one of the lowest population densities. These factors make the state ideal for large-scale wind farming projects. And with billions of dollars of federal subsidy dollars available for wind-farm developers, Goldwind Americas is looking to transform both the energy and economic future of the state.

The company is keen on training local American workers on the wind farms it produces. Goldwind believes these former miners are ideal candidates considering their existing mechanical and electrical engineering skills. It is estimated that the wind farm project could create thousands of jobs and hundreds of other auxiliary support positions.

Apple is likely making an AI chip for iPhone called Apple Neural Engine

Apple might be developing a new chip to handle artificial intelligence-related tasks on its devices.

According to Bloomberg, Apple’s dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) chip could be called the Apple Neural Engine, and it would be used to offload AI tasks that require complex algorithms, such as facial and speech recognition and augmented reality (AR) and other intensive features that rely on computer vision. The chip would improve battery live and overall performance of Apple’s devices.

Keep in mind Bloomberg also reported earlier this year that Apple seems to be actively lessening its reliance on Intel chips by designing its own A-series ARM-based chips for Macs, even though Intel processors have powered Apple’s Mac lineup for more than a decade. Apple reportedly wants to offload the Mac’s “Power Nap” feature from the main processor, though it has no plans to dump Intel right away.

Apple has been investing a lot into its own series of chips for the last seven years. For instance, it even designed an ARM-based chip – the T1 – for the MacBook Pro last autumn. Also, in April, British-based technology Imagination Technologies claimed Apple had ended its long-running partnership because it wanted to instead design and produce its own graphics chip for use in the iPhone and iPad.

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• Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: What’s the story so far?

As for the dedicated AI chip, Apple primarily wants to separate the most heavy tasks from the iPhone’s processor and graphics chip, but it unclear if the chip will be available in devices this year. Bloomberg said Apple is now testing iPhone prototypes with the chip.

CEO Tim Cook has also teased several times over the past couple years that Apple sees AI and AR as the future, so it’s perfectly believable that the company may be building such technologies into its devices as well as developing a dedicated chip for them.

We may learn more at Apple’s developers conference in a couple weeks. 

What to expect at Computex 2017

We’re pretty much halfway through the year, which means it’s Computex time. As usual, you’ll find a handful of us running around the Taipei show floors next week, where we’ll be getting our hands dirty with the latest PC products and components. Last year was relatively fruitful, thanks to the VR explosion. Several PC brands rolled out high-end GPUs or affordable ones capable of running VR. Even Intel surprised its hardcore users with its first 10-core desktop CPU. ASUS topped it all off with Zenbo — an adorable $600 home robot that went on sale in Taiwan earlier this year.

This year, however, is bound to be quieter. For one, Microsoft already stole some of Computex’s thunder with its own events earlier this month, so we’re not expecting anything major from it next week. Intriguingly, HTC Vive has no official presence at Computex this year, which means less VR love for us. Still, based on recent leaks and launches, we’ve got at least a rough idea of what to expect.

There’s no doubt that we’ll still be seeing new PCs from the likes of ASUS, MSI, Dell, Acer and others at Computex. In fact, Acer simply went ahead and announced its new laptops and tablet earlier this week, which is certainly one way to beat the competition.

Since Intel’s high-performance seventh-gen Core chips are relatively fresh, chances are most of the new mainstream and high-end machines being unveiled next week will still be based on those. The same is true with GPUs, especially with the GTX 1050 Ti featured on the Acer Nitro 5 being pitched as a “premium” entry-level choice for discrete laptop graphics. We’ll probably also see some entry-level devices running Windows 10 S. Some were already announced at Build, but this should be our first chance to get serious hands-on time with a few.

As for mobile, it’s really up to ASUS. It’s unclear whether we can expect new ZenFones or a new ZenWatch. Though, if you recall, the depth-sensing ZenFone AR announced back at CES has yet to hit the market, so maybe we’ll finally get an update about it on Monday? On a related note: Qualcomm will be doing its own thing outside Computex this time. And, sadly, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be hearing any announcements. After all, Qualcomm probably needs to save some surprises for MWC Shanghai next month.

On the CPU side, there were rumors of an Intel “Core i9” a couple of weeks ago, followed by some new specs popping up in the SiSoft Sandra database. This is likely another 10-core CPU following last year’s Core i7 Extreme Edition. But Intel’s not alone. AMD will also host a press conference, which will likely shed more light on its 16-core Threadripper CPU, due this summer. And who knows, maybe we’ll get some new GPUs, too?

If you’re looking for something that’s more suitable for the masses, don’t worry. Intel will probably tease, if not announce, its eighth-generation Core chip (Coffee Lake) that’s due in the second half of this year. We’re hoping the same goes for NVIDIA’s event on the same day: less on supercomputers and more on consumer GPUs.

All right, let’s talk robots for bit. It’s been a year since the ASUS Zenbo debuted, and so far it’s been available only in Taiwan, in very limited quantities. There’s hope the company will announce new markets or at least a larger local rollout for the home robot. Failing that, ASUS is still expected to share some updates and interesting use cases for its home products. And, hey, some new accessories for Zenbo would be fun, too. It also wouldn’t be a surprise if ASUS wants in on the home-assistant market — just imagine a Zenbo, but much smaller and with no wheels or face.

None of these nuggets will distract us from HTC’s glaring absence this year at Computex. Then again, there’s no stopping other exhibitors from bringing their own VR wares. And ZOTAC is hosting the world’s first VR esports tournament — featuring ZOTAC’s VR GO backpack PC and HTC Vive — at Computex on June 3rd. That will no doubt get a lot of attention since it’ll be open to the public (this editor has already rescheduled his return flight just check it out). We’ll also be keeping an eye out for the funkiest PC mods on the show floor, and we may even swing by G.SKILL’s overclocking tournament to see what it’s all about. Be sure to keep up with our Computex coverage throughout the week.

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

NASA’s Juno mission discovers Jupiter is really weird

NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter has sent back a ton of data about our solar system’s largest planet. The results from the orbiter’s first big data-collection pass, which took place last August, are finally in and it’s clear that Juno’s five-year journey to the planet was worth the trip.

Juno is being kept in fairly wide orbit around Jupiter’s poles, but every 53 days as it switches between north and south, it swoops in to take a closer look at the rest of the giant planet along the way. The flyby takes just two hours, but the six megabytes of data collected during the ride can take 1.5 days to transmit from Juno back to Earth.

So far, we’ve learned that Jupiter’s poles are riddled with densely-packed storms, all of which are about the size of Earth. And Jupiter’s classic belts, those lateral stripes up and down the planet’s surface, aren’t really what researchers expected. Some of them seem to extend deep into the planet’s atmosphere while others appear to shift and change just at the surface.

The mission has also sent back data on Jupiter’s magnetic field, which we knew beforehand was the strongest in the solar system but thought to be much like our own compass-directing fields. But it’s even more intense than researchers thought and irregularly lumpy. In some places it’s 10 times stronger than the strongest magnetic fields of Earth. And, like our planet, Jupiter has northern and southern lights, but as of now, its auroras look to be quite different from our own.

“We knew, going in, that Jupiter would throw us some curves,” Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a press release, “But now that we are here we are finding that Jupiter can throw the heat, as well as knuckleballs and sliders. There is so much going on here that we didn’t expect that we have had to take a step back and begin to rethink of this as a whole new Jupiter.”

The findings from this first pass are being released this week in 46 papers published in Science and Geophysical Research Letters. And the next flyby is scheduled for July 11th when Juno will fly over the iconic Great Red Spot.

Source: NASA

Lyft drivers can start planning pickups days in advance

Just as it does for riders, Lyft continues to improve the experience for its drivers. The latest effort is a feature that lets contractors deal with scheduled pickups up to seven days in advance, instead of only being aware of a passenger’s planned departure minutes before. Additionally, Lyft is now giving drivers access to “Power Zones,” high-demand areas where they can “get paid more” during certain hours of the day. So far, there are 12 Power Zones in (undisclosed) cities across the US, with more expected to be added later on.

Lyft is bringing all of this together with a new driver-only application, suitably called Lyft Driver, which the company says will be full of resources for contractors. They’ll have easy access to information about scheduled rides, Power Zones and other things that may be added in the future. The service says the app will be rolling out to drivers over the summer.

Source: Lyft

Google’s ‘Personal’ tab filters out everything but your own content

As people accumulate massive data troves on Gmail, Google Photos and other Google apps, the search giant wants to help people find what they’re looking for among their own personal content. While Google’s core search product already shows some personalized results in the mix, the main search page now includes a “Personal” tab to quickly filter out public results and see only the content you yourself stored in Google’s suite of apps.

Similar to the Images, News and Shopping tabs that sit atop the results page, the Personal tab quickly narrows down your search query. According to 9to5Google, the Personal tab can be found lurking behind the “More” menu and will surface results like Gmail messages and calendar events from your signed-in accounts. Links to Gmail messages open in a new tab with the option to load Gmail itself. For photo searches, you can either immediately open an image result or click through to do a deeper search in Google Photos.

Although 9to5Google notes the change appears to be available for many users on the web and mobile versions, the feature doesn’t appear to be coming to Google’s main Android or iOS apps just yet.

Via: 9to5Google

Watch us play the Nintendo Switch ‘Arms’ Global Testpunch

When Nintendo announced Splatoon for the Wii U, gamers weren’t quite sure what to make of it. The idea of a competitive shooter from Nintendo was so bizarre, it was kind of hard to assess from a distance — so the company invited players to try the game early with a free, limited time multiplayer demo. This weekend, Nintendo is doing the same thing with Arms: serving up the game’s telescoping pugilism in a free “Global Testpunch” demo over six one hour chunks. Don’t have a Switch? You can join us on Facebook for the first session today at 5pm PT (8pm ET).

If you do have a Switch, however, you should probably check it out. Much like Splatoon, Arms is a game that was kind of hard to get the feel of from its trailer, and we didn’t fully understand the appeal of the game ourselves until we tried it at Nintendo’s Arms press event earlier this month. There, we discovered that while the game looks like a rebranded Wii Sports title, it actually has a lot of complexity, charm and depth. If you miss out on today’s session, you can join in on May 27th at 5am PT (8am ET), 11am PT (2pm ET) and 5pm PT (8pm ET), as well as two more times on the 28th: 5am PT (8am ET) and 11am PT (2pm ET). If you miss this weekend’s event, Nintendo’s doing the whole thing next week too — on the exact same schedule.

Can’t make any of those times? Check out our live stream on Facebook today, starting at 5pm PT.

Source: Facebook

Siri Bug Allows Cellular Data to be Disabled From Lock Screen Without a Passcode

A reddit user has discovered what appears to be a Siri-related bug that allows access to a locked iPhone’s Cellular Data options without a passcode.

As shown in the screenshot below, when Siri is asked to bring up Cellular Data settings (or if Cellular Data is on), an option to toggle the feature off appears on the lock screen, with no passcode required. When Siri is specifically asked to turn off Cellular Data, the personal assistant asks for a passcode first.

Given that a passcode is required when asking Siri to disable Cellular Data, it seems that this is meant to be the default behavior and that it’s not a setting meant to be controlled from a locked iPhone.

It’s questionable if this bug has any real impact, though, as there are other ways to disable cellular service on an iPhone that’s been stolen, including turning on Airplane Mode from Control Center or simply turning the iPhone off.

MacRumors tested the Siri command and found that it worked on iOS 9 and all versions of iOS 10, including the most recent iOS 10.3.3 beta.

For iPhone owners worried about unauthorized access to their iPhones, both Siri and the Control Center can be disabled on the lock screen.

Tag: Siri
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App Highlight: Oopstacles

The App

Developed by Crystal Pug Pty Ltd, Oopstacles is a relatively new app with only 100,000 installs. Having been updated on May 17, 2017, the developer is constantly fixing various bugs with the seeing challenge mode season 2 starting with 250 new levels. Help the captured creatures dodge their doom in the ultimate obstacle course!

What it does

Complete crazy obstacle courses using hilarious characters to top the leaderboard. Within challenge mode there are 500 levels and achievements to be had that make this game super addictive. There’s even a scream mode that can use your voice to control the avatar and make them jog or run.

– Chuckle at crazy physics-based wipeouts!
– Master memorable obstacles with wonderful one-touch controls!
– Record ridiculous GIFs to share with friends!
– Amass dozens of amazing avatars!

Can you make it to the end of the obstacle course?

Why we like it

Oopstacles is a great game that can become incredibly frustrating but extremely fun. With tons of levels, you’ll be sure to come back to this one time and time again. I’d like to see the ability to change the camera angle as sometimes the static view makes landing some of the obstacles overly difficult. Otherwise, with great graphics and easy to use controls, Oopstacles is definitely one to download.

How to get it

Oopstacles is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.