Safeguard your HTC U11’s shiny glass body with one of these cases
You’ll be mesmerized when you lay eyes on the color-changing glass exterior of the HTC U11, but a big repair bill awaits anyone who drops it. The shiny surface looks great, and it’s tougher than your average glass, but scratches and cracks are still a concern. We’re pleased to find that you do get a solid, minimalist case in the box with the U11, which offers a little protection without masking the the phone’s design. If you want something a bit tougher or stylish, however, then check out the HTC U11 cases below.
Incipio DualPro Case ($30)
The DualPro case from Incipio is of the original dual-layer designs, and features a hard, polycarbonate shell with a soft-touch finish, which is wrapped around a flexible interior that will take the sting out of any impact. This is drop protection you can trust, because the case has been tested to withstand falls from up to 12 feet. HTC’s Edge Sense technology still works with the case on, too, so you can still squeeze your phone to launch the camera or other apps. Color offerings include black, gray, navy, and our favorite — merlot.
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Incipio
Spigen Rugged Armor Case ($14)
This eye-catching TPU case has carbon fiber panels and glossy accents that help it to stand out from the crowd. It’s flexible, so it’s easy to fit around your phone, and there are air cushions inside to help dissipate shock when it takes a tumble or gets bumped. A slight lip also extends around the screen to protect your device when placed face down, and there are covers for the volume and power buttons. Moreover, accurate openings ensure you can use your phone’s camera and the USB Type-C port without any problems.
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Amazon
Official HTC U11 Leather Flip Case ($45)
You can be certain that this leather flip case from HTC will fit your U11 like a glove. The soft, durable leather exterior is neatly stitched and comes in gray, white, or black, with a subtle HTC logo on the front. Inside, there’s a shell to hold your U11 in place, along with openings for your phone’s various features. This U11 case is slim and stylish, and provides good protection for your screen.
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Mobile Fun
Nagebee Case with Holster ($10)
If you like a holster and belt clip with your case, then this budget offering from Nagebee will surely be tempting. The case consists of a layer of soft silicone and a polycarbonate frame, which slots on top and covers the corners. The frame also packs a handy kickstand to prop up your U11 in landscape view, and you’ll find the usual range of cut-outs for your phone’s ports, camera, and other functions. The inner layer comes in black, red, or teal, and there’s even a version with a camouflage frame. Plus, the holster and belt clip come standard.
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Amazon
Style4U Case with Ring Holder ($10)
The standout feature of this case is the ring holder, which you can slide a finger through to ensure you don’t drop your U11. You can also rotate it 360 degrees, use it as a kickstand, or attach it to the dashboard on your car. The case itself is made of a transparent polycarbonate panel and a malleable TPU bumper, which currently comes in black, clear, teal, and rose gold varieties. The case won’t provide rugged protection, but there is a lip around the screen and simple button covers to protect your investment.
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Amazon
Affinity Photo is the first iPad editor to retain all the desktop features
Why it matters to you
A tablet’s smaller hardware means most apps are downsized from the desktop version, but with Affinity Photo’s iPad launch, that’s no longer the case.
Mobile software tends to seriously draw back the features in order to run on a smaller device, but one photo editor is launching an iPad version that can do everything its desktop counterpart can. On Monday, Serif announced Affinity Photo for iPad as the first full-blown photo editor to come to the mobile platform without downgrading tools for the smaller system.
The iPad version is designed with all the same features and the same back-end code, but refined to work with the touch interface and iPad hardware, compatible with the iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, and the iPad Pro (9.7-, 10.5-, and 12.9-inch models). Developer Serif says that the program is “developed without compromise,” and that all of the tools from the desktop version are now available in the tablet app.
The photo editor uses multitouch gestures to speed up the editing process, the developer says. The iPad app is also designed to work with Apple Pencil, using the pressure, tilt and angle of the stylus inside digital brushes and selection tools. The company claims the stylus editing offers accuracy for edits like dodge, burn, clone, blemish, patch, and red-eye tools, as well as more advanced tasks like frequency separation and selecting around hair. With all the tools of the desktop software migrated to the iPad app, Affinity Photo still includes nondestructive adjustments, layers, masking, and a liquefy platform.
While the interface has been updated to migrate the tools over to a touch interface, the app is also optimized to run on a tablet’s smaller processor. This hardware acceleration allows the program to run efficiently, including rendering effects like filters in real time, Serif says.
Affinity Photo is a relative newcomer to the photo editing scene, but the cross-platform program has been well-received, earning the Best Mac App from Apple in 2015. While the desktop version lists for $40, the iPad version is slated for a $30 list price, launching with a $10 discount for the first tablet users.
Apple Project Mirrorshades: News and rumors
Apple talked about ARKit, a new augmented reality platform, at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, but the iPhone maker might have far more interesting AR tech up its sleeves. According to three alleged Foxconn employees who published details about upcoming Apple products last week, the Cupertino company’s skunkworks has been Google Glass-like AR glasses with motion detectors, transparent displays, and integrated touch panels.
Here is everything we know so far.
Specs
According to the alleged employees, Apple’s prototypical AR glasses are constructed from Kopin NED Acetate frames, “polarized or prescription [lenses],” and Zeiss optics. Tiny projectors beam images onto a 428 x 240 glass prism in front of the lenses, and DC motors produce sound by vibrating through the small bones the user’s ears, like Google Glass.
Project Mirrorshades has a touch-sensitive strip on the arm that allows users to accept calls and control the volume, but taps on motion as the primary means of navigation. A combination magnetometer and light sensor detects when a wearer shakes his or her head, and responds accordingly — a Tinder app user, for example, could shake their head for no, or nod for yes.
When it comes to Mirrorshades’ build materials, Apple’s reportedly spared no expense. The glass’s frames made out of “cellulose acetate injection mold frames [in] an aluminum mold” with a P3 frame design, and come in two sizes: Men’s and women’s. At least three color options, including crystal, black, and champagne, are in the works, in addition to seasonal updates.
The alleged Foxconn employees note that the material cost for the glasses would total roughly $150, and that Apple would likely price them around $600. But they caution that the fate of Mirrorshades was uncertain because of its “expensive” design and difficult-to-produce batteries.
Name and release date
It is not the first time rumors of Apple-made AR glasses have emerged.
Over the past three years, Apple has acquired companies with an expertise in AR, 3D mapping, and computer vision — including from PrimeSense, which pioneered the depth-tracking technology behind the Kinect, and Metaio and Flyby.
In September 2016, Apple hired two veterans from Oculus VR and Magic Leap, two companies with a pedigree in augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. And in November 2016, Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on a pair of glasses that blended an augmented reality display with a standard pair of glasses. It’d begun talks with potential suppliers for components like near-eye displays, with the goal of developing a pair of glasses that could connect wirelessly to an iPhone and overlay information on the wearer’s field of vision.
The earliest time frame was said to be 2018.
“[…] AR can be really great,” Tim Cook said when asked about Pokémon Go during an earnings call in 2016. “We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We are high on AR for the long run, we think there’s great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”
Apple Project Mirrorshades: News and rumors
Apple talked about ARKit, a new augmented reality platform, at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, but the iPhone maker might have far more interesting AR tech up its sleeves. According to three alleged Foxconn employees who published details about upcoming Apple products last week, the Cupertino company’s skunkworks has been Google Glass-like AR glasses with motion detectors, transparent displays, and integrated touch panels.
Here is everything we know so far.
Specs
According to the alleged employees, Apple’s prototypical AR glasses are constructed from Kopin NED Acetate frames, “polarized or prescription [lenses],” and Zeiss optics. Tiny projectors beam images onto a 428 x 240 glass prism in front of the lenses, and DC motors produce sound by vibrating through the small bones the user’s ears, like Google Glass.
Project Mirrorshades has a touch-sensitive strip on the arm that allows users to accept calls and control the volume, but taps on motion as the primary means of navigation. A combination magnetometer and light sensor detects when a wearer shakes his or her head, and responds accordingly — a Tinder app user, for example, could shake their head for no, or nod for yes.
When it comes to Mirrorshades’ build materials, Apple’s reportedly spared no expense. The glass’s frames made out of “cellulose acetate injection mold frames [in] an aluminum mold” with a P3 frame design, and come in two sizes: Men’s and women’s. At least three color options, including crystal, black, and champagne, are in the works, in addition to seasonal updates.
The alleged Foxconn employees note that the material cost for the glasses would total roughly $150, and that Apple would likely price them around $600. But they caution that the fate of Mirrorshades was uncertain because of its “expensive” design and difficult-to-produce batteries.
Name and release date
It is not the first time rumors of Apple-made AR glasses have emerged.
Over the past three years, Apple has acquired companies with an expertise in AR, 3D mapping, and computer vision — including from PrimeSense, which pioneered the depth-tracking technology behind the Kinect, and Metaio and Flyby.
In September 2016, Apple hired two veterans from Oculus VR and Magic Leap, two companies with a pedigree in augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. And in November 2016, Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on a pair of glasses that blended an augmented reality display with a standard pair of glasses. It’d begun talks with potential suppliers for components like near-eye displays, with the goal of developing a pair of glasses that could connect wirelessly to an iPhone and overlay information on the wearer’s field of vision.
The earliest time frame was said to be 2018.
“[…] AR can be really great,” Tim Cook said when asked about Pokémon Go during an earnings call in 2016. “We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We are high on AR for the long run, we think there’s great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”
Apple Project Mirrorshades: News and rumors
Apple talked about ARKit, a new augmented reality platform, at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, but the iPhone maker might have far more interesting AR tech up its sleeves. According to three alleged Foxconn employees who published details about upcoming Apple products last week, the Cupertino company’s skunkworks has been Google Glass-like AR glasses with motion detectors, transparent displays, and integrated touch panels.
Here is everything we know so far.
Specs
According to the alleged employees, Apple’s prototypical AR glasses are constructed from Kopin NED Acetate frames, “polarized or prescription [lenses],” and Zeiss optics. Tiny projectors beam images onto a 428 x 240 glass prism in front of the lenses, and DC motors produce sound by vibrating through the small bones the user’s ears, like Google Glass.
Project Mirrorshades has a touch-sensitive strip on the arm that allows users to accept calls and control the volume, but taps on motion as the primary means of navigation. A combination magnetometer and light sensor detects when a wearer shakes his or her head, and responds accordingly — a Tinder app user, for example, could shake their head for no, or nod for yes.
When it comes to Mirrorshades’ build materials, Apple’s reportedly spared no expense. The glass’s frames made out of “cellulose acetate injection mold frames [in] an aluminum mold” with a P3 frame design, and come in two sizes: Men’s and women’s. At least three color options, including crystal, black, and champagne, are in the works, in addition to seasonal updates.
The alleged Foxconn employees note that the material cost for the glasses would total roughly $150, and that Apple would likely price them around $600. But they caution that the fate of Mirrorshades was uncertain because of its “expensive” design and difficult-to-produce batteries.
Name and release date
It is not the first time rumors of Apple-made AR glasses have emerged.
Over the past three years, Apple has acquired companies with an expertise in AR, 3D mapping, and computer vision — including from PrimeSense, which pioneered the depth-tracking technology behind the Kinect, and Metaio and Flyby.
In September 2016, Apple hired two veterans from Oculus VR and Magic Leap, two companies with a pedigree in augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. And in November 2016, Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on a pair of glasses that blended an augmented reality display with a standard pair of glasses. It’d begun talks with potential suppliers for components like near-eye displays, with the goal of developing a pair of glasses that could connect wirelessly to an iPhone and overlay information on the wearer’s field of vision.
The earliest time frame was said to be 2018.
“[…] AR can be really great,” Tim Cook said when asked about Pokémon Go during an earnings call in 2016. “We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We are high on AR for the long run, we think there’s great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”
Hands on with Cozmo, the little AI robot that could
We’ve updated the post with information about Cozmo’s international launch.
Cozmo, the product of San Francisco-based startup Anki, received plenty of press when it made its July debut. Since then, the firm has presented a demo of the artificially intelligent little robot’s software development kit (SDK), formally launched pre-orders, and prepared thousands of the AI-powered companions for shipment later this year. A few “escaped” early, though, including one that found its way to the New York offices of Digital Trends. For the better part of two weeks, we’ve been playing with it to find out just what makes it tick.
The answer is simpler than it might appear at first glance.
Release date and availability
Cozmo now comes in new colors — and is available in new territories.
On June 6, the adorable AI robot launched in Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, and Nordic Countries. Canadian customers, who can reserve a Cozmo at Best Buy Canada for $250, will begin to receive orders in July, followed by other territories in September.
Cozmo’s getting a fresh coat of paint, too. The Cozmo Collector’s Edition, which features a Cozmo robot with a liquid metal finish, will be sold exclusively at Toys “R” Us, and Anki.com, Best Buy Canada before rolling out to other countries in September.
You can get a Cozmo on Anki’s website for $180.
Buy one now at:
Amazon Apple
Creating an approachable robot toy
It’s been a long and winding road for Anki. The company spent years developing the AI-powered Overdrive series of remote-controlled slot cars. That garnered the firm praise from such titans as Apple CEO Tim Cook and former Disney President Michael Ovitz, plus sizeable investments from Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Two Sigma and JP Morgan. That capital — and more than four year’s worth of research — fueled Cozmo’s development.
Anki is hardly the first to imbue a toy with machine smarts, of course. Hello Barbie, ToyTalk’s internet-connected, voice-activated variant of Mattel’s iconic doll, remembers bits and pieces of past conversations in order to tailor future ones. Elemental Path’s cute, plushy Dino, meanwhile, taps IBM Watson to learn in real time to adapt its responses to the age and development of its user.
Cozmo is different in a few respects. It’s decidedly less cuddly than the AI-powered toys that have preceded it — its tiny, makeshift forklift of a body doesn’t exactly invite snuggling. It communicates not with words but in a cadre of robotic chirps, whoops, and tinny coos.
Cozmo feels no less “alive” than any voice-activated doll or internet-connected plushy.
Despite impersonal appearances, though, Cozmo feels no less “alive” than any voice-activated doll or internet-connected plushy. It bobs gleefully when it sees a face it remembers, and shivers in fear when held high above the ground. When Cozmo finds itself on the precipice of a table or desk, it takes a long, careful glance or two over the edge before backing away cautiously. Cozmo even has its bad days: when it’s frustrated or upset, it throws a toddler’s worth of squawks and screeches.
More than 325 individual sensors, moving parts, and electrical components work together to deliver Cozmo’s range of emotions. Four motors, one per tread and two on either side of the robot’s lifting lever, supply Cozmo thrust. Motion-sensing gyroscopes and accelerometers help the bot detect when it’s being hoisted from the ground. A built-in camera allows Cozmo to detect objects, faces, and what Anki calls Power Cubes, or three battery-powered light-up peripherals that serve as Cozmo’s primary means of orientation.
But most crucial to Cozmo’s ability to convey its emotional state is the OLED panel embedded in its front. It’s typically populated with two, pupil-less, pixelated eyes capable of a range of expressions: they widen to reflect surprise, for instance, and narrow to indicate concern.
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
They’re the product of Pixar animator Carlos Baena, and it’s seamless work. At times, the eyes are enough to give the impression of true sentience, even. When Cozmo’s fully charged, it sleepily opens its electronic eyes before beginning to move about its surroundings. When it sees a person it doesn’t recognize, it responds tepidly, roving nervously backward and forward on its treads. If you leave it alone long enough — it explores its surroundings, periodically between Power Cubes and around cords, wallets, coins, and other obstacles.
Most interactions with Cozmo are initiated with the app, which you also use to set up the little bot for the very first time. After placing the unit its charging cradle and plugging the attached USB cord into the wall, you connect to the Cozmo via Wi-Fi. And that’s when the fun begins.
It’s play time
Open the app, and you’ll see an ever-rotating list of daily challenges. A task one day might involve winning a certain number games in a row, for example, or instructing Cozmo to perform a trick. Completing those goals earns you in-game currency called Energy, which progressively fills a meter. Filling it generates Bits, which can be used to unlock new abilities, and Sparks, which trigger those abilities.
It’s a dream of affordable, fun artificial intelligence not yet fully realized.
Most of Cozmo’s coolest tricks and games are initially locked behind those somewhat arbitrary systems, but it doesn’t take long to unlock the bot’s full potential. One stunt in Cozmo’s bag of tricks is consistently impressive: the ability to align its forklift-like arm with a Power Cube, lift said cube in the air, and stack it precisely on top of another. Another trick, aptly named Pounce on Fingers, has Cozmo bring its upraised arm quickly down on any object in range of its camera.
Far more involved are what Anki calls “Cozmo Apps,” or a collection of social games and activities. The first, Meet Cozmo, is introductory in nature: after entering the name of your choice, Cozmo points its head in your direction and scans for distinguishing facial features. Once it’s captured your complexion, it vocalizes the name you’ve entered in mechanical speech that sounds like Wall-E.
Cozmo’s other apps take the form of games. There’s Keepaway, which tasks you with moving a Power Cube quickly from Cozmo’s dexterous arm. And there’s Quick Tap, which is slightly more involved: Cozmo’s given a Power Cube and you’re given another; both illuminate in color combinations of unpredictable sorts; and, if they match in hue, you’re given milliseconds to tap your Cube before Cozmo manages to tap its own.
Cozmo’s AI promise is perhaps best encapsulated by its ambient mode. Leave the ‘bot for a bit and it’ll begin to traverse a table or room with a surprising degree of independence, moving blocks around the corners of walls and exclaiming in surprise when it encounters an unfamiliar object. Every once in a while, it’ll cutely nudge a nearby party to play a game, a request which appears as a pop-up notification in the smartphone companion app.
The limits of AI
It’s that sentimentality that’s the source of both Cozmo’s strength and weakness. The bot’s realistic — or recognizable, at the very least — reactions endear you to it. It takes restraint not to comfort Cozmo when it’s visibly saddened, or revel in its unbridled joy when it completes a tower of Power Cubes. But it doesn’t take long before its responses begin to become predictable. Soon, Cozmo’s reaction to a losing game of Keepaway is no longer the mystery it once was, and neither is its reaction to new faces, or preferences like its favorite game, or its solitary activity of choice in ambient mode. As the veneer of sentience crumbles, Cozmo becomes far less compelling.
It’s that sentimentality that’s the source of both Cozmo’s strength and weakness.
Perhaps equally as disappointing as Cozmo’s emotional limitations are its limited library of apps, games, and abilities. Keepaway and Quick Tap, the sole two games in the robot’s library, are entertaining in short bursts, but before long become repetitive. While it’s undeniably fun to see Cozmo stack cubes with incredible precision, the novelty wears thin after a while — as it does with Cozmo’s handful of other mechanical feats.
All that’s to say that Cozmo could use a bit of refinement, and for a toy that retails for $180, that’s reason for pause. However, the bot’s value depends largely on expectations. You won’t find paradigm-shifting intelligence in Cozmo. It’s a little more responsive than your average toy robot, but it won’t pass for a living, breathing thing anytime soon. What you will find is a really cool toy that performs tricks, plays games, and convincingly approximates a handful of emotions. For some folks, that may be worth the price of admission.
A promising future
There’s the upcoming software development kit (SDK) to consider, of course. Cozmo launches with open programming hooks that’ll allow those with the technical know-how to extend the ‘bot’s capabilities far beyond those with which it ships. The goal, Anki president and co-founder Hanns Tappeiner told Digital Trends earlier this year, is to put “incredibly powerful resources” at the fingertips of tinkerers.
One coding function, NumFaces, fires up “thousands of lines of code” to trigger Cozmo’s face detection. The plan is to release the platform in phases. Phase 1 is geared toward experienced programmers; phase 2, due out later this year, will support kid-friendly, novice languages like Scratch; and phase 3 will introduce a means of installing third-party Cozmo Apps.
For those capable of crafting such routines, the possibilities are nearly endless. Anki has exposed Cozmo’s hardware in its entirety. You can have it patrol a kitchen counter and trigger a connected coffee maker when it detects a face, or have it watch the living room couch and dim the lights when someone takes a seat.
If programming isn’t your thing, though, Cozmo’s a harder sell. In July, Tappeiner told The Wall Street Journal that Cozmo would gain “story-based” activities and “a few friends” in the weeks and months ahead. The buying decision, then, might come down to whether or not you’re willing to play the waiting game.
There’s no doubt that Cozmo is a breakthrough, but it’s the cornerstone of potentially more impressive work to come. Maybe software updates will improve Cozmo’s emotional range substantially. Maybe new games and apps will have greater longevity than the current crop. But for now, it’s a dream of affordable, fun artificial intelligence not yet fully realized.
Google’s ‘Be Internet Awesome’ initiative teaches kids how to stay safe online
Why it matters to you
Parents want to make sure their children know how to behave online, and Google’s new program could serve as a good primer.
It’s very normal today for children to access the internet at a young age, and Google wants to do its part to ensure that their first steps onto the web are safe and enjoyable. To that end, the company has launched Be Internet Awesome, a new program that aims to educate youngsters on how to make smart decisions online.
Be Internet Awesome is designed with all kinds of different learning scenarios in mind. There are resources that teachers and educators can use in class, videos for parents to watch alongside their children, and fun interactive experiences that kids can enjoy by themselves.
It’s all about digital safety and citizenship, according to a post on the the company’s blog. Google is trying to teach children how to protect their information and determine whether something they read on the web is real or fake, but there’s also an ambition to educate the younger generation on how to be kind to one another online.
The interactive component will likely be the most engrossing aspect of Be Internet Awesome from a child’s perspective. The web-based Interland comprises four minigames, each of which takes aim at a different dimension of online activity.
Reality River tasks players with answering multiple choice questions, with a focus on who can be trusted online. Kind Kingdom is about blocking out cyberbullies and promoting more positive online interactions. Mindful Mountain focuses on the importance of only sharing information with the right people. Finally, Tower of Treasures aims to instill the importance of strong passwords.
It’s good to see Google being proactive with this sign of content, as it could certainly help make the web a better place for future generations. Releasing it for free is certainly a positive move, and hopefully parents and teachers alike will take advantage of the materials.
Google’s ‘Be Internet Awesome’ initiative teaches kids how to stay safe online
Why it matters to you
Parents want to make sure their children know how to behave online, and Google’s new program could serve as a good primer.
It’s very normal today for children to access the internet at a young age, and Google wants to do its part to ensure that their first steps onto the web are safe and enjoyable. To that end, the company has launched Be Internet Awesome, a new program that aims to educate youngsters on how to make smart decisions online.
Be Internet Awesome is designed with all kinds of different learning scenarios in mind. There are resources that teachers and educators can use in class, videos for parents to watch alongside their children, and fun interactive experiences that kids can enjoy by themselves.
It’s all about digital safety and citizenship, according to a post on the the company’s blog. Google is trying to teach children how to protect their information and determine whether something they read on the web is real or fake, but there’s also an ambition to educate the younger generation on how to be kind to one another online.
The interactive component will likely be the most engrossing aspect of Be Internet Awesome from a child’s perspective. The web-based Interland comprises four minigames, each of which takes aim at a different dimension of online activity.
Reality River tasks players with answering multiple choice questions, with a focus on who can be trusted online. Kind Kingdom is about blocking out cyberbullies and promoting more positive online interactions. Mindful Mountain focuses on the importance of only sharing information with the right people. Finally, Tower of Treasures aims to instill the importance of strong passwords.
It’s good to see Google being proactive with this sign of content, as it could certainly help make the web a better place for future generations. Releasing it for free is certainly a positive move, and hopefully parents and teachers alike will take advantage of the materials.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide a critical cellphone privacy case
Why it matters to you
Our cellphones collect a veritable treasure trove of data on us, and now, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case on how that data can be used.
The highest court in the land will weigh in on whether or not the government must have a warrant in order to determine where you are based on your cellphone data. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Carpenter v. United States, a case which deals with historical data from cellphone companies that displays users’ movements, and could either implicate or exonerate users in a crime.
The current case concerns a man who has been convicted in a number of armed robberies in Ohio and Michigan. His conviction, however, was secured with cellphone location data, and his lawyers say that without a warrant, access to this data constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Lower courts who have heard the case have ruled that the government does not, in fact, need a warrant to obtain this historical cellphone data, as such information was already willingly surrendered to a third party (the cellphone company).
But while this precedent has stood in years past, scrutiny of privacy rights, especially with the rise of connected devices like smartphones, has increased. And as such, it could be the case that the Supreme Court decides against lower court rulings.
“Because cellphone location records can reveal countless private details of our lives, police should only be able to access them by getting a warrant based on probable cause,” Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberty Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, who represents the suspect in the case, told Reuters. “The time has come for the Supreme Court to make clear that the longstanding protections of the Fourth Amendment apply with undiminished force to these kinds of sensitive digital records,” Wessler added.
Regardless of what decision is ultimately handed down, it would likely have enormous implications for the future. As Steve Vladeck, a national security and constitutional law professor at the University of Texas, told Reuters, “Courts and commentators have tried to figure out exactly when individuals will have a continuing expectation of privacy even in data they’ve voluntarily shared with a third party. This case squarely raises that question.”
Third-party Switch game boxes are a treat for physical game fans
Why it matters to you
If you miss the days of expansive boxed games, you can now print off sleeves to make your own Switch boxes for digital-only titles.
A Nintendo fan has created some fake boxes for the Nintendo Switch digital games he bought since picking up the portable home console hybrid. They have cover and spinal art with a unified color theme and some great imagery from the games themselves, laid out in the style of a classic game case design.
The move to predominantly digital game sales has been of great benefit to gamers around the world, but one sad casualty has been physical box artwork. While it still exists for those games that are big enough to get physical releases, many don’t, and that is just as true of the Nintendo Switch’s expansive digital library.
If you don’t like that situation, and would rather have a physical, boxy reminder of what games you own, Mahir Sumer has made things that much easier for you. He’s created custom cases for Metal Slug 3, Shovel Knight and Snake Pass, among others.
Better yet, if you’re in a similar boat to Sumer and wish for an expansive physical collection yourself, his designs are now available for download, so you can print them off and make your own custom cases. It might not be quite so easy to find empty Switch cases to put those sleeves in, but Kotaku recommends contacting local game retailers to see if they have any spare ones from game promo cases.
If all of this seems rather strange to you in an era where digital gaming is the most common way for people to pick up their games, know that it’s not just console gamers who are keen to hang on to a physical reminder of their collection. Box art can be a big deal for some PC gamers, too. Back in March of last year, Doom’s arguably uninspired box art prompted a rethink at Id Software, leading to it pitching a brand-new design to fans.
AIVAnet 