Essential phone is exclusive to America’s 4th biggest carrier

Essential’s PH-1, the premium handset from Andy Rubin, will only be available on America’s fourth biggest mobile network. USA Today broke the news after an interview with Essential’s Niccolo de Masi, who said that the device would be a carrier exclusive to Sprint. De Masi told the paper that his company was “partnering with the network of the future,” to help get the device into the hands of consumers.

It’s worth noting that, while Sprint will be the carrier partner for the PH-1, it’s not the only place you’ll be able to score one. An unlocked, all-network version of the device will be available from Essential’s website for $699, or $749 with the 360-degree camera accessory.

The logic of such a carrier partnership, however, will fascinate armchair business critics for years to come, who will fall on one of two sides. The first, as already outlined on this site, is that new entrants in the smartphone market need the patronage of a monolithic mobile network. After all, there’s little profit to be made in mobile devices these days, leaving little cash for a new startup to spend on marketing.

Sure, brands like OnePlus have earned acclaim and a cult following without big advertising budgets, but that’s among enthusiasts. Companies like Samsung, meanwhile, spends around $10 billion a year on establishing its brand in the minds of the everyday consumer. Sprint has pledged to market the Essential PH-1 as a “hero” device, putting wealth and advertising dollars behind the device that should help it succeed.

Sprint has also been working very hard to recapture its third-place ranking in the US carrier market which it lost to T-Mobile. The network has tried a variety of innovative strategies, including at-home salespeople, to make buying new devices easier for the consumer. Big Yellow is also trying plenty of other ideas, like a $50 unlimited plan, viral videos, six months free Tidal and, uh, a merger with T-Mobile, to win some more trust.

On the other hand, Essential is an as-yet untested brand from one of the minds behind the T-Mobile Sidekick and Microsoft’s Kin phones. Rubin’s track record with hardware isn’t exactly littered with successes, and the Sprint partnership may alienate early adopters. Plus, teaming up with a company that, despite being backed by SoftBank, contrived to throw away its third place position, might make this a coalition of losers.

Source: USA Today

Watch Microsoft’s Xbox One X reveal in 14 minutes

After months of teasing it’s fancy new console, Microsoft officially revealed Project Scorpio… er, the Xbox One X here at E3 2017. The company packed a nearly two-hour event with specs, availability info and a ton of games. If you missed any the big announcements, don’t fret. We trimmed down all of the news to a 14-minute clip so you can catch up on your coffee/tea break.

Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!

Lyft teams up with Jaguar to test autonomous cars

There’s a lot of reasons for the folks at Lyft to be happy, and not all of them involve schadenfreude about what’s going down across the street. The ride-sharing company recently scored a further $600 million in investment, $25 million of which came from Jaguar Land Rover. But it wasn’t just cash that the automaker is supplying: it’s also handing over a fleet of vehicles to help the pair test autonomous vehicles.

The money’s actually coming from InMotion, Jaguar’s “mobility services business,” which will help the pair partner on autonomous research. As a sweetener, Lyft drivers will get some sweet rides, although it’s not clear what sort of Jaguars and Land Rover vehicles will be available. The fact that JLR is a premium car maker and Lyft has just launched its own alternative to Uber Black might be useful information, too.

Jaguar Land Rover isn’t the first company to hitch itself to Lyft’s wagon, in stark contrast to the deal over at Uber. Whereas Travis Kalanick and co. like to swallow targets whole, Lyft has shaken hands with plenty of big players in the industry. The biggest partner has to be Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle unit, but nuTonomy is another member of Lyft’s rapidly-growing friend list. Perhaps that idiom about nice ride-sharing services always coming last isn’t entirely accurate.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

Scientists have just created the thinnest magnet ever

In 2004, scientists made headlines when they constructed graphene, a layer of carbon that is so thin it’s considered to be two-dimensional — just one atom thick. Since then, 2D insulators, semiconductors and superconductors have followed, and now they may have made another breakthrough. In the latest issue of Nature, scientists report that they have created the first 2D magnet.

Scientists Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Xiaodong Xu were both working on the question of a 2D magnet independently, but decided to join forces when they met and saw their research interests aligned. They focused in on the compound chromium triiodide because of its fundamental properties — they believed it could retain its magnetism even when in a single layer of atoms. They used the “Scotch tape method” to slowly peel away layers of the compound; they found that, at one atom thick, chromium triiodide was indeed still magnetic.

Two-dimensional conductors, magnets and insulators are specifically of interest right now because of what they could do for current computing. Many consider graphene as a replacement for silicon in computer chips, but it has a much smaller profile. The real excitement for 2D computer components comes into play when you stack them together into (still very small and thin) 3D forms. It opens up entirely new ways of using these materials within circuits, computer components and other kinds of tech.

Scientists are still learning about what materials can exist in 2D form, but the implications for technology advances are very exciting. The real key is to find a 2D magnet that can operate at room temperature, so it can be used in consumer electronics; right now, this 2D magnet must be kept at a temperature of -228 degrees C (around -378 degrees F). There’s a long way to go yet, but the possibilities of what two dimensional components can do for our technology are staggering.

Via: Scientific American

Source: Nature

Wearhaus ‘social’ earbuds share music with your gym buddies

Wearhaus’ Arc social headphones are clever: you can share a new song with your friends without asking them to plug in or borrow your gear. However, not everyone can use over-ear cans — you aren’t about to bring the Arc on a run just to broadcast a few tunes. Thankfully, you don’t have to. Wearhaus is crowdfunding the Beam, which crams that social experience into a set of fitness-friendly earbuds. They still include Bluetooth-based music sharing (including to Arc owners) and color-changing light rings — they’re just much smaller and sweat-resistant. If you want to share tracks with a gym buddy or just don’t want to be quite so conspicuous at a silent disco, this is your better option.

At least at a first glance, these perform about as well as conventional earbuds. You can listen for 8 hours before charging up through micro-USB (a full charge takes 2 hours), and there’s an in-line remote to skip tracks while you’re on the move. Wearhaus is touting “studio quality sound” through the 9.2mm, 16 ohm drivers, but that’s something we’d want to verify.

The good news: the smaller design is also the more affordable design. The company is asking for a pledge between $69 to $89 to get the Beam ($120 when it hits retail), and you can score a discount if you buy the Beam in sets of two or more — which, let’s face it, makes the most sense. Your earbuds should ship in October if Wearhaus meets its goal. That’s a while to wait, but you aren’t really going to find social in-ears elsewhere — it might be worth holding out if you like the idea of group listening.

Source: Kickstarter

Minecraft on iOS Gaining Cross-Platform Play With Android, Xbox One, Switch, and PC

This summer, Minecraft: Pocket Edition on iOS [Direct Link] will gain a free update that plans to introduce cross-platform play between most devices that the popular survival crafting game is available on, including iOS and Android smartphones, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows 10 PC, and VR. So if you’re playing on iPhone or iPad, you can still join in with a friend who only owns the game on Xbox One or PC.

Game developer Mojang said that it has always wanted to introduce a cross-platform feature, and promised that the new “Better Together Update” will bring a more consistent and unified version of Minecraft. This unification will extend into the game’s subtitles, which are being nixed going forward, with Mojang explaining that Minecraft on iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the VR version, will all simply be called “Minecraft.”

A game all about teamwork, building together and creating communities shouldn’t be restricted to one device, which is why our Better Together Update introduces cross-platform play, breaking down the barriers and letting people play the same complete Minecraft with each other across devices! We’ve wanted to integrate cross-platform for ages, essentially making a version of Minecraft that’s consistent no matter what device you’re choosing to play on.

Better Together will also introduce cross-platform DLC support, so that any extra content that’s purchased on one device will be accessible on any of the devices supported by the new update. As Mojang explained in an example, “If you buy the Greek Mythology pack on Nintendo Switch, you’ll also own it on the mobile, Xbox One and Windows 10 Editions too – no extra charge.”

iOS players will see the Better Together update in the App Store sometime this summer, and on Android and VR it’ll be rolled out as a simple version update as well. On Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, Mojang will give players an entirely new version of the game for free, and promised that all existing worlds and DLC will carry over to the new version of Minecraft.

The Better Together Update will also include an in-game server browser on the main menu, and a “Super Duper Graphics Pack” will come later this fall with 4K HDR support and improved lighting, shadows, and water effects. For more news about the additions, which are coming out of E3 this week, check out Mojang’s blog post here.

Tag: Minecraft
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New Safari Web Browser Features Coming in macOS High Sierra

During last week’s keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced a number of additional features coming to Safari web browser as part of its new macOS High Sierra operating system, due to release in the fall.

Apple claims that in its current form Safari is the fastest web browser in macOS when compared with Chrome and Firefox, but it is promising even more speed and better power efficiency in High Sierra.

One of the most welcome new features that was announced at WWDC is Autoplay blocking. This prevents websites from playing video the moment you visit a page, which should make browsing a lot less infuriating. As of the High Sierra developer beta, the feature is enabled by default for all sites, but can be specified on a per site basis by the user.

Another new Safari feature that Apple is introducing is called Intelligent Tracking Prevention. (This appears in iOS 11 under the Safari setting “Try to Prevent Cross-Site Tracking”.) Safari was one of the first browsers to include mechanisms that try to prevent cross-site tracking – blocking of third-party cookies is a default Safari behavior – but elaborate API methods have been employed to overtake those efforts in the intervening years.

Apple’s own testing has found that popular websites can harbor more than 70 cross-site tracking and third-party cookie trackers that all silently collect data on users while making the browsing experience increasingly sluggish.

To solve this, Apple’s new feature uses local machine learning to identify cookie types and partition them or purge the cross-site scripting data of suspect ad trackers, without affecting the functioning of helpful cookies like those containing localized data or login details, for example. The feature should increase user privacy as well as boost overall browsing speed.

Elsewhere in Safari, users will be able to specify a number of other web page settings on a per-site basis. For example, it will be possible to set a zoom level for a particular web page, as well as enable/disable notifications and content blockers, and set camera/microphone and location service privileges for a site so that they remain active the next time you visit.

In addition, Apple has added a new Reader Mode option that lets users automatically enter the stripped down easy-reading mode whenever they visit a website, enabling them to enjoy content without ads, navigation and other distractions as a default setting.

The new Safari will be available in the Public Beta of macOS High Sierra, which is expected to drop later this month. Eager users can also get a taste of the new features in the latest release of the Safari Technology Preview.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
Tag: Safari
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Apple’s Stock Down 8% Since Reaching All-Time High Last Month

Apple shares are currently trading for around $143 after Monday’s opening bell, around 3.5 percent lower than Friday’s closing price of $148.98.

Apple CEO Tim Cook at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference last week
Apple’s stock has dropped around 8 percent since reaching an all-time high of $156.10 on May 12, amid a wider downturn in the stock market. Technology stocks have been hit particularly hard, as some investors fear that stocks like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet in particular rose too quickly.

Japanese bank Mizuho downgraded Apple to a “hold” rating today, as analyst Abhey Lamba believes enthusiasm around the company’s upcoming product cycle is “fully captured” at current levels, with limited upside to estimates from here on out. The bank slashed its AAPL price target to $150, down from $160.

Andy Hargreaves, equity research analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, also downgraded Apple’s stock last week. In a research note distributed to clients, he said excitement surrounding the so-called “iPhone 8” appeared to be “priced in,” compounded by risks such as the potential for gross margin pressure.

Wall Street analyst Brian White of Drexel Hamilton believes otherwise, calling the recent dip in Apple’s stock price another buying opportunity.

“In our view, Friday’s sell-off in Apple represents yet another buying opportunity as investors turn their focus to the iPhone 8 this fall, along with the company’s raised capital distribution initiative, depressed valuation, and new innovations,” said White, in a research note distributed to clients on Monday.

“We continue to believe Apple remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world,” he added.

White said Apple shouldn’t be compared to the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, jointly called FANG, as the iPhone maker’s stock has significantly underperformed against its rivals over the past five years.

“For example, the average ‘FANG’ stock is up 674 percent over the past five years compared to a 100 percent increase for Apple and a 84 percent rise for the S&P 500 Index,” said White, in a note obtained by MacRumors. “Even Microsoft has outperformed Apple with a 175 percent increase during this time.”

White said Apple has “demonstrated resilience” through its “unique ability” to develop hardware, software, and services that work seamlessly together, despite seemingly never-ending concerns that the iPhone maker will fall victim to the missteps of consumer electronic companies of the past.

Tags: Brian White, AAPL, Drexel Hamilton, Mizuho
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Snap Spectacles with augmented reality features could be in the works

Following the European release of the Snap Spectacles, Snap Inc. could be gearing up to release a second pair, but this time with augmented reality built-in. This according to sources familiar with the plans, speaking to TechCrunch.

• Snap Spectacles: What are they, how do they work and where can you buy them?

The Spectacles currently only record video and take photos, which are then automatically uploaded to your Snapchat account. TechCrunch’s sources say the next product will be “quite different”, and coupled with a recent patent application picked up by Mashable that refers to augmented reality, it instantly becomes clear what sort of product we can expect.The patent application also lists other products that could benefit from augmented reality, including “visors, watches and other network enabled items”, along with “an augmented reality helmet, and an augmented reality glasses attachment”.

Patent also teases Snapchat’s future version of @Spectacles that will include augmented reality (look at the display) pic.twitter.com/iBkvRIt19F

— Kerry Flynn ???? (@kerrymflynn) 4 May 2017

But while AR features could be integrated into other types of product, TechCrunch’s sources say a second pair of Spectacles is next on the to-do list. The Snapchat app introduced World Lenses towards the end of 2016, which add animations and effects to the world around you, rather than your face, in a similar way to how augmented reality works. You can start to see a pattern emerging here.

• Snapchat World Lenses aren’t for your face: Here’s how they work

Snap will no doubt be hoping a second-generation pair of Spectacles will perform better than the first. TechCrunch estimates that just under 100,000 pairs have been sold since Q4 2016.

Trappist-1 planets may have formed from chunks of melting ice

After its discovery, Trappist-1 instantly became one of the most interesting stars in the Milky Way, with seven Earth-sized planets including three in the life-supporting “habitable zone.” But, why did the planets form in such uniform Earth-like sizes so close to their star? Astronomers from the University of Amsterdam believe everything can be explained by small chunks of ice that clustered in the region where water just starts to freeze. Eventually, enough chunks clotted together like plasticine, forming worlds just inside the “ice zone” — the perfect spot for life.

Because it’s such a small star compared to the sun, Trappist-1’s exoplanets orbit it very closely. The three potentially habitable worlds, Trappist-1d, 1e and 1f have years varying from just four to nine Earth days. By contrast, Mercury, the closest planet to our sun, completes an orbit in 88 days. (Trappist-1 is a very cool red dwarf star, so it doesn’t cook its planets, even though they’re much closer to it than the Earth is to the sun.)

There are a few theories about how the exoplanets formed around Trappist-1, which sits a mere 40 light-years from Earth. One is that they condensed in place from an “acretion disk” of rubble around the star, but that would require an unusually dense disk for such a small star. Another idea is that planets formed in a chilly zone far away, and were eventually sucked toward the star by gravity. That idea, however, doesn’t account for the very uniform sizes of the seven exoplanets.

The Amsterdam team proposes that the planets actually formed from billions of small pebbles composed mainly of ice. Once they drifted toward the star’s “ice line” and started to melt, the water vapor helped them to stick together. Eventually, enough chunks formed into a “proto-planet” and the increasing mass pulled it closer to the star, where it swept up ever-more pebbles until it became a full, Earth-sized planet. That pulled it even closer to Trappist-1, opening room for the next planet to form in the same way.

If accurate, the theory implies that there’s a large amount of life-giving water in the Trappist-1 system. All the planets, including the habitable ones, are so close together that you could be standing on one and see clouds or mountain ranges on another, NASA has said. If organisms formed on one world (and that’s a big “if”), they could easily be knocked over to another via an asteroid collision.

The discovery of Trappist-1 was a very happy accident for the Amsterdam team. “We have been working on pebble aggregation and sweepup by planets for a long time, and were also developing a new ice-line model,” said research lead Chris Ormel. “Thanks to the discovery of Trappist-1, we can compare our model with reality.”

They believe that the theory will generate some controversy, as the ideas behind it are fairly new. Next up, they plan to run computer simulations to see how it handles potential early conditions of the young star. “I hope that our model will help answer the question about how unique our own solar system is compared to other planetary systems.” They will no doubt compare that with future observations of Trappist-1 once the James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2018.

Via: Yahoo

Source: University of Amsterdam