What is an APN, and how do I change it?

Having the right mobile network settings makes a difference. Here’s how to change them if you need to!

Unlocked phones and alternative carriers are more popular now than ever before. Most every company makes an unlocked model or two that you can buy directly from their website or a retailer like Amazon with the necessary parts and software to use it on any GSM network around the world. And when you don’t have a phone that’s tied to a carrier through financing you’re free to try other carriers and see who offers what’s best for you.

Shifting things around and trying someone new for phone service is pretty simple and pain-free, but you might need to know how to set the APN on your phone. Let’s take a look at what an APN is and how you go about changing or adding one.

What is an APN?

The Access Point Name (APN) is the name for the settings your phone reads to set up a connection to the gateway between your carrier’s cellular network and the public Internet.

You carrier reads these settings, then makes sure to determine the correct IP address, connect to the correct secure gateway, and see if you need them to connect you to a private network like a VPN. All the heavy lifting is done on the carrier side, but we need to make sure the right settings are in place to get on the network we need, in the way we need to connect.

An APN has the network settings your phone needs to connect to your provider.

Depending on how your carrier’s network is structured, different settings are mandatory. The rest can be slightly altered to change some of the parameters, but for most of us, we will need to use the exact settings provided by our carrier.

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The good news is that most of the time, your phone has several “default” APN settings and one will work for phone calls automatically. Very handy if you need to call for help because unless you’re using one of the Big Four networks (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) nothing else will work correctly and you’ll need to add an APN yourself.

The bad news is that carriers can customize the software on any phone they sell, and that includes blocking the ability to change the APN. Even if your phone is unlocked. You might be able to find a workaround posted on the internet, but there is also a good chance that you’re just not going to be able to use any other network. We suggest buying your next phone from someone else.

How to change your APN

The first thing you’ll need to do is find the right APN settings for the network you want to use. You’ll be able to find these at the support pages at the carrier website. The settings will look like this example for Mint SIM:

• Name – Ultra
• APN – Wholesale
• Proxy – (leave blank)
• Port – 8080
• Username & Password – (leave blank)
• Server – (leave blank)
• MMSC – http://wholesale.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
• MMS Proxy – (leave blank)
• MMS Port – (leave blank)
• MNC – 260
• Authentication Type – (leave blank)
• APN Type – default,supl,mms
• MCC – 310

These are the settings you’ll need to enter for a new APN that can use Mint SIM’s service for data and MMS. Now we just need to find where to enter it.

This is going to be different depending on who made your phone, but it’s always going to be in the Wireless & networks section of the settings. You’re looking for a setting for Access Point Names and it might be nested in another setting like Cellular Networks. That’s where you’ll find it on the Pixel or Moto Z, and it should be similar to your phone. Don’t worry, you can’t mess anything up by tapping the settings and looking inside. Just try not to make any changes while you’re looking.

Once you’ve found the “Access Point Names” section. Tap to open it.

You should see a list with at least one APN on it. If things aren’t working with the current APN, you need to add another. Don’t modify or delete the one you see, instead make a new one and we can choose it when we’re done. At the top of the page, (or possibly in a menu, if your phone has a menu button) press the plus sign to bring up the “Edit access point” screen.

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This is where you will enter the settings you got from your carrier’s website. Two very important things here:

Not every setting in the “Edit access point” screen will need to be filled in. Only fill in the items your carrier provides, and leave the rest as-is.
Be sure to type in everything exactly as provided by your carrier. For example, default,supl,hipri is different than default, supl, hipri because of the white space between items. Your carrier’s system is set up to read an expected set of values, and any changes — no matter how minor — can and will break things.

Once you have the settings provided by your carrier entered, you need to save the APN. You do that by pressing the three dots in the upper right (or the menu key if your phone has one) and selecting the “Save” option.

Once your APN information is saved, go back one screen to the list we saw earlier. On this screen, tap the new APN settings you just entered to make them active. Your phone will lose its data connection for a little while as it connects to the new network using the new network settings. If you can’t get a connection after a few minutes, you might need to restart your phone.

On rare occasions, your provider may have two APNs that need entering. This is because they use a separate gateway for MMS or other data that’s separate from your data plan. If this is the case, you’ll find a full explanation of both APN settings on your carrier’s support site. Most times, one APN is all you need, though.

And that’s it! Now your phone should work for calls, SMS, MMS and data. Now be sure to set up any Data Saver or warning settings your phone might have to monitor how much data you use and if you are getting close to your allotment.

Updated June 2017: We made sure to have up-to-date information and changes for the latest phones.

2 billion people use Facebook every month, despite its consistently subpar Android app

Facebook has reached a new milestone.

2 billion people now use Facebook every month, which is an incredible feat for a single platform to reach. On average, 800 million people “like” something on Facebook every single day. Surprisingly, over 1 billion people are using Facebook Groups every month. Those are just absolutely bonkers numbers to think about.

From the perspective of those who use Facebook on Android to be part of that 2 billion group, it’s extra impressive because the Facebook Android app continues to be a pain. Between its huge size, regular battery draining updates, constant changing of settings and updates outside of Google Play there are plenty of frustrations that have pushed people to uninstall the Facebook app.

But despite that, Facebook’s growth continues — and it’s not unfathomable that we could be seeing it reach 2.5 billion or even 3 billion monthly users in the future. That’s growth that any company would love to have in its sights.

You can now sign up for Project Fi with G Suite accounts

One less restriction to joining Project Fi.

Project Fi has made a small, but important, change to the way it operates, opening up the service to those who use paid G Suite accounts rather than just consumer-grade Google accounts. Now businesses or families who have opted to pay for G Suite accounts and use a custom domain can get in on Project Fi rather than create a second account just for their Fi service.

Project Fi is now compatible with @gsuite accounts (you@yourdomain.com). 🙌 Learn more about enabling here → https://t.co/2Brq8UL8cl pic.twitter.com/KcLsxD1l9C

— Project Fi (@projectfi) June 27, 2017

Now this still creates a hassle if you chose to use Fi on a secondary account to start and now have to switch it over, but going forward this is at least one more restriction dropped in a long list of issues where G Suite isn’t up to speed with the capabilities of a free Google account. Combine the new G Suite compatibility with Project Fi’s group plans, and you could see this being a good option for people who want to use Project Fi for a business phone line.

If you’re not the administrator of your G Suite account, you’ll need to have the admin turn on Project Fi access manually — it isn’t turned on by default.

Google Project Fi

• What is Project Fi?
• Get the latest Project Fi news
• Discuss Project Fi in our forums
• Phones: Google Pixel | Nexus 6P | Nexus 5X | Nexus 6
• Sign up for Project Fi

Pinterest enables two-factor authentication for all users

It seems as though online security is at the top of everyone’s priority list these days, and now Pinterest is stepping up to the plate. The social network is introducing a slate of new features aimed at protecting users’ accounts.

The most important of these is the rollout of two-factor authentication to all users. You can receive codes via text message or through an authentication app such as Google Authenticator. You can enable 2FA through the Security page on Account Settings after it’s available to you.

Pinterest is also upgrading the Security section by listing all the devices currently logged into your account. If you see a device you don’t recognize, you can remove it from this page. Finally, the service is also emailing users when they log in from a new device.

It’s surprising it’s taken Pinterest so long to enable such basic security options, but it’s also questionable how useful they’ll be. These days, most people use just a few logins — such as Google or Facebook — to set up accounts on multiple sites. Still, it’s nice to see that more social networks are taking online security seriously.

Source: Pinterest

Volvo and Nvidia have just teamed up to make self-driving cars by 2021

Volvo has been working on driverless cars for a while, but now it has a new strategy to get those cars on the road within four years.

The Swedish carmaker is teaming up Nvidia, which plans to supply computing power to Volvo’s initiative, as well as Autoliv, a firm that makes automotive safety systems and will be working on software. Volvo’s cars will be powered by Nvidia’s Drive PX supercomputer, which we’ve detailed in full in the past. It’s basically a custom hardware array just for self-driving vehicles.

The Drive PX2 processes data from 12 video streams simultaneously and can handle data input from a range of sensors, including lidar, radar, and ultrasonic. With all this hardware, a vehicle can navigate autonomously, and with the right algorithms, it can read information gathered by that hardware – aka computer vision – to determine the difference between, say, a person and a road.

• Volvo’s new concierge service lets you remotely fuel and move your car
• Volvo V90 preview: Superior interior
• Uber and Volvo jointly working on autonomous taxis

Keep in mind that since 2013, Volvo has been conducting a pilot project, which it described as the “world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project”. It began by testing 100 self-driving Volvo cars on public roads in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. These roads were typical commuter arteries with motorway conditions. And it partnered with Nvidia to continue the pilot earlier this year. 

Volvo starting using the PX platform with the purpose of discovering whether self-driving could be developed into a legit business opportunity and sold to customers. Now, the self-driving software made by Autoliv and Volvo – under a new joint company called Zenuity – will be sold to other carmakers. Volvo hopes to have its production vehicles using the self-driving system by 2021.

Nintendo SNES Classic Mini official pre-orders open then sell out in minutes

No sooner had Nintendo officially opened its own pre-orders for the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES Classic Mini for short, and it sold out.

It listed the retro games machine for £69.99 on Nintendo.co.uk but now has an “out of stock” message on the page.

One only unit was available per customer, but interest was so high that it took just minutes to sell out. Its predecessor, the NES Classic Mini, also sold out in a very short time.

This comes after Amazon, Game and Smyths Toys all listed their own pre-order sites last night, but have also since sold out of their stock.

We advise checking Nintendo regularly, however; the company officially stated that more units of the SNES Classic Mini will be made than last year’s NES Mini. It might put more stock up for pre-order. There is also a rumour going around that some stock is being held for the 29 September 2017 release date.

You can also check for more stock at Amazon and Game here:

• See Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES on Amazon UK 
• See it on GAME.co.uk

The SNES Classic Mini is a small version of Nintendo’s 16-bit console from the 80s. It comes pre-loaded with 21 games, including Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country and the never-before-released Star Fox 2.

• Nintendo SNES Classic Mini: Release date, pre-order details, price, games and more

Two controllers come in the box with the machine, plus a USB power cable. However, you have to supply a USB plug adapter yourself.

Previous rumours, mainly sparked by initial pricing on sites such as Game.co.uk, was that the SNES Classic Mini would set you back £79.99 – it’s $79.99 in the States. But Nintendo has opted to push it out for a tenner less.

It’s still more pricey than last year’s NES Classic Mini, which was £49.99, but still represents great value for such an excellent piece of gaming history.

Monster announces earphones specially tuned for Honor 9 smartphone

Monster isn’t averse to a partnership. Whether sports star, rock star or superstar DJ, its audio products and headphones are well known to have proliferated fashion and lifestyle ambassadors. So for Monster to partner with Chinese smartphone maker Honor might not be a complete surprise but, well, it’s still a surprise.

On Tuesday 27 June, Honor unveiled its latest smartphone, the Honor 9, in Berlin, Germany. After the main event, Monster boss Noel Lee rolled onto stage – literally, on a gold plated Segway – to announce the new Honor X Monster earphones, which will be available via the Honor shop, priced €49.

What’s interesting about these all-blue colour earphones is that they’re entirely void of Honor branding. But rather than just being a marketing exercise the headphones are designed to work specifically with the Honor 9. When paired via the 3.5mm headphone jack, a sound profile is engaged in the phone; a profile created by Monster’s chief engineer, who spent a day with Honor in China to oversee the tuning accordingly.

• Honor 9 vs Honor 8: What’s the difference?

It’s a bold move by Honor. As a brand that’s perhaps not widely enough known outside of China – and, confusingly, its mother brand Huawei releases very similar consumer products in the same market sectors – the necessity to standout via the extension of other well-known and trendy brands is, indeed, a sound idea.

Especially when the products are decent. And while the Honor X Monster earphones aren’t the best we’ve ever heard, they’re a darn sight better than what you’ll find in a normal phone box. For the sake of the €49 asking price, that’s still a worthwhile investment for sound enhancement to bass that’s well beyond what you’ll hear from a standard set of out-the-box earphones.

So there we have it: Honor teaming up with Monster might not be the most original idea ever, but it’s a savvy partnership – and the resulting product actually makes a lot of sense to the right buyer.

Amazon’s Prime discounted phones scheme adds Nokia 6 and more

Amazon has a smartphone program, and it’s just added five more devices from brands like Nokia and Motorola.

With the Prime Exclusive Phones program, you can get mid-range to low-end smartphones at a discount. However, if you do choose to get a reduced, unlocked, contract-free smartphone through the program, Amazon will serve up adverts and offers on your lock screen. It’s a very similar scheme to the one Amazon has with its e-readers and tablets – the Kindle with Special Offers program.

However, while tablet users have the option to remove adverts for a fee, Prime Exclusive Phones will always have adverts. Anyway, the new smartphones now available include the $179 Nokia 6 and $199 Moto E4. Amazon has also added the $199 Idol 5S, $99 A50, and $79 A30 Plus, all three of which are from Alcatel. Now, if you buy the phones elsewhere, you will be paying a higher premium.

• See the Nokia 6 on Amazon.com – with Prime exclusive discount

• Nokia 8/9 flagship Android phone: Release date, rumours and specs
• Nokia 3310 (2017) review: Beyond the hype, what’s this phone like?

The Nokia 6, for instance, costs $229. In our preview of the device, we said there’s little about the Nokia 6 that makes it stand-out from other Android phones. However, it’s a pure Android experience that follows many of the norms for smartphone design that we’re seeing across the board. There’s also a certain je ne sais quoi about Nokia’s new handset. Perhaps it’s nostalgia, or perhaps HMD got it right.

So, if you’re looking for a budget Android, know that your choices through Prime Exclusive Phones have just doubled.

The rise of electric cars will kill the gas station

Gas stations are a lifeline. They not only fuel our cars but us, too — whether it’s with lukewarm coffee during the morning commute or the salty-sweet buffet during road trips. They’re a glowing oasis when the gas tank is empty and our bladders are full. It’s going to be a long while before the handy service station goes away, but its days are numbered — because electric cars are going to change everything.

One of the biggest complaints you hear about electric vehicles is that you can’t refuel them the same way as a gas car. That’s true now and will be true for a while. DC fast charging and Tesla’s Superchargers reduce the amount of time it takes to recharge, but the experience is nowhere near as quick as filling your car with gasoline.

The fact remains, though, that other than having a place to pee and pick up some Cool Ranch Doritos, once you go electric, you’re not going to need a corner gas station to charge your future car because you’re going to be “refueling” it everywhere.

For many, their home will be the main source of car charging. Even the slow trickle of a 120-volt standard outlet will add 48 miles to the battery of the Chevy Bolt over 12 hours. Obviously using the 240-volt outlet (the one you typically plug a dryer into) will be quicker. For folks who really want to maximize their at-home charging, companies like Charge Point offer Level 2 stations starting at $450 for the home, while Tesla has its own personal wall chargers starting at $500.

That may seem pricey, but if you commute every day and your current car doesn’t get the best gas mileage (say, less than 40 mpg) you might come out ahead during the first year of EV ownership according to a handy gas vs. electric calculator offered by GM.

So, in the future, whether you upgrade to a fancy wall charger or just plug your car into the same outlet that keeps your phone topped up, pretty much whenever your car isn’t dragging you around town, (and like your phone) it’ll be charging. That is, if you have a garage or carport or a very nice apartment manager. The paradox of EVs is that they’re great for driving around the city, but many urban dwellers don’t have a designated parking space. That’s where workplaces come in.

More and more employers are offering charging stations for their staff as perks. “It’s very interesting that for basically the price of providing free coffee to your employee you can also offer them electric vehicle charging,” Simon Lonsdale, Charge Point’s vice president of business development, told Engadget. It’s a trend that could continue, too, if workplaces see benefits for EV owners as outweighing the additional cost to their power bill.

Lonsdale did note that at-work charging is becoming an essential piece of a compensation package and a good way to get the word out on EVs. “We see workplaces as a great way of educating consumers about electric vehicles and the benefits of it.” Lonsdale said. “We’ve seen [EV charging at work] rank in the top three benefits that companies are now seeing, as they survey their employees around what are the benefits they like. It’s really surprising.”

Like at home, charging a vehicle while it sits in a garage for eight hours makes sense. Plus it could also reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Charge Point, in partnership with northern California utility PG&E, has launched a pilot program to optimize vehicle charging to coincide with when the utility can deploy power from renewable sources like solar and wind.

Charge Point notes that it sees about 80 percent of charging coming from at home or work. But there will be times (i.e., the weekend) when drivers won’t have access to their employer’s sweet sweet free electrons. That’s where retail parking lots come in. Places like Target already offer free charging for customers. For retailers, it’s what’s known in the business as a win-win.

Customers get to top up their vehicles while shopping, and the lure of free charging gets people in the door — and in some cases, gets them to linger because they want to get as much free battery power as possible (thus, ironically end up spending more money in the store).

Tesla has 5,000 Superchargers globally and 9,000 destination chargers at retail locations, restaurants and resorts. Charge Point has 35,000 chargers at 7,000 businesses across the globe. In the near future, it’s not hard to imagine rows and rows of chargers at malls, restaurants and even in national parks. But there is one scenario where the gas station still reigns supreme: road trips.

While Tesla and Charge Point have made huge inroads getting charge stations along major routes, the ability to quickly refuel and get back on the road still isn’t possible. Instead, you’re going to have to wait. That means actually sitting down in that fast-food joint or restaurant to eat your food.

As more EVs hit the road, the landscape of parking lots will change along with the amount of gas stations. But it’s definitely not going to happen overnight or in the next few years. Gas-powered cars will be sold for decades, and the cars already on the road won’t be going away anytime soon.

But there might be a time in the far future where you explain to your grandchildren about how you had to refuel your car — that wasn’t self-driving — at a special place in town. Maybe they’ll giggle thinking about the ridiculousness of putting a liquid in a car. But when you tell them about the selection of beef jerky at this “gas station” their eyes will grow wide, which will be followed by complete disgust as you describe the filthiest bathroom you’ve ever encountered.

Facebook talks about how hard it is to deal with hate speech

Earlier this month, Facebook announced a “Hard Questions” series that would enable the company to talk more openly about difficult issues of personal privacy in the online sphere. The end goal was to be more transparent about the difficult questions it faces because, often, there are no right or easy answers. Today, Facebook debuted its second installment in the series, tackling the issue of hate speech.

Facebook, through Richard Allan, their VP of Public Policy for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, makes very clear that “We are opposed to hate speech in all its forms, and don’t allow it on our platform.” But part of the problem of dealing with the issue of hate speech is defining what it is — something that’s easier said than done. “People who live in the same country — or next door — often have different levels of tolerance for speech about protected characteristics.”

Figuring out what constitutes hate speech and should be removed is the largest challenge Facebook faces with this issue. Sometimes it’s appallingly obvious when hate speech is just that. “But sometimes, there isn’t a clear consensus — because the words themselves are ambiguous, the intent behind them is unknown or the context around them is unclear,” Allan continues. So, in order to figure out what actually is hate speech, the company looks at context and intent before taking action.

However, they also acknowledge that they’ve made mistakes. Last year, Shaun King posted to Facebook hate mail (including racial slurs) that he’d received. The company flagged the post as hate speech and subsequently removed it, sparking outrage.

Allan’s post concludes with the measures they’re using to continue to fight hate speech, from AI and machine learning to building up moderation teams. At the end of the day, though, Facebook relies on its community and users to report hate speech.

While there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about this post from Allan, the fact that Facebook is interested in being more transparent and acknowledges that serious mistakes have been made handling hate speech in the past are noteworthy. The choice of hate speech as a topic, and the selection of the author of the post — a Europe-based official — is telling, considering that Germany is currently debating legislation that would severely fine social media platforms for not adequately dealing with hate speech. What’s clear is that Facebook (along with every other online community) has a serious problem with this type of content; let’s hope that this hard question means that Facebook is getting more serious about confronting it.

Source: Facebook