Some OnePlus 5 owners can’t dial 911 without the phone rebooting

Making an emergency phone call to 911 on your OnePlus 5 could wind up with your phone rebooting. A handful of owners have taken to Reddit to share videos of the glitch in action, and they suspect that it could have something to do with the phone’s GPS system. For its part, OnePlus says it’s contacted the customer and is looking into what could be the problem. Should your OnePlus be doing the same, the company asks that you contact its support inbox. It sounds like this might be fixable via firmware update — unlike that whole “jelly scrolling” thing last month.

Via: The Next Web

Source: Reddit

TBS to air four-part docuseries on ‘Dota 2’ tournament competitors

Turner Broadcasting announced today that TBS will air a four part documentary about players preparing for and competing in this year’s The International Dota 2 Championships. The series is produced by Turner’s eSports branch ELEAGUE, which started airing competitions on TBS last year.

The first episodes of ELEAGUE: Road to the International Dota 2 Championships will focus on teams as they train for the competition and later episodes will follow them as they compete in the tournament. The first tournament took place in 2011 with a prize pool of $1 million and last year it broke the record for having the largest eSports prize ever, which ended up totaling over $20 million. This year’s pool is already over $21 million and there’s still time before the prize crowdfunding ends. The tournament will take place August 7th-12th.

The first episode will air on August 4th at 10PM Eastern/Pacific and the remaining hour-long episodes will air over the following three weeks. TBS will also show Valve’s Dota 2 Free to Play documentary on July 28th at 10PM. You can catch a trailer for the series below, which features CompLexity team member Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho describing how he first got into Dota 2.

Via: The Flying Courier

Source: Turner Broadcasting

House Democrats adopt encrypted messaging after last year’s hack

In light of last year’s hacking troubles, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has begun using end-to-end encrypted software for a large chunk of its messaging. For communication both internally and between the DCCC and 20 of its House incumbent campaigns, the committee will use Wickr.

According to Communications Director Meredith Kelly, the DCCC has been primarily using the software since June and it’s the first to make such a move. Last summer, after Democratic National Committee emails were hacked and published on Wikileaks, the DCCC was also breached and thousands of its documents were stolen and publicly released. Along with the DCCC’s shift to Wickr, the DNC has hired ex-Uber engineer Raffi Krikorian as its chief technology officer and continues to use the services of security firm CrowdStrike.

Earlier this month, the DCCC proposed that it and the National Republican Congressional Committee should work together to fight hacking attempts, but the plan was dismissed as a “political stunt” by the republicans. In response, Kelly told the Washington Post, “This is a disturbingly flippant response to a simple request that we set partisan politics aside and work together to better protect our elections from foreign adversaries and their cyberattacks.” But while the Republican Party didn’t suffer as many cybersecurity blows as the democrats, they still appear to be concerned as GOP staff reportedly began using the encrypted messaging app Confide earlier this year.

Source: BuzzFeed

China blocks WhatsApp users from sending photos and video

Many WhatsApp users in China aren’t able to send photos and videos to one another, and in at least a few cases, people aren’t able to send text messages either. Exactly why this partial ban is happening at the moment isn’t clear, but the New York Times reports that Facebook’s other messaging application might soon be fully blocked in the region thanks to strict censorship laws.

The Great Firewall has gotten even more harsh recently, with China dictating that all foreign firms must store their data locally. Apple kowtowed and built a data center there, but expecting Facebook to do so might be a bit of a stretch. In addition to Zuckerberg’s main social network being fully blocked, Instagram is as well. As NYT notes, WhatsApp was Facebook’s last stand in China and now it looks to be going away.

It doesn’t seem like many in the country will notice it missing considering that Tencent’s WeChat is native to China and apparently has a more active user base in the region.

Source: New York Times

‘Splatoon 2’ is a cautious but excellent evolution of the original

The Wii U was far from the most popular console of its generation — but fans who took a chance on Nintendo’s first HD machine were rewarded with a tightly curated library of modern-day classics. Exclusives like Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze showed that the value of the Wii U wasn’t in its hardware but in Nintendo’s creative library of games. Among them was Splatoon, the company’s first online competitive shooter. The game’s quirky squirt gun multiplayer battles were a genuine, delightful surprise — and its Nintendo Switch sequel takes everything that was great about the original and makes it just a little bit better.

That’s mostly a good thing. The original Splatoon was something of an experiment, a Nintendo game that focused on online play as the primary selling point. The game succeeded by being something unique: a frantic, multiplayer shooter that dripped with personality and cultivated a ravenous community of loyal fans. Splatoon 2 basically picks up where the original left off, starting with the same core game mechanic that incentivized teamwork over individual victory: Turf War.

To understand Turf War — and Splatoon 2’s primary multiplayer modes — you need to know a few things. First, there are no bullets in Splatoon. Instead, players use a mix of squirt guns, paintbrushes and buckets to spray, fling and slosh colored ink across the battlefield. Battles aren’t won by how many enemies the player defeats but by how much of her team’s color covers the ground at the end of a match.

Sure, you can take out other players in these matches, and you’ll need to to win, but it’s not the end goal. By rewarding players based on how much ground they cover, the game passively changes the focus from being the best fighter to contributing the most to the team victory. It also takes the pressure off casual players. No good in a firefight? You can still contribute by focusing on keeping the ground your team’s color.

The paint mechanic is more than just a gimmick to promote teamwork — it also changes how you can move. If the ink on the ground belongs to the player’s team, she can turn into a squid and swim through it to replenish ammo and move faster. If it’s the enemy team’s color, she’ll be slowed down and take damage. There are a few more rules, of course, but the long and short of it is that Splatoon 2 offers a multiplayer experience unlike anything in other games. Its unique twist on movement, weapons and ink-based victory helps keep game modes like tower defense, control point and capture-the-flag feeling fresh.

So what’s new about Splatoon 2? Well, a few things. For one, the entire experience just looks better: Colors are more vibrant and bright; player characters, weapons and clothing are far more detailed; and best of all, the entire game runs at a noticeably higher frame rate. There are also new levels, weapon upgrades and special moves that change the way the game is played. The new Splat Dualie pistols, for instance, open up player movement by adding a dodge roll to the game, which drastically changes how close-range combat unfolds. Other weapons have been tweaked to give them more balance, adding a long-range attack for roller weapons, for instance, or allowing long-range weapons to hold a charge while players swim through ink.

Nintendo’s decision to stick close to the original mostly works: Splatoon 2 strengthens the series’ core gameplay, gives players more tools to use in battle and retains the spirit of fun that made the first entry a hit. Unfortunately, it also retains a handful of the first game’s awkward flaws.

Multiplayer modes and maps are still limited to a two-at-a-time rotation that changes every few hours, for instance. Players still can’t change weapon and gear loadouts without quitting multiplayer and jumping back in either. (Being able to switch weapons between matches would have been a huge quality-of-life improvement.) These aren’t deal breakers, but it would have been nice to see some more of the game’s rough edges ironed out in the sequel.

The sameness of Splatoon 2 falls flat in the single player campaign, however. The game’s Hero Mode very much follows the vein of the original, serving as training for the main event: multiplayer. It’s basically a set of linear levels that introduces the game’s core concepts. Here’s a level that teaches you how to swim through ink to make longer jumps. Here’s one designed to teach you how charge weapons work.

As a basic gameplay tutorial, Splatoon 2’s single-player mode is a good introduction for folks new to the series, but players who have sharpened their teeth on multiplayer (or just played the first game) might find it a bit tedious — and that’s a shame, because it’s framed around a light and fun story that revisits characters from the first game.

The entire time I played Hero Mode, I felt like it could have been something great. It almost was too: Every now and then, the campaign will throw an incredible boss fight at you or a complex, joyously fun level that calls back to the best of games like Super Mario Galaxy. Instead, the single-player campaign is merely an OK experience with a few great moments.

Despite this, Splatoon 2 is still a fantastic experience for Nintendo Switch owners looking for a fun, addictive multiplayer game. It didn’t learn every lesson it could have from its predecessor, but it delivers on the core gameplay mechanics that made the original an unexpected hit. Better still, it retains the original game’s cultural identity by building a community around Splatoon’s in-game hosts and by showcasing artwork made by players in a Miiverse-like drawing app.

Splatoon 2 is everything it needs to be and nothing more. If you’re OK with that, you’ll love it. Just don’t buy it for the single-player campaign alone.

Amazon Spark curates an Instagram-like shopping feed

If you’ve ever found yourself wishing that Amazon would just advertise its products in a social media-like format that looks and functions a lot like Instagram with maybe a touch of Pinterest, then oh boy are you in luck. Amazon just launched a new feature called Spark and it’s exactly that.

With Amazon Spark, users can select five or more interests, such as “Books,” “Recipes” and “TV Bingewatching,” and then be provided with a feed that includes product reviews and photos. Anytime one of those photos has a product that can be purchased through Amazon, a shopping bag icon will sit in the bottom right corner of the image. Click it and you’ll be sent to the product’s page.

If you choose to contribute your own content to Spark, you’ll be considered an “Enthusiast” and will get a badge once you post or write a product review. Spark users can also comment on others’ posts and give it a “smile” if they so choose — the Spark version of a Like or Favorite.

To start using Amazon Spark, click the “Programs & Features” option in the navigation menu. You’ll then have to choose at least five interests, enter your name and decide if you want to receive notifications. There are a few limitations though. First, you have to be an Amazon Prime member in order to contribute to Spark or interact with posts. Non-Prime members can create a feed, but they won’t be able to post or comment. Additionally, as of now, Spark is only available on iOS and to US customers only. If you meet those criteria, Amazon Spark is available to you today.

[Image: TechCrunch / Amazon]

Source: TechCrunch

Panic Releases Transmit 5 With Major Improvements, but No Mac App Store Version

Panic today announced the launch of Transmit 5, the newest version of its popular Mac-based file transfer app. Transmit 5 is a massive update, introducing an improved UI, new features, additional servers, and a Panic Sync feature.

According to Panic, everything from the core file transfer engine to the “Get Info” experience was entirely rethought, overhauled, and improved, for an even better file management experience.

For those unfamiliar with Transmit, it’s designed to allow users to upload, download, and manage files on local and remote servers, turning file management into a simple drag-and-drop affair with a clean easy-to-use interface. Transmit 5 works with FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and S3, and it connects to Backblaze B2, Box, Google Drive, DreamObjects, Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, and Rackspace.

The new version of Transmit also features Panic Sync, designed to offer a quick and safe way to sync sites and keep Panic data up to date across all apps and devices. Panic Sync is part of another major change – Transmit 5’s absence from the Mac App Store.

Panic will not be releasing Transmit 5 in the Mac App Store, which, the company explains, is due to its inability to offer a demo through Apple’s storefront. “This allows us to distribute a demo which we think is extremely helpful for people considering Transmit,” reads an FAQ on the blog post announcing the release.

Panic says the company plans to “constantly re-evaluate” the Mac App Store and hopes to return at some point, presumably if Apple introduces a wider range of features for developers, such as free trials and demos.

Transmit 5 is priced at $35 for the next week, and after that, the price will go up to $45. There is no upgrade discount for customers who have purchased an earlier version of Transmit, but those who purchased Transmit 4 after June 1 can get a free update.

A free trial is available from the Transmit 5 website for those who would like to try Transmit before making a purchase.

Tag: Panic
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Don’t talk to your smart home — have it sense your presence with RoomMe

Why it matters to you

If talking to your smart home devices has just become too much, you might want to check out RoomMe instead and have your smart home read your mind.

It wasn’t so long ago that the pinnacle of convenience was being able to talk to your appliances to get them to function. But alas, how quickly we grow inured to the technology of yesterday. Now, we want even more from our smart home devices — we want them to be able to read our minds. And getting close to achieving that desire is a new smart home solution from Israeli company Intellithings. It’s called RoomMe, and it purports to identify and adjust “everything in your smart home to your specific likings, no manual control required.”

In essence, RoomMe syncs with your smartphone, and learns what your preferences are when it comes to light, temperature, and even security, all by way of a few discreet sensors.

“Too many times instead of hearing what you ask for, Virtual Personal Assistants give you what they think you ask for,” the Intellithings team noted. “What if they could simply sense when you are in the room and give you exactly what you want, without [you] waving your arms or screaming into a device?”

This appears to be the future RoomMe envisions. Simply apply the settings you’d like for a certain room on your RoomMe app, then the RoomMe device will sense when your smartphone is in that room, and make adjustments accordingly.

But wait, you say, what if I live with someone with different preferences than I? Not to worry, RoomMe apparently has that covered, too.

If you and your roommate can’t agree on the ideal temperature setting (let’s say you prefer it to be cold at night while he or she prefers it to be warm), RoomMe will sense when you’re alone in the room, and lower the thermostat. But if you’re in there together, you can have RoomMe set a middle-of-the-road temperature so that everyone is happy (or at least equally unhappy). Similarly, you can program RoomMe to recognize certain people, and set your security devices to record when particular individuals (let’s say your nanny) is around.

Of course, it’s unclear as of yet exactly how precise this technology really is, but now that it’s launching on Indiegogo, brave early adopters can check out its effectiveness for themselves. It’s selling for $139 with a shipment date of May 2018.

Glass is back! Google takes the wraps off Glass Enterprise Edition

Why it matters to you

You might see the next version of Google Glass during your next doctor’s appointment, or on a factory floor.

Google Glass, Google’s augmented reality (AR) glasses, originally debuted in 2012, but was officially discontinued in 2014. But after nearly four years of skunkworks development, the search giant pulled back the curtain on Glass’ next chapter: An industrial, corporate version called Google Glass Enterprise Edition.

Glass Enterprise Edition (EE) isn’t new. It’s been tested and deployed across factories in the U.S. by more than 50 companies including agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO, Boeing, General Electric, Volkswagen, and DHL, where it’s been equipped with custom apps that catalog parts by scanning their serial numbers. But now, Google’s making Glass available to more businesses through its existing network of supply chain partners.

Regulatory filings way back in 2015 gave a glimpse at the new Glass, and it hasn’t changed much since. Glass Enterprise Edition features a headband-like piece of metal that perched on the wearer’s nose, a frame that’s compatible with prescription lenses, and a ruggedized design built to withstand falls and exposure to moisture. The camera button, which sits at the hinge of the frame, does double duty as a release switch to remove the electronics part of the unit (called the Glass Pod) from the frame.

Other upgrades include a larger display with an expanded field of view, a beefier battery, an improved camera (from five megapixels to eight), a speedier Intel processor, and a high-speed 5GHz Wi-Fi chip.

Google says that Glass Enterprise Edition, which runs a stripped-down operating system that doesn’t support notifications or social media apps, has dramatically improved factory productivity. At AGCO, it’s reduced machinery production time by 25 percent and inspection times by 30 percent, and at DHL, it’s increased efficiency by 15 percent.

It’s also been a boon in medicine. Sutter Health and Dignity Health, two healthcare providers that have supplied doctors with Glass units optimized for note-taking, say the heads-up display has reduced the amount of time doctors spend on patient notes and other administrative work and doubled the amount of time they spend with patients.

“Now the Glass product team is back at X, and we’ll be collaborating with the Google Cloud team and our partners to help customers across a variety of business sectors make the most of Glass,” Jay Kothari, project lead at Glass, said. “Together, we’re looking forward to seeing more businesses give their workers a way to work faster and in a more focused way, hands-free.”

In many ways, Glass’s growth in enterprise is in line with industry trends. A recent Forrester Research report predicts that by 2025, nearly 14.4 million U.S. workers will wear smart glasses.

With Tuesday’s announcement, Google’s staking a claim for the future. “This isn’t an experiment. It was an experiment three years ago,” Korthari said. “Now we are in full-on production with our partners.”

$20 antennas can now help breach 256-bit encryption standards

Why it matters to you

This technique shows hackers don’t need bottomless wallets or even direct access to a system to breach heavy encryption.

Security researchers have devised a method of defeating AES-256bit encryption in as little as five minutes, and most importantly, you don’t need an expensive supercomputer to do it. The technique leverages radio hardware to measure the frequency changes in the magnetic field generated during encryption to record and decode the information from a distance.

Manufacturing and digital security often have the project management triangle in common. Defeating security and breaching encryption can rarely be done fast, well and without significant cost. But what this Fox-IT technique achieves is very close to that ideal, offering the ability to crack even complex AES-256bit encryption in a few minutes with relatively cheap, off-the-shelf hardware.

Although using more-expensive radio recording hardware can yield better results, the technique is capable of cracking software encryption using just a $25 USB stick and a small wire loop antenna.

By measuring the power output of the encrypting system, the snoopers can tell when an algorithm is receiving input data and later outputting it in an encrypted form. With a mixture of guesswork and correlation, the researchers are able to take that and begin to decode the AES algorithm. By attempting to figure out what the correct value (of 256 options) for each of the 32 bytes is, only 8,192 guesses must be made.

If you were to attempt to brute force hack the encrypted message itself, you’d be making an impossible number of guesses (two, to the power of 256). This technique makes the impossible not only viable but easy.

Better yet, the technique doesn’t require direct access to the encrypting hardware. The researchers were able to perform the technique from up to a meter away.

That was technically only possible because of ideal testing conditions though. In reality, the most even those with high-end equipment could expect to conduct such an attack is from 30 centimeters away. Still, being able to make such an attack from a distance with cheap hardware highlights the potential for new attack vectors against typically near-foolproof encryption systems.

Although breaking open someone’s obfuscated files is almost always going to be easier if you “extract” the decryption key from the owner, this system offers a new way for all sorts of organizations and individuals to target it. In turn, this should lead to better shielding for protected hardware in the future.