EE is upgrading its 4G network by polishing up old 2G spectrum

Ofcom’s upcoming spectrum auction will help some UK carriers improve their 4G services, and allow all networks to start preparing to launch next-gen 5G. Three began legal proceedings against Ofcom just last week, as it’s not happy with the regulator’s rules for the auction. The combined might of BT and EE won’t be too upset by further delays, since it’s banned from bidding on 4G frequencies anyway (on account of it controlling nearly half of usable 4G spectrum already). EE has said today that it’s going about upgrading its 4G network regardless, by taking creaky old 2G frequencies and converting them into shiny new 4G spectrum.

BT/EE currently uses frequencies in the 1800MHz band for both 2G and 4G services (its other bands are reserved solely for 3G/4G signals). What’s happening now is EE is “refarming” 10MHz of the aging 2G airwaves and adding that to the existing 20MHz slice that’s already configured for 4G. Over the next six months, EE will be performing the switcheroo at more than 600 cell tower sites, mainly in the big cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff. Refarming isn’t all that uncommon, and O2 did exactly the same thing with some of its 1800MHz a few years back.

In the longer-term, customers can generally expect better speeds and coverage, since there will be more 4G bandwidth on offer. EE says the switch will also help it improve maximum upload speeds from 50 Mbps to up to 100 Mbps. But as is the case with most network upgrades, devices need to catch up, as they too need to be configured to use the spectrum for 4G and not 2G.

“The sites will power the next wave of mobile devices to hit the UK market, equipped with ‘Cat 12’ and ‘Cat 16’ modems, making sure consumers are getting the most from their new smartphones,” EE’s press release reads. The timing of EE’s announcement is something to note. Last year, the carrier promoted wireless headphones on its pay-monthly-for-accessories scheme mere hours before Apple launched the iPhone 7 range, which infamously ditched the headphone jack. While not exactly the most exciting news, you can bet the new iPhones Apple reveals tomorrow will be of the Cat 12 or Cat 16 variety.

Source: EE

Drones won’t be delivering weed in California any time soon

In the near future, your pizza, Big Mac, and groceries could all be delivered autonomously. But, the good Cali folk out there expecting their newly legalized batches of pot to arrive in the same manner, are in for a bummer. The California Bureau of Cannabis Control recently declared that weed deliveries cannot be made by autonomous vehicles — that includes UAVs and unmanned self-driving cars. Therefore, don’t go expecting the robot delivering your munchies to bring you Scooby Snacks too.

“Transportation may not be done by aircraft, watercraft, rail, drones, human-powered vehicles, or unmanned vehicles,” according to the bureau’s business licensing regulations. It adds: “Deliveries may be made only in person by enclosed motor vehicle. Cannabis goods may not be visible to the public during deliveries. Cannabis goods may not be left in an unattended motor vehicle unless the vehicle has an active alarm system. Vehicles used for delivery must have a dedicated, active GPS device that enables the dispensary to identify the geographic location of the vehicle during delivery.”

California voted to legalize marijuana in November. And, by early next year, the state is expected to start dishing out licenses to thousands of businesses that intend to cultivate and sell pot. With projections placing the market for legal weed at $5 billion, it’s no wonder that a number of startups are also trying to make some cash by transporting cannabis. As Ars Technica points out, the likes of MDelivers, Eaze, Trees Delivery have all promised to autonomously deliver your pot. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But hey, at least you can still rely on drones for the Domino’s hook-up after you pop to the dispensary.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: California Bureau of Cannabis Control (pdf)

Xiaomi Takes Aim at Apple With New MacBook Pro and iPhone X Rivals

Chinese company Xiaomi today held an event in Beijing, where it unveiled new products that will rival the MacBook Pro and iPhone X.

First up was the new Mi Notebook Pro, with a fully metal enclosure that looks virtually identical to Apple’s latest MacBook Pro in Space Gray.

Mi Notebook Pro is equipped with a 15.6-inch display with narrow bezels, a full-sized backlit keyboard, custom Harman Infinity speakers with Dolby Atmos sound, and seven ports: USB-C, data-only USB-C, dual USB 3.0, full-sized HDMI, a 3-in-1 SD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The notebook is equipped with up to Intel’s new eighth-generation Core i7 quad-core processor, up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card, and 256GB of SSD storage. It will run Windows 10 Home Edition out of the box, with support for Windows Hello fingerprint authentication.

Mi Notebook Pro pricing ranges from about $850 to $1,075 based on current exchange rates, which is under half the price of the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro, but The Verge found it only has a 1080p display.

Next up was the Mi Mix 2 smartphone, which has a nearly edge to edge 5.99-inch display on the front of the device, beyond a small bottom bezel or “chin” that is 12 percent slimmer than the original Mi Mix.

Mi Mix 2 is equipped with a 64-bit Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, up to 256GB of storage, a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with four-axis optical image stabilization, and a rear fingerprint scanner. An earpiece speaker is hidden along the top edge, while the front-facing camera is housed in the bottom bezel.

Mi Mix 2 will likely ship with Xiaomi’s MIUI operating system, based on Android. Pricing starts at about $500 at current exchange rates.

Like other Xiaomi products, the Mi Notebook Pro and Mi Mix 2 will be available soon in China, followed by other global markets. The devices will likely be available through resellers only in the United States.

Other announcements included a special ceramic edition of the Mi Mix 2 and a new Mi Note 3 phablet with dual cameras.

Xiaomi’s event took place just one day before Apple’s first-ever event at the brand new Steve Jobs Theater at its new Apple Park headquarters.

Tag: Xiaomi
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How to download podcasts and listen to them on Android or iOS

When the luminaries at Apple first conceived of the iPod, the goal was to start a revolution in the way music was consumed. The device was a success in that regard, allowing people to carry a wealth of music on the go, but Apple didn’t likely anticipate that its little device would cause a seismic shift in radio programming. The term “Podcast” has since become ubiquitous, as programs like Serial have become pillars of modern culture. Essentially talk programs in digital format, podcasts have their roots in the early days of the internet when services provided shows to radio stations in digital formats. It wasn’t until the dawn of high-speed internet and the rise of portable media players, however, that digital radio shows could be widely distributed.

The idea of providing talk shows on the internet may seem mundane, after all, what isn’t available on the internet these days? Nonetheless, the rise of the podcast brought an unprecedented democratization of programming. Unlike traditional radio, podcast hosts can produce shows in their living room on any topic they choose, without being shackled by FCC regulations. Today there are hundreds of thousands of podcasts flitting about on the web, covering every topic imaginable, including true crime, history, even gastronomy. And although podcasts are still a niche product, they’ve been steadily growing in popularity over the last decade alongside the smartphone. Some even speculate that this trend may spell the end of traditional radio.

For those new to podcasts, though, getting started may seem daunting. And while you could download a podcast from its homepage, there are several apps available for both iOS and Android platforms that allow you to download and sort episodes. Dubbed “podcatchers,” these apps are available on various systems and are generally cheap (or even free). Read on to learn how to download podcasts and listen to them on your iOS or Android device.

Did you know that we have our very own podcast? Check out Digital Trends’ Trends with Benefits weekly podcast where we discuss the latest topics in the world of tech.

How to use podcatcher apps

A good podcatcher ought to do at least two things: it should have a comprehensive library of podcasts, and it should make it easy to listen to them. Such apps will typically have a clean, easy-to-navigate layout. Pocket Casts, for example, offers tabs for finding trending podcasts, featured podcasts, and the most popular podcasts, as well as a search bar so users can look for specific programs.

Selecting the “Top” tab brings up a list of the most popular podcasts among Pocket Casts’ users. One of the most efficient things about podcast apps is that they let you subscribe to a podcast rather than having to download individual episodes. On apps such as Pocket Casts, subscribing is as simple as tapping a button, in this case the “+” symbol next to a podcast’s name.

Once you are subscribed to a podcast, the app will typically alert you when a new episode is available, and give you the ability to manually download episodes, in this case by tapping the download button next to an episode’s name.

Clicking on the button to bring up the options menu — represented by the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner in Pod Casts — will bring up additional options for an individual episode, such as the ability to download every episode.

Some podcatchers will also automatically download the latest episodes of podcasts you subscribe to. In the case of Pocket Casts, this is an option that users must turn on from the podcast’s main settings.

That is really all there is to it. Podcatchers make downloading podcasts onto iOS and Android devices far, far easier than the old fashioned way of downloading podcasts from a site and uploading them to a phone’s hard drive. These apps also tend to have extra features designed to enhance user experience, such as the ability to speed up or slow down audio.

There are many podcast apps out there, and some are better than others. Below are our picks for some of the more noteworthy ones, including the aforementioned Pocket Casts.

Philips’ next display is very wide, but keeps vertical resolution down

Why it matters to you

If you have a dual display but would much rather have one big one, Philips’ new design might be what you’re looking for.

Philips isn’t looking to drive its audience toward 4K resolution with its next display, but it is offering a lot of screen real estate. At 49 inches diagonally, the Philips 492P8 is extremely wide, employing an aspect ratio of 32:9. While many of its details remain unknown for now, we do know it will come with a $1,080 price tag — apt really, considering that’s also its vertical resolution.

The price of this new Philips display is important too, because the competition in this very specific sizing market tend to be a lot more expensive, as Anandtech points out. Although it may turn out that Philips has compromised in a few areas to nail that big price drop, it’s not like the 492P8 is a slouch.

The 49-inch VA panel sports a native resolution of 3840 x 1080 pixels, and a 1,800R curvature. That ultrawide display has a brightness of 600 cd/m2 and a contrast ratio up to 5,000:1. Key details we still don’t know about yet include what percentage of the sRGB color gamut it can handle, or what its response time or maximum refresh rate is.

We do know, however, that it has inputs for DisplayPort, VGA, and a pair of HDMI connectors, alongside two USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a gigabit Ethernet port. The real surprise there is the VGA connector, which hasn’t been relevant in any computing space in quite some time. As Anand suggests though, it could potentially be used to connect up a secondary system for PIP purposes.

We may have some time to wait for the full picture of this display, as it’s not slated for release until sometime in Q2 2018. In that time we can further speculate at the audience that Philips is targeting with it. Considering its placement in Philips “P” range and its unveiling at IFA 2017, the best guess would be that it’s aimed at businesses, but it’s possible that Philips is keeping the door open to gamers with a restriction on vertical resolution.

Wherever it’s pushed though, this kind of display is usually offered with the idea of replacing multiple smaller monitors for one larger option. With its near 50-inch diagonal sizing, this monitor should certainly be capable of fulfilling that role.

Xiaomi’s new Mi Note 3 isn’t a powerhouse, but you’ll still want one

Why it matters to you

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 gives you the best of the Xiaomi Mi 6 with a bigger screen and a lower price.

The Xiaomi Mi Note range has traditionally meant big-screen phablet style phones with flagship specifications. That has changed with the Xiaomi Mi Note 3, the latest device to wear the Mi Note name, which launched alongside the very high-end Mi Mix 2 on Monday. The Mi Note 3 hasn’t got the outright power of its predecessor, or of the Mi 6, a phone which it closely resembles visually.

Xiaomi has made the Mi Note 3 a midrange smartphone, shrinking down the screen size, and shunning Qualcomm’s top-spec processor. This makes the phone a lot cheaper, in an effort to take on a growing challenge from rival Oppo and other competing brands in China. It’s no bezel-less beauty like the Mi Mix 2 either, and has a fingerprint sensor under the 5.5-inch screen, and a regular bezel above it. Does this make the Mi Note 3 dull? No, it makes it a bargain.

The 5.5-inch screen has a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, set in an aluminum chassis with a glass body around it. This is suitably close to the deliciously styled Mi 6. The Mi Note 3 also takes the Mi 6’s best feature: A dual 12-megapixel rear camera with a 2x optical zoom, 4-axis optical image stabilization, and a portrait mode, which Xiaomi claims is one of the very best around at accurately blurring out the background, rather than parts of the subject. Around the front is a 16-megapixel camera with Xiaomi’s artificially intelligent beauty mode, ready for the best selfies.

It’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM powering the Mi Note 3. It’s not quite up there with the Mi 6 or Mi Mix 2, but that’s still plenty of power for most people. It also has a sizable 3,500mAh battery, the aforementioned fingerprint sensor, NFC, stereo speakers, USB Type-C, and an IR blaster. Sadly, there’s no mention of the massive array of 4G LTE bands packed into the Mi Mix 2 inside the Mi Note 3.

We’ve fallen for the blue Mi Note 3 here, which looks great, and comes with 128GB of internal storage for the equivalent of around $450 in China. However, a 64GB model in black is $380, making it very good value if you don’t mind importing one. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 will go on sale in China and other Xiaomi markets in the near future.

How to find the shows you want to watch on YouTube TV

Finding the shows you want to watch isn’t a hassle when you know what you’re doing.

YouTube TV has access to tons of great programming from dozens of different channels. If you can’t find the shows that you’re interested in though, all of that programming goes to waste. We’ve got the details on how to find the shows you already love, and the new gems you haven’t had the chance for yet right here!

• How to search for a show
• How to search by genre
• How to search by network

How to search for a show

If you already know exactly what show it is you want to watch, then all you need to do is search for the title of the show!

Open the YouTube TV app.

Tap the search icon.

Type out the name of the show you are searching for.

Tap to select the show you want to watch.

How to search by genre

While watching the shows and movies you’ve seen before is easy enough, but sometimes you’re in the mood for a specific genre. If that’s the case you can just search by genre to find something new worth watching!

Open the YouTube TV app.
Tap the search icon.

Tap the genre of the program you want to search for.

How to search by network

YouTube TV has access to a variety of different networks letting you watch great shows you know from cable. Using the search function you can view all of the shows from a specific network!

Open the YouTube TV app.
Tap the search icon.

Tap the network you want to search for.

Questions?

Have you used the search function to find your favorite shows? Do you still have questions about YouTube TV? Let us know in the comments!

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is coming to India ‘very soon’

Xiaomi may launch the Mi Mix 2 sometime next month in India.

Xiaomi’s bezel-less Mi Mix 2 is now official, and the company is looking to launch the device in global markets. With India being the second-largest market for the Chinese manufacturer, customers in the country looking to get their hands on the phone won’t have to wait a whole lot.

In an interview, Xiaomi global SVP Xiang Wang stated that the Mi Mix 2 will be launching in India “very soon.” Wang didn’t specify a timeline for the launch, only that the timing is a key factor.

That suggests we may see the device in the country sometime next month, which will allow Xiaomi the ability to capitalize on the festival season to push its latest flagship.

As a refresher, the Mi Mix 2 features a 5.99-inch 2160 x 1080 FHD+ display, Snapdragon 835, 6GB of RAM, storage variations of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, a 12MP camera at the back, 5MP front shooter, and a 3400mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. It comes with MIUI 9 atop Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

It’s been a year and a half since Xiaomi launched one of its flagships in India, but that is set to change in the coming months as Xiaomi dedicates more resources to the country.

Wang also indicated that Xiaomi will be launching several of its ecosystem products in India in the coming months. With the company setting its sights on the offline segment, the Mi Home stores become a focus point of that vision, and Xiaomi wants to broaden the selection of products available for purchase at its retail stores.

Now for the question that matters most to the Indian audience: pricing. Xiaomi has done a fantastic job of ensuring that its Indian products retail at nearly the same cost as their Chinese counterparts. The variant of the Mi Mix 2 with 64GB storage retails for ¥3,299, which comes out to ₹32,700 ($505) .

We’ll have to wait until the launch event to find out the price of the Mi Mix 2 in India, but in the meantime, what do you guys think will be a reasonable price for the device in the country?

Xiaomi’s Mi MIX 2 comes with a stunning ceramic unibody

For most of us living outside of China, we tend to be limited to two options when it comes to the choice of materials on our phones: either metal or plastic, or a bit of both (and maybe a touch of wood, if you’re lucky). While Essential was grabbing headlines with its titanium device, Xiaomi continued tinkering with something that many others dare not touch: ceramics. Following the Mi MIX, the Chinese smartphone maker has once again collaborated with Philippe Starck’s design studio to bring us yet another ceramic device with a near-bezel-less display: the Mi MIX 2.

As one would expect, the MIX 2 comes with flagship specs to match its premium design. It features Qualcomm’s top-of-the-range Snapdragon 835 chipset along with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage. There’s also a special edition with a whopping 8GB of RAM but with just 128GB of storage — we’ll get to that later. Interestingly, the MIX 2 supports 43 bands, thus making it a truly global smartphone — more so than the earlier Mi Note 2. Both versions are powered by a 3,400mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support (9V/2A) via USB-C. As a bonus, both editions come with an 18K PVD rose gold-coated camera rim, while the special edition gets the same rim treatment on its rear-facing fingerprint reader.

As stunning as the original Mi MIX looked, it was far from perfect. Its 6.4-inch screen was too big for most people, its cameras weren’t great and its ‘invisible earpiece’ was not loud enough for the noisy streets. This is where the Mi MIX 2 comes in. We’re now looking at a more pocketable 5.99-inch display with a longer 2,160 x 1,080 resolution (that’s 18:9 instead of the old 17:9).

The main camera is the same Sony IMX386 sensor (with 1.25um pixels) and 4-axis optical stabilisation setup as the one on the Mi 6, albeit with a slightly slower f/2.0 aperture. It can also shoot 4K or 1080p video at 30 fps, and 720p video at up to 120 fps for slow motion. Because of this optical upgrade, there’s now a small camera bump, but one that I can totally tolerate. The front camera — located at the bottom right of the display — still packs a 5-megapixel resolution but with a different sensor. Based on my brief hands-on with it, the images from both cameras are notably better than what I got with the original MIX.

Last but not least, the old piezoelectric actuator-based hidden earpiece has been replaced with a louder conventional earpiece. The only trade-off here is that there’s now a short, narrow slit along the top edge of the glass which is barely noticeable. And don’t worry, the ultrasonic proximity sensor is here to stay, meaning there’s no ugly black dots that would otherwise be housing an infrared sensor.

Another issue with the original MIX was that it was only available in China due to limited supply. To my surprise, this time Xiaomi is making the MIX 2 available in markets outside of China. This is partly achieved by offering the phone in two flavors: a normal edition with a metallic frame and a ceramic back combo which is a lot easier to manufacture, and a special edition with a black or white ceramic unibody — an achievement which I never saw coming, given how difficult ceramic is to deal with in any situation.

Xiaomi isn’t kidding when it says the ceramic unibody has extremely low yield. The entire process involves pressing a special type of ceramic powder into a mold with a 240-ton force while being baked at up to 1,400 degrees Celsius (or 2,552 degrees Fahrenheit) for seven days. This is further complicated by the fact that the molded pieces shrink by about 20 percent in the end, so you can imagine how tight the tolerances are. Even the tiniest of fractures developed throughout the process would render the whole piece of ceramic unusable.

The pieces are then put into a CNC machine to have their corners and holes cut out — an expensive process considering that the drill bits have to be replaced after processing each piece of ceramic, due to the extreme hardness of the material. Finally, the ceramic pieces are polished with diamond dust — again, lots of dollar signs here — for ten hours until it becomes as precious-looking as a piece of jade. Or in Starck’s own words, the MIX 2 carries the “purity of jade, the serenity of jade, quiet like a jade.” Overall, it takes about ten days from start to finish just for that ceramic unibody.

Xiaomi is asking for a similar price as last time. The MIX 2 ranges from 3,299 yuan (64GB; about $510) to 3,999 yuan (256GB; about $610), whereas the MIX 2 Special Edition jumps to 4,699 yuan (about $720). The normal edition can already be pre-ordered in China tonight ahead of its September 15th launch, but you’ll have to wait until November for the Special Edition. Xiaomi has already confirmed that the MIX 2 won’t be launched in the US, but at least you can try your luck in one of the several other markets that it’s headed to — including Hong Kong and Taiwan later this year.

The Morning After: Monday, September 11th 2017

There’s little more than a day to go before Apple unveils its newest iPhone (or three of ’em), but the company is still struggling to keep a lid on leaks. Here’s a few of the latest ones — and everything else from the weekend.

It doesn’t rain but it pours.
Apple leaks: Emoji that track your face, the iPhone X and LTE Apple Watches

Courtesy of a leaked “gold master” build of iOS 11, people have been having a field day with all the nuggets hidden within. They include references to ‘Animoji’: 3D emoji created from your facial expressions and voice. Pick one of the familiar non-human faces in the emoji library and it’ll map your eye, mouth and cheek expressions to that character — you can make a robot smile or have a dog raise its eyebrows. You can even animate the poo emoji.

Then there’s the iPhone X, which will apparently house a six-core processor. However, for cable-addled tech hoarders like me, the suggestion that Apple’s anniversary phone might cram in a USB-C port instead of Lightning is arguably even more intriguing.

This gold master leak didn’t stop there. As previously teased and rumored, the next Apple Watch will pack its own LTE radio, and it’ll get a dashing splash of red on its crown.

It doesn’t like that others are trying to profit from free software.
Kodi fights trademark trolls trying to charge for its media app

Kodi doesn’t just have to worry about add-ons and devices that give it a reputation as a piracy bad boy. The media center app developer has revealed that it’s battling trademark trolls who’ve registered the Kodi name as their own and are using it to profit from software that’s supposed to be free. The culprits may charge you to host Kodi on a website, for example, or make you buy their Kodi boxes instead of others.

It’s only temporary, but it might help save lives.
Tesla extends range on cars to help owners avoid Hurricane Irma

Tesla may have software-limited the battery capacities of some cars to upsell owners to pricier trim levels, but the company is willing to lift that limit during a crisis. The EV maker has confirmed to Electrek that it temporarily unlocked the full battery capacity on 60kWh Model S and Model X cars in Florida to give them the full 75kWh and help them escape Hurricane Irma. As you might guess, the extra range (about 30 to 40 miles) could be vital.

A 114-year old Mercedes has more in common with a Tesla than you think.
Driving the Mercedes Simplex while thinking about the transportation future

Roberto Baldwin nervously got behind the wheel of the 1902 model (built in 1903) Mercedes Simplex 40. Surprisingly, a car that’s over 100 years old has a lot to tell us about the next revolution in automobiles.

But wait, there’s more…

• Amazon widens its retail footprint with Kohl’s partnership
• Recommended reading: Hollywood is really mad at Rotten Tomatoes
• MIT is crowdsourcing hurricane flood maps in Florida