AT&T’s buy one get one free deal on the iPhone 8 has a big caveat

With the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models ready for pre-order on Friday, various carriers are letting their respective deals loose. AT&T has a couple of options for its customers. The first, beginning Friday, the carrier will run a buy-one-get-one-free deal on a number of smartphones, including the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Of course, that comes with a few caveats. You’ll have to get both with the AT&T Next payment plan and you’ll have to already have or sign up for DirecTV or U-Verse subscriptions. However, if you only want one of the new phones, AT&T is also offering a 32GB iPad for $100 if you get the phone on AT&T Next.

Sprint’s deal also includes a discount on the iPhone 8, but only on the lease. The company is offering 50 percent off of the price of a 18-month lease, bringing the monthly cost to just under $15 per month. But to get the deal, you’ll also have to trade in a high-end smartphone like a recent iPhone or Samsung model.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus begin at 3AM Eastern, September 15th.

Source: AT&T, Sprint

The FTC is investigating Equifax’s data breach

It’s been a long week for Equifax, sure, but that’s to say nothing about the 143 million consumers affected by the massive financial data breach. In a move that should bode well for the latter while placing more scrutiny on the former, the Federal Trade Commission has officially announced that it’s looking into the matter. “The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations,” spokesperson Peter Kaplan said in a statement to Reuters. “However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FT staff is investigating the Equifax data breach.”

The past seven days have seen the credit rating organization fumble its response to the breach, for example. And then, it was revealed that the locking procedure for credit reports itself was incredibly flawed. Oh, and politicians have demanded more information as well. That was before last night’s news that the entire breach was the result of failing to patch a hole in its server security. With the FTC involved, perhaps consumers can start to rest easy.

Via: The Verge

Source: Reuters

Facebook may still not know full extent of Russian ad buys

It’s been just over a week since Facebook admitted to discovering that it sold $100,000 in ads to hundreds of fake pages and accounts that were both related to each other and apparently run from Russia. Both Democratic and Republican senators are looking for some sort of public hearing on the matter. Now, according to a report by CNN Money, sources familiar with the matter say that Facebook still doesn’t know the full extent of the possible fake news ring and that there still may be more ads on Facebook to this day.

CNN’s Dylan Byers writes that ad buys on Facebook are purchased via an automated self-service tool, which avoids any human interaction from the social network. Facebook’s Andy Stone told CNN that there wasn’t any communication between the people who bought the discovered ads and the website’s sales team. This apparently happens with larger ad buys. While this might be one way to shift the blame from itself, notes Byers, Facebook will still need to figure out how to prevent these systems from being exploited in the future.

According to CNN, Facebook employees have taken to internal message boards to call for more transparency about the content of these ads. So far, the company has only said that the ads weren’t directly about the US election, but mainly focused on spreading social messages to help reinforce the divide between political sides – including “topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.” About one-fourth of the ads were targeted to specific geographical locations, as well.

Facebook’s statement on the matter says that in addition to new tech to detect fake accounts and reduce misinformation, the company is working on ways to “better detect inauthentic Pages and the ads they may run,” along with changes to help “more efficiently detect and stop inauthentic accounts” when they’re actually created.

We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

Source: CNN Money

Bose’s next headphones may include Google Assistant

When Bose accidentally leaked a new pair of headphones in an email newsletter of all places, no one quite knew what the cans’ mysterious action button was for. Well, now we do: activating Google Assistant. The upcoming Quiet Comfort 35 II over-ear cans will feature Mountain View’s digital assistant and be among the first headphones to do so. 9to5Google confirmed this via Bose documentation, and a Reddit user spotted them in retail packaging as well.

Back in May at Google’s annual I/O developer show, the company said it was releasing an SDK for Assistant so it’d start showing up in more places. “The new Google Assistant SDK easily allows a manufacturer to build the Google Assistant into any hardware,” the company’s Scott Huffman said at the time.

Google bolstered that stance last month with its showing at IFA, where the search juggernaut announced that in the not-too-distant future Assistant would appear in washers, dryers and even vacuum cleaners. None of those have shown up yet, and we don’t have an official date for when the Quiet Comfort 35 II will, but with a Pixel event scheduled for early next month, maybe expect more news then.

Source: 9to5Google

Mitsubishi electric delivery trucks are headed to the US

Tesla’s long been teasing the unveiling (with test rides!) of its electric big rigs next month, and other automakers like Cummins and Mercedes have made sure to introduce their own EV truck initiatives. Today, Daimler announced that it’s bringing its smaller Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter trucks to the US, starting in New York City.

UPS will get a trio of the trucks, while four non-profits will split eight other vehicles. But Daimler isn’t planning a big rollout. The company is capping total sales of the eCanter at 500 vehicles for the first two years of production as it waits for battery technology to improve, but the company’s partnership with StoreDot might see the Israeli company’s fast-charging technology integrated with Mitsubishi’s smaller truck.

Currently, the eCanter only gets about 62 miles on a full charge, though the smaller vehicle and its 10,000-lb load limit is really meant for deliveries within cities, not long hauls between them. Larger Class 7 electric trucks are coming, and Daimler Trucks’ Asia chief told Reuters that the company might show off another big model in December.

Sure, the other automakers might have stolen a bit of Tesla’s thunder by announcing early, but we’ll see a real comparison once all the trucks have been unveiled. Cummins’ models, for example, only have a range of 100 miles — which is half or a third as far as Tesla’s 200-300 mile limit. Those still pale in comparison to diesel trucks’ average 1000-mile range, but that lead will likely shrink as battery technology improves. Once that happens, Daimler will ramp up production in 2019 on vehicles that can outrange its current short-run eCanters.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Daimler

Apple’s Face ID Feature Works With Most Sunglasses, Can Be Quickly Disabled to Thwart Thieves

Apple’s new Face ID facial recognition feature will work with most sunglasses, according to Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi.

“Most sunglasses let through enough IR light that Face ID can see your eyes even when the glasses appear to be opaque. It’s really amazing!” Federighi said in an email to MacRumors reader and developer Keith Krimbel (@yokeremote and @keithkrimbel on Twitter) who emailed the Apple exec with a list of questions this morning.

While Apple’s Face ID coverage has specifically said the feature works with hats, scarves, beards, glasses, makeup, and other items that might obscure the face, sunglasses were not specifically mentioned. Federighi’s answer clears up one of the last major unknowns about Face ID.

Krimbel also asked for details on what would prevent a thief from taking the iPhone X, pointing it at his face, and running off. In response, Federighi says there are two mitigations in place. “If you don’t stare at the phone, it won’t unlock,” he wrote. “Also, if you grip the buttons on both sides of the phone when [you] hand it over, it will temporarily disable Face ID.”

In addition to answering these questions, Federighi also commented on the now highly-publicized on-stage Face ID gaffe that saw the feature fail to recognize his face. According to Apple, the software failed because someone else had picked up the phone ahead of Federighi’s demo. Federighi says it’s not really an issue he had encountered before.

The bio-lockout that I experienced on stage would require several interacts by other people with your phone (where they woke up the phone). For those of us who have been living on the iPhone X over the last months this has never been a real problem (hence my shock when it happened to me on stage! 🙂

The Face ID facial recognition feature is designed to replace Touch ID as the new de facto biometric authentication system. While it’s limited to the iPhone X at this time, Apple has said it is the future of how we will unlock our smartphones.

For more on how Face ID scans your face, whether it can be fooled, how it works with Apple Pay, and the built-in privacy features, make sure to check out our Face ID post that covers all of the ins and outs of the new feature.
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Upcoming ‘Modbook Pro X’ Converts 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro Into Tablet With Pen Support

Modbook, known for offering heavily modified pen-based Mac tablets, today introduced the Modbook Pro X, which converts Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar into a tablet.

The Modbook Pro X, which continues to run macOS High Sierra, takes the internal components of a standard MacBook Pro and melds them into a tablet-style aluminum airframe with a built-in flip-out presentation stand and an optional Keyboard Stand that converts it to laptop mode. An included Modbook MonoPro Mount, which doubles as a tripod screw mount, allows the Modbook Pro X to be positioned in portrait mode or in multiple landscape configurations.

In addition to moving the MacBook Pro components into a tablet enclosure, the Modbook Pro X adds pen support to the device’s Retina display. Rotate, tilt, and pressure features are enabled, and the MacBook Pro Touch Bar is available directly under the pen-compatible display. The Touch Bar on the Modbook Pro X displays the same dynamic app controls as it does on the MacBook Pro, but it’s in easier reach in the tablet form factor.

The Touch Bar is accompanied by a new multi-function Touchpad Remote that can be held in the hand to enable simultaneous secondary touch and gesture input alongside the pen. When used in the optional laptop mode with the Keyboard Stand, the Touchpad Remote nestles into the stand and serves as a multi-touch trackpad.

The base system for the Modbook Pro X is configurable with an up to 3.1GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, Intel Graphics 630, and up to a Radeon Pro 560 with 4GB memory. It supports three external Thunderbolt 3 ports and charges with the standard 87W power adapter. Up to three 4K displays or two 5K displays are supported.

The internal storage array of the Modbook Pro X uses up to 2TB of non-upgradeable onboard flash memory along with two additional upgradeable flash memory modules. A custom chipset allows the two modules to be configured as separate drives, one Mirrored Safe-Storage drive or a Combined Double Speed Drive. Two 2TB SSDs are supported in the extra flash modules for a total maximum of 6TB of SSD storage space – that’s triple the capacity of a standard MacBook Pro.

“The new Modbook Pro X with Touch Bar is the culmination of the company’s successful Kickstarter campaign, developed and designed in close cooperation with members of the creative Mac community that originally backed the project, and I believe it is now the most capable tablet ever created for the creative industries,” said Andreas Haas, Modbook Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer and Lead Engineer.

Modbook plans to charge $4,898 for the Modbook Pro X, but customers who already own a compatible 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro will be able to order a We-Mod-Yours transformation service for $2,499.

Before launching the Modbook Pro X, Modbook is gathering investments through WeFunder. Following the close of the campaign, Modbook plans to begin accepting orders before shipping the Modbook Pro X in the United States in late winter.
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Here’s a Look at Discounted and Upcoming Qi Charging Pads for iPhone 8 and iPhone X

Apple on Tuesday announced the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X, all of which will launch with inductive wireless charging support on Qi-compatible accessories. Since Apple’s first-party “AirPower” mat won’t be available to buy until 2018, new iPhone owners will be left to sift through the current market of Qi-compatible wireless charging pads, which is pretty large.

For this reason, we’ve rounded up a few Qi accessories that are currently discounted and that should work with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, most hitting below the $30 range. We’ve also included a few Qi charging pads that are confirmed iPhone 8/X compatible that accessory makers like Belkin and Mophie announced this week alongside Apple’s big unveiling of each smartphone. Since virtually any Qi-supported charging pad should work with the new iPhones, buying decisions will come down to personal preferences of design, size, and color.

Qi Chargers Under $60

• Choetech T511 7.5W Qi Wireless Charging Pad – $12.99 on Amazon, down from $20.00

Choetech’s T511 charging pad comes in blue and black, and includes a battery light indicator on the front side of the device to confirm that the inductive wireless charging connection has been made with the smartphone. The small pad measures at 3.6 inches on all sides, and is one of the most popular and inexpensive Qi pads currently on Amazon. The downside is that it doesn’t come with a micro-USB cable, which you’ll need to connect the pad to a wall outlet or USB port, priced at about $5-$10 on Amazon.

• Aukey Qi Wireless Charger – $14.99 on Amazon, down from $19.99

Aukey’s wireless charger is slightly smaller than Choetech’s with a 3.4-inch diameter across its circular footprint. It has a flashing LED to indicate when the smartphone sitting atop it is charging, and the USB power cable is included.

• Anker Fast Wireless Charger Charging Pad – $19.99 on Amazon, down from $69.99

Anker’s fast charging pad delivers 10 watts of power to smartphones, but will likely function like other 7.5W mats when used with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, since those devices are believed to reach only half (7.5W) of current Qi standards (15W). Anker’s solution has non-disruptive LEDs surrounding the pad to indicate the smartphone’s charge, a non-slip pad, and measures 3.4 inches on all sides.

• Samsung Qi Wireless Charging Pad – $29.99 at B&H Photo, down from $39.99

Samsung even has a few Qi-compatible charing accessory options that should work with iPhone 8 and iPhone X, including a Fast Wireless Charging Pad (again note such fast charging features will be incompatible with iPhone devices). This one is available in black sapphire and white, includes an LED indicator halo, and is slightly more elevated in comparison to other Qi mats. You can find the same Samsung accessory for nearly 50 percent off from select Walmart resellers, as well.

• Incipio Ghost QI 3-Coil and Ghost Qi 15W Wireless Charging Bases – $59.99

Incipio has quite a few Qi chargers, two of which it lists as iPhone-compatible options: the Ghost Qi 3-Coil base and Ghost Qi 15W base. Both are priced at $59.99, with the standout differences related to the design and shape of each base. The 3-Coil is a rectangle measuring 5.37 inches by 2.73 inches, while the 15W is a simple 3.5-inch square. Both come in black, have the usual LED indicator lights, and provide audio cues when the charging begins and ends.

Upcoming Qi Chargers

• Belkin BOOST UP Wireless Charging Pad – $59.99

Opening for orders this Friday, September 15, Belkin’s BOOST UP Wireless Charging Pad has been specifically designed for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X. Belkin said it worked closely with Apple when designing and optimizing the pad, and it’ll provide charge to the iPhone through “most lightweight cases” up to 3mm thick. The 7.5W pad has a battery indicator LED, non-slip surface, and AC adapter included. Belkin’s accessory will be sold on Apple.com and in Apple stores as well.

• Mophie Wireless Charging Base – $59.99

Mophie was directly mentioned during Apple’s keynote as an accessory maker coming out with support for the iPhone 8 and X’s wireless charging features, with a device called the Mophie Wireless Charging Base. A pre-order date has not yet been confirmed, but we do know Mophie’s solution provides the expected 7.5W of power to an iPhone when placed on its small, circular, and rubberized base. It’ll also be available from Apple.

If you want to buy a Mophie Qi charging pad right now, the company’s Charge Force Wireless Charging Base is a universal Qi solution with noted support for the upcoming iPhones, priced at $39.95 from B&H Photo.

• Griffin PowerBlock Wireless Charging Pad – $69.99

Griffin’s upcoming PowerBlock Wireless Qi Charging Pad provides 15W of power to compatible Qi devices when placed on its synthetic wool surface. Griffin notes compatibility with all of the new iPhones, but no release date has been confirmed.

• RavPower Wireless Charging Pad – $49.99

RavPower has revealed a new Qi charging pad, confirming compatibility with Apple devices and coming sometime this fall. RavPower’s base is a bit unique in comparison with other companies since it can both sit flat on a surface, or act as a sort of iPhone dock with an angled stand. The accessory maker said the product will be available in either a standalone charging pad or pad + stand bundle.

Public Qi Chargers

There will be multiple options for wirelessly charging your iPhone when you’re out and about in public spaces, thanks to the confirmation of Apple support from a few inductive wireless charging companies. One is Aircharge, which confirmed that iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X owners will be able to use the company’s own app to locate nearby public Aircharge locations, which amount to 5,000 around the world. These are in restaurants, cafes, shops, hotels, airports, and train stations.

“We’re a long time partner of Apple via its MFi program and we’re excited Qi wireless charging is now a standard feature in the new iPhone models. The inclusion of wireless charging from a major mobile phone and tech manufacturer like Apple will accelerate and drive widespread consumer awareness and mainstream adoption”, said Steven Liquorish, founder and CEO of Aircharge.

Powermat made a similar announcement this week, confirming that owners of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X will be able to charge their smartphones on Powermats “around the world.” Powermat locations support the Qi standard, and the company has a supported app so users can discover where the closest pad is to their location, including places like Starbucks and Samsung stores.

AirPower

Of course, Apple’s own first-party solution for your home will arrive sometime next year. Apple’s mat, unlike the ones mentioned above, will be able to support as many as three Qi devices, and Apple has shown an iPhone, Apple Watch Series 3, and AirPods all charging at once on AirPower. When one device is placed next to the iPhone X (or 8/8 Plus), they alert the iPhone, which displays a notification message on the lock screen confirming the presence of the Apple Watch/AirPods along with the battery level.

Although unconfirmed by Apple, Macworld has reported that all previous generations of the Apple Watch will work on AirPower, including Series 2 and Series 0 devices.

For more information on prices for current and upcoming Qi inductive wireless chargers — which includes bedside tables and lamps from IKEA — check out the MacRumors Deals Roundup.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of the these vendors.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, iPhone X
Tags: wireless charging, Qi
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Superyacht Seven Sins sells with tricky fins that let you keep your lunch

Why it matters to you

Someone now owns the Seven Sins, and here’s what they’re enjoying out on the water.

A major rebuild including updated tech and the addition of seven feet in length aided the recent sale of the superyacht Seven Sins, reports Boat International.

The yacht was 135 feet long when she left the Heesen Yacht shipyards in 2005. A seven-foot stretch during the rebuild in 2015-16 at Balk Shipyard in the Netherlands resulted in a 43.5-meter yacht or just a tad short of 143 feet. Her beam is 27.5 feet.

Seven Sins is a full displacement yacht, meaning her hull pushes water ahead rather than slicing through it. Heesen has patented fast displacement hulls that slice and dice, but the trade-off for a pointy front end is less usable space inside the hull, especially in the front lower decks where the crew usually sleeps.

Seven Sins has a 5,500 nautical mile range at 10 knots. Her 17,700-gallon fuel tank means a long time at the pump, not to mention a bill large enough to buy a nicely outfitted smaller Mercedes-Benz. With a full tank, however, she can go from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean with 1,500 nm-worth of fuel to spare. Two 1,000 horsepower Caterpillar marine diesel engines dish up the power for the trips.

Seven Sins’ two KoopNautic zero speed stabilizers are technological wonders that keep passengers from losing their Rockefeller oysters while underway and at anchor. All ships roll, with the timing based on their shape and onboard weight distribution, but waves can make the roll much worse. When hull roll increases, ships do not steer straight and lose efficiency. Plus people puke.

Lunch-saving zero speed stabilization technology was first developed by Quantum to minimize hull roll. Zero speed stabilizers are fins or other structures mounted beneath the hull that counteract the vessel roll with equivalent and opposite force. Zero speed stabilizers are dramatically portrayed in the video below.

Inside, Seven Sins features semi-gloss cherry wood and teak and ebony flooring. A full-beam master suite, two VIP suites, and two twin staterooms accommodate up to 10 passengers. All guest staterooms are up-fitted with entertainment centers, flat screens on the wall, and en suite bathrooms. The crew quarters hold seven people.

Spacious common areas in the saloon include a full-sized bar, an entertainment center with a 50-inch plasma TV, and open, formal dining space for 10.

The sun deck, shown in the photo above, has sunbathing pads galore, a 10-person spa pool, a teppanyaki grill, a smoke oven, and dining space for twelve.

An aft hatch pops up to reveal water toy storage. Don’t think from the image below that Seven Sins will pull you on the water skis or wave boards. That’s a job for smaller craft.

If you’re bummed to have missed out on Seven Sins, keep growing your pile. The selling price was not disclosed but the asking price at Peter Insull’s Yacht Marketing was 9.95 million euros, or about $11.8 million.

Charging via USB-C for laptops: Here’s what you need to know

USB-C isn’t just a new generation of USB ports, it’s a revolutionary way of looking at computer connections. “Wait, hasn’t Type-C been around for a few years already?” you may ask. Yes, it has, but now we are finally seeing this latest USB innovation fulfill its potential—and one of the best examples is charging your laptop.

If you’ve been a little wary of this “universal charger” business, we’ve got all the info you need on the whys and hows of charging via USB-C. Take a look!

USB Charging and laptops

Maurizio Pesce/Flickr

You have probably already used USB connections to charge smaller devices either from your computer or from an outlet. That works well because past USB connections had enough wattage to successfully power up those smaller batteries. However, prior versions of USB could handle a limited amount of power, which is why laptop chargers have remained larger, bulkier cables.

USB-C changed that. This type of connection now provides enough power to juice up most laptops (particularly the Type-C 3.0 version). That’s why laptop charging is a new topic of conversation for USB connections, especially now as more laptops are entering the market with USB-C charging compatibility. Eventually, you can expect the majority laptop chargers to use the USB-C option (Microsoft is taking its time).

What does Type-C look like?

So, how do you know if your current laptop has a USB-C port that also works with charging? You could always look it up, but the easiest way is to simply examine your charger. You can identify a Type-C charger by its unique features. USB-C’s connector is small and rounded, significantly different from the old USB version. It also works no matter which way you connect it to the right port, so there’s no need to flip it the right way around. If your charger uses this connection and plugs into your USB-C port, you have a winner!

Will any port work with any charger?

USB-C is a universal charging standard. That means that, technically, it doesn’t matter what USB-C charger you use, it should be able to power up a laptop with a USB-C charging port and power bank.

In the real world, this is taking a while to come true. Today the majority of laptop USB-C chargers are interchangeable, but it’s not guaranteed.

Some laptops come with USB-C ports that don’t charge. As you might expect, this is most common on laptops that always come with their own, proprietary charger. However, in some cases, we’ve run into laptops that can charge over USB-C even when they have a separate power jack. The Samsung Notebook 9 is an example of that. If you’re not sure, check the manufacturer’s website, or look up a review of the system here at Digital Trends.

Laptops that rely entirely on USB-C, meanwhile, might not charge with any charger. PCWorld, in its testing, found that HP’s Spectre x2 wouldn’t charge with any USB-C charger besides its own. HP says this intentional, because a bad charger could damage the device, or cause it to malfunction. Other devices, like the Apple MacBook Pro, don’t have such tight restrictions.

While we haven’t personally heard of any damage from using a USB-C charger other than the one came with your laptop, there’s always a slim risk when plugging a laptop into an unknown power source. Faulty cables can also be a problem. In short, it’s a good idea to buy cables and chargers from reputable sources, and think twice about using that cable you found laying on the ground in a conference room.

You can buy additional USB-C cables for your own security.

Your settings are important

You will also want to watch your USB-C power mode, which you can find in your laptop settings, usually in the power/battery section. Here, you may find that you can switch Type-C’s output, choosing whether to receive power or send power. If your USB-C laptop charger isn’t working when by all rights it should be, check your settings to make sure it is set to receive power.

Complex charging arrangements

Because USB-C is universal and can do multiple things at once, this allows for some unique charging circumstances. Two worth nothing are:

Charge-through: Let’s say you have a portable screen for presentations, and a laptop, both with USB-C connections that include the ability to send or receive power. Sure, you could just use that connection to send your presentation to the screen. But with the right setup, you can also use that connection to charge your laptop battery. The screen gets its power from a traditional outlet, and sends a charge out to your laptop. That means your laptop would never run out of juice in the middle of a presentation.

Portable chargers: Maybe you have a portable charger with an old USB connection, but a phone that only has a USB-C connection (which is not compatible with older USB ports). You can link the charger to a laptop that has both types of ports, and use it to power up your phone in a roundabout way. The reverse is also true, if you have a portable charge that only works with USB-C connections. It’s important to keep an eye on your settings in these laptop-to-phone connections, but with the right arrangement many exchanges are possible. It’s not the most efficient method of charging, but it does work in an emergency. Do not try to use your laptop Type C charger to charge your phone directly. The voltage requirements are too different, and multi-device chargers are still a nascent part of the market.

Adapters and limitations

The right adapters and USB-C-to-other-port cables can makes all sorts of magic happen—here’s a list of what you can do on MacBooks alone. But when it comes to charging your laptop, stick with the simplest configuration possible. The other adapters are useful for transferring data in older drives or supporting HDMI, etc., but don’t have a place when it comes to charging. Also keep in mind that not all USB-C ports can charge. The laptop must be configured for charging via Type-C for this process to work.