HTC issues a trading halt ‘pending a major announcement’

HTC will be making a major announcement in the coming days.

Taiwanese media reported earlier this month that HTC was in the “final stage of negotiation with Google” for selling off its smartphone business, and it looks like things are coming to a head. A tweet from Bloomberg Gadfly’s Tim Culpan suggests HTC will halt trading its shares tomorrow “pending a major announcement:”

JUST IN:HTC just announced it’s shares will halt trading tomorrow (Thur) pending a major announcement.

— Tim Culpan (@tculpan) September 20, 2017

From the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TWSE):

TWSE announced trading in the shares of HTC Corporation (Code：2498) and the securities underlying the company will be halted starting from Sep 21 2017 pending the release of material information. The company will apply for resumption of trading after the release of material information.

Google could end up buying HTC’s smartphone business altogether, with reports also hinting at a “strategic partnership” (which seems unlikely at this point). According to China Times, an announcement will be made in two days’ time. According to the publication, HTC CEO Cher Wang is in Taiwan for a Town Hall at the company’s headquarters, with the executive likely briefing staffers over the upcoming announcement.

Evan Blass‏ managed to get a hold of the invitation for the Town Hall, noting that Google will likely acquire HTC’s hardware assets:

[2] According to this person, the companies have finalized a deal wherein GOOG will acquire certain HW eng assets, but HTC retains its brand

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 20, 2017

HTC is confirmed to be the manufacturer of the smaller Pixel 2, and should an outright acquisition occur, Google is better positioned to absorb HTC’s manufacturing facilities into its own hardware unit. As Alex noted in his piece a few weeks ago, the deal would be different from Google’s acquisition of Motorola back in 2012:

Google didn’t buy Moto in 2012 to own a smartphone manufacturer. Instead, it paid up to nip in the bud an existential threat to Android.

If Google buys the smartphone side of HTC in 2017, it’ll be doing so to own a smartphone manufacturer, securing the manufacturing capacity, supply chain expertise and design talent it needs to build Pixel phones, Pixel tablets and, who knows, maybe watches, laptops and other devices, completely in-house. It’d bring some much-needed vertical integration to Google’s new hardware division, at a time when it’s also rumored to be interested in building its own silicon.

Whatever deal Google makes with HTC would exclude Vive, which is a separate business unit. HTC, for its part, has said that it does not “comment on market rumors or speculation.” A trading halt isn’t issued unless a major announcement is imminent, so we should hear more from HTC later this week.

How to link and unlink smart device services from the Google Home app

Some things seem more complicated than they should be.

The Google Home app does more than setting up the Google Home itself. You use it to set up Chromecast devices and smart “things” in your homes, like Hue lights or a Nest. Because you can use the app for so many different things, there is a good chance that eventually you’ll need to unlink one of them from your Google account. At the beginning of September, Google sent out an update for voice control on some of those smart devices which also requires you unlink them to update everything.

More: These products and services work with Google Home

Linking and unlinking a device service from Google Home isn’t difficult, but it’s certainly not the most intuitive process you’ll come across. We can make it a little easier.

Linking a device

• Open the Google Home app, and tap the Menu in the top left corner of your screen.
• If you have more than one Google account on your phone, check to make sure you’re using the right one.
• Scroll halfway down the page and tap the entry marked More settings.
• Make sure you’re on the Devices tab and not the Rooms tab. They are labeled at the top of your screen.
• Tap the blue button with the + to add and link a device.
• Choose your device from the list.
• Follow the instructions that open from your device manufacturer.
• When the pairing is complete, click Done in the upper right.
• Set a name for the device.

• Assign it to a room.

  

A word or two on naming and room assignment. You’ll be prompted to give your device a nickname, and the name you choose is what you’ll be calling it if it uses voice commands. Try to make it an easy one or two syllable name that you’ll remember. It doesn’t have to have the same name your manufacturer assigned it or the name you chose during the manufacturer’s setup.

Room assignment is important when you’re using voice to control the things in your house. You might have a Chromecast, some Hue lights, and a smart thermostat in your living room, and have another Chromecast and smart lamp setup in the bedroom. Assigning a room means you can say “Dim the lights in the bedroom” or “Play the Beatles in the living room” and Google Home will do the rest. If you don’t tell it where your stuff is, you’ll have to remember the device names each and every time.

Unlinking a device

• Open the Google Home app, and tap the Menu in the top-left corner of your screen.
• If you have more than one Google account on your phone, check to make sure you’re using the right one.
• Scroll halfway down the page and tap the entry marked More settings.
• Make sure you’re on the Devices tab and not the Rooms tab. They are labeled at the top of your screen.
• Tap the blue button with the + in it.
• You’ll see the same list of devices as you did when you linked one. Your linked devices are at the top of the list labeled Linked services
• Find the device you want to unlink and tap it.
• Tap the label marked Unlink account in the window that opens.

• Confirm your choice

  

This process removes the permissions the manufacturer had to access your Google account. That means the service itself is removed, but if any data is stored on the device will remain. Follow the instructions from your manufacturer if you need to wipe a device clean so somebody else can use it.

Your account with the manufacturer will also remain in place. You can keep the account in case you need it again or delete it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

All finished!

You’ll notice this is very different from the process used to add a Google Home or Chromecast device. You won’t need to do this very often, but when you do you’ll have all the directions in one place to get you started!

Google Hardware

• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Everything you need to know about the Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast vs Chromecast Ultra: Which should you buy?

Google Wifi:

Google
Amazon

Google Home:

Google
Best Buy

Chromecast Ultra:

Google
Best Buy

The Morning After: Wednesday, September 20th 2017

Hey, good morning!

Welcome to your Wednesday. We’ve got our full verdict on Apple’s iPhone 8. You’ll have to wait to see how the iPhone X fares, but now Google is the latest company angling for our new smartphone-buying dollars. And, oops, the phones have leaked (again) ahead of anything official. We also have a portable(ish) fire pit, because the outdoors needs gadgets, too.

Exposed.
Google’s mini Home speaker and Pixel 2 XL leak ahead of October event

Hopefully you weren’t set on waiting until October 4th to find out about Google’s new hardware, because some pricing and specs have already leaked. Droid-Life found details on the Pixel phones, which will have familiar prices and storage setups, as well as the Daydream View VR headset, which is getting a $20 price hike. The biggest news is confirmation of the Google Home Mini, an Echo Dot-like puck that will sell for $49 with a focus on Google Assistant instead of high-quality audio.

If you just can’t give up your home button.
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus review

No, they’re not the (nearly) all-screen iPhone 8, but these new iPhones still have some important upgrades. With a new A11 Bionic CPU inside, upgraded cameras and wireless charging, an iPhone 8 could be the right one for you.

A bigger upgrade on bigger screens.
iOS 11 review

With new iPhones comes a new operating system, but Devindra Hardawar found the big changes in iOS 11 are easier to notice on Apple’s tablets. Now the iPad is better equipped than ever to operate as a laptop replacement (if that’s what you’re looking for), thanks to a new OS X-style dock and Files app. Other tweaks like ARKit, photography upgrades and a more natural sounding Siri give you more reasons to update now instead of waiting.

Here we go again.
CNBC: Sprint and T-Mobile are inching closer to a merger

Once again, there are rumors that Sprint and T-Mobile are considering joining forces. Each company is almost always turning up in one acquisition rumor or another, so teaming up to better fight AT&T and Verizon makes at least some sense. Still, despite years of rumors, it hasn’t happened and CNBC’s sources claim negotiators are “weeks” away from a deal that would make T-Mobile’s parent company a majority owner of the new venture.

‘Neko Atsume’ is coming to VR.
Here’s everything from PlayStation Japan’s 2017 press event

The Tokyo Game Show has been a smaller affair in the last few years, and Sony has typically spun off its own pre-show press event. This year’s no different, and PlayStation Japan had no less than four limited edition PlayStations, and a bunch of games and release dates. Here are the highlights.

First you can feast, then relax in front of the flames.

BioLite’s FirePit goes beyond the camping grill

BioLite’s new FirePit is a best-of-both-worlds solution. It’s a portable grill station that doubles as a warming and hypnotic flame source, opening up opportunities beyond the campsite. There’s flames, and you can cook on ’em.

You just need to fork out at least $560 and board a flight to China.
The dual-screen Yota3 phone has an even a sharper E Ink second display

After a teaser back in June, the third-gen dual-screen YotaPhone — now simply dubbed Yota3 — was unveiled in China yesterday. Pretty much all the main specs are identical to the leak Engadget received earlier, but this was our first time seeing this rounded metallic design. First and foremost, there’s a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED screen along with a 13-megapixel camera and a fingerprint reader on the front. Flip the device around and you’ll see its headlining feature: a 5.2-inch 720p E Ink Carta II display — with buttons. Double screens aren’t cheap, however: Prices start at 3,699 yuan — about $560 instead of the rumored $350.

But wait, there’s more…

• 24 hours with the FitBit Ionic smartwatch
• US Navy will use Xbox controllers to steer submarine periscopes
• Oculus tweaks VR audio to seem closer and more realistic

USA Today takes you on a VR tour of Trump’s proposed border wall

After a series of experiments with virtual reality, USA Today launched its full-fledged VR news show last year. “VRtually There” (as it’s known) followed in the footsteps of similar segments from The New York Times and ABC News. Since then, the media outlet’s immersive broadcasts have covered everything from extreme sports to marine life. It even hosted a VR livestream of Donald Trump’s inauguration. The 45th President of the United States also happens to be the catalyst for its latest (and arguably most ambitious) experience. The Wall: Unknown Stories, Unintended Consequences uses Trump’s campaign promise to build a border wall as its launchpad for an in-depth exploration of its possible ramifications.

The interactive experience includes a mixture of 360-degree video, documentary footage, on-the-ground reporting, and an upcoming long-form film. For the VR story, the USA Today Network mapped the entire US-Mexico border. Using a combination of LiDAR data collected from hotspots along the region and photographic surveys, the team built a virtual representation of the landscape. Reporters also took to the skies to provide aerial views of the region.

With the HTC Vive headset, viewers will be able to explore locations along the border, each of which are populated with interactive stories from border patrol agents, armed vigilantes, migrants, and local residents. An interactive map of the border is also available on the project’s dedicated website.

“This [experience] highlights our unique ability to leverage our local footprint along the border to educate and inform Americans on a crucial topic at an important time, as Congress debates funding for the proposed border wall,” said Maribel Wadsworth, SVP at Gannett (USA Today’s parent company).

Budweiser offers 150,000 free Lyft round trips

If you’re on the lookout for a designated driver this holiday season, a brewery can save the day. Starting today, Budweiser is offering up to 150,000 free round-trip Lyft rides (worth up to $10 each way) with its “Give a Damn” program until the end of the year. Every Thursday at 2 PM ET, Budweiser will share a code on its Facebook and Instagram channel that you can use Thursday, Friday and Saturday night (in the US only). The program, which Budweiser piloted in New York, Colorado, Illinois and Florida last year, will also be available in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Washington, D.C. this year.

When you claim the code, the funds will be transferred to your Lyft account, but only for the three-day period. This year’s program offers round-trips instead of the one-way trips offered during the pilot, which makes a lot more sense. Obviously, Budweiser is offering the rides to gain some feel-good PR and let customers freely consume its product without fear of repercussions. There’s no reason you can’t, say, drink whiskey and still use the codes, though.

Budweiser plays no favorites in the ride-sharing game. Working with Uber’s Otto trucking division, it transported 8,000 cases of Bud over a 120-mile distance, the first such delivery for an autonomous semi-truck. Somehow it makes sense that Uber is delivering the beer, and Lyft is bringing the drunk customers home safely.

London venue is first to eradicate touts with digital-only tickets

Touts are something you’ll no longer see roaming the pavements outside of London’s Islington Assembly Hall. The music venue has become the first in the UK to commit entirely to digital tickets, all of which will be sold through mobile app Dice. Tickets are inextricably linked to the Dice app, so they can’t be posted on resale sites or flogged to touts. That works in your favour, of course, because you’ll only ever pay list price. Just make sure you don’t drain your battery organising pre-drinks with the squad.

That’s not to say you can’t offload your ticket if something comes up and you can’t make the gig. Earlier this year, Dice introduced a simplified refund feature for sold-out gigs. Dice effectively buys back the ticket and sells it on to another fan on the waiting list for the same price. The plan is to expand this option to all events in the future, sold out or not. In addition to giving touts the finger, Dice has other fan-friendly features such as no booking or payment processing fees and the option to send mates their ticket via the app so you don’t have to wait for them at the gates when they’re late.

Touts are unnecessary middlemen, inflating ticket prices purely to create a cut for themselves. Gig-goers hate them, artists hate them, and the government isn’t too keen either. The use of automated online bots to hoover up tickets (that are later listed on resale sites with a mark-up) is set to become a criminal offence thanks to the Digital Economy Act. The government has also implored venues and resale sites to address the ways they might be enabling touts. Sure, we might be lose the stub souvenir, but can we just make digital-only ticketing mandatory and kill all the birds with one stone already?

Via: BBC Newsbeat

Source: Dice

Apple, Microsoft Working to Fix iOS 11 Mail App Issues With Outlook.com, Office 365 & Exchange Accounts

Apple says it is working closely with Microsoft to fix an issue that prevents Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange 2016 account holders from sending or replying to emails using Apple’s native Mail app in iOS 11.

Apple published a support document on Tuesday, September 19 – the official launch date of iOS 11 – to acknowledge the issue affecting users of Microsoft email servers.

If you can‘t send an email with iOS 11 and an Outlook.com or Exchange mail account



You might see an error message that says “Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server.”

If your email account is hosted by Microsoft on Outlook.com or Office 365, or an Exchange Server 2016 running on Windows Server 2016, you might see this error message when you try to send an email with iOS 11: “Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server.”

On Tuesday, Microsoft also published a support note, which states that Apple’s Mail app in iOS 11 “is not compatible with Outlook.com, Office 365, or Exchange Server 2016 running on Windows Server 2016”.

Both companies’ statements suggest they were caught off guard by the Mail app problem in iOS 11, however MacRumors is aware of several users who installed beta builds of the mobile operating system and flagged the issue with Apple as far back as July.

1/2 I’ve sent bug reports to @Apple during #iOS11 testing that mail cant be sent through native email app using exchange-same on #iOS11GM

— Lt. Andy Norris (@LtAndyNorris) September 12, 2017

2/2- Have you heard any reports of not being able to send mail using exchange on native email app? It works on Outlook app just fine. #iOS11

— Lt. Andy Norris (@LtAndyNorris) September 12, 2017

Despite apparently being aware of the problems for some time, both Apple and Microsoft said they are still working together to resolve the issue. Apple added that it would release a fix soon in an upcoming software update, while Microsoft offered the following workaround in the meantime.

To work around this issue, download the free Outlook for iOS client from the App Store. The Outlook for iOS client fully supports various email services, including Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange Server 2016. 

If you use the Mail app to sync data from Exchange Server 2016 that is running on Windows Server 2016, you can ask the system administrator to disable HTTP/2 in Windows Server 2016 as a workaround. The instructions on disabling HTTP/2 can be found in the Workaround section of KB 4032720: How to deploy custom cipher suite ordering in Windows Server 2016.

Stay tuned to MacRumors to find out as soon as Apple releases a fix for the ongoing Microsoft server issues in iOS 11.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Tags: Microsoft, Office 365
Discuss this article in our forums

Upcoming ‘Google Home Mini’ Smart Speaker Details and Images Leaked

We’ve previously covered rumors that Google has been working on a “mini” version of its $129 Google Home smart speaker, which is expected to be unveiled at the company’s Pixel 2 smartphone event scheduled for October 4. But it looks as if details and images of the “Home Mini” have already been leaked, courtesy of DroidLife.

According to the tech site, Google Home Mini is the official name of the new smart speaker, which will cost $49 and come in Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral colors.

The Google Home Mini is said to be able to help users with their schedule, set reminders, catch up on news headlines, and other Home-related inquiries, thanks to integrated Google Assistant.

The pictures show lights on top of each unit, which will likely indicate interaction with Google Assistant. But unlike the original Google Home, the images suggest owners won’t be able to change the color of the bases on the Mini versions.

Alongside the new smart speaker, Google is expected to launch a rebranded Chromebook or “Google Pixelbook” at its Pixel 2 smartphone event. DroidLife has also managed to unearth pictures of the new notebook, which will reportedly come in silver, offer stylus support, and have three different storage tiers – 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, costing $1,199, $1,399, and $1,749, respectively.

Tags: Google, Google Assistant, Google Home
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Investigating Fix for Series 3 Watches Connecting to Unknown Wi-Fi Networks Instead of LTE

Apple is investigating a fix for an issue where an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE may stay connected to unknown Wi-Fi networks with no connectivity, at times preventing the watch from using cellular, it has told The Verge.

“We have discovered that when Apple Watch Series 3 joins unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks without connectivity, it may at times prevent the watch from using cellular,” an Apple spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We are investigating a fix for a future software release.”

In her Apple Watch Series 3 review, The Verge editor Lauren Goode said, on more than one occasion, the watch would connect to a single bar of an unknown Wi-Fi signal, and remain on that network, rather than switching to LTE.

On more than one occasion, I detached myself from the phone, traveled blocks away from my home or office, and watched the Watch struggle to connect to LTE. It would appear to pick up a single bar of some random Wi-Fi signal, and hang on that, rather than switching to LTE.

Goode explains further in her review:

The way the LTE version of the Watch is supposed to work is that it will “hand off” from your smartphone’s connectivity to whatever other type of connectivity is available. In some cases, like when you’re in a place with a Wi-Fi network you’ve connected to before, this will be Wi-Fi. In other cases, like when you’re out without your phone, and you’re nowhere near a known Wi-Fi network, this will be LTE.

It’s reasonable to expect it might take a minute for the Apple Watch to “find” LTE after you’ve walked away from your phone. It’s not reasonable for this to take many minutes or not work at all. This almost makes me wish there was a way to actively turn off Wi-Fi on the Watch, so it would just default to LTE. But that’s also another step that I, the wearer, the person-who-is-not-wearing-it-wrong, would have to take.

Apple said it will address the issue in a future watchOS software update, but it didn’t specify how long that will take.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Amazon reportedly working on Alexa-enabled ‘smart glasses’

Amazon wants to make Alexa a more formidable competitor to Google Assistant and Siri by letting you put it on your face and take it anywhere, according to a Financial Times report (paywall). The company is said to be developing a pair of normal-looking eyeglasses that tether to your smartphone and allow you hear, and presumably speak to, Alexa via a bone-conduction audio system. There won’t, however, be a screen or camera on the model as with Google Glass.

Though the lack of a screen and camera would seem to neuter the glasses, dropping them would dramatically improve its battery life. And in any case, the idea is not to have Google Glass-like vision, but to give users a direct line to Alexa on a smartphone without having to open an app, as is currently the case. That would make them much more useful in a vehicle or on the street, especially if they can be incorporated into comfortable, daily-worn eyeglasses.

On top of that, the lack of a screen would simplify the development process considerably, reducing the time to market and increasing its chances of success. While Amazon’s popular Alexa Echo devices are arguably the king of digital assistants, it’s easy to forget the the retailer had a string of failures before that, especially the Fire Phone. If “Alexa Glasses” or whatever is a hit, then it might embolden Amazon to offer a camera- or screen-equipped model.

Amazon’s top-secret (whoops) Lab126 group is also reportedly working on home-security products, particularly a connected security camera not unlike models from Nest and others. It could be controlled by Alexa-enabled Echo products, and show the video feed on Amazon’s Echo Show screen (above). It could also signal you when an Amazon product has been delivered, completing some kind of weird retail loop.

Adding merit to the FT report (which hasn’t been confirmed by Amazon), Google Glass founder Babak Parviz, hired away by Amazon in 2014, has been reportedly heavily involved with the Alexa glasses project. Given his area of expertise, it seemed inevitable that Amazon would do something spectacle-related. The eyeglasses and security products are supposedly coming by the end of the year, presumably in time for Christmas.

Update: Amazon tells Engadget that it has “no information or comment” about the Alexa-powered glasses.

Source: Financial Times (paywall)