Save big on DOSS Bluetooth speakers today only

You can find Bluetooth speakers just about anywhere these days, but not all of them are created equally. Some of them will offer better sound or last longer than others, and finding the right speaker can be a hard task. As part of today’s Amazon Gold Box deals of the day, DOSS Bluetooth speakers are on sale with prices starting as low as $19.99.

You may not have heard of DOSS before, but the speakers included in this sale are extremely well rated. Its Touch Wireless Bluetooth speaker has a 4.4 out of 5-star rating with over 5,100 reviews, and is an Amazon Best Seller. The others have similar ratings with around 200 reviews each.

These are the speakers included in today’s deal.

• DOSS Touch Bluetooth Speaker – $23.97 (Was $33.99)
• DOSS SoundBox Color Bluetooth Speaker – $19.99 (Was $28.99)
• DOSS Rugged Bluetooth Speaker – $44.99 (Was $59.99)

These prices are all-time lows for these speakers. If you’re looking for a new Bluetooth speaker to have around the home or office, you’ll want to check one of these out now!

See at Amazon

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For more great deals be sure to visit our friends at Thrifter now!

How to Fix the “Too Much Light” Error on PSVR

The Sun has decided you can’t play PlayStation VR? What is Even Happening?.intro

The PSVR and Move Controllers are far more affordable than the Rifts and Vives of the world, but that price comes with a few drawbacks. Unlike other headsets, the PSVR uses bright lights that are tracked by the PS4 Camera, which can be affected by external sources.

If, like me, you live in an especially bright area of the world, I live in the desert, it’s always bright, then the light coming through your windows may be enough to block your PS4 Camera from receiving the light signal from your PSVR or Move Controllers.

Read more at VRHeads!

Android Oreo gets its first update with September patches

Android Oreo has received its first minor update in the form of the September security patch.

Google’s Pixel and Nexus devices are receiving their first updates since Oreo was pushed last month in the form of a minor patch with September’s security patches. While some people already began receiving over-the-air updates (disguised as a downgrade to Nougat), the update is now official with factory images and downloadable, sideloadable (is that a word?) over-the-air (OTA) files available from Google’s website.

The files are currently available for all Oreo-compatible devices but the Nexus Player, including the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Pixel C tablet. The Nexus 6 and 9, while still on Nougat, have also been updated with the latest security patch.

The September update patches the newly-revealed BlueBorne vulnerability that reportedly affects nearly two billion Android devices with Bluetooth support.

How to manually update your Pixel or Nexus device

Android Oreo

• Android Oreo review!
• Everything new in Android Oreo
• How to get Android Oreo on your Pixel or Nexus
• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
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Voter registration websites make some records vulnerable

Those government websites that allow you to change voter registration details might seem convenient, but they also make you vulnerable to ID theft and could be used to manipulate elections. That’s what a team of Harvard researchers found when they took a closer look at those types of websites that 35 states and Washington, DC provided to their residents during the 2016 Presidential elections. They determined that the websites give attackers an easy way to mess with election proceedings, similar to what might have happened in Riverside County, California.

If you’ll recall, a number of voters in Riverside found themselves unable to cast a ballot during primary day because their details were inexplicably changed. Time’s follow-up report published this year said Russian hackers might have used the county as some kind of a test bed for their next attacks designed to rig election results in the US. With these registration websites in place, attackers can replicate what happened in Riverside en masse.

They’ll be able to easily change your address, assign you to a different precinct or change your party affiliation. How? The study’s co-author, Latanya Sweeney, used Delaware as an example. She told IEEE:

“With Delaware, you have a choice. You can either provide the person’s name, date of birth, and zip code; or you can provide the person’s driver license number and date of birth. If you were playing the role of the attacker, the question is where could you get a Delaware voter’s zip code. And the answer is the Delaware voter list.”

Hackers can easily buy that list for $10. And if they need your name, date of birth and other details, they can also scour the dark web and buy packages of data from information brokers for a few bucks. Considering how much info we give various companies and how many cyberattacks happened these past years — one voting machine supplier recently leaked 1.8 million voter records, for instance — hackers will definitely be able to gather enough info to access a lot of people’s registration details.

Sweeney says one of the few things preventing widescale attacks on voter registration systems is Captcha, though the technology is also becoming easier to crack. Also, 10 of the 35 states at least keep a record of web access and change logs, so officials can switch back to the old copies of records that show tampering. To ensure that these websites won’t cause problems in the future, the researchers are holding a workshop for state officials and their IT departments. Team member Ji Su Yoo explained that they’re not trying to get rid of voter registration websites. They simply want to “push everybody to have a good and productive conversation about how to implement them in a way that is really secure.”

Via: IEEE Spectrum

Source: Technology Science

Snapchat adds 3D Bitmoji to its augmented reality features

Last year, Snapchat bought Bitstrips, the company behind those now-ubiquitous Bitmoji you see everywhere. And Snapchat has also been working on World Lenses, which use AR to apply filters and emoji to the world around you. Now, Snapchat has combined the two: Starting today, you’ll be able to use Bitmoji with Snapchat’s World Lens on iOS and Android.

To access 3D Bitmoji World Lenses, all you need to do is tap the camera screen in Snapchat when you’re using the rear-facing camera (not the front-facing camera). If your Bitmoji account is connected to Snapchat, then you’ll be able to see 3D Bitmojis as an option in the Lens carousel at the bottom of the screen. You can also direct and influence the animations by walking around and moving your phone.

Snapchat’s been constantly upgrading and developing their filters and lenses, and they’ve been immensely popular. As they integrate Bitmoji more and more into their own services, they’re becoming a great way to communicate, as well as a fun way to experiment with AR.

Apple says too many faces ruined its Face ID stage demo

When Apple OS chief Craig Federighi tried to demo Face ID on stage during Cupertini’s annual iPhone event, it didn’t quite work as he expected. “Your passcode is required to enable Face ID” popped up, eliciting a nervous chuckle out of Craig and forcing him to switch to the spare demo phone. While people were quick to say that Face ID failed its first test, the hiccup apparently happened not because iPhone X’s star feature didn’t work, but because it worked too well. Apple told Yahoo’s David Pogue that Face ID failed on stage, because it tried authenticating a lot of faces other than Craig’s.

You know how your iPhone would lock up after failing to authenticate someone else’s fingerprints a few times? Apple examined the demo device’s logs and found that the same thing happened to it. “People were handling the device for stage demo ahead of time, and didn’t realize Face ID was trying to authenticate their face,” a company rep explained. “After failing a number of times, because they weren’t Craig, the iPhone did what it was designed to do, which was to require his passcode.”

While it’s great that the feature is working exactly as intended, it shows why facial authentication might not be ideal for everyone. If you frequently let family members or friends use your phone, will your iPhone X lock up all the time? In that case, it might be better to switch it off completely — or get another phone altogether.

Via: 9to5mac

Source: Yahoo

Facebook’s ‘Crisis Repsonse’ provides info during a disaster

Last year, it was reported that Facebook was working on an always-ready crisis hub that would bring together its Safety Check feature with posts and videos relating to an ongoing emergency. Today, it announced that the tool is going live.

Crisis Response is a section of Facebook reachable from the site’s homepage on a desktop or from the menu button on a phone. It includes Safety Check, which will continue to work as it does now, as well as links to articles, photos and videos from or about the crisis. The hub also allows users to request or give help to communities affected through the Community Help tool and people can even get fundraisers going through Crisis Response.

Crisis Response starts rolling out today and should be available to all users in the coming weeks.

Source: Facebook

Apple’s Beautiful Chicago River Store Opens October 20

Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts this week announced that the iPhone maker’s upcoming store along the Chicago River opens Friday, October 20.

Apple’s new Chicago River store via MacRumors reader David Sexton
The two-floor store will be located on North Michigan Avenue, near the historic Michigan Bridge, along the river’s north bank. The flagship location will feature glass walls and a carbon fiber roof, which at one point had a white Apple logo on it, making it look like a giant MacBook Air when viewed from above.

Apple has removed its logo from the roof as of late August, and it’s unclear if it will be added back at some point.

The store was designed by Apple’s longtime architectural partner Foster + Partners, and pays homage to architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style homes in Chicago. Based on plans from 2015, the building spans 20,000 square feet and replaces a vacant food court. Construction has been ongoing for over a year.

A lengthy staircase leads from street level to a walkway in front of the store. The building will also be accessible via elevator.

Ahrendts, speaking at Apple’s first-ever event at the Steve Jobs Theater on Tuesday, also said Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan will reopen late next year. She said the glass cube at street level will eventually be reinstalled, and the lower level will be greatly expanded with a new design.

Ahrendts said Apple’s retail stores collectively welcome over 500 million visitors per year. Apple has 497 stores around the world.

Apple’s nearby store at 679 North Michigan Avenue opened in July 2003.

Related Roundup: Apple Stores
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AirPods Wireless Charging Case Rumored for December Launch at $69

During Tuesday’s event, Apple revealed that the rumored new version of its AirPods headphones were not in fact the “AirPods 2,” but simply a new inductive wireless charging case that users will be able to purchase as a replacement for their current charging cases. No release date or price was mentioned, but information reportedly sourced from Apple Switzerland (via MacPrime) [Google Translate] suggests a December launch date for the new AirPods wireless charging case, which will cost $69.

Apple’s out-of-warranty fee to repair or replace the AirPods charging case is $69, so a similar price point for the wireless charging version does make some sense. The only design change made to the new charging case is the placement of the LED battery indicator light, which has migrated from the inside of the case to the outside on the front.

This way, when users place the case down on a Qi-compatible charging pad, they’ll be able to see the battery level of the AirPods’ case without needing to open the top. Apple will be launching its own Qi charging station — called the AirPower mat — sometime in 2018, but until then owners of the iPhone 8, iPhone X, and AirPods will need to purchase third-party charging pads.

In regards to the new AirPods wireless charging case, it’s still unclear if Apple will offer a version that also includes the AirPods themselves at the typical $159 price tag. The original AirPods launched in December of 2016.

Tag: AirPods
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Apple Now Selling Refurbished 2017 MacBooks With Kaby Lake Processors

Apple has added its latest 12-inch MacBook, originally released in June 2017, to its refurbished store for the first time. All models feature Intel’s seventh-generation Kaby Lake processors and faster graphics options.

A refurbished base model with a 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 processor, 256GB flash storage, 8GB of RAM, and Intel HD Graphics 615 is available for $1,099 in the United States, reflecting savings of $200 off Apple’s regular price of $1,299. Available colors include Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, and Space Gray.

The base model with a faster 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 256GB flash storage, 8GB of RAM, and Intel HD Graphics 615 is available for $1,189 in the United States, reflecting savings of $210 off Apple’s regular price of $1,399. Available colors include Gold, Rose Gold, and Space Gray.

The base model is also available with an upgraded 16GB of RAM for $1,269, or $230 off Apple’s regular price of $1,499.

A refurbished higher-end model with a 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 512GB flash storage, 8GB of RAM, and Intel HD Graphics 615 is available for $1,359 in the United States, reflecting savings of $240 off Apple’s regular price of $1,599. Available colors include Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, and Space Gray.

The higher-end model is also available with an upgraded 16GB of RAM for $1,529, or $270 off Apple’s regular price of $1,799.

Other built-to-order configurations are available for between $1,099 and $1,659 in the United States, including models with up to a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor, 512GB flash storage, 16GB of RAM, and Intel HD Graphics 615.

Apple says refurbished MacBook models are thoroughly inspected, tested, cleaned, and repackaged, including the manuals and cables included in the box. The notebooks are each given a new serial number and undergo a final quality assurance inspection prior to being added to Apple’s refurbished store.

A refurbished MacBook comes with Apple’s standard one-year warranty effective on the date the notebook is delivered. The warranty can be extended to three years from the original purchase date with AppleCare+ for Mac, which costs $249 for the the 12-inch MacBook in the United States.

Apple has also added refurbished 2017 MacBooks to its Canadian store, with prices ranging between $1,459 and $2,069.

Related: Guide to Buying Refurbished Apple Products

Related Roundup: MacBook
Tag: refurbished
Buyer’s Guide: MacBook (Buy Now)
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