Some Pixel 2 phones are making strange noises

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are Google’s best-rated smartphones yet, but early quality-control and testing problems could ruin the sales party. On top of display color and burn-in issues that have prompted some to advise against buying the device for now, users are also reporting sound problems. According to around 100 buyers on Google’s Pixel product forum, the Pixel 2, and to a lesser extent, Pixel 2 XL are emitting clicking and/or high frequency sounds from the call speaker.

Users describe the ticking problem as like the second-hand on a bad watch that runs continuously when the phone is unlocked. The high-pitched noise, on the other hand, happens only during calls. Turning off NFC often stops the clicking problem, and while that’s obviously no fix, it points to where the issue may lie. The whining, on the other hand, seems to be unrelated. It’s mostly Pixel 2 buyers reporting the issues, but several XL buyers also complained.

On the forums, Google told users that “if you are experiencing the issue, you should contact [tech] support to discuss RMA options.” One user reported that Google agreed to send a replacement unit and test it ahead of time to confirm it doesn’t have the same issue.

Minor QC issues on a new phone are to be expected, but multiple issues (on an otherwise excellent phone) isn’t a good sign. As Samsung learned, Google would be best off to quickly fix the problems, tell buyers honestly what happened and apologize. Engadget has reached out to Google on the sound issue, but for now, all its saying is that “Google has been made aware of the issue and is looking into it. We will keep you updated on this.”

Via: Android Police

Source: Google Product Forums

Digital bank Monzo now supports Android Pay

Monzo, the British “bank” with a coral-coloured card and a clever savings app, has added support for Android Pay. It’s only available for users with current accounts, however. Monzo started with a simple pre-paid card, forcing customers to transfer money from an existing bank account to take advantage of its app-based smarts. In April, however, it was approved by the UK authorities to act, well, like a real bank and offer proper accounts. Since then, it’s slowly been inviting pre-paid card owners to switch over (the company says all users should be transferred in the next six weeks.)

With Android Pay, Monzo is making it easier for Brits to switch away from high-street banks. (Heck, Barclays still doesn’t support Android Pay.) To get started, you’ll need to load up you Android Pay wallet and add a Monzo card by taking a photo or entering the relevant details manually. You can then take out your phone and make contactless payments as normal; Monzo will keep track of your spending and list transactions in the “spending feed” section of its app. In the future, the company says you’ll be able to add your card to Android Pay from inside the Monzo app too.

The big question now is: What about Apple Pay? For now, that’s unclear. We suspect it’s on the company’s roadmap, however. Some of Monzo’s biggest rivals, such as Starling, already support both Apple and Google’s payment platforms. It would be strange if Monzo, a startup that prides itself on being more tech-savvy than its competition, didn’t do the same.

Via: City A.M.

Source: Monzo (Blog Post)

Fitbit Pay Launches in U.K. for Starling Bank Customers

Fitbit Pay officially launched in the U.K. on Tuesday, but with only one bank currently supporting the mobile payment platform, access to it remains severely restricted for users of the company’s latest wearables.

The Fitbit Pay payment system was introduced as an exclusive feature of the Fitbit Ionic, the activity tracker firm’s first attempt at a smartwatch, released on October 1. The digital wallet works in a similar way to Apple Pay on the Apple Watch, but up until now it wasn’t available outside of the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

Fitbit Pay users in the United Kingdom need to hold an account with Starling Bank, a newcomer and relative minnow on the financial banking scene, which will undoubtedly leave the majority of Ionic owners unable to take advantage of the payment system, at least for now.

Fitbit has confirmed the company is in talks with other U.K. banking services for future support, but with rivals like Apple Pay, which lists over 25 supporting banks on its official website, as well as Android Pay (over 20 banks) and Samsung Pay all jostling for contention, Fitbit will have a job gaining a foothold in the emerging mobile payment industry.

You can check out our in-depth review of the Fitbit Ionic here. Fitbit Pay is expected to land in other European countries sometime next year.

Related Roundup: Apple PayTags: Fitbit, Fitbit Ionic
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Microsoft drops its lawsuit over gag orders on DoJ searches

It’s been more than a year since Microsoft sued the government (with backing from Amazon, Apple, Google and many others) over the right to tell its customers when the authorities ask it to hand over data, and now the DoJ has responded with a new policy. Microsoft says that the new rules restrict the use of secrecy orders and it says they should have defined time periods. With those conditions applied, President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said Microsoft is dropping its lawsuit, but also says more changes are necessary, as he called on Congress to amend the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act that is at the center of the dispute.

That rule went into place before the web existed, and long before many of us stored private data and communications in the cloud. So-called “sneak-and-peek” searches by the government on corporate servers have become more common lately — Microsoft says that over 18 months there were 2,576 demands, and 68 percent had gag orders attached preventing it from notifying customers that appeared to be indefinite. While the Department of Justice has not commented on the blog report, its memo, dated October 19th and signed by deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, directs prosecutors to delay notice for year or less, barring “exceptional circumstances.”

Of course, this situation shouldn’t be confused with Microsoft’s other lawsuit, which is fighting a request by the US government to access email data on a server in Ireland.

Source: Microsoft

Europe’s first underwater restaurant looks like it’s slipping into the sea

Why it matters to you

If the food is as impressive as the design, this restaurant is going to be something very special.

Dining beneath the waves is an absurd idea if it involves getting wet and trying to chew your food between hefty gulps of air, but construct a large room with glass walls and a ceiling so you can stay dry and the idea starts to sound pretty darn cool.

Several such restaurants have made a splash at luxury resorts in the Maldives in recent years, and now acclaimed architecture and interior design firm Snøhetta is making plans for an underwater restaurant of its own at a spot on Norway‘s most southern point. It’ll be Europe’s first-ever underwater restaurant, though only if you disregard this “scuba” restaurant in Belgium that you have to swim to before you can sit down and peruse the menu.

Called Under (a word that when translated into Norwegian means “wonder”, the architect points out), the restaurant will specialize in seafood (what else?) and accommodate up to 100 people.

Snøhetta’s stunning design resembles a large concrete box that appears to be sliding into the sea, but diners needn’t worry about the restaurant floating off into the night, or, indeed, everything sliding off their table. That’s because the building is fixed firmly to the rocky coastline, while the dining room — as you’d expect with any high-end eatery — is level.

From their table five meters below the waves, diners will be able to gaze out into the North Sea through a huge 11 x 4-meter window. Admittedly, the North Sea offers fewer vibrant colors and exotic fish than the Indian Ocean where the Maldives sits, but Snøhetta insists there will be “wildlife flourishing on the sandbank outside” that will change through the seasons.

The North Sea is known to get a little choppy on occasions — actually it’s considered to be one of the most dangerous seas in the world — so the architect is building Under with meter-thick concrete walls “to withstand pressure and shock from the rugged sea conditions” — reassurance that’s certain to calm the gastrointestinal tracts of some of its more anxious diners.

The architect is also considerate of the sea life that its concrete structure will soon be sloshing shoulders with, offering up the local shellfish community as an example of how Under will fit in. Snøhetta explains that the outside of the building will have “a coarse surface that invites mussels to cling on. Over time, as the mollusk community densifies, the submerged monolith will become an artificial mussel reef that functions dually to rinse the sea and naturally attract more marine life to its purified waters.”

Besides operating as a restaurant, Under will also act as a research center “outside opening hours,” with a team of scientists  studying marine biology and fish behavior.

Snøhetta will start turning its spectacular design into a real, fully functioning restaurant in 2018, with the kitchen cooking up the first meals the following year.

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At last, New York City subway to ditch MetroCard in favor of tap-to-pay

Why it matters to you

For a whole lot of people, New York City’s subway is about to get a whole lot easier to use.

London’s been doing it since 2014 and travelers in New York City will be able to do the same starting next year.

We’re talking about using your smartphone or credit/debit card to tap and pay for rides on the public transportation system. Yes, travelers frustrated with swiping those unreliable MetroCards again and again (and again) will soon be offered a far more reliable payment system for fares.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) this week approved a $573 million contract that’ll see new electronic readers installed on 500 subway turnstiles and 600 buses around the city, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The rollout will begin in the latter half of 2018 and will cover all of the city’s stations and buses by 2020, the Times said.

So instead of swiping a MetroCard, riders with compatible smartphones will be able to use apps like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay to tap on a reader at the turnstile on the way into a station, or when they hop on a bus. Credit or debit cards with embedded NFC chips can also be used by riders.

The MetroCard will be phased out over the next six years. Travelers who don’t have a payment-enabled smartphone or credit/debit card will be able to purchase a tap-to-pay smart card, similar to London’s Oyster card, to use the system. Here’s a short video showing how Apple Pay on an iPhone works on the London subway.

MTA chairman Joseph J. Lhota described the move toward a tap-to-pay system as “transformative,” adding, “It’s the next step in bringing us into the 21st century, which we need to do.”

Lhota speculated that “the millennial generation, those who are more prone to new technology,” will be the early adopters, adding that card issuers will be quick to incorporate NFC technology “when they realize that 5.8 to 6 million people in New York City are getting on the subway every day.”

For those people, the move to a more modern way of using the city’s transportation system will mean an end to lining up at payment machines, as well as the kinds of frustrations experienced on a daily basis with the 24-year-old MetroCard, captured brilliantly in a video posted last year by Gothamist.

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Google Lens is rolling out to first-generation Pixel phones

Google is working on some impressive artificial intelligence tricks. And, many of them are finding their way to the public. We can already interact with the company’s digital assistant on our phones and through Google Home. Now, Google Lens is arriving on the original Pixel and Pixel XL. As Android Police notes, a number of users have spotted the feature in the Photos app on the first-gen handsets. We knew Lens was coming, but we didn’t know when. In case you missed its unveiling in May, Lens uses computer vision to understand what’s in your photos, videos, and the world around you. In the words of Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar: “It’s basically Google search for everything outside of screens.”

According to Reddit user /u/LaceratedCantaloupe, Lens randomly appeared on the Pixel XL’s Photos app without an update, which suggests it could be part of a server-side rollout. Others, however, haven’t been able to access it. Of course, this isn’t the Assistant version of Lens, which is also due at some point this year. Photos, which recently received an AI-assisted upgrade, is a good fit for the tech — making the feature-packed app even more powerful, as a result.

Via: Android Police

Source: /u/LaceratedCantaloupe (Reddit)

Amazon Kindle discount celebrates 10 years of its ebook reader

Why it matters to you

Keen to finally dive into the world of ebooks, or simply fancy upgrading to a new ebook reader? Now’s your chance.

When Amazon launched its first Kindle ebook reader in 2007, it cost a whopping $400 and could hold around 200 books, which even then seemed like about 190 more than you really needed for a two-week vacation. But the portable device meant you didn’t have to lug around all that paper anymore, and made buying books easier than ever.

This week Amazon is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Kindle by knocking $30 off the price of most of its current models, with special offers on lost of ebooks, too.

So if you’re curious about ebooks but are yet to take the plunge, or you simply fancy upgrading to a new ebook reader, now’s your chance.

The discount means the basic Kindle device — the 6-inch option that can hold thousands of books but has no built-in reading light — drops to $50 from $80 with ads on the lock screen, or to $70 from $100 without ads. The design was last updated in 2016.

The 6-inch Kindle Paperwhite, which launched in 2012 and had a refresh in 2015, includes a built-in light for night-time reading and is available for $90 instead of $120, with ads. There’s no mention of a no-ads offer with the Paperwhite.

If this device sounds appealing and you have an older Kindle, you can trade it in for up to $75 Amazon credit when you buy the Paperwhite, or a smaller amount if you buy a different Kindle.

Finally, the 6-inch Kindle Voyage. Amazon released this model in 2014 and it comes with an adaptive light sensor. The anniversary offer means you can grab it for $170, down from $200. Again, there’s no mention of a no-ads offer.

All these devices offer 4GB of storage and have touchscreen capability, and the battery will last for weeks so you don’t have to worry about the thing going dark as you reach the final chapter. Unless it needed charging at that particular point, that is.

The 7-inch, 8GB Kindle Oasis, launched by Amazon last year and coming very soon with a refreshed design, stays at $250.

Looking for new content for your ebook reader? The anniversary offer includes up to 85 percent off the price of top-selling ebooks on Amazon’s store.

You’d better hurry

Take note — this anniversary discount offer only lasts until Wednesday, October 25th, so you’ll have to hurry to take advantage.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the best ebook readers on the market today, DT’s recent article on the subject has all the information you need. Our pick of the bunch was actually the 7.8-inch Kobo Aura One, praised for its beautiful crisp display, a night mode that eliminates blue light, and ability to support any ebook format. But at $230 it’s a little on the pricey side.

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Atlus will release ‘Shin Megami Tensei V’ for Nintendo Switch

Nintendo and Atlus have finally revealed what they’ve been cooking up for fans since they announced their collaboration in January. The fifth main entry in the Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) franchise is coming to the Switch, and according to GameSpot, it’s a console exclusive. Atlus, which is perhaps more widely known for developing SMT’s spinoff Persona, has released a teaser trailer of SMT V showing its modern Japan setting, its monsters and (as is par for the course for an SMT title) lots of blood. Think of the SMT franchise as a crazier and darker RPG with Persona’s monsters.

Atlus created previous SMT entries for the 3DS, including Shin Megami Tensei IV and its sequel Apocalypse, so it has a longstanding relationship with Nintendo. It’s still unclear whether this means the developer is abandoning the 3DS and focusing on the Switch entirely or if a 3DS version is also coming out. The companies also haven’t revealed when the game will be available and whether it’ll have an English localization, but they’ll most likely treat us to more info in the future.

Via: GameSpot, Polygon, RPG Site, IGN

Source: Atlus (YouTube)

Third Man Charged in 2014 Celebrity iCloud Phishing Attacks

Emilio Herrera, a 32-year-old man from Chicago, this week pled guilty to hacking into more than 550 iCloud and Gmail accounts, many of which belonged to female celebrities, reports Deadline.

Investigators uncovered Herrera’s activities when looking into a 2014 “Celebgate” incident that saw the private photos of dozens of celebrities leaked online after their iCloud usernames and passwords were obtained through phishing attempts.

Herrera used a phishing scheme to get the usernames and passwords of his victims, sending fake emails that appeared to be from Apple and Google. He stole credentials from April 27, 2013 to August of 2014, and used that information to access the iCloud and Gmail accounts of multiple celebrities.

Investigators have not found evidence linking Herrera to the actual leaks that saw nude photographs of celebrities uploaded to sites like reddit and 4chan, nor have they determined that Herrera shared the data that he found, but he did access sensitive photographs and videos.

Herrera pled guilty to a felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse act, and he now faces up to five years in federal prison.

Edward Majerczyk and Ryan Collins were previously found to be involved in the Celebgate incident and both pled guilty to similar charges.

When hundreds of nude photos of celebrities were leaked online in 2014, there was initial speculation that iCloud had been hacked, but following an investigation, Apple determined the celebrity accounts had been compromised by weak passwords. A Find My iPhone vulnerability that allowed multiple password entry attempts may have also been at fault.

Apple has since improved security by adding two-factor authentication to iCloud.com, introducing email alerts when an iCloud account is accessed on the web, and requiring app-specific passwords for third-party apps that access iCloud.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: iCloud
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