Engadget UK giveaway: Win a Cyrus One amplifier and streaming starter kit

If you’re in the midst of planning a little soirée over the Christmas period, or are generally just a bit of an audiophile, then we’re giving away the perfect piece of kit this week. The sleek, minimalist Cyrus One amplifier features four line level inputs and two, 100W outputs to power your speaker setup at home. And if the amp’s aptX-compatible Bluetooth connection isn’t wireless enough for you, our friends at Cyrus Audio are throwing in a Chromecast Audio and three-month subscription to Tidal’s lossless ‘HiFi’ streaming tier to boot — a bundle that’s currently available at various specialist retailers for a limited time. Get involved in the giveaway by turning your attention to the Rafflecopter widget below, and all we ask is you give the rules a quick glance before you do.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
• Contest is open to all residents of the UK, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) Cyrus One amplifier, one (1) Chromecast Audio and one (1) three-month Tidal HiFi subscription.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Cyrus Audio and Engadget / Oath are not held liable to honour warranties, exchanges or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until December 1st at 11:59PM GMT. Good luck!

Source: Cyrus Audio

Feral Releases ‘Console-Quality’ GRID Autosport Racing for iPhone and iPad

Feral Interactive released racing game GRID Autosport for iPhone and iPad today, an iOS version of Codemasters’ smash hit triple-A title that looks every bit as impressive as its PC and console counterparts.

The pro-racing game aims to deliver a mix of simulation and arcade handling using intuitive touch and tilt controls, and includes all the original DLC, 28 circuits and over 100 cars. Players can further their racing career by exploring six different disciplines:

• Tuner – Drive your Super Modified motor over its limit in Drift and Time Attack events.
• Touring – Lead the pack by driving with aggression and determination in full-contact races.
• Endurance – Test your mental strength and physical stamina in extended night-time races.
• Open Wheel – Accelerate to 200mph while perfecting your racing line in lightweight racing machines.
• Street – Ramp up the fear factor on perilously tight city circuits.
• Party Mode – Battle to become the last car standing in Demolition Derby, get the farthest in Checkpoint, and make sure you stay out of last place in Eliminator!

A quick race is all it takes to confirm GRID Autosport’s exceptional graphics and nippy performance. However, drivers should take note that the console-quality assets do make GRID pretty demanding – the game requires an iPhone SE, an iPhone 7 or newer, an iPad (2017) or any iPad Pro, and iOS 11 or later.

As noted on MacRumors sister site TouchArcade, the sheer graphical richness of GRID has also led Feral to implement an unusual post-install process – the game itself is a 4GB download on the App Store, but several gigabytes of additional content and high resolution textures are delivered as free IAPs, bringing the storage space requirements to around 6GB.

If you’re still not sure whether your device can handle the game, here’s a full rundown: Supported iPads include iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 9.7-inch and iPad (2017) 9.7-inch. Supported iPhones include iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 7.

As mentioned, players will need 6GB of free space to install the base game with all of the free DLC packs, although Feral recommends having at least 8GB of free space to avoid installation issues.

GRID Autosport is a one-time purchase and costs $9.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Feral
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YouTube Claims iPhone Battery Issues Are Fixed in Latest App Update

Earlier this month, YouTube came in for heavy criticism after multiple users of its mobile app reported plummeting battery life on their iPhones and iPads. iPhone X users in particular said the YouTube app caused their device to run much hotter than usual when watching videos. YouTube admitted there was a battery-draining bug that it was working to fix, and today the service claims to have done just that.

Version 12.45 of the app was pushed out to users this morning with the accompanying note “Fixed an issue with battery usage”. We haven’t had enough time with the app to confirm the issue is indeed fixed across all devices, but initial tests on an iPhone X running iOS 11.1.1 seem to support YouTube’s claims.

Some users had complained that YouTube was sucking the life out of their phones even while it was running in the background, although it’s unclear if that was limited to when users were casting video to a smart TV. Let us know how you get on with the updated YouTube app in the comments below.

Tag: YouTube
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Indian Government ‘Very Happy’ to Help Apple Expand Local iPhone Assembly Base

A cabinet minister of the government of India has given the clearest signal yet that the republic is ready to help Apple expand its iPhone manufacturing base in the country and consider its requests for concessions.

Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu was quoted on Sunday by the India Economic Times as saying the state was “very happy” to help Apple in its aims, provided the company makes a formal proposal.

“Let us get a good proposal from them…We will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty. So we will await a formal proposal,” Prabhu told PTI in an interview.

Prabhu also reportedly said he was open to calling all state chief ministers who are willing to give Apple the best deal.

The comments come at an important time for Apple as it seeks to expand its manufacturing base in the country. The company has asked state officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly infrastructure in India, including duty exemptions on components, capital equipment, and consumables for all iPhone assembly and services/repairs for a period of 15 years.

Apple also wants the Indian government to relax rules that require 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies to be manufactured or produced within the country.

iPhone SE handsets have been assembled in India since May by Apple’s Taiwanese supplier Wistron, which has reportedly been scouting for additional land in Bangalore to expand its existing facilities. Additionally, a report last week claimed the tentatively named iPhone SE 2 will be assembled exclusively by Wistron at its factories in India.

India recently overtook the U.S. to become the world’s second largest smartphone market after China, according to market research conducted by industry analyst Canalys. However, Apple has so far struggled to make a significant dent, mainly because the government levies tariffs on devices manufactured outside the country, but also due to Chinese rivals such as Oppo and Xiaomi offering consumers more affordable high-spec smartphones.

Tag: India
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Airbnb is reportedly being used to launder money

Criminals have long been exploiting online marketplaces for money laundering purposes, and the latest service to reportedly fall prey to fraudsters is Airbnb. According to a Daily Beast report, Russian scammers are leveraging the service to launder dirty cash from stolen credit cards with the help of corrupt hosts. The fraudsters are recruiting for their Airbnb abuses on Russian-language crime forums, with posts seeking everything from collaborators to hacked accounts.

After creating or purchasing the Airbnb accounts, the scammers use them to request bookings from colluding hosts, who then send back a cut of the profits despite no one staying at the property, cybersecurity expert Rick Holland told Daily Beast. Legitimate hosts also help the criminals sidestep Airbnb’s rules on government ID — although the company clearly states it cannot be held responsible for the confirmation of any member’s identification. The posts reportedly indicate that fraudsters tap hosts to funnel up to $3,000 at a time, as part of operations both inside Russia and the EU. Still, it’s difficult to gauge how extensive or marginal the abuse of Airbnb is.

In its response, Airbnb pointed to its machine-learning algorithms as part of its protections against “suspicious activity.” The company added: “we employ micro authorization friction and 3D-Secure to verify if a credit card is being used by its owner and assess the level of risk associated with a transaction.”

Source: Daily Beast

Drone-owning Brits face clampdown in a bid to make its skies safer

Drone owners in the U.K. are facing tougher controls on how they use their flying machines and may have to sit a safety-awareness test before they’re allowed to send it skyward.

The British government on Sunday announced a move toward implementing laws to give police more powers to prevent the unsafe or criminal use of the remotely controlled copters.

A new Drone Bill that could become law next year proposes that all drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams) will have to be registered by their owner on a national database when they’re purchased.

The new law could give U.K. police the right to order operators to ground their drone where necessary. “Officers will also be able to seize drone parts to prove it has been used to commit an offense,” the Department for Transport said in its Sunday announcement.

Drone operators may also be required to use a designated app before they fly their drone to ensure their location is safe and legal for a flight. Such an app would go some way to tackling the growing problem of drone flights near, for example, airports. So far this year there have been 80 reports of drones buzzing U.K. airports, up from 55 for the same period a year earlier. In the summer, a drone caused major disruption at one of the country’s busiest airports, causing landings and take-offs to be halted twice in the space of an hour.

While the police can currently make use of existing legislation to combat some problematic drone use, a new set of rules specifically concerning drone technology — with new additions such as mandatory drone tests and registration — would give the police additional powers within a more organized framework of regulations.

Complaints in the U.K. regarding drone use reached 3,456 in 2016, nearly three times more than the number reported a year earlier.

They included neighbors complaining about people using drones to spy on them in their backyards, as well as more alarming incidents involving passenger jets. Criminals are also thought to be using drones to study properties ahead of a potential burglary, while others have been using them to fly contraband to prison inmates.

Like many countries around the world, the U.K. authorities are playing catch-up with drone technology, which has grown rapidly in popularity in the last couple of years. This Christmas is expected to be another bumper year for the likes of DJI, Parrot, and Yuneec, which all produce popular consumer drones.

Thinking of getting one yourself? DT has researched the top models, and we’ve also some ideas if you’re looking for a budget bird as your first flying machine.

Motorola takes a dig at Samsung’s iPhone parody with ‘up-upgrade’ ad

Samsung’s recent ad attempting to persuade iPhone fans to ditch their Apple-made handset in favor of the Galaxy Note 8 was a clever piece of marketing that also put a smile on the face of many who watched it. The ad ended by imploring people to “upgrade to Galaxy.”

Lenovo-owned Motorola, clearly not one to miss a trick, has now responded with its own amusing effort that takes on both Samsung and Apple.

The 30-second ad (above) effectively carries on from where Samsung’s effort left off, with the protagonist, having finally jumped ship from Apple to Samsung, looking satisfied with his $930 Note 8.

Chilling out at home with his partner beside him, he happily shows her the video he shot of the two of them out together, with the picture looking great on the device’s gorgeous 6.3-inch display.

His partner, who in the Samsung ad persuaded the guy to get the Note 8, gives him a look as if it to say, “Didn’t I tell you? I got rid of the Galaxy.”

She reaches for her $500, 5.5-inch Moto Z2 Play, slots it into one of the device’s many modular options, and places it on the coffee table. Before the guy can say, “But you just told me to get the Note 8,” we’re all watching the Z2 Play project the same video onto 70 inches of wall in the couple’s living room. And it looks great.

The guy cracks half a smile, with the other half of his mouth refusing to join in as he weighs up the hassle of switching phones again. Even though he really should be happy with the Note 8.

The ad closes by mocking the ending of Samsung’s ad, telling us to “up-upgrade to Motorola.”

And in case you missed it first time around, here’s the Samsung ad that Motorola mocks:

While we don’t expect too many people will be rushing to the store to swap their Note 8 for a Moto Z phone, the ad nevertheless gets the word out about the modular system of the Z family, which lets you easily add feature-boosting devices like a speaker, camera, battery, and yes, projector, to your handset. The mods don’t come cheap though, with the projector, for example, coming with a $300 price tag.

DT has in-depth reviews of both the Z2 Play and the Galaxy Note 8, so go check ’em out.

Sensor-laden ZozoSuit can take the headache out of online clothes shopping

If you ever order clothes online, then how often do you find yourself disappointed with the fit once you get the garment on?

Too long, too short, too loose, too tight. A perfect fit seems elusive sometimes, leaving you with no choice but to package up the item and send it back. It’s the main hazard of buying clothes online, though a New Zealand tech company hopes to change all that.

Auckland-based StretchSense has created the ZozoSuit that aims to ensure your clothes order fits perfectly every single time. Looking something like a diving suit, the snugly fitting full-body smart garment contains 150 sensors that collect accurate measurements of your body size and shape when you put it on. An app then logs the information and sends it with your next order.

The consumer-ready wearable is the result of a collaboration between StretchSense and Japanese online fashion retailer StartToday, owner of the ZozoTown shopping portal.

The two companies believe the special suit will go toward “significantly” improving customer satisfaction while also pleasing the retailer as it should help to reduce the hassle of processing returns and sending out replacements.

But how will the online retailer distribute the ZozoSuit, and at what cost to its bottom line? We’ve reached out to StretchSense for more information on the precise plans it has for its high-tech suit and will update when we hear back.

Shin Jeong Park, StretchSense marketing director, says on the company’s website: “The ability to measure body size is just one of the applications possible with a smart sensing body suit. Stretch sensors are a great tool to capture information about how people move in the world; from that information you can draw conclusions about motion, pose and health. The data from our sensing technology is helping to push the boundaries of human performance.”

While the ZozoSuit’s technology certainly looks like it has the potential to cut down on returns, you still can’t beat trying a garment on to see how it feels and looks on you. In that case, it seems likely that any online fashion retailer utilizing such a suit will still be messing about with returns for some time to come — until  perhaps an AI product surfaces that knows exactly what you like and sends perfectly-fitting items every time without so much as an order being placed.

The $33 Eufy BodySense smart scale works with your smartphone to track your data

Get a full body composition analysis on your phone with this scale.

The Eufy BodySense smart scale is down to $32.99 on Amazon. That’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen. Its regular street price is $50, and we’ve shared a deal or two on it in the past when it dropped to $40, but we’ve never seen it go lower than that.

Eufy’s scale is compatible with Apple Health and Google Fit. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth and gives you a lot of control over the data.

Features include:

• Supports multiple device pairings, eliminating the need to connect and disconnect when changing users.
• EufyLife syncs with Apple Health and Google Fit to store all your data in one convenient, centralized location for easy viewing.
• Pairs with up to 20 accounts to seamlessly track multiple users—just log-on and weigh-in.
• Turn on Bluetooth, open EufyLife, and pair with your scale.
• Note: EufyLife is compatible with devices running iOS 8.0+ and Android 4.3+
• Track and compare your readings for comprehensive health insight.

See at Amazon

Find out what all the Chromebook hype is about for as little as $100

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a Chromebook, we may have just found one.

Not everyone is sold on the benefit of having a Chromebook just yet, but when prices dip as low as these it’s hard not to want to try one out. Acer’s Chromebook CB3 is down to just $99.99 as part of Amazon’s one-day Cyber Monday Gold Box, which is a savings of $79.99. This is about as basic as it gets in terms of specs, but there are some more powerful units available as well. These are in new condition, and at these prices, we don’t expect them to last long!

• Acer Chromebook CB3 – $99.99 (Was $179.99)
• Acer Chromebook 11 – $129.99 (Was $199.99)
• Acer Chromebook R13 – $399.99 (Was $399.99)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 – $386.99 (Was $469.99)

Don’t forget that these prices will be gone before you know it. You’ll beat yourself up later if you miss out, so avoid that hassle and pick one up today!