DC Superior Court reins in DOJ’s Facebook snooping

The government’s overreach into the Facebook accounts of anti-Trump protestors is finally getting curbed. The ACLU sued the DOJ in September over its very broad warrant demanding all the info from a protest-organizing Facebook page, DisruptJ20, over a period of 90 days — which included data on 6,000 individuals who interacted with it. Additionally, the ACLU sought to limit what information Facebook would be forced to provide on two people, Lacy MacAuley and Legba Carrefour, who helped organize using the DisruptJ20 page. Today, the ACLU announced that the DC Superior Court would be eliminating the former requirement and adjusting how much info the social network must disclose on the two activists.

The ACLU’s lawsuit had argued that the DOJ warrant violated many, many users’ Fourth Amendment rights to privacy — specifically for exposing their lawful political affiliations. At the DC Superior Court hearing, the government conceded that it didn’t actually need all the information originally requested, according to the ACLU’s press release.

Per the court’s decision, Facebook must scrub all third-party identifying information from info requested by the warrant. The social network will no longer be forced to disclose those 6,000 users who liked or followed DisruptJ20’s page. Nor will it have to provide MacAuley’s and Carrefour’s Facebook friends, or the names of anyone who communicated with them on the platform. Finally, it’s shrinking the date range for account photos Facebook must provide from 101 days (November 1, 2016 through February 9, 2017) to 21 days (January 20, 2017 through February 9, 2017).

That doesn’t mean the DOJ can never get this information — they’ll just have to give the court a ‘search protocol’ that will, if approved, let the department peruse the DisruptJ20 page. The DOJ must also get permission before those third-party names are uncovered. The court didn’t bend to all of the ACLU’s requests mentioned in the suit, however — most crucially, that a neutral third party be appointed to review all material and prevent the government from receiving information ‘irrelevant’ to the investigation.

Source: ACLU

A ‘Hitman’ series is coming to Hulu from the creator of ‘John Wick’

Past attempts at Hitman movies haven’t fared so well, but Hulu is betting that it can do justice to the assassination game franchise through an online series. Deadline has learned that Hulu is partnering with Fox 21 on a Hitman show that will be executive produced by Derek Kolstad, better known as the chief architect of the John Wick movies. You couldn’t have asked for more appropriate talent, really — he knows a thing or two about producing assassin-themed stories with memorable thrills. There are few details about the plot, but it’ll reportedly hew closely to the story of IO Interactive’s franchise, which is as much about Agent 47’s mysterious origins as it is his targets.

The series’ success is contingent on a pilot (Kolstad is writing the script). However, Hulu is apparently putting a lot of faith into the production. If it works well, it’ll be a “flagship” show that could theoretically receive the same level of promotion as a blockbuster like The Handmaid’s Tale.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions. Will this attract top-notch stars? And more importantly, will it stand on its own merits if you’ve never touched one of the games? The Hitman movies from 2007 and 2015 struggled in that respect. They had some appeal if you had fond memories of performing stealthy kills in-game, but they were generic, forgettable action flicks for virtually everyone else. Kolstad’s involvement offers hope, though. It suggests that Hulu genuinely cares about the quality, and that you may see one of the first video game-based shows that feels like much, much more than a cheap cash-in.

Source: Deadline

Boston Dynamics ‘new’ SpotMini robot looks ready for a walk

Boston Dynamics isn’t a part of Google/Alphabet anymore, but that won’t stand in the way of new robot videos, like this latest teaser for a revamped version of its dog-like electric SpotMini robot. Described only as the “new SpotMini” it looks sleeker and more production ready than any version we’ve seen before. There’s no creepy manipulator arm mounted on top and it’s covered in plastic, revealing only a set of 3D vision cameras on the exterior.

SoftBank has started rolling out robots in Japan, and it can’t be too long before we see its latest acquisition deliver something for the US. Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert said, “I happen to believe that robotics will be bigger than the Internet” at a conference in October, and this could be the company’s first step towards making that happen.

Source: Boston Dynamics (YouTube), Boston Dynamics

PS4 multiplayer is free in Europe during a 5-day event

A PlayStation Plus subscription is essential if you want to play PS4 games online, but how do you convince your friends that it’s worth the outlay? Sony has a simple idea: let people try it for free. It’s running a Europe-only event that will make PS4 multiplayer free between November 15th and November 20th. So long as you have a game with an online multiplayer component, you can see what the fuss is about without signing up. If you’ve wanted to see how a Destiny 2 Crucible match works or have run out of local FIFA 18 foes, it won’t cost you anything extra.

There’s no word on an equivalent promo in North America.

It hasn’t been all that difficult to get free PS Plus if you’ve played your cards right — new consoles often come with a code. This gives you a chance to revisit Plus if you previously decided against it, though, and could let you play online for a little bit longer. As it stands, Sony certainly has good reason to pull out all the stops. Online services are increasingly crucial to console makers (even Nintendo is hopping aboard), and a 5-day freebie is a small price to pay if it gets even a small number of new subscribers.

Source: PlayStation Blog

iOS beta explains WiFi and Bluetooth controls with notifications

As we noted back in September, iOS 11’s Control Center buttons don’t actually turn off Bluetooth or WiFi, unlike previous versions. Instead, tapping on either one simply disconnects you from any devices or services your iPhone is currently connected to. Apple ostensibly made this change so that you could stay connected to other services like AirDrop and devices like your Apple Watch. Still, the behavior can be confusing to many. According to MacRumors, the latest iOS 11.2 beta gives you an explanatory notification when you tap either Control Center button.

According to screenshots, your iPhone will show you a notification like the following: “Disconnecting Nearby WiFi Until Tomorrow” with an explanation about how the current network and others nearby will be disconnected until the following day. It also states that “WiFi will continue to be available for AirDrop, Personal Hotspot, and location accuracy.” You’ll see Bluetooth in the notification if you tap that button. This third iOS 11.2 beta comes a week after the second beta, which includes Apple Pay Cash via the Messages app and a few days after Apple released iOS 11.1.1, which fixed an annoying autocorrect bug.

Source: MacRumors

iOS 11.2 Beta 3 Introduces Pop-up to Explain Control Center Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Functionality

With iOS 11, Apple changed the way the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles in Control Center work. The two buttons are no longer standard on/off switches, and instead disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi only for a set period of time.

In the new iOS 11.2 beta released this morning, Apple has added new informational pop-ups to let users know exactly how these toggles work. The new pop-ups explain that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will be disabled temporarily rather than permanently.

Prior to today’s update, the Control Center toggles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth could be somewhat confusing, because there was no on-device explanation. Apple outlined how the toggles work in a support document, but if you didn’t see it, you might wonder why Wi-Fi or Bluetooth were turning themselves back on after being disabled via Control Center.

These new messages will appear the first time the Control Center toggles are used. Subsequent uses will show a message at the top that reads “Disconnecting Nearby Wi-Fi Networks Until Tomorrow” or “Disconnecting Bluetooth Devices Until Tomorrow.”

While Apple’s new pop-ups offer a better explanation than was previously available, there are other situations where Wi-Fi or Bluetooth might be turned back on sooner than one day. When you use the Wi-Fi toggle in Control Center, Wi-Fi is disabled until one of the following conditions occurs:

– Wi-Fi is reactivated using Control Center
– You connect to a Wi-Fi network using Settings > Wi-Fi
– You walk or drive to a new location
– It’s 5:00 a.m. local time
– Your iOS device is restarted

When you use the Bluetooth toggle in Control Center, Bluetooth is disabled until one of the following conditions occurs:

– Bluetooth is reactivated using control Center
– You connect to a Bluetooth accessory in Settings > Bluetooth
– It’s 5:00 a.m. local time
– Your iOS device is restarted

To more permanently disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on an iOS device running iOS 11, it’s necessary to go to the Settings app and toggle these features off in the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sections. Apple likely made the change to Control Center in iOS 11 for a better overall user experience, as some iPhone and iPad owners might not realize the impact that turning Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off can have when it comes to iOS features like GPS directions, Continuity, and more.

In addition to introducing a message to let users know how Bluetooth and Wi-Fi work in Control Center, on the iPhone X, there’s also a small UI change designed to make the Control Center gesture more obvious. Whenever you’re on the Lock screen, there’s a small bar underneath the icons on the right side of the device, letting you know there’s more to see there. The bar is not displayed on the Home screen of an unlocked iPhone X, nor is it displayed within apps.

For those unfamiliar, accessing the Control Center on the iPhone X is done from a swipe down on the top right side of the device rather than a swipe upwards from the bottom.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Review: Heat Water for Tea From Afar With the iPhone-Connected iKettle 3.0

Smarter’s Bluetooth-enabled iKettle has been available for purchase in the UK for years now, but the newest version, iKettle 3.0, recently made its way to the United States.

Priced at $150, the iKettle is a variable temperature kettle that can heat water to a specified temperature from 68°F to 212°F, making it ideal for tea that requires lower temperatures, baby bottles, and other similar applications.

iKettle connects to your WiFi network and communicates with your iPhone, allowing you to heat up water remotely, and it integrates with Alexa and IFTTT if you use those services. With Alexa integration, the iKettle can be controlled via voice if you have an Alexa device, and with IFTTT, it can be programmed to interact with other smart home products.

Design

The iKettle looks like your average kettle, with a stainless steel body that rests on a black base. It’s taller than most other kettles that I’ve used, but not so tall that it doesn’t fit comfortably on a counter.

There are no buttons on the iKettle, and aside from a small drop-shaped LED on the side of the body, there are no other markings, for a sleek, simple look.

The base with the heating elements is thicker than the base for my existing kettle, which also contributes to making the iKettle rather tall. The base includes a single button that can be pre-programmed for one set temperature, so you can set water to heat up if your phone isn’t nearby, and it has a cord that plugs into the wall. You can wind up a bit of the cord into the base, so excess cord isn’t visible.

It’s best to program the button on the base to the water temperature that you use most often because aside from that button, there’s no way to activate the iKettle without your phone.

The iKettle has a black plastic handle and a stainless steel lid, with a pouring spout located on the left side of the kettle. A button on the handle opens the lid, so water can be added. Inside, there’s a filter (I guess so you can potentially put tea leaves directly inside of it) and a blue plastic gauge that lets you know where the maximum water line is.

The gauge is located about halfway up the iKettle, so it holds a total of 1.8L of water, aka a little over 7 cups or 60 ounces. There’s a lot of extra space inside the iKettle between the top and the water line so it doesn’t boil over, and this is true of all kettles.

I know some people are concerned with plastic coming into contact with hot water, so I do want to point out that there are plastic components in the iKettle (filter and water level) that will touch the water. If this is a problem for you, this is not the kettle to purchase.

Setup and App

Setting up the iKettle was a bizarre and somewhat frustrating experience. It requires a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, which the app doesn’t tell you before you start the setup process. This led to several failed setup attempts before I realized what was wrong, and to get it to connect to my 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, I had to first connect to that network on my phone because it was pulling in network details automatically.

Once I figured out the 2.4GHz issue, setup went more smoothly. You need to create an account within the app, which requires your email address, and then you need to walk through steps specifying where the kettle is located (home or work) and which room it’s in, presumably in case you have multiple Smarter products.

After that’s done, there’s a strange process where you flip the base upside down, place your iPhone face down on the base, and pair using flashing lights on the iPhone’s display. This worked okay, but the flashing lights were somewhat blinding if you didn’t manage to get your phone situated in time, and I’m not sure why something simpler wasn’t used. It did take two tries to get the iKettle connected to my phone, but since then, it’s worked perfectly well.

The iKettle app is okay. The main view is a circle-shaped temperature ring with a small bar you can drag with a finger to choose a temperature.

Temperature can be changed in 2° increments and it can be set at any temperature from 68°F to 212°F, which is more versatility than I get with my current kettle, and more than most “dumb” kettles on the market offer. My current kettle is limited to 160°F, 175°F, 190°F, 200°F, and “boil.” Granted, these are generally the temperatures you want for most kinds of tea, but the range is wider on iKettle.

Since water can be heated to as low as 68°F, iKettle can be used for heating up baby bottles, and there is, in fact, a dedicated “formula mode.” There’s also the “wake up mode” I mentioned before for heating water in the mornings, and there’s a Home mode that uses geofencing to activate the kettle when you get home.

When you set a temperature for the iKettle, you can also choose to keep the water warm for a set period of time, between 5 minutes and 40 minutes. There is a gauge in the app that is supposed to let you know how much water is in the iKettle, but even after calibrating it several times, I couldn’t get this to read accurately.

The app sends notifications when your water finishes heating, when keep warm activates, when keep warm is over, and when water is done cooling if you’ve chosen a temperature lower than the current water temperature.

There’s an option to program the one manual button on the device from the app, a link to support, and an option to purchase tea from the Smarter website, but there’s not many options and prices are in pounds, so it’s probably best to source your tea elsewhere.

Functionality

I am a tea drinker, and I stick to green tea, white tea, and oolongs, so a variable temperature kettle is a must for me, and I’ve been using one for years and years now. On my current Cuisinart kettle, I wake up in the morning, head into the kitchen, fill up the kettle, and select the 175°F button to heat up my water while I get my tea leaves ready to go. Once that’s done, I go back into my office and wait for the water to finish up while I read emails or tend to other morning tasks.

With the iKettle, the process is simplified a little bit. When I wake up, I get a notification (which I set up) that asks me if I want to heat my water to my pre-specified temperature of 176°F. I tap the notification, unlock my phone, and tap “boil” in the app. That gets the heating process going before I even walk into the kitchen.

From there, I go into the kitchen to get my tea leaves ready if I didn’t do it the night before or I go into the office and start my typical morning routine while I wait for the notification that the water’s been heated.

I still need to put water in the kettle, something I’ve taken to doing the night before with the iKettle, and I still need to get my cup, add leaves to the basket, put it in the cup, and pour the water. Since I need to be in the kitchen anyway, the iKettle isn’t saving me a whole lot of time, but I won’t deny that it’s a bit more convenient to be able to heat water from my bed right when I wake up.

During the day, I also tend to pop back into the kitchen after my first cup of tea to make a second cup. With the iKettle, I can set the water to heat without leaving my office, saving a trip into the kitchen. It’s a two trip affair with my current kettle, or a single trip with about five minutes of waiting.

I’ve been testing iKettle for a couple of weeks now, and in general, I feel the iPhone functionality is useful. There have been some small frustrations, though. At times, I’m in the kitchen anyway and want hot water, but if my phone isn’t there and I want something other than the pre-programmed temperature, I have to go get the phone. It’d be nice if there were additional physical buttons on the iKettle to address these kinds of situations. Or if there’s no water in the kettle, I have to get up and add it, rendering the remote functionality useless.

There’s no setting that will allow it to heat water without my input, which I understand. You wouldn’t want to forget about the automatic kettle setting you had activated and then heat water when you’re not home.

As far as accuracy, the iKettle was at least as accurate as my current kettle and it heated water to the proper temperature as was displayed in the app.

Bottom Line

I’ve found the iKettle to be a useful addition to my morning routine because it cuts out a few minutes of waiting around for water to heat up, but it’s incredibly expensive and I’m not sure those few minutes I save in the morning are worth the cost.

Variable temperature kettles can be purchased from Amazon for $40 to $100. I own a nice Cuisinart kettle that’s worked perfectly for years, and I paid $80, so iKettle is asking for quite a premium for iPhone connectivity. iKettle doesn’t really heat water any better than other variable temperature kettles, so it’s hard to justify an extra $70+.

If you only need to heat up water to boiling for noodles, black tea, coffee, and other purposes, there’s even less reason to get the iKettle. It’s only potentially worth considering if you drink white, green, oolong and other teas (or some kinds of coffee) that need to be brewed at lower temperatures.

The iKettle isn’t a bad kettle. It’s perfectly adequate and works well, so if you’ve got excess money and just want to shave a few minutes off your morning routine and have water ready on demand, there’s no reason not to consider it. I just suspect most people aren’t going to find the utility worth the price tag.

How to Buy

The iKettle 3.0 can be purchased from Best Buy for $149.99.

Note: Smarter provided MacRumors with an iKettle for review, and the review unit is being returned at the conclusion of the testing period. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and this post includes an affiliate link.
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Heads up, sports fans — ESPN is debuting a Snapchat version of ‘SportsCenter’

Although Snap has turned in rather lackluster performance as of late, what with a plummeting stock price and sluggish growth, there are still those who believe in the power of Snapchat. Chief among those appears to be ESPN, which recently launched a Snapchat-specific version of its flagship show, SportsCenter. In doing so, ESPN joins NBC News’ Stay Tuned and CNN’s The Update as the app’s daily shows.

Seeking to appeal to millennials, who make up the core of Snapchat’s user base, ESPN’s new program will run twice a day and will feature “more dressed-down, millennial hosts,” Variety reports. Each episode will be no more than five minutes long, capitalizing upon the bite-sized content format that has been popularized by the ephemeral nature of the app.

But despite the lack of length, Snapchat’s SportsCenter will pack in plenty of information, including the daily news and sports highlights.

Hosts for the first show will include Emmy-winner Katie Nolan, SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan, ESPN NBA commentator Cassidy Hubbarth, ESPN Radio host Jason Fitz, and comedian Cy Amundson.

“SportsCenter on Snapchat provides a creative new format and platform for our flagship franchise to continue to evolve,” said Connor Schell, ESPN executive vice president of content, in a statement. “Katie, Elle, Cassidy, Jason, and Cy collectively bring a new style, energy, and substance that I believe will connect with Snapchat’s audience in a real way. I’m thrilled to bring this level of talent and personality to a new and innovative daily touchpoint for ESPN.”

Snapchat has had plans for content for months, having signed one of the largest TV deals in history over the summer with Time Warner shows. But in order to appeal to as broad a demographic as possible, the app is looking to program as much as possible. “SportsCenter is the crown jewel of ESPN, and I think it’s defined how generations experience sports and think about the culture of sports,” said Sean Mills, Snap’s head of content. “Now we have a new medium in mobile video — and there’s a huge opportunity for a SportsCenter made for mobile, for the next generation of sports fans.”

As FAA considers electronics ban, battery explosion sparks chaos at airport

A loud explosion caused panic and delayed flights at the Orlando International Airport on Friday, November 10 — but officials later confirmed that what many travelers thought was a gunshot was actually a lithium-ion battery exploding inside of a passenger’s bag.

According to a statement from the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Phil Brown, a passenger in the main terminal had a camera inside of their carry-on, which caught fire and began to smoke inside of the bag.

“Realizing this, the passenger of course immediately dropped the bag and those around them moved away from it,” Brown wrote. “Emergency services arrived quickly and moved the bag farther away from passengers queued for security. Unfortunately, with all of the events occurring around the world some witnesses panicked and self-evacuated the area dropping their carry-on luggage and knocking over the stanchions queueing the checkpoint. Others hearing the luggage being dropped, stanchions falling, and rapid movement mistook the sounds as gunfire and within seconds a spontaneous evacuation of the main terminal occurred.”

Because of the incident, the TSA opted to rescreen everyone at the airport, Brown said, including passengers that had already boarded waiting flights. The rescreen process caused a 2.5-hour delay through most of the airport, with the gate where the explosion occurred not resuming normal activity for about four hours. Along with a number of delayed flights, the change caused 24 flights to be canceled, according to local news outlets.

While the bag with the camera began to smolder, no injuries were reported.

The incident comes after the TSA revised security measures regarding electronics, requiring travelers to remove any electronics from their bags and send them through a separate screening process. Just last month, the FAA released a report recommending any electronic device larger than a smartphone be banned from checked bags.

According to the report, batteries packed near items like hairspray, even under the eight-ounce limit, could cause a fire. In an FAA test, packing a laptop next to dry shampoo, nail polish remover, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol all resulted in fires, with the dry shampoo creating a fire that couldn’t be contained by fire prevention systems already installed in aircrafts. If the proposal is approved, electronics would be required to be taken in carry-on luggage. The Orlando incident could bring that proposal back into the spotlight.

The FAA already has a ban on uninstalled lithium-ion batteries inside of checked baggage. According to the FAA, if a battery comes in contact with something metal like a pair or keys, coins or the contact point on another battery, the battery can create an unprotected circuit, generating extreme heat. Earlier this year, a passenger’s headphones caught fire during a flight; a flight attendant put that fire out with a bucket of water.

As FAA considers electronics ban, battery explosion sparks chaos at airport

A loud explosion caused panic and delayed flights at the Orlando International Airport on Friday, November 10 — but officials later confirmed that what many travelers thought was a gunshot was actually a lithium-ion battery exploding inside of a passenger’s bag.

According to a statement from the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Phil Brown, a passenger in the main terminal had a camera inside of their carry-on, which caught fire and began to smoke inside of the bag.

“Realizing this, the passenger of course immediately dropped the bag and those around them moved away from it,” Brown wrote. “Emergency services arrived quickly and moved the bag farther away from passengers queued for security. Unfortunately, with all of the events occurring around the world some witnesses panicked and self-evacuated the area dropping their carry-on luggage and knocking over the stanchions queueing the checkpoint. Others hearing the luggage being dropped, stanchions falling, and rapid movement mistook the sounds as gunfire and within seconds a spontaneous evacuation of the main terminal occurred.”

Because of the incident, the TSA opted to rescreen everyone at the airport, Brown said, including passengers that had already boarded waiting flights. The rescreen process caused a 2.5-hour delay through most of the airport, with the gate where the explosion occurred not resuming normal activity for about four hours. Along with a number of delayed flights, the change caused 24 flights to be canceled, according to local news outlets.

While the bag with the camera began to smolder, no injuries were reported.

The incident comes after the TSA revised security measures regarding electronics, requiring travelers to remove any electronics from their bags and send them through a separate screening process. Just last month, the FAA released a report recommending any electronic device larger than a smartphone be banned from checked bags.

According to the report, batteries packed near items like hairspray, even under the eight-ounce limit, could cause a fire. In an FAA test, packing a laptop next to dry shampoo, nail polish remover, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol all resulted in fires, with the dry shampoo creating a fire that couldn’t be contained by fire prevention systems already installed in aircrafts. If the proposal is approved, electronics would be required to be taken in carry-on luggage. The Orlando incident could bring that proposal back into the spotlight.

The FAA already has a ban on uninstalled lithium-ion batteries inside of checked baggage. According to the FAA, if a battery comes in contact with something metal like a pair or keys, coins or the contact point on another battery, the battery can create an unprotected circuit, generating extreme heat. Earlier this year, a passenger’s headphones caught fire during a flight; a flight attendant put that fire out with a bucket of water.