HDMI 2.1 is here with 10K and Dynamic HDR support

Back in January, the HDMI Forum unveiled its new specifications for the HDMI connector, called HDMI 2.1. Now, that HDMI specification is available to all HDMI 2.0 adopters. It’s backwards compatible with all previous HDMI specifications.

The focus of HDMI 2.1 is on higher video bandwidth; it supports 48 GB per second with a new backwards-compatible ultra high speed HDMI cable. It also supports faster refresh rates for high video resolution — 60 Hz for 8K and 120 Hz for 4K. The standard also supports Dynamic HDR and resolutions up to 10K for commercial and specialty use.

This new version of the HDMI specification also introduces an enhanced refresh rate that gamers will appreciate. VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate, reduces, or in some cases eliminates, lag for smoother gameplay, while Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency. Quick Media Switching, or QMS, reduces the amount of blank-screen wait time while switching media. HDMI 2.1 also includes Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which automatically sets the ideal latency for the smoothest viewing experience.

If you’re not sure what this HDMI upgrade means, this handy chart provided by the HDMI forum makes it clearer. You can clearly see how upgraded specifications have increased support for different features as specifications improved.

Source: HDMI Forum

Apple to Shut Down iTunes Connect From December 23 to 27

Each year, Apple shuts down iTunes Connect for a week around the holidays to give its App Store staff time off from work. This year, iTunes Connect will be shut down from December 23 to December 27.

While iTunes Connect is shuttered, Apple will not accept new apps or app updates, so all price changes and app submissions will need to be locked in before that date.

Developers often offer sales and promotions ahead of when the App Store closes for the holidays, and those sales remain available until the App Store re-opens in late December.

Apple says developers can let customers know about promotions, upcoming features, and in-app events using the promotional text field available in iOS 11.

While app store submissions will be unavailable, other iTunes Connect tools will remain accessible to developers throughout the holiday period.

Tag: App Store
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YouTube pulled 150,000 videos of children over predatory comments

YouTube is taking extensive action after word broke that pedophiles were targeting videos of children with vile comments. The streaming service reported that it had taken down over 150,000 videos that had fallen prey to comment abuse, and had disabled comments for more than 625,000 clips. It also terminated the accounts of several hundred users behind those comments.

The move comes just days after YouTube cracked down on child-exploiting videos, and just as it had to pull disturbing autocomplete results. It has been promising stricter enforcement of its policies on both the content of videos and their comments.

As with YouTube’s reaction to hate videos, the takedowns and policy enforcement measures are welcome, but also relatively late — they’re coming as advertisers are pulling out and the damage has already been done. The tougher enforcement should reduce the chances of a situation like this going forward, but the rash of discoveries suggests that there may need to be more proactive campaigns that catch abuse before it makes headlines.

Source: Variety

Classified US Army and NSA data was stored on an unprotected server

Earlier this month, researchers at UpGuard reported that US military intelligence gathering data had been stored on a misconfigured Amazon Web Services S3 server that wasn’t password protected and was publicly viewable. While the data in that leak appeared to consist entirely of collected public internet posts and news commentary, not private information, the team at UpGuard today reports another US government data leak, this time containing clearly classified information.

This batch of data was discovered by UpGuard Director of Cyber Risk Research Chris Vickery in September and contained information from the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) — an intelligence gathering command jointly run by the US Army and the National Security Agency (NSA). The data was stored on an Amazon Web Services S3 cloud storage bucket mistakenly configured for public access. Within the accessible repository — found under the very obviously labeled ‘inscom’ subdomain — were 47 viewable files and folders, three of which were able to be downloaded. The largest downloadable file contained a virtual hard drive, which appeared to be used for receiving, transmitting and handling classified data, with files within it marked as “Top Secret” and “NOFORN” — a classification meaning that no foreign nationals can view the documents regardless of what clearance level they hold. There were also private keys used for accessing distributed intelligence systems and hashed passwords stored in the hard drive.

The other two downloadable files provided instruction for the contents in the file with the virtual hard drive and what appeared to be a training snapshot on how to label and categorize classified information. At least some of the information in the repository was accessed and managed by a third-party INSCOM partner.

“Although the UpGuard Cyber Risk Team has found and helped to secure multiple data exposures involving sensitive defense intelligence data, this is the first time that clearly classified information has been among the exposed data,” said UpGuard in its report. Previous UpGuard finds include sensitive data exposed by a defense contractor, a Verizon partner, a political ad strategizing firm hired by the GOP, a voting machine supplier and a major consulting and management company.

UpGuard notes that this leak could have been avoided if the server access settings had just been configured to only allow authorized individuals into the repository, but that handing over data management to third-party companies, in this case a defense contractor called Invertix, opens that data up to more mistakes. “If the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, the entire body will be injured,” says UpGuard, “The Defense Department must have full oversight into how their data is handled by external partners, and be able to react quickly should disaster strike.”

Source: UpGuard

Airbnb’s split payments option is now available to all group travel

One of the most requested features on Airbnb has been the ability to split payments among members of a group traveling together. After all, it’s never fun to run after your friends for payment, and according to Airbnb, 43 percent of American group travelers have lost $1,000 or more as a result. Now, after months of testing, the accommodation service is rolling out a group payment tool around the globe.

The feature works with up to sixteen travelers and allows the trip organizer to hold a reservation while only charging their portion to their card. Trip members will have 72 hours to log in and input their credit card information, automatically splitting the costs of travel. Note that one person can pay another’s balance; for the reservation to go through, all shares must be paid for. If someone fails to pay up within the 72-hour window, the reservation will be cancelled and all shares refunded.

Airbnb is the first accommodation service to incorporate seamless split payments on a global level. The feature has already been tested on over 80,000 groups in almost 175 countries. It also has the potential to expand Airbnb bookings and users. After all, more accommodations are available in terms of budget when one traveler doesn’t have to front the entire payment. Additionally, it draws new users onto the Airbnb platform as people invite their friends to pay individually in group reservations, which just adds to its incredible growth.

Via: The Verge

Source: Airbnb (1), Airbnb (2)

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 experiment: Running apps in tabs

When it comes to multitasking, few UI upgrades were as helpful as browser tabs. Instead of juggling dozens of windows on your computer, they let you place multiple websites in a single pane. It’s the sort of thing we take for granted today — especially if you don’t remember the pre-tab dark ages.

With its latest feature in Windows 10, currently dubbed “Sets,” Microsoft has taken some major cues from what browser makers learned years ago. Basically, it lets you group together Windows apps in tabs. That might sound simplistic, but Sets (which isn’t the final name yet) could fundamentally change the way we work in Microsoft’s OS.

If you’ve seen the way the Edge browser handles tabs, you’ve already got a handle on Sets. You open a new tab within a window by clicking the plus button in the title bar. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a landing page listing your most frequently used apps, recent documents and a search bar for local files and the web. As you’d expect, whatever you end up opening appears right alongside the original app you were using. So, if you started with a Word document, you could easily have a Powerpoint file, web pages and your Mail app sitting alongside it. It feels similar to how Chromebooks handle multitasking, an OS that has an interface almost entirely made up of browser tabs.

Conceptually, Sets goes hand-in-hand with the upcoming Windows Timeline, which lets you jump backwards to continue working on past projects. While the two features were conceived separately, according to Microsoft, they could make for a powerful combination. It’s easier for the OS to tell that a collection of tabs within a single window are related to one project. For example, if you were making a presentation on South American rain forests, you could have a Word document taking notes, several web pages with relevant research, and a Powerpoint file all in the same window. That also makes it simpler for Timeline to get you back up and running when you switch devices. Additionally, Windows will be able to open up the Set you typically use with a particular document.

While Sets might seem like an obvious UI evolution for Windows, it’s still a significant move for Microsoft. For one, it marks the biggest change we’ve seen to the title bar since Windows 95. Even the drastic UI overhaul in Windows 8 didn’t affect that much. Perhaps that’s why Microsoft is clearly positioning it as an experiment. Initially, only a handful of Windows Insider participants will get access to it. The company will also perform a controlled study on how people use the feature. While Microsoft says everyone in the Insider Program will eventually have access, it’ll likely be a while before that happens.

Initially, Sets will work with Universal Windows apps like Mail, Calendar and Edge. After that, the company will work on bringing simpler apps like Notepad onboard, and it’s also developing a Sets-compatible version of office. Supporting more complex apps, like Photoshop and Premiere, will take even longer. You’ll eventually be able to access Sets in Microsoft’s mobile apps, as well. And if none of this sounds compelling, you’ll be able to turn off Sets (or whatever it ends up being called) in your Control Panel. Microsoft also plans to offer granular control for the feature, allowing you to turn it off for specific apps.

What’s most interesting about Sets is how Microsoft is carefully rolling it out. Unlike Windows 8, which dramatically killed off the Start Menu and replaced it with something slower and clunkier, the company is taking care not to disrupt how we normally work in its OS. It’s a humbling admission by Microsoft that it might not always know what’s best for its users. But this time, at least, it’s prepared to learn.

Windows 10’s ‘Timeline’ continuity tool arrives soon for Insiders

If you were bummed that this fall’s Creators Update for Windows 10 didn’t include Microsoft’s version of Handoff, we feel you. But if you’re a Windows Insider Program member, there’s good news: Timeline will soon be available to folks in the Fast Ring. Cool, right?

The feature was first shown off at Build back in May and its tools for resuming work from where you left off, regardless of the device you were using at the time, seemed incredibly ambitious. It was so ambitious that they wouldn’t make it in time for September’s big update. In July, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore said that the feature wouldn’t launch until sometime after the seasonal patch.

And that brings us back to today; closing the loop if you will. Timeline isn’t nearly as flashy as the other new feature that’s out soon — Sets — but it’s still pretty useful.

Judge grants Waymo trial delay because Uber withheld evidence

Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving unit, sued Uber earlier this year over the alleged theft of self driving tech. The latest bit of drama comes today as a US judge granted a request from Alphabet to delay the trial, which was scheduled to start December 4th. This is apparently because Uber and its attorneys may have withheld evidence, and Waymo has requested time to investigate, according to Reuters.

The lawsuit revolves around Anthony Levandowski, who is a former Google employee. He left the company to form Otto, a self-driving truck startup. Uber later acquired Otto, and with it (according to Alphabet), proprietary files from Waymo about the self-driving unit’s tech that Levandowski downloaded six weeks before his departure. Waymo is now seeking $2.6 billion from Uber for the alleged theft of trade secrets.

Uber has long maintained that it had nothing to do with Levandowski’s downloading of files, and has not used them any way in its own technology. However, in Waymo’s lawsuit, the unit claims that it was inadvertently copied on an email from one of its component vendors to Uber. Uber’s tech looked strikingly similar to Waymo’s proprietary designs.

The revelation that Uber may have withheld information that is pertinent to the investigation doesn’t look good for the company. It’s the latest in an endless string of setbacks for the ride sharing company, which often finds itself in hot water due to its own toxic company culture and policies.

Via: Twitter

Source: Reuters

Huawei says it can do better than Apple’s Face ID

Huawei has a history of trying to beat Apple at its own game (it unveiled a “Force Touch” phone days before the iPhone 6s launch), and that’s truer than ever now that the iPhone X is in town. At the end of a presentation for the Honor V10, the company teased a depth-sensing camera system that’s clearly meant to take on Apple’s TrueDepth face detection technology. It too uses a combination of infrared and a projector to create a 3D map of your face, but it can capture 300,000 points in 10 seconds — that’s 10 times as many as the iPhone X captures.

It’s secure enough to be used for payments (unlike the OnePlus 5T), and almost as quick to sign you in as the company’s fingerprint readers at 400 milliseconds. Even the silly applications of the tech promise to be better. The company showed off a not-so-subtle Animoji clone that could tell when you were sticking out your tongue in addition to tracking the usual facial expressions.

There’s one major catch to this system: it’s not actually part of a product yet. Huawei’s Honor team showed the system without mentioning what phones would use it, let alone when they would ship. This was a spec announcement to show that Huawei would eventually have an answer to Apple’s 3D face detection, not something tangible you could buy in the near future.

Source: WinFuture (translated)

Apple’s YouTube videos can help with dad’s inane iOS questions

If spending a Saturday morning at an Apple store with a family member is your idea of Hell, then playing tech support for your relatives while you’re home for the holidays is probably a lengthy stretch of the road to perdition. Well, Apple Support remembered YouTube exists and has uploaded a series of videos answering simple questions like how to send and save GIFs on an iPhone, how to update iOS, change the wallpaper and how to mute or leave a group conversation, among others.

It’s all pretty basic stuff, sure, but if you bookmark the page in your browser it’ll save you from explaining it yourself. And really, wouldn’t you rather save that breath for something that really matters, like asking for seconds of candied yams? Or talking politics with your uncle? What’s conspicuously absent is a how-to on dealing with one of the buggiest versions of iOS in recent memory.

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: Apple Support (YouTube)