Google Pixelbook now covered by uBreakiFix for out of warranty repairs

Now you don’t have to have a panic attack if you drop your new $1000 laptop.

Shortly after the launch of the Pixel and Pixel XL last year, Google announced that it would be partnering with uBreakiFix to offer same-day repairs for its two phones. A similar deal was made available with the launch of the Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL, and now uBreakiFix has announced that it officially offers repairs for the Pixelbook.

Commenting on this announcement, uBreakiFix’s Founder and CEO, Justin Wetherill, said –

We are thrilled to provide even more Google customers with the quality service and exceptional customer experience that have come to define our brand. We are huge fans of the Pixelbook and are excited to get these devices back in the hands of our customers.

Pricing for Pixelbook repairs have yet to be announced, but uBreakiFix says that it will be “at a fraction of the cost of buying a new laptop directly.” For what it’s worth, a screen repair on the Pixel 2 costs $149 while the Pixel 2 XL is a bit higher at $219.

All Pixelbook owners will be able to walk into any uBreakiFix store to have their laptop worked on, and those that purchased Google’s Preferred Care insurance program will also have access to get their phone serviced through any location when they file a claim.

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You can use the Pixel Buds without a Pixel phone — but should you?

Just about everyone’s looking for a great pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Some people think that Google’s new Pixel Buds headphones are designed to only work with Pixel phones. That’s reasonable on account of the naming convention, but it’s not actually the case! At their core the Pixel Buds are just Bluetooth headphones, and that means they can easily pair to any phone (or heck, computer) with Bluetooth for audio.

Unfortunately, Google has kept some parts of the Pixel Buds experience exclusive to its own Pixel phones. Here’s a breakdown of what you get when you pair the Pixel Buds to a non-Pixel phone.

Most things work just fine!

The Pixel Buds have a new style of form factor without any buttons and use a case for both pairing and charging, but there’s nothing particularly fancy at play here. The first time you open the Pixel Buds case, it enters a pairing mode — any phone with Bluetooth turned on can pair to the headphones right away, just as you would with any other pair of “normal” Bluetooth headphones. You can select which profiles you want to use (music, calls, etc.) from the phone’s settings.

All of the basics work on any modern Android phone.

The way the Pixel Buds connect and disconnect with your phone remains unchanged as well. Pop open the case and remove the headphones, and they’ll connect to your phone provided it’s in range and has Bluetooth turned on. Put the headphones back in their case, and the Bluetooth will disconnect in short order. And if you want to switch the headphones to a different device, just forget the Pixel Buds on the current device, place them in their case and hold the multifunction button in the case for about 15 seconds — they’ll be ready to pair again.

Google Assistant also works just fine on non-Pixel phones. You can press and hold the right earbud to invoke the Assistant, and it will pass audio both to and from the phone without hassle. The (limited) Pixel Buds settings are also found in the Assistant interface when you launch it with the earbuds connected to the phone.

A couple missing features

So most of the Pixel Buds experience transfers perfectly from a Pixel to a non-Pixel phone. But you do miss out on a couple of features. The big one is the “real time” translation feature, which is only available when paired to a Pixel phone on account of the advanced audio routing that needs to happen. But don’t get too discouraged here — the same Google Translate quality is still available on any phone using the app, it just won’t be piped through your Pixel Buds in the same way.

You miss out on Google Translate, but maybe that isn’t such a big deal.

The other missing features are more of edge cases, and they’ll both improve with time. The first is the new “Fast Pair” system that Google introduced at the same time as the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. It makes the initial pairing process with any headphones that support the protocol (including the Pixel Buds) extremely simple — and though it’s supposed to be available for any device on Android 6.0 and later with Google Play Services version 11.7 or later … but it just isn’t rolling out everywhere just yet.

Then we have to wonder about new Assistant features in the future taking time to hit other devices. Right now the Pixel Buds hook into Google Assistant on any modern phone and work just fine, but there’s a chance that Google could roll out new features in Assistant only on Pixel phones much like it has done with Translate — we just don’t know.

Should you buy the Pixel Buds at all?

Knowing that the Pixel Buds work pretty darn well with a non-Pixel phone, you then have to ask yourself whether the Pixel Buds make sense for you at all.

The real question is whether you should buy the Pixel Buds at all.

The Pixel Buds definitely sound great for their size, have good battery life and though the design takes time to get used to they’re comfortable for long periods of listening. As basic Bluetooth headphones, they get the job done whether you have a Pixel or not. But doing the basics alone doesn’t justify the $159 price — and this is where the questions really come in.

Missing out on translation functionality isn’t really a big loss, so we can skip over that as a selling point. Google Assistant works just fine on any modern Android phone, but it has a whole lot of room to improve on the Pixel Buds to the point where you feel like you have to have it in your daily life. The case works, but we have concerns about the fabric’s long term durability and it’s a bit too big to easily fit in a pocket. And some simple core issues like not being able to easily switch between paired devices just limits the usefulness of the Pixel Buds as daily use headphones.

Yes the Pixel Buds will work just fine with a non-Pixel phone. But that doesn’t necessarily make them worth spending $159 on.

Razer Phone ditched the headphone jack for better battery and performance

Razer definitely didn’t get rid of the headphone jack to sell $80 USB-C earbuds.

As enticing as the Razer Phone may be for power users, there are a few key issues that hold it back from being amazing – the display is pretty dim, camera performance leaves much to be desired, and the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is a strange omission for something described as being the “smartphone for gamers.”

Razer recently addressed the complaints about its phone’s camera and promised that numerous software updates are on the way make it considerably better. Now, the company’s CEO and Co-Founder, Ming-Liang Tan, has explained the reasoning behind the removal of the headphone jack.

Per a Facebook post that Tan recently published –

By removing the headphone jack – we were able to increase the battery size significantly (I estimate we added 500maH more), improve thermals for performance and a whole lot more.

Tan also addressed that every Razer Phone comes with a 24-bit THX Certified DAC adapter that offers “even better quality headphone audio”, and he also made sure to point out –

On top of that, we’ve released the HammerHead USB C (retails at $79.99) and the HammerHead BT with all day battery life (US$99.99 – or free with Paid to Play!) which makes it a complete solution.

It certainly is impressive if Razer actually managed to increase the Razer Phone’s battery capacity by 500 mAh by removing the headphone jack, but we also don’t doubt that the company saw an opportunity to sell a couple accessories alongside its new gadget to make shareholders as happy as possible.

In any case, there’s the explanation for why we have yet another phone without a 3.5mm headphone jack. R.I.P.

Razer Phone review: Don’t go outside

Android users in the Bay Area, here’s how you can help save lives!

Build a community and help feed those in need — all by downloading an Android app!

Most Android apps are designed to keep you busy, to distract and take you out of the real world. But just because you’re browsing through Reddit or double-tapping on Instagram photos doesn’t make the rest of the world disappear.

Our friends at Nodle have developed a really interesting new app for those in the San Francisco Bay Area to connect to one another using just the Bluetooth radios in their Android phones. The app itself, called Noodle! Coins, connects Android phones together in what Nodle calls “The Citizen Network.” From the company’s launch blog post:

Noodle! Coins is a combination of virtual currency and Pokemon. By moving around the city of San Francisco, players collect “Noodles”.

The Citizen Network will help your community find lost items, locate the nearest bike to rent, or gather data from local air pollution sensors. Citizens working together will drive down the cost of connectivity and provide a new way for Makers to bring their devices online.

To spur downloads, Nodle is donating $1 to the SF-Marin Food Bank for each Noodle! Coins install. The Citizen Network can only work when there’s a critical mass of people building up a community of shared data, and using the app helps keep people fed and build this awesome project.

Using Bluetooth LE, hardware data is shared anonymously to Nodle’s cloud, which then forms a link to help the network keep track of specific items. It’s not dissimilar to what you’d see from companies like Tile, only instead of dedicated hardware, Nodle is using the thing you always have with you — your phone. In fact, Nodle powers the network of Tile’s competitor, Trackr.

Each time someone in the city of San Francisco signs up, we will make a $1 donation. If you invite your friends by sending them a link and they sign up for Noodle! (and join the competition) you earn 50,000 Noodle! Coins and we will make another $1 donation.

It’s easy to sign up, so if you’re in the San Francisco area, give it a go and help Nodle donate money to the SF-Marin Food Bank before the year is up.

Download Noodle! Coins (free)

YouTube pulls autocomplete results that showed child abuse terms

YouTube has been working hard lately to fix issues around child exploitation and abuse. The Google-owned video service revamped its policies and their enforcement around videos featuring minors or family-friendly characters in disturbing situations. Over the weekend, the company promised a crackdown on inappropriate comments on kid-friendly videos in response to big-name brands pulling their advertisements from the respective content. Now, YouTube is working to fix a problem with its autocomplete system that was finishing the search term “how to have” with “s*x with kids.”

When reached for comment, a Google spokesperson told Engadget: “Earlier today our teams were alerted to this profoundly disturbing autocomplete result and we worked to quickly remove it as soon as we were made aware. We are investigating this matter to determine what was behind the appearance of this autocompletion.”

As noted by The Guardian, YouTube’s autocomplete uses algorithms based on frequently-used search terms. The appearance of the disturbing autocomplete result could have been created by a group of people working together to make the term trend on YouTube, much like hashtags on Twitter. The Guardian reports that none of the results linked to the autocompleted search showed abusive videos. Our own testing this morning only shows “how to have s*x in school” as the top result.

Via: The Guardian

New in our buyer’s guide: Apple, Google and a little Sonos

Separate from our holiday gift guide, it was time for us to update our year-round shortlist of recommendations. Since our last round of additions, three months ago, we’ve reviewed a boatload of flagship handsets, with the iPhone 8/8 Plus and Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL all making the list. (It’s not that we don’t recommend the iPhone X, but we recommend the 8 and particularly the 8 Plus for more people.) While we were at it, we also decided that the Sonos One, Google Home Mini, Apple TV 4K, second-gen Daydream View VR headset and the GoPro Hero6 were also worthy of this list. Find all that and more in the Engadget buyer’s guide.

Source: Engadget Buyer’s Guide

Twitter: Suspension of New York Times account was human error

Twitter has fumbled yet again. Over the weekend, the platform temporarily locked a New York Times account for violating its rule against hateful conduct, but the tweet in question, a report on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology over the treatment of native people in Newfoundland and Labrador, was rather unoffending — further muddying what will and won’t get you suspended by the platform. The account was fully restored about a day later and Twitter has said that the suspension was the result of human error.

Left out of an apology a decade ago, native people in Newfoundland and Labrador get an apology from Justin Trudeau https://t.co/BRRIUNCVMw

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) November 25, 2017

Twitter has attempted to clarify what warrants a suspension, a ban or a verification over the past few months, but when it releases new regulations or guidelines, it’s often in response to some very public gaffe on its part. The site just launched a new set of policies geared towards hateful and violent speech, but only after the spread of the #WomenBoycottTwitter campaign sparked by the platform’s suspension of Rose McGowan’s account after she tweeted about Harvey Weinstein’s pattern of sexual assault. Twitter also recently updated its list of what will cause it to revoke a verified status, but that list only came after a major backlash in response to its verification of a white supremacist.

Twitter said it stumbled in freezing @nytimesworld after a tweet on the Canadian prime minister https://t.co/9ui4zcXNeJ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 27, 2017

Once it restored the NYT’s @nytimesworld account, Twitter told the publication, “After reviewing the account, it appears that one of our agents made an error. We have flagged this issue so that similar mistakes are not made going forward.” It also apologized for any inconvenience the suspension caused.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: New York Times

Origami-like soft robot can lift 1000 times its weight

Soft robotics allow machines to move in ways which mimic living organisms, but increased flexibility usually means reduced strength, which limits its use. Now, scientists at MIT CSAIL & Harvard have developed origami-like artificial muscles that add much-needed strength to soft robots, allowing them to lift objects as much as 1,000 times their own weight using only water or air pressure. One 2.6 gram muscle is able to lift a 3 kilogram object, which is the same as a duck lifting a car.

The artificial muscles are made up of a plastic inner skeleton surrounded by air or water inside a sealed bag — the “skin”. Applying a vacuum to the inside of the bag initiates the muscle’s movement, creating tension that drives the motion. No power source or human input is needed to direct the muscle, as it’s guided purely by the composition of the skeleton.

In experiments, the researchers created muscles that can lift a flower off the ground, twist into a coil and contract down to 10 percent of their original size. They even made a muscle out of a water-soluble polymer, which means the technology could be used in natural setting with minimal environmental impact. Other potential applications include deep sea research, minimally invasive surgery and transformable architecture.

The muscles are scalable — the team built them at sizes ranging from a few millimeters up to a meter — and cheap to produce. A single muscle can be made in under ten minutes for less than a dollar. Even the research team itself was surprised by how effective the technology is. “We were very surprised by how strong the muscles were. We expected they’d have a higher maximum functional weight than ordinary soft robots, but we didn’t expect a thousand-fold increase,” said CSAIL director Daniela Rus. “It’s like giving these robots superpowers.”

Source: PNAS

Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp resigns

It’s the end of an era for Tumblr fans. David Karp, Tumblr’s founder, has resigned from his CEO position after 11 years at the job. The company’s operations chief, Jeff D’Onofrio, is taking the reins. Karp didn’t go into detail about his reasons for leaving, but he told his team that the move came after “months of reflection” about his personal goals. We’ve asked Tumblr if it can comment beyond Karp’s own statements.

It’s not clear if Verizon’s absorption of Yahoo (and thus Tumblr) influenced the decision.

This isn’t necessarily going to create problems for Tumblr, but it comes as Tumblr itself has struggled to compete in a social networking landscape dominated by the likes of Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. While Tumblr is legendary for its animated GIFs and themed blogs, it has been playing a lot of catch-up lately. It only added filters and stickers this year, for example, while live video showed up in 2016. D’Onofrio may have to shake things up if Tumblr is going to recapture some of the cultural zeitgeist.

Via: Mike Isaac (Twitter 1), (2)

Source: David’s Log (Tumblr)

Facebook starts global rollout of its AI suicide prevention tools

Facebook is expanding its limited test run for suicide- and -self-harm reporting tools to the masses. To get better at detection the social network will begin implementing pattern recognition for posts and Live videos to detect when someone could be presenting suicidal thoughts. From there, VP of product management Guy Rosen writes that the social network will also concentrate efforts to improve alerting first responders when the need arises. Facebook will also have more humans looking at posts flagged by its algorithms.

Currently the passive/AI detection tools are only available in the US, but soon those will roll out across the globe — European Union countries notwithstanding. In the past month, Facebook has pinged over 100 first responders about potentially fatal posts, in addition to those that were reported by someone’s friends and family.

Apparently, “Are you okay?” and “Can I help?” comments are good indicators that someone might be going through a very dark moment. More than that, Rosen says that thanks to the algorithms and those phrases, Facebook has picked up on videos that might’ve otherwise gone unnoticed prior.

“With all the fear about how AI may be harmful in the future, it’s good to remind ourselves how AI is actually helping save people’s lives today,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on the social network.

Between Facebook’s role in the 2016 election and that it has come under fire for experimenting with whether or not gaming your News Feed can alter your mood, the company needs to work on repairing its image these days. Stories like this can help, but until there are more successes than unfortunate happenstances the social network needs to keep at it.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The line is open 24/7 and there’s also online chat if a phone isn’t available.

Source: Facebook Newsroom, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)