Coinbase halts Bitcoin Cash transactions over insider trading fears

The start of Bitcoin Cash trading on the Coinbase exchange was supposed to be a great opportunity to get into a major new cryptocurrency while its values weren’t yet through the roof, but that’s… not how it panned out. Coinbase froze transactions just a few hours after they began in order to investigate numerous accusations of insider trading. Observers noticed that the price of Bitcoin Cash rose sharply before news of its availability on the exchange broke, and that there was a sharp selloff virtually the moment trading started. From a cursory glance, it looked like someone knew about the Coinbase move in advance, triggered a flurry of trading that led to a spike in price, and took advantage of this for a massive windfall.

Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong stressed in a blog post that there was no evidence of insider trading “at this time,” but also promised a zero-tolerance approach. The CEO said “will not hesitate” to immediately fire anyone shown to be trading on non-public info, and insisted that the company had repeatedly warned employees against the practice. Staff are barred from any trading for “several weeks.”

It’s not certain when Bitcoin Cash transactions will return to the exchange. Whenever they do, the unusual activity is a reminder that digital currency is still a relatively untamed space. Even with futures trading and tighter regulation in place to add some stability, virtual money still tends to be volatile — it doesn’t take much to create havoc.

I dont care how you slice it, this is INSIDER TRADING! Someone with alot of Bitcoin knew @coinbase would add Bitcoin Cash BCH and took one BIG chunk of profit from the #flippening. Whoever you are you are your making crypto look like wall st. Shame on you. pic.twitter.com/g9YU9jGm0T

— CryptoSoldier (@NoTimeToSearch) December 20, 2017

Via: The Verge

Source: Coinbase Blog (Medium), CryptoSoldier (Twitter)

Twitter two-factor authentication works through third-party apps

For years, Twitter’s two-factor sign-in process has required SMS. That’s all well and good on a phone, but what about when you’re on a tablet, or are in a situation (say, traveling abroad) where you’d rather not get a text? You’re set from now on — Twitter has added support for verifying your sign-in through a third-party app. You still need a phone number to get things started, but software like Google Authenticator and Duo Mobile can now fill in after that. The setup process is relatively straightforward — the biggest step is scanning a QR code to produce the verification number you need.

This isn’t really necessary for most people. It may be helpful if you’re regularly signing in and out, however — say, if you’re a social media manager or just tend to switch devices on a frequent basis. Apps like Duo Mobile may only save you a few seconds, but that can quickly add up. This might also encourage you to use two-factor authentication if you thought it was too much of a hassle before.

We’re rolling out an update to login verification.

You’ll now be able to use a third party app for two-factor authentication instead of SMS text messages.https://t.co/UXl3xKLEaG

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 20, 2017

Source: Twitter Safety, Twitter Help Center

Apple says slower performance of older iPhones is intentional

You’re not alone if you’ve noticed a slowdown in the performance of your older iPhone. The thing is, it may be more related to your battery than the phone itself. After a post on Reddit and a followup by benchmarking software Geekbench’s founder, Apple told TechCrunch that it released a fix for premature shutdowns last year for iPhone 6, 6s and SE by smoothing out CPU demand when a battery is older, cold, or just low on juice. Apple also said that it recently extended this slowdown feature to iPhone 7 devices running iOS 11.2, and plans to “add support for other products in the future.”

A couple of weeks ago, Reddit user TeckFire ran some CPU benchmarks (via Geekbench) on his iPhone 6 Plus before and after he replaced its battery. He found that CPU performance was significantly better after a battery replacement, which he attributed to Apple slowing down phones with low capacity batteries. A week later, Geekbench’s own John Poole wrote a post that pointed to Apple’s involvement. In essence, Poole says that Apple introduced code to iOS that limits iPhone performance when battery charge is low, which could be interpreted as a CPU issue leading to users replacing their iPhone instead of their battery. While this may not be Apple’s intent in this case, it’s not hard to see users being confused and blaming the company for planned obsolescence practices, especially as Apple benefits from user confusion and iPhone upgrades.

Source: TechCrunch

ESPN lands mobile streaming rights to ‘Monday Night Football’

Ever since Verizon traded in its status as the exclusive wireless carrier for streaming live NFL games in order to gain streaming rights across multiple platforms, others have sought deals with the NFL to stream games to smartphones. Earlier this week, NBCUniversal signed a deal with the NFL allowing it to stream Sunday Night Football on all mobile devices through TV Everywhere starting in 2018. Today, ESPN announces that it has also reached a deal with the NFL and it will now add smartphones to the devices through which ESPN subscribers can stream Monday Night Football.

ESPN already had rights to stream its NFL-branded studio shows across all devices, including phones, tablets, computers and connected TVs. And it was allowed to stream Monday Night Football through all devices except phones, prior to this deal. The new agreement also includes mobile rights to NFL highlights.

ESPN’s NFL deal extends to the end of the 2021 NFL season. As for the NFL’s other partners, — CBS and Fox Sports — there hasn’t been any word yet on whether their mobile rights will change.

Source: ESPN

Blue Origin might launch a manned New Shepard flight in 2018

We might witness several new space vehicles blast off with a human crew onboard for the first time next year. One of them could be Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch system. According to Jeff Ashby, the private space corporation’s director of safety and mission assurance, Blue Origin is “about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes.” Ashby spoke at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference just a few days after his company successfully sent Crew Capsule 2.0 to suborbital space with “Mannequin Skywalker” on board.

The recent test fight carried 12 experiments from paying customers to space and is the first flight for the New Shepard launch system in a year. Blue Origin always intended to use its technology for space tourism, but like its peers it still has to conduct test flights before its spacecraft can start blasting off with paying civilians. Based on Ashby’s statetment, though, the company still isn’t 100 percent sure of its timeframe, so its manned mission could be delayed. Ashby said:

“We’re probably a year and a half, two years out from when we’re actually able to fly tended payload. We’re about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes. We have a bunch more tests to do, and we’e going to fly some human test flights before we put paying people in the rocket.”

Blue Origin is but one of the private space corporations planning to launch manned flights next year. Boeing and SpaceX, both recipients of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, also intend to conduct their first crewed test flights in 2018. Blue Origin, however, is aiming to conquer suborbital space, while the other two are preparing to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.

Source: SpaceNews

Netflix now streams HDR video on Windows 10

You no longer have to turn to your phone or TV to watch Netflix’s more vibrant HDR video selection. The streaming behemoth has added support for playing HDR on Windows 10, both in the native Netflix app and in the Edge browser (sorry, no Chrome here). You’re already set software-wise if you’re running the Fall Creators Update. However, it’s the hardware requirements that might leave you hanging — and we don’t just mean the need for an HDR10-compatible display.

Netflix noted that you’ll need one of Intel’s 7th-generation or later Core processors, and you’ll have to use either the integrated graphics or a recent NVIDIA graphics card like the GTX 1050 or higher. For now, at least, anyone in the AMD camp is out of luck. The service said that this is the result of years-long partnerships, although AMD’s Vega graphics are technically capable of the 10 bits per channel color you need for HDR. Technically, there shouldn’t be much getting in the way.

The limited hardware options aren’t entirely shocking. HDR is relatively well-established in the living room, but it’s still undercooked in the PC space with not just few devices, but few apps that can actually display it. Netflix’s Windows 10 release is a big help in that sense — it might spur PC makers and software developers to add HDR support knowing that more people can use it.

Source: Netflix Tech Blog (Medium), Netflix Help

Spotify made it easier to install its app on Linux

According to Canonical, the company behind popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, Spotify just made it super simple for subscribers to install the music-streaming app on Linux machines. The company has just released a Spotify “snap,” a universal app package that works across Linux flavors.

“In launching their own snap, Spotify has ensured that their users in the Linux ecosystem are now able to enjoy the latest version of their leading music streaming application as soon as it’s released regardless of which distribution they are using,” said Canonical’s Jamie Bennett. “We’re glad to welcome Spotify to the snaps ecosystem and look forward to unveiling more leading snaps in 2018.”

Snaps are basic installers for Linux software that can be used across various distributions of the open-source operating system software, including Linux Mint, Manjaro, Debian, OpenSUSE, Solus and Ubuntu. Snaps can be updated (or rolled back) on the fly by the issuing developer, too, which means you’ll always have the latest, most stable version of Spotify on your Linux machine without having to manually update yourself. It’s a smaller set of users than, say people who use macOS or Windows, for sure, but having Spotify release this snap for them is likely one more way to please and maintain a loyal customer base.

Source: Canonical

Apple Addresses Alleged Throttling of iPhones With Degraded Batteries

Over the course of the last week, there’s been speculation that Apple is throttling the performance of older iPhones with degraded batteries, leading to resurgence of accusations that Apple is deliberately slowing down older iPhones that aren’t operating at peak battery performance.

In a statement to TechCrunch on the results people are seeing when testing iPhones with older batteries, Apple says it is aiming to smooth out the high power draw peaks that can result in shutdowns and other problems in older devices to “deliver the best experience for customers.”

Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time by nature, and there’s nothing Apple can do to halt the process, so it uses power management techniques to attempt to prolong the life of the iPhone and its battery. Apple isn’t denying that iPhones with older batteries can sometimes see slower performance, but power management is not a feature that’s been implemented to force users to upgrade by deliberately slowing devices.

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

The throttling accusations first surfaced last week, after a Redditor shared Geekbench results taken before and after the battery in his iPhone 6s was replaced. He claimed that performance on his iPhone 6s sped up drastically after replacing a battery with a wear level “around 20%.”

Then, earlier this week, Primate Labs founder John Poole showed some aggregate Geekbench data that visualized a link between lower processor performance and degraded battery health. He compared iPhone 6s scores between iOS 10.2 and iOS 10.2.1, which showed variations in benchmarking scores following the update.

Apple in iOS 10.2.1 introduced an update designed to fix a bug that was causing iPhone 6s models to shut down unexpectedly, a problem attributed to uneven power delivery from older batteries. Apple says this feature has been implemented for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, and, as of iOS 11.2, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. It will be implemented in future iPhones going forward, too.

It’s this power management feature causing the benchmark variations John Poole found in Geekbench scores between iOS 10 updates last year. As explained by TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino:

Basically, iPhones were hitting peaks of processor power that the battery was unable to power and the phones were shutting off. Apple then added power management to all iPhones at the time that would ‘smooth out’ those peaks by either capping the power available from the battery or by spreading power requests over several cycles.

When an iPhone’s battery ages, there may come a point when it can’t provide the processor with enough power to reach a peak of power, and thus it spreads the requests out “over a few cycles,” resulting in the peaks and perceived lower scores on benchmarking tests. As Panzarino points out, benchmarking tests are not reflective of real world usage and will artificially trigger the power management features in the iPhone.

“In other words, you’re always going to be triggering this when you run a benchmark, but you definitely will not always trigger this effect when you’re using your iPhone like normal,” writes Panzarino.

Apple has clear battery replacement guidelines in place. The iPhone battery is designed to retain 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles. A defective battery that does not meet those parameters can be replaced for free for customers who have AppleCare+ or who have devices still under warranty.

For out of warranty customers, Apple offers a battery replacement service, with the company charging $79 for a battery replacement plus $6.95 in shipping.

Apple’s iPhones do send out a notification when a battery has degraded enough that it’s going to impact performance, but it is “pretty conservative” according to Panzarino, and he recommends Apple make this notice more aggressive, in addition to providing customers with clearer information on the link between battery life and performance.
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CMOS camera sensor inventor returns with an extreme-low-light follow-up

The engineer that developed the CMOS sensor now found in a majority of cameras and smartphones may have just discovered the next generation of camera sensors. Eric R. Fossum and the Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering published research in the December 20 issue of Optica detailing the Quanta Image Sensor (QIS), a digital camera sensor capable of capturing images even in the smallest amount of light possible.

What makes the QIS unique is that the sensor only needs a single photon of light to capture an image, which opens up possibilities for extreme low-light photography in a number of fields, including both artistic and scientific applications. Earlier attempts to design a sensor capable of performing in such low light conditions required large pixel sites, which creates a low-resolution image, or cooling mechanisms because the hardware couldn’t perform at room temperature.

The first QIS sensor is a 1-megapixel sensor with a frame rate numbering in the thousands — and the researchers say the technology could easily be upscaled to create higher resolution devices. Because the sensor is so sensitive to light, in the scientific community, the technology could allow scientists to capture images of stars previously too distant to capture, according to phys.org. The project, which was partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), would also have implications for security applications because of the low-light capability.

While the scientific — and even medical — possibilities are intriguing, the low-light sensor could also eventually make its way into the field of cinematography and photography. The greater sensitivity to light would allow the digital sensor to record with a look closer to film, while maintaining the characteristics of a digital file, like easy editing with software.

While the initial QIS sensor has only a million pixels, the sensor is made up of billions of what the researchers call “jots.” These jots function like tiny pixels, and in the most extreme low-light conditions, each jot can collect just one photon, enabling that low-light capability. The QIS sensor uses a layered or stacked design, which has already been introduced in CMOS sensors, using a layer of jots and then a layer of circuits and drivers, allowing the data from those jots to be read at those frame rates in the thousands. That’s how the QIS sensor works in the simplest form, but as the academic research details, there’s much more involved, including techniques to reduce noise.

Of course, the technology won’t ever reach consumer level if the QIS sensor can’t reach the same resolution of today’s CMOS cameras or if it isn’t affordable enough to manufacture. Thankfully, the researchers kept both in mind while developing the first QIS. The jots are arranged in clusters, which allows that first 1-megapixel sensor to be scaled for higher resolution applications. The research team also designed the QIS so that the hardware could be developed using some of the same machines used to develop CMOS, lowering the production costs by using existing equipment.

The QIS sensor has some more work to be done before entering the consumer world — it is currently only monochrome, for example — but if the tech makes its way past medical, scientific and security applications, QIS could mean some serious low-light capabilities for videographers and photographers. Fossum, the inventor of the CMOS and a Dartmouth professor, worked with Jiaju Ma, Saleh Masoodian and Dakota A. Starkey on the project.

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CMOS camera sensor inventor returns with an extreme-low-light follow-up

The engineer that developed the CMOS sensor now found in a majority of cameras and smartphones may have just discovered the next generation of camera sensors. Eric R. Fossum and the Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering published research in the December 20 issue of Optica detailing the Quanta Image Sensor (QIS), a digital camera sensor capable of capturing images even in the smallest amount of light possible.

What makes the QIS unique is that the sensor only needs a single photon of light to capture an image, which opens up possibilities for extreme low-light photography in a number of fields, including both artistic and scientific applications. Earlier attempts to design a sensor capable of performing in such low light conditions required large pixel sites, which creates a low-resolution image, or cooling mechanisms because the hardware couldn’t perform at room temperature.

The first QIS sensor is a 1-megapixel sensor with a frame rate numbering in the thousands — and the researchers say the technology could easily be upscaled to create higher resolution devices. Because the sensor is so sensitive to light, in the scientific community, the technology could allow scientists to capture images of stars previously too distant to capture, according to phys.org. The project, which was partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), would also have implications for security applications because of the low-light capability.

While the scientific — and even medical — possibilities are intriguing, the low-light sensor could also eventually make its way into the field of cinematography and photography. The greater sensitivity to light would allow the digital sensor to record with a look closer to film, while maintaining the characteristics of a digital file, like easy editing with software.

While the initial QIS sensor has only a million pixels, the sensor is made up of billions of what the researchers call “jots.” These jots function like tiny pixels, and in the most extreme low-light conditions, each jot can collect just one photon, enabling that low-light capability. The QIS sensor uses a layered or stacked design, which has already been introduced in CMOS sensors, using a layer of jots and then a layer of circuits and drivers, allowing the data from those jots to be read at those frame rates in the thousands. That’s how the QIS sensor works in the simplest form, but as the academic research details, there’s much more involved, including techniques to reduce noise.

Of course, the technology won’t ever reach consumer level if the QIS sensor can’t reach the same resolution of today’s CMOS cameras or if it isn’t affordable enough to manufacture. Thankfully, the researchers kept both in mind while developing the first QIS. The jots are arranged in clusters, which allows that first 1-megapixel sensor to be scaled for higher resolution applications. The research team also designed the QIS so that the hardware could be developed using some of the same machines used to develop CMOS, lowering the production costs by using existing equipment.

The QIS sensor has some more work to be done before entering the consumer world — it is currently only monochrome, for example — but if the tech makes its way past medical, scientific and security applications, QIS could mean some serious low-light capabilities for videographers and photographers. Fossum, the inventor of the CMOS and a Dartmouth professor, worked with Jiaju Ma, Saleh Masoodian and Dakota A. Starkey on the project.

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• Fujifilm GFX 50S review
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• Prominent camera lab DXOMark gives Nikon’s D850 a sky-high score