HTC U11 Life on T-Mobile getting 8.0 Oreo update

Coming to a phone near you.

The HTC U11 Life isn’t a perfect mid-ranger, but it’s also far from the worst. There’s quite a bit to like with the phone, and if you purchased one through T-Mobile in the United States, you’ll soon be getting an update to Android 8.0 Oreo.

As expected with the Oreo update, this brings picture-in-picture, adaptive notification dots, and quite a bit more to the U11 Life. You’ll still find HTC’s Sense skin layered over it, but even so, this is the same Oreo that we know and love.

HTC started rolling out Oreo to the unlocked (non-Android One) version of the U11 Life at the end of November, so it’s nice to see that it didn’t take T-Mobile too terribly long to get it pushed out to its version.

The update appears to weigh in at 1.32GB, so make sure you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network before downloading it.

HTC U11 Life review: High style at a low price, with compromises

Android Oreo

• Android Oreo review!
• Everything new in Android Oreo
• How to get Android Oreo on your Pixel or Nexus
• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
• Join the Discussion

Deal: Razer Phone now comes with free $180 Bluetooth speaker

Available through December 19.

Despite its many imperfections, it’s clear that there’s a massive want for the Razer Phone. Razer’s first attempt at the smartphone market isn’t necessarily the worst we’ve ever seen, and if the 120Hz refresh rate and sturdy build are reasons enough to overlook its poor camera performance and dim display, there’s a new deal that makes this one of the best times to pick up Razer’s latest.

Between now and the end of December 19, you’ll get a free Leviathan Mini Bluetooth speaker when ordering a Razer Phone through Razer’s website. The Leviathan Mini typically costs $180 on its own, so you could certainly ask for a worse freebie.

The Leviathan Mini supports Bluetooth 4.0, aptX technology, NFC, and claims to offer up to 10 hours of non-stop music playback. You can connect two Leviathan Minis with Razer’s Combo Play feature, and the included carrying case makes transporting the Leviathan Mini as easy as can be.

To take advantage of this deal, add the Razer Phone to your cart, enter in promo code PHLVLUP, apply it, and the Leviathan Mini will automatically pop up.

See at Razer

Huawei confirms Mate 10 Pro will launch on U.S. carriers in 2018

This is a big step for the company.

As great as Huawei’s devices have gotten over the years, the company still has a very minimal presence in the United States. The Huawei brand just isn’t anywhere close to the recognition of Samsung, LG, or even HTC, but this should start to change come next year.

Speaking to ABC News, Huawei’s President of Consumer Business, Richard Yu, confirmed that the company would launch its Mate 10 Pro flagship phone on a United States carrier in 2018. There have been murmurings about this since the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro’s announcement, and we’re quite excited to see how this plays out for Huawei.

Per Richard Yu –

We will sell our flagship phone, our product, in the U.S. market through carriers next year. I think we can bring value to the carriers and to consumers. Better product, better innovation, better user experience.

A previous report suggested the Mate 10 Pro would launch on AT&T in the U.S., and now that we have Yu’s word, it’s likely that this will be one of the carriers the phone will be available through. Yu’s wording of “carriers” hints at the Mate 10 Pro launching on more than one, but it’s unclear at this time what other carrier that could be.

More exact details will be shared at CES this coming January, so we won’t have to wait too much longer before getting the final word on what’s going on.

Huawei Mate 10

• Huawei Mate 10 Pro review
• Huawei Mate 10 series specs
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro U.S. review: Close to greatness
• Join the discussion in the forums
• More on 2016’s Mate 9

Richard Branson is reportedly Virgin Hyperloop One’s new chairman

Earlier this month, Virgin Hyperloop One co-founder Shervin Pishevar took a leave of absence from the company and his venture capital firm Sherpa Capital following allegations of sexual harassment and a November arrest for rape that didn’t result in a charge. Now, Axios reports that Hyperloop One has a new chairman — Richard Branson.

This fall, the Virgin Group invested in Hyperloop One, putting Branson on the board and adding Virgin to the company’s name. With Branson as chairman, the company has also reportedly gained an influx of new funding — $50 million worth — from current investors Caspian Venture Capital and DP World, which are based in Russia and Dubai, respectively. Virgin Hyperloop One was running out of capital and around 300 employees were at risk of losing their jobs if more funding wasn’t obtained.

The company has demonstrated its technology a couple of times this year and hopes to actually start putting it to work in 2018.

Via: The Verge

We’re listening to: Sia, Tove Lo and ‘Where Should We Begin?’

Welcome back to IRL, our series dedicated to the things that Engadget writers have been playing, using, watching and listening to. This week we’re focusing on music and podcasts, from Sia’s Christmas album through to Rihanna’s stunning Anti. First up, executive editor Dana Wollman on the joy of listening to other people’s problems.

Where Should We Begin?

Dana Wollman
Executive Editor

The premise for the podcast Where Should We Begin? is simple and compelling: A noted psychologist (Esther Perel) records couples’ therapy sessions, for your listening pleasure. The series, which launched earlier this year as an Audible exclusive, is now available on the more popular Apple Podcasts, with a new episode of the first season dropping each Friday. As you might expect, the brave couples in question are anonymous, with any identifying details edited out. And the experience of listening in on them is just as voyeuristic as you’d hope.

Each week presents a new vignette. The couples are diverse in both age and dilemmas, with problems that include sexlessness, the monotony of caring for small kids and, in more than one case, the aftermath of infidelity. Because each episode is billed as a “one-time” counseling session, it’s never clear what became of the couple. To my ears, it is the aural equivalent of a short story: You drop in on these characters mid-narrative and take leave of them before there’s necessarily a conclusion. Did he forgive her for cheating? Can they learn to find sexual compatibility? That we doesn’t know feels appropriate: If there’s a theme underlying the series, it’s that there are no easy answers, relationships are hard, and everyone, even the unfaithful, is ultimately human.

Sia

Billy Steele
Senior News Editor

I like “Deck the Halls” and “Frosty the Snowman” as much as any other joyous holiday tunes, but it’s easy to get burned out on the same Christmas songs you hear dozens of times every year before the actual holiday. Thankfully, the pop mastery of Sia is here to save us from another year of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” for the 784th time. Indeed, the singer-songwriter’s Everyday Is Christmas isn’t an album full of traditional selections — and that’s a gift we can all enjoy this year.

Sure, these hooks may not be as catchy as the skill that’s on display in nearly every corner of 2016’s This Is Acting, but the songs here are still super well done. Standouts for me are “Ho Ho Ho” (admittedly because it’s about booze), “Sunshine” and “Underneath the Mistletoe.” Sia’s unique vocal sound and a break from tradition are what make this entire album a winner, though, if I’m honest. If you’re familiar with the singer’s previous work, you know what to expect here in terms of sound: an even mix of bombastic sing-along pop choruses and swooning ballads. Of course, because these songs aren’t so familiar, it’ll take a few listens before you’ll actually be singing along, but that’s just fine with me.

I get it: There’s a limit to how much Mannheim Steamroller, Michael Bublé or Trans Siberian Orchestra you can hear before you start to go insane. It also doesn’t help that even if your favorite artist released a holiday album, it’s probably the same songs you’re bombarded with from Halloween until Christmas Day. If you enjoy that, no judgment here, but I can take only so much of the same stuff before I’m ready to bang my head on the table. And I really don’t want to destroy another festive centerpiece.

Tove Lo

Jessica Conditt
Senior Reporter

Blue Lips isn’t the album to listen to on the way to family holiday parties or stuffy office gift exchanges. This is the music to blast as you drive away from all of the garlands, gravy, ugly sweaters and sweets, heading home or back to your hotel, or to the end of your favorite bar. Blue Lips is heady, sensual and rich. It’s ideal for introspective fantasy; it’s an escape in electropop form.

Tove Lo has a gift for crafting entire worlds in each of her songs, inviting the listener into scenes spinning with sex, drugs, love and dancing. Blue Lips is a celebration of skin and sweat, and all of the emotions that combination can spawn. It’s an honest experience: Tove Lo sings repeatedly, unabashedly, about her love of lust, but this isn’t a Disney star attempting to prove to the world how much she’s grown up. Tove Lo is confident and comfortable in her own sensuality, and a haze of relaxed maturity permeates the album.

Though it touches on themes of heartbreak and loss, Blue Lips is overwhelmingly optimistic. Behind the driving bass and synth beats, Tove Lo paints brilliant, relatable landscapes of lights flashing across dance floors, intimate moments between lovers and late nights with friends. The album is filled with a restrained kind of joy, winking at the darkness while simultaneously soaking up the light. Hedonic and dance-inducing, Blue Lips is incredibly easy to listen to — maybe just don’t call it “easy.”

No Such Thing As a Fish

David Lumb
Contributing Editor

My trivia team was headed for yet another third-place finish when one of our ringers suggested a podcast filled with trivia. On paper, listening to strangers yak on about unrelated facts sounds like asinine torture. But it turns out some folks out there love my flavor of useless information. No Such Thing As a Fish is a damn near perfect weekly serving of knowledge in a reasonable chunk of time. For proof, I’ll present its positive qualities in a neat four-point list:

The four lovably British hosts (Dan, James, Anna and Andy) each serve up one fact per episode, which they riff on and follow up with related trivia. That means you’ll probably end up with 12 to 16 unique nuggets of info to share with peers during the half hour you slack off at work every day.
The facts span a bizarre range. A recent episode featured Roaring Twenties president Calvin Coolidge’s robotic horse, the inventor of email, and which language it’s easiest to speak while drunk. You’ll be able to impress somebody.
Each episode runs around 35 to 45 minutes, which is a bit longer than the average US commute of 25 minutes — but that extra bumper time means you’ll finish an episode between when you walk out your door and finally sit at your desk.
You’ll learn something. I’m serious. If school had presented randomly chosen information from a quartet of snarky enthusiasts, I would’ve paid attention.

Rihanna

Timothy J. Seppala
Associate Editor

Rihanna’s Anti is the dark pop album I’ve been looking for all year. I’m aware that it came out in 2016, but I didn’t happen upon it until over the weekend, after some good-natured prodding from features editor Aaron Souppouris. Now I’m obsessed. Barring her wedding anthem with Calvin Harris — “We Found Love” — I’ve always liked Rihanna’s singles but was pretty content with surface-level appreciation. I’m now realizing what a mistake that’s been.

Every song on Anti could be a single, really. And despite an army of producers, each song feels like a part of a cohesive whole. Anti is an album that takes the listener on a journey from reggae-infused opener “Consideration” to “Desperado,” four tracks later, all the way to the closing combo of “Pose” and “Sex with Me.” Acoustic singer-songwriter songs like “Never Ending” sit comfortably alongside the doo-wop/soul single “Love on the Brain.”

Even lead single “Work,” with its Drake guest spot, feels surprisingly not out of place on the same album as piano ballad “Close to You.” What’s tying everything together is a damn near tangible sense of desperation in Rihanna’s voice. The production isn’t nearly as clean or polished as Taylor Swift’s Reputation or Katy Perry’s Witness, but Anti has something that neither of those albums has: heart.

Anti was the Barbadian singer’s first album on Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, and she seemed bound and determined to make a statement with it. It’s at once abrasive, beautiful, confident and vulnerable (on “Woo,” specifically) at nearly every turn. Here’s a singer who’s been making music professionally for 14 years, has more than 30 Billboard Top Ten hits and dozens of awards under her belt, and has reinvented her sound multiple times, with nary a misstep, putting her entire career on display. Yet Anti was skipped over for a Best Album nod from the Grammys. If you’ve been left flat by this year’s efforts from the reigning pop queens, you should revisit Anti just to see what happens when pop loses its plasticky veneer.

“IRL” is a recurring column in which the Engadget staff run down what they’re buying, using, playing and streaming.

Kaspersky sues US government over federal software ban

To no one’s surprise, Kaspersky Lab isn’t happy that the US government has banned its software over the potential for Russian influence. The security firm has sued the Trump administration to challenge the ban, arguing that the Department of Homeland Security’s September directive didn’t provide “due process” and unfairly tarnished the company’s reputation.

In an open letter, Kaspersky claimed that officials acted on “subjective, non-technical” sources of information, including “uncorroborated” reports, and that the efforts at reciprocity were largely one-sided. Kaspersky made “good faith” attempts at addressing concerns, according to the letter, but there was reportedly no significant opportunity to be heard before the DHS issued its directive.

The company is particularly upset that the DHS was worried about security risks that are true of antivirus tools as a whole, not any evidence that Kaspersky was up to no good. Many antivirus companies use the cloud to collect and process malware samples, for example, but these were treated as unique problems. As far as Kaspersky is concerned, the DHS issued its fateful directive simply because of the antivirus maker’s Russian origins, facts be damned.

Whether or not Kaspersky has a case, it faces an uphill battle. It offered independent reviews of its source code in a bid to prove it’s not a Russian government mole, but officials have said it wouldn’t be enough to change their mind. Like it or not, it may have to go without US government contracts so long as there’s even a mild suspicion that it might be working on the Russian government’s behalf.

Source: Reuters, Kaspersky Lab

‘Final Fantasy’ celebrates 30 years of not being very final

On December 18, 1987, developer Square released its first Final Fantasy title to the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicon console. While Hironobu Sakaguchi thought it would be his last video game, the title was a financial success, leading to a continuous stream of sequels released on every gaming platform since then, including a surprising recent foray onto iOS with Final Fantasy XV Pocket. The first Final Fantasy was included on the recent NES Classic, too, if you were lucky enough to grab one before Nintendo discontinued making them.

Now the publisher is known as Square Enix, and has since released 14 other main Final Fantasy games, with a host of spin-off games and crossover titles, as well. Games in the series tend to have deep (if confusing) plot lines, turn-based RPG mechanics and small groups of heroes bent on battling great evil while they learn more about each other as people in the process.

The publisher is celebrating the title’s 30th anniversary with a ton of commemorative items that it’s been selling all year, including T-shirts, discounted Final Fantasy titles, plush dolls and, yes, even themed ballpoint pens. Whether you’re a long-time fan or just learning about the long-running, ironically-named series, you might enjoy browsing the memorabilia and remembering the first time you played a Final Fantasy title (mine was Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy).

Source: Square Enix

Volkswagen plans 2,800 EV charging stations in the US by 2019

Volkswagen has committed to building an EV charging network in the US. By 2019, VW’s Electrify America division plans to install 2,800 charging stations in 17 of the country’s biggest cities, according to Reuters. It’ll cost the automaker some $2 billion, with California getting almost half of the investment. That might sound like a lot of money, but for context, Volkswagen had paid out over $20 billion for its diesel emissions scandal as of this February.

For comparison, in April Tesla said by year’s end it would have 10,000 Supercharger stations in place by year’s end. It took the company almost five years to install 5,400 of those. The company also promised to boost the number of normal-speed charging stations (Destination Charging) from 9,000 locations to 15,000 this year. Tesla’s first Supercharger rest stops started going online in November.

Tesla has its own woes as well: the company can’t produce its $35,000 Model 3 sedans fast enough to keep up with pre-orders.

Source: Reuters

Facebook’s government data requests continue to rise

Facebook releases a bi-annual report that details all the data requests it gets from governments. The company just shared its latest Transparency Report for the first half of 2017. In addition to the usual information, like account data, content restrictions and internet disruptions, the company is including reports from rights holders related to copyright, trademark and intellectual property counterfeiting.

Facebook says that requests for account data have increased 21 percent across the globe, as compared the second half of 2016. More than half of those requests (57 percent) came along with a non-disclosure order that prohibits Facebook from notifying the account holder of the request. This us up from the 50 percent in the previous report. In addition, Facebook reports a huge increase in the number of content restrictions around violating local law, up by 304 percent. This massive spike in requests was mainly driven by law enforcement in Mexico, who asked that Facebook restrict a video depicting a January school shooting in Monterrey.

Facebook promises that it takes a deep look at each government request to be sure it’s legitimate and legally binding, and that it will fight in court if the request seems sketchy or too broad. “We’ll also keep working with partners in industry and civil society to encourage governments around the world to reform surveillance in a way that protects their citizens’ safety and security while respecting their rights and freedoms,” writes Facebook lawyer Chris Sonderby.

As for intellectual property reports, Facebook says that it has received 224,464 copyright reports, 41,854 trademark reports and 14,279 counterfeit reports. This is the first time the company is tracking these numbers; it’s likely it will compare them in future reports.

Source: Facebook

US Military tests system for on-demand 3D-printed drones

The US military has used drones in combat zones for over a decade to scout and support infantry. Now they’re testing a way to give ground troops another edge: The capability to build UAVs themselves. What’s more, the US Army is partnering with the Marine Corps on a test project that lets troops 3D-print particular drone parts from a tablet-based catalog, which could eventually lead to manufacturing UAVs customized to the mission.

The concept is promising, and so is the flexibility: The software catalog setup lets military units print out an unmanned aircraft system for specific missions. The Army Research Laboratory expects the turnaround time to create UAV parts to be from minutes to hours.

This won’t be the Marine Corps first experiment with 3D-printed drones. Last year, the Corps held an internal program called the Logistics Innovation Challenge that sought ideas from within its ranks. Among the winning submissions was a fixed-wing drone called the Scout, designed by a 26-year-old Corporal that costs $600 and fits in a standard Marine backpack.

Source: US Army