Security flaw lets anyone access a locked Prime Exclusive Moto G5 Plus

Would you like a security flaw with that ad?

If you’re in the market for an affordable unlocked phone, Amazon’s Prime Exclusive phones are worth checking out. Devices offered include the likes of the Moto X4, LG G6, and Nokia 6, and you can get them at pretty steep discounts as a result of ads that Amazon places on their lock screens.

Unfortunately, it would appear that these ads have created a security flaw on at least some phones. One owner of the Moto G5 Plus recently took to Twitter to show that, even though their phone is locked with the G5 Plus’s fingerprint sensor, taping the “view ad” button the lock screen bypasses the lock screen and opens the web browser. From here, tapping the home or back button will take you to the home screen.

Although Amazon has yet to comment on what’s taking place here, it would appear that the issue stems from Moto Display. This feature needs to be turned on in order for the flaw to work, and according to some users, the phone will remain locked as it should if you wait 30 seconds or more after it was last unlocked.

The Moto G5 Plus is the only Prime Exclusive phone that’s been reported to have this issue so far, and it’s worth mentioning that not everyone who owns the phone has been able to replicate the issue. It’s a bugger for sure and I’d like to see Amazon get a solution pushed out soon, but I wouldn’t consider it a reason to not buy the G5 Plus if you were thinking about doing so.

These are all the Moto phones Motorola is releasing in 2018

Trump’s budget reportedly proposes an end to ISS funding by 2025

It appears that there’s a troubling line item in President Trump’s proposed budget. According to The Verge reporter Loren Grush, the proposal ends funding for the International Space Station by 2025. It’s important to note that the final budget won’t be released until the 12th of February, so this item could change then, but The Verge spoke with two insiders who confirmed that this item would be in the final budget. We’ve reached out to NASA for clarification.

The US is only currently committed to funding the ISS through 2024, but most expected that we would continue our support through 2028. At that point, NASA was expected to turn over the US operations of the station to commercial space companies. However, it’s unlikely that will be doable by 2024 or 2025; losing the ISS as a low Earth orbit destination so early would be a blow to both NASA and private spaceflight companies.

The argument in favor of ending ISS operations early is that we can focus those resources on deeper space exploration. However, that assumes the two are in opposition to one another; they are, in fact, not. The ISS is a necessary stepping stone for missions that take us beyond Earth’s orbit. If the US ends support for it before we have a viable method to actually venture into deep space, we could end up with a spaceflight drought because we have nowhere in orbit to send our astronauts. Remember that it’s looking like human flight certification for both SpaceX and Boeing won’t be until late 2019/early 2020.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but the International Space Station has been a crucial example of how countries can work together, regardless of what’s happening back on Earth. A signal from the US that we are no longer interested in ISS activities could affect international partners who also are not currently committed to the station beyond 2024. The desire to free ourselves from the shackles lower Earth orbit is certainly understandable, and one many share. But it may not be the best idea to accomplish that at the expense of the ISS.

Source: The Verge

Facebook nabs exclusive streaming rights for pro surfing

If you’re interested in professional surfing, there’s no higher competition than the World Surf League (WSL). Hawaiian John John Florence is the current men’s champion, while Australian Tyler Wright dominates the women’s division. At the moment, you can watch championship events for free on Facebook or through the WSL website and mobile app. But that’s about to change — Facebook has inked a “historic partnership” that will make it the exclusive platform for WSL streaming. It covers all men and women Championship Tour events in 2018 and 2019, as well as the Junior Championships, Qualifying Series 10,000 and Big Wave Tour events.

In the US, you’ll find the streams on Facebook’s Watch service. If you live anywhere else, well, it’ll be the usual ‘find the appropriate Facebook page’ routine. Surf fans who despise Facebook will, inevitably, be disappointed with the decision. For the WSL, however, it’s clearly about cash and helping its niche sport survive. It’s unclear, however, how surfing fits into Facebook’s larger sports strategy. The company has bought some streaming rights — MLB baseball matches and Champions League soccer, for instance — but remains a bit player in the wider industry. It’ll be hoping its latest hire, former Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton, can change that for the better.

Source: World Surf League

Theater subscription service MoviePass snaps up its first film

MoviePass is wasting no time in making good on its plans to invest in films. The company behind the ‘unlimited’ theater subscription has snapped up crime caper American Animals for $3 million at Sundance. The move sees it share North American distribution rights for the film with indie studio The Orchard, according to Variety.

With a stake in the flick, MoviePass will promote it to its 1.5 million subscribers in the hopes of amassing more customer data, which it will use as leverage with studios and exhibitors. While theater chains such as AMC will continue rooting for it to fail. But, the numbers add up: Flicks that get a push on the MoviePass app receive a 10 percent box office bump. Recent examples include Oscar hopefuls The Post, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Shape of Water.

Now, it’s hoping to do the same for American Animals: a buzzy indie film about two childhood friends who plot a daring art heist. The movie has racked up plaudits for the performances of its up-and-coming cast and director Bart Layton’s kinetic style. MoviePass also reportedly lost out to Lionsgate for comedy Blindspotting, but don’t be surprised if it snags more films on the festival circuit.

Source: Variety

Google gives users more control over the ads they see

Google announced today that it’s rolling out a couple of new tools aimed at making online ads a little less irritating. Its Ad Settings and Mute This Ad features are both getting updates that let users have more control over what ads they do and don’t see.

You know how you search for an item online and then for weeks, that particular item follows you around the internet, popping up in ads on nearly every website you visit? Those are reminder ads and Google says advertisers usually set them to show up for about a month from when you visited their websites. But now, Google is letting you mute those ads. You just have to head over to Ad Settings when signed into your Google Account, go to the “Your reminder ads” section and hit the “X” next to any ads you don’t want to see anymore. It’s a temporary solution — the muting only lasts 90 days — but since that’s substantially longer than most reminder ads stick around for, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t see them again.

In 2012, Google began allowing users to block certain ads they didn’t like. It’s now expanding that feature and it will start to become available on more apps and websites that partner with Google for advertising. And now, it will also work across devices. So if you mute an ad on your phone, it will also be muted on your laptop.

Google isn’t the only company changing how users experience ads. Last year, Apple announced that High Sierra’s Safari would stop advertisers from tracking users as they visit different sites, which also got around the reminder ad problem. And Google has said that this year, new versions of Chrome will automatically block annoying ads like pop-ups, autoplaying ads, countdowns and large ads. Chrome 64 is also expected to have an option for users to mute websites that have autoplay videos.

Google’s new ad tools are rolling out today but keep in mind, they only work on ads delivered by Google.

Image: Google

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Google

Apple will redesign iBooks for the first time in years

For the past few years, iBooks has been a bit of an afterthought for Apple. The app, which is available on iPhones, iPads and Macs, has a clunky interface and poor navigation for the ebook store. But now, Apple is putting books front and center with a renamed app and a much-needed redesign, according to Bloomberg. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on what the app refresh will entail.

Developers can download iOS 11.3 now (its final version will be available in the spring), and many have noticed that iBooks has been renamed, simply, “Books.” It follows the example of the Apple Podcasts app, though that redesign hasn’t been met with much praise. The new Books app design will includes a section called “Reading Now” and a dedicated audiobook tab, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

Amazon has dominated the ebook market after the U.S. Department of Justice ruled that Apple conspired to raise ebook prices back in 2012. In 2016, Apple settled a class action lawsuit for $450 million. After these sanctions, Apple focused on other priorities.

In December, Apple hired Kashif Zafar, an SVP of Audible, which is the Amazon-owned ebook company, to turn the focus back to Books and lead the app refresh effort. It will certainly be interesting to see what it looks like, and whether the company can succeed in wresting some of the ebook market share away from Amazon.

Source: Bloomberg

Twitter may copy Snapchat to make video sharing easier

Poor Snapchat. Everything it does gets copied by everyone from Facebook to Skype to Google and now Twitter seems to be on the Snapchat-aping bandwagon. Bloomberg reports that the company is working on a feature that will make it easier for users to post videos than its current multi-step setup allows. Rather than tapping the compose button, then the camera button, then the record button, this new feature is reportedly more camera-centric and simpler to navigate.

Though Snapchat keeps pumping out innovative features that every other company then grabs for themselves, it has been struggling to gain new users. Last week it laid off 22 employees and reportedly consolidated its operations. But features that Snapchat pioneered have become some of the most popular features on other social networks. Last year, Instagram Stories users outpaced Snapchat users by tens of millions of people and Instagram has continued to expand its filter offerings. Along with short videos and stories, Snapchat’s AR objects and stickers have also spread across various other platforms.

There aren’t many details available about Twitter’s video feature, but sources told Bloomberg that the company has a working demo. They also said that it could change significantly before being launched and there’s no word yet on when that might happen. In 2016, speaking at a conference, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called his own platform confusing and said, “I think [Snapchat’s] very modern. It’s recognizing that we’re going to press buttons less and gesture more.”

Via: Bloomberg

iOS 11.3 Finally Allows Sorting of App Store Reviews

Apple’s upcoming iOS 11.3 software update, the first beta of which was seeded to developers on Wednesday, finally adds the small but useful ability to sort App Store reviews on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

After tapping on See All under the Ratings & Reviews section in the App Store, users can now sort the reviews according to four categories, including Most Helpful, Most Favorable, Most Critical, and Most Recent.

• Most Helpful shows reviews that have received the most “Helpful” feedback from other users. Any user can designate a review as “Helpful” or “Not Helpful” by deeply pressing the text bubble via 3D Touch.
• Most Favorable shows reviews with the highest ratings, starting with five stars.
• Most Critical shows reviews with the lowest ratings, starting with one star.
• Most Recent shows reviews in reverse chronological order, with the most recently submitted reviews appearing first.

There is no way to sort App Store reviews on earlier versions of iOS 11, so this is a welcomed change, especially considering the App Store was showing old, irrelevant reviews from as early as 2008 for some users.

On earlier software versions like iOS 9, reviews could be filtered based on the latest version or all versions of an app, but these sorting options were removed when the section was streamlined on iOS 10 and later.

iOS 11.3 is currently in testing for developers, with a public beta to follow soon. The software update will be publicly released this spring.

Related Roundup: iOS 11Tag: App Store
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Sonos Announces Limited Time Sale Offering Two ‘Sonos One’ Speakers for $349

Sonos has announced a limited time sale launching tomorrow, January 26 in the United States and United Kingdom, bundling two of the company’s Sonos One speakers together for $349/£349. Individual Sonos One devices cost $199 in the U.S., so the company’s new sale offers $50 in savings.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Sonos. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The sale offers two Sonos Ones for the same price as Apple’s $349 HomePod, and is debuting on the same day that customers will be able to pre-order the HomePod in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. With two Sonos Ones, users can have a stereo pair of speakers to enhance sound, or play music across multiple rooms — two features HomePod will not have at launch.

“Sonos One sounds incredible on its own, but the ability to have a stereo pair or have music in two rooms vs. one at $349 US feels like it’s an easy choice for those who truly love music,” said Joy Howard, chief marketing officer at Sonos. “We believe in freedom of choice and don’t want to lock people into a specific ecosystem – it’s why we support more than 80 streaming services globally and will take an agnostic approach to voice assistants as well.”

Sonos One supports Amazon Alexa, and the company previously confirmed that Google Assistant is coming later this year. Support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol is planned for 2018 as well. Like other smart speakers, Sonos One can be controlled with voice and can read out information sourced from Alexa like the weather and news. Sonos launched the Sonos One in October 2017.

Sonos did not mention how long the new limited sale will last, but confirmed those interested will be able to take advantage of the offer on Sonos.com and through participating retailers. We’ll update this post tomorrow if the company creates a new landing page for the sale.

Tag: Sonos
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LG’s latest financials explain its shift in mobile strategy

Earlier this month, LG said that it would row back on its smartphone ambitions by abandoning an annual cycle of smartphone launches. Rather than releasing a flagship just because Samsung did, LG would only pump out a handset when it felt that it should. The report speculated that the move was in anticipation of more bad news for LG Mobile when its fourth-quarter financials were published. Now that the figures are out, it’s clear that LG’s patience for the division has worn thin, since it managed to lose $204.8 million in just three months.

Weirdly, such a loss actually looks pretty good on LG’s balance sheets, simply because LG Mobile lost even more — $331 million — in the previous quarter. The company could also point to a 9 percent bump in sales thanks to the V30 and the popular Pixel 2XL, which LG builds for Google. On the downside, the company cites the usual rocky market, increased component costs and tough competition. And the plan to recover from that, beyond abandoning regular premium phone launches, is to focus more on mass-market devices.

Which brings us to the G7 itself, which we were expecting to see pop out at MWC at the end of February. According to the Korea Herald, LG executive Jo Seong-jin ordered a dramatic redesign of the handset earlier this month. Apparently, designers were told to stop what they were doing and “review the new product from scratch,” so it’s likely it won’t appear for several months. The delay may help LG’s bank balance, however, since there’s speculation LG spends money it can’t afford on marketing new flagships.

Beyond mobile, however, LG’s a well-oiled, profit-making machine, making decent profits in home appliances and big money in home entertainment. The company claims that its slightly lackluster appliance profits were due to increased investment in its new Signature and ThinQ-branded products. TVs, meanwhile, were a big deal for the company thanks to increased sales in North America, Europe and Latin America. Overall, the Korean firm pulled in $344.7 million, which isn’t bad for a company trying to keep a head above water while anchored to a loss-making mobile division.

LG’s report also looks at the threats to its businesses in the future, including Chinese phone manufacturers and US trade protectionism. The latter is going to hurt LG pretty badly, since its popular (and Korean-made) washing machines are now subject to restrictive tariffs. The first 1.2 million imported into the US are subject to a 20 percent levy, while additional units will be subject to a 50 percent toll. It’ll be very interesting to see how this affects LG’s business in the next few months, especially as its phone division goes under a shift in strategy as well.

Source: LG (.PDF)