Google’s Project Fi now offers unlimited data (with a catch)

Google’s Project Fi can make sense if you only use a smattering of data and want to save money, but it hasn’t been an especially good deal if you consume gigabytes like they’re going out of style. Thankfully, there’s now an unlimited option… of sorts. Google has introduced a Bill Protection feature that caps your data bill at $60 if you use over 6GB in a given month. In other words, $60 (plus your base bill) gives you as much data as you need. It’s not quite an unlimited plan in the strictest sense, though — it’s more of a bridge between Fi’s original approach and what incumbent US carriers offer.

If you run over 15GB in a month as an individual user (the number is different for group plans), you’ll be throttled to “slower” speeds. We’ve asked Google if it can say what those speeds are. If you’re determined to use your service at full speed, you can pay for your individual data use above that 15GB threshold at $10 per gig. This is stricter than the potential slowdowns you typically face with major US carriers when running over the limit, but this at least gives you a way to avoid slowdowns entirely if you have the budget.

Bill Protection also applies to international use and data-only service, Google adds. It’s rolling out now to both individuals and groups, and should kick in with your next billing cycle.

Google is betting that this represents the best of both worlds for most users: you can get effectively unlimited data if you want it, but you don’t have to pay for unlimited data in those months where you’re using only a couple of gigs. You’ll still want to consider one of the incumbent networks if you hate the very thought of guaranteed throttling, but you don’t have to turn to them if you’re more interested in keeping costs down than ensuring full performance.

Update: Google tells us the slowdown after 15GB cutoff drops you to 256Kbps. That’s usable for basic tasks, but you definitely won’t be streaming Netflix at that speed.

Source: Google

GAO expects delays in SpaceX and Boeing astronaut flight certification

It’s no secret that NASA is pretty far behind schedule when it comes to returning to human spaceflight. Currently it’s working with two contractors, Boeing and SpaceX, for eventual crewed flights. Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology asked NASA some hard questions about the delays, and it turns out the setbacks aren’t over yet. Cristina Chaplain from the GAO, who testified at the hearing, said, “We’ve found that the program’s own analysis indicates that certification is likely to slip into December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing.” Both companies are currently scheduled to be certified in the first quarter of 2019, and both companies maintained during the hearing that they are confident in their current schedules.

According to William Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate at NASA who also testified at the hearing, the US is currently covered through fall of 2019, thanks to seats we’ve purchased on Russian Soyuz rockets. After that, though, it becomes a real problem. If there are additional delays to either of these schedules, Russia can’t build more Soyuz capsules in time to accommodate the US, and there are no more seats reserved for U.S. astronauts. While Gerstenmaier said that NASA is brainstorming about how to find additional flights if such an action becomes necessary, that doesn’t change the constraint here. There’s currently one vehicle able to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. It’s not clear where NASA expects to find more choices there.

It’s important to note that certification is different than a first flight. While SpaceX and Boeing are both scheduled to send their first crewed flights into space by the end of 2018, it’s likely they will slip into early next year. Human-rating certification, on the other hand, is a rigorous process to ensure that the system (crew capsule and launch vehicle) is safe to regularly carry astronauts.

The delays are certainly frustrating, and we can add to that the fact that the ISS is currently only scheduled to be in operation through 2024. It’s looking like we’ll be getting very close to the end of the space station’s life before the US has a regular method to send astronauts there and bring them home. That being said, NASA’s certification program is rigorous (it will require seven flights of the Block 5 Falcon 9 before it allows the system to be certified to carry humans), and safety comes first. At the hearing, Gerstenmaier said, “NASA is aware of the schedule, but not driven by the schedule.” This is an incredibly complicated process, and it’s important to get it right, with a minimum of risk for astronauts.

Source: YouTube

‘chaiOS’ bug can cause iMessage to crash with a text message

There’s a new bug floating around called “chaiOS” that appears to be a basic GitHub link. However, when you text it to a person via the iMessage app (whether on iOS or MacOS), it will crash the app and possibly cause the device to freeze and restart. In other words: Be aware that this exists, but don’t send it to anyone.

👋 Effective Power is back, baby!

chaiOS bug:
Text the link below, it will freeze the recipient’s device, and possibly restart it. https://t.co/Ln93XN51Kq

⚠️ Do not use it for bad stuff.
—-
thanks to @aaronp613 @garnerlogan65 @lepidusdev @brensalsa for testing!

— Abraham Masri (@cheesecakeufo) January 16, 2018

It was Twitter user Abraham Masri who first uncovered the bug. The people over at 9to5Mac tested it out, and it certainly messed up their devices. They reported crashes and severe lags as a result of the bugs that persisted until the thread containing the link was deleted from the iMessage app. If you did send or receive it, and your device is a mess, there’s also a fix in the replies to Masri’s original tweet. We’ve reached out to Apple to confirm that their team is aware of the bug, and to see if there are any fixes in the works.

To be clear, this bug won’t cause permanent damage to your device if you send it, but it certainly has the potential to cause some annoyance. It’s not clear exactly how it works, but Masri tied it back to the “effective power” bug in his tweet. This dates back to 2015 and caused some havoc, as simply sending a text message was enough to cause the recipient’s iPhone to crash continuously. Apple has since fixed the bug.

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: Twitter

Facebook adds livestream features to old videos

Facebook says its Live videos are wildly popular and generate around six times the interaction other videos do. That’s why it’s testing a new feature that adds the elements responsible for making Live a more engaging, interactive experience to non-Live videos on the platform. Starting today, select Groups will have access to “Watch Party,” an experimental tool that creates a shared experience for multiple users. It allows administrators to post any public video on their Group, which members can then watch together at the same time. (Also, it probably helps that a billion accounts use Facebook Groups every month.) They can even leave comments and reactions that show up on screen the same way they do on Live, whatever it is they’re watching.

The company decided to conduct initial testing within Groups, since members are bound by common interests and are more inclined to watch videos together. A lot of people join Groups to get the latest news about their interest, after all, and information is often presented in video form on the website. Fidji Simo, Facebook’s VP of Product, said the social network will be studying how testers use Watch Party in order to get it ready for a wider release in the future.

Source: Fidji Simo (Facebook)

Xfinity customers will get a ton of Winter Olympics content next month

The Olympics offer a unique technical challenge for TV broadcasters and cable companies every few years. With the 2018 Winter Olympics just a few weeks away, Comcast has announced its plans to offer a pretty huge variety of coverage for its Xfinity TV subscribers. That’s a result of the fact that Comcast owns the exclusive US Olympics broadcaster, NBC, which means viewers who use different cable providers aren’t going to get the same level of coverage. That’s unfortunate, but those that do subscribe to Xfinity and are Olympics fans have a lot to look forward to.

For starters, it’s worth noting that the Winter Olympics take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea; thanks to the time difference, many events will take place in prime time here in the US. NBC will broadcast its nightly Olympics prime-time coverage live, with no tape delay, so it should be a lot easier than in years past to see your favorite sports live. Xfinity’s Olympics Home will show viewers everything that’s airing live across various networks (including NBC proper, NBC Sports, USA and several others). From there, you’ll also be able to quickly browse highlights, check out a daily summary, the current medal count and the day’s schedule and jump into whatever particular video you want to view.

For live content, Xfinity is offering “instant on demand,” which basically means you can tune in to any live broadcast and then tell it to start from the beginning. So if you’re jumping into the day’s coverage late, you can still start right from the beginning without having to save it to your DVR.

Another big part of Xfinity’s Winter Olympics coverage is something they’re calling “virtual channels.” These aren’t dissimilar to YouTube playlists focused around specific themes — they’ll primarily be made up of shorter clips (around five minutes each, though that can vary). Naturally, there will be channels for individual sports, but there will also be themes like ” biggest upsets,” “fantastic finishes,” “funniest moments” as well as daily recaps, the best moments from the previous night, profiles of teams and athletes and so forth. For people who don’t want to sit down and just get a quick taste of the most popular trending stories or focus on specific sports, these channels should be helpful.

Xfinity customers get a handful of other niceties, as well. The voice-capable X1 remote will let you ask for a variety of content, like medal counts, sports and athletes. The company’s X1 Sports companion app lets you pull up a sidebar of Olympics content on the TV to keep track of scores and standings for other events, and if you see something you want to watch in that sidebar, you can just scroll over and click it to launch. Finally, the Xfinity Stream app for iOS and Android will basically mirror the Olympics experience users get on their TV, so you’ll get the same experience for keeping up on the games away from the big screen in your house.

And if your big screen is a 4K TV, NBC and Xfinity will have super high-definition content to check out. Unfortunately, it isn’t live broadcasts, but a whole bunch of the bigger stuff events will be available on-demand the following day in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos sound. The opening ceremony, closing ceremony, figure skating, ski jumping, snowboard “big air” and men’s hockey are all getting this treatment, among a few other events. It’s not the entire slate of coverage, but this will likely be the biggest sporting event to catch in 4K thus far. Maybe by the Summer 2020 games, we’ll actually get some live 4K broadcasts.

As mentioned earlier, this is all only available for Xfinity customers, but Comcast says that almost anyone with a cable subscription beyond the bare-bones basic tier will get all of this coverage included with their subscription. Given how many people were unhappy with not being able to keep up with events live during the 2012 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Comcast’s plan sounds a lot better — getting tons of coverage live is probably the most important thing here, and having easy ways to catch up on events that viewers miss should make the Olympics a lot more enjoyable for Xfinity customers.

Design Ethicist Imagines How Apple Could Help Combat Tech Addiction in Future iOS Updates

A little over one week after Apple investors urged the company to do more to protect children from smartphone addiction, a new column by The New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo has looked into potential ideas that Apple could implement in a future iOS update to curb addiction for all users, including kids.

Manjoo spoke with Tristan Harris, former design ethicist for Google and owner of Time Well Spent — an organization that works to improve technology’s impact on society — and Harris offered a few suggestions for ways Apple could help combat smartphone addiction. While Harris’s ideas are not confirmations for features coming to iOS in 2018 and beyond, it is an interesting glimpse into potential solutions Apple might implement if it decides to tackle this issue down the line.

To start, he suggested a way for Apple to offer feedback on the iOS devices that customers use, imagining a weekly report that would include the time spent within apps in a sort of ranking system. Users could then set prompts for future weeks that would pop up when their time spent in a specific app is reaching their set limit.

Imagine if, once a week, your phone gave you a report on how you spent your time, similar to how your activity tracker tells you how sedentary you were last week. It could also needle you: “Farhad, you spent half your week scrolling through Twitter. Do you really feel proud of that?” It could offer to help: “If I notice you spending too much time on Snapchat next week, would you like me to remind you?”

Harris then focused on notifications, which have long been an area that iOS users have asked to be updated. The new idea was for more granular, “priority level” notifications that Apple would require to be placed on every app. Harris explained there would be three levels for “heavy users, regular users and lite, or Zen,” and then Apple would have to pen the rules for which notifications would go to each level.

So, for example, if someone chose the medium “regular” level, a DM from a friend on Instagram would appear on the lock screen. But at the same time, something less important — like when Instagram sends out a reminder to view a friend’s Story — would be prevented from appearing. “And then Apple could say, by default, everyone is in the middle level — and instantly it could save a ton of users a ton of energy in dealing with this,” Harris explained.

If Apple implemented similar features, Manjoo pointed out that it could set a precedent for the industry as a whole.

Every tech company needs a presence on the iPhone or iPad; this means that Apple can set the rules for everyone. With a single update to its operating system and its app store, Apple could curb some of the worst excesses in how apps monitor and notify you to keep you hooked (as it has done, for instance, by allowing ad blockers in its mobile devices). And because other smartphone makers tend to copy Apple’s best inventions, whatever it did to curb our dependence on our phones would be widely emulated.

Following the investors’ open letter last week, Apple stated that it thinks about its products’ impact on users, and it takes this responsibility “very seriously.” With a larger spotlight being shined on the issue, Harris said that now is Apple’s “time to step up” and really get behind anti-addiction features for its devices. Harris went on to say that in regards to this problem, Apple “may be our only hope.”

Tag: nytimes.com
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Apple Orders Comedy Series Starring Kristen Wiig

Apple has placed an order for a 10-episode half-hour comedy show starring Kristen Wiig, reports Variety. The show is said to be based on the upcoming “You Think It, I’ll Say It” short story collection by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s book features 10 stories that “upend assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided,” according to its description on Amazon. It was created by Colleen McGuinness, who worked on “30 Rock,” “Mercy,” and “About a Boy.”

Image via Esquire
The television show will be Wiig’s first regular role since leaving “Saturday Night Live” in 2012. Over the course of the last few years, Wiig has focused heavily on movies, starring in “Bridesmaids,” “The Martian,” and “Ghostbusters.”

Wiig will serve as an executive producer on the comedy alongside Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter, with author Sittenfeld serving as a consulting producer.

The new Kristen Wiig comedy is the third show Apple is working on alongside Reese Witherspoon and her Hello Sunshine company. Witherspoon herself will star in an upcoming morning show drama alongside Jennifer Aniston, and she’s also executive producing “Are You Sleeping,” a psychological thriller starring Octavia Spencer.

Other TV shows in the works at Apple include Steven Spielberg sci-fi series “Amazing Stories,” an untitled space drama developed by Ronald D. Moore, known for “Battlestar Galactica,” “Home,” a docuseries that will look at extraordinary houses, and “See,” an epic world-building drama set in the future.

Apple is also said to be in a bidding war for a new sci-fi drama series penned by J.J. Abrams.

Related Roundup: Apple TVTag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitionsBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of iOS 11.2.5 to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.2.5 update to developers, one week after seeding the fifth beta and a little over a week after releasing iOS 11.2.2, an update designed to mitigate a serious hardware-based vulnerability called “Spectre.”

Registered developers can download the iOS 11.2.5 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

iOS 11.2.5 introduces a new feature that lets Siri play daily news podcasts when queried about the current news. Siri will offer up news from The Washington Post by default, but you can also choose to switch to Fox News, CNN, or NPR.

The new audio news feature, which appears to have been developed for use with Apple’s upcoming HomePod speaker, is invoked when using Hey Siri or asking Siri about the news when using CarPlay or with headphones connected – essentially any situation where you’re not looking at the display of an iOS device. If you activate Siri using the side button or Home button of a device, standard Apple news headlines are provided instead of the audio-based news highlights. This new feature is also available on devices running iOS 11.2.2 as of this week.

It’s not clear what other new features, if any, will be included in the iOS 11.2.5 beta. We didn’t discover other noticeable outward-facing changes in the first five iOS 11.2.5 betas, so it’s possible this update focuses mainly on bug fixes and security improvements aside from the Siri news update.

If that’s the case, we may not know the extent of what’s in the update until it sees a public release. Apple is supposed to be releasing an iCloud Messages feature that was pulled from the iOS 11 release, but there has been no indication of when we can expect iCloud Messages to be reintroduced.

Should new features be discovered in the sixth beta of iOS 11.2.5, we’ll update this post.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of tvOS 11.2.5 to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2.5 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the fifth beta and more than a month after the release of tvOS 11.2.1, an update that introduced a fix for a HomeKit vulnerability.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 11.2.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that’s installed using Xcode.

We don’t yet know what features or changes might be included in the tvOS 11.2.5 update, but it likely focuses primarily on bug fixes and performance improvements rather than major outward-facing changes.

There were no outward-facing changes discovered in the first five developer betas, but we’ll update this post should new features be found in the sixth beta.

Related Roundup: Apple TVBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Is DJI about to unveil its first fixed-wing consumer drone?

DJI is on the verge of announcing a brand new product, though a teaser video (above) released on January 16 is giving little away.

The event takes place in New York City on January 23 at 10 a.m. ET, with many expecting DJI to unveil its first drone since the launch of its popular Spark quadcopter in 2017.

The drone company announced a couple of new camera gimbals at CES 2018 earlier this month, but has apparently decided to keep its very latest product under wraps for a little while longer, putting it center stage at its own unveiling event.

In a supremely hyperbolic promo video with the tagline “adventure unfolds,” a narrator from the School of Overly Dramatic Acting declares that although the origin of humanity is mysterious and remarkable, “are we ready for what’s to come?” Well, if it’s some horrendous plague that threatens to wipe out the entire human race or an alien invasion from another galaxy, then probably not. But if it’s a remotely controlled flying machine aimed at the consumer technology market, then bring it on.

Having already scored big successes with its Phantom, Mavic, and Spark drones, the money is on DJI adding another one to its growing range.

The video shows some deliberately vague shots of the product, leaving fans to reach their own conclusions about what’s coming.

Considering the noise it’s making about the upcoming event, it’ll surely be something very different for DJI, so perhaps it’s about to launch its first fixed-wing drone along the lines of the Parrot Disco or Yuneec’s recently announced Firebird FPV. Come to think of it, is that a wing we see at the end of DJI’s video?

Such fixed-wing machines generally need wide-open spaces to fly, and also require a different set of skills to master than regular quadcopters, though that could be a plus for drone enthusiasts looking for a new kind of piloting experience.

At the other end of the scale, DJI may take the wraps off its very first racing drone, a diminutive design at the center of an increasingly popular sport.

Either way, all will be revealed on January 23, so be sure to check back for all the details.

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