Moto G4 Play finally has Android 7.1.1 Nougat 13 months later

Who needs Oreo when you have Nougat, right?

Back in 2016, Motorola released three entries in its G-series with the Moto G4, G4 Play, and G4 Plus. The G4 and G4 Plus were both updated to Nougat later in the year, but the same could never be said for the G4 Play. Motorola was running Nougat soak tests for the G4 Play at one point in 2017, but an official over-the-air update was never released.

Now, in January of 2018, this is finally changing. One Redditor shared a screenshot of their G4 Play, and sure enough, it’s running Android 7.1.1 Nougat (a version of Android that’s now 13 months old) with the November 2017 security patch.

We aren’t sure why it took Motorola so long to get Nougat pushed to the G4 Play, but we’re certainly glad that it’s finally here. Unfortunately, don’t expect to be using Oreo at any point in the future. This is the last planned update that Motorola has for the G4 Play, but considering that this is a phone nearing two years of age that had a retail price of $99, that’s not all that surprising.

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai won’t be attending CES 2018 due to death threats

Disagreeing with the guy’s one thing, but death threats are never okay.

No matter who you are, there’s a good chance you’re at least somewhat familiar with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai proposed to repeal Obama-era net neutrality laws that have been in place since 2015, and on December 15, 2017, this proposal was officially passed in a 3-2 vote.

Pai’s stance on net neutrality has made him an incredibly disliked public figure, and it’s gotten to the point where his safety has been put at risk. A bomb threat was called in during the December 15 meeting right before the net neutrality repeal, and now it’s been confirmed that Pai won’t be attending CES 2018 due to death threats.

Ajit Pai was scheduled to have a fireside chat during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and while it was announced on the evening of January 3 that this had been scrapped, it wasn’t confirmed until January 4 that the reason for this was, in fact, death threats.

The FCC hasn’t officially commented on this matter, simply saying “We do not comment on security measures or concerns.”

As it’s mentioned at the beginning of this article, it’s one thing to disagree with someone’s stance on an issue, but making threats to their well-being is both counterproductive and illegal. Talking with people in office about things that affect us all is how we make progress, but if Pai can’t show his face at an open setting because of threats like this, nothing gets done.

Feel free to vent and complain all you want about Pai’s net neutrality stance, but make sure you think twice before threatening the man’s life.

GOP representative intros bill to restore some net neutrality principles

Intel says it will patch 90 percent of recent chips by next week (updated)

A little more than a day since Google Project Zero went public with its findings regarding a major security flaw in Intel (and others) chip designs, the company announced that it is already is pushing out patches to eliminate the vulnerability. Intel has “already issued updates for the majority of processor products introduced within the past five years,” per the company press release, and expects to have 90 percent of affected chips produced within the past five years patched by the end of the week.

The flaw, which afflicts chips made over the past decade, enables ordinary processes to determine the layout of protected kernel memory. This “software analysis method”, as Intel describes the flaw, allows a pair of exploits, dubbed “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” to swipe data from other apps on vulnerable devices — be they PCs, servers or mobile phones — running Intel, ARM or AMD chips.

The solution cooked up by Intel and its partners so far entails severing the link between the kernel and these processes, though that could have a dramatic impact on a patched chip’s operating speed. The company asserts that the impacts will be “highly workload-dependent” and not particularly noticeable by the average consumer.

Update: Microsoft says it will release an update for Surface devices to protect them against the chip vulnerability. The company also explains that it “has not received any information to indicate that these vulnerabilities have been used to attack customers at this time.”

You can check the list of Surface gear that will receive the patch at the link above, but Microsoft says the updates will be available devices running Windows 10 with Windows Update or through the Microsoft Download Center.

Source: Intel

‘Lost’ is now streaming on Hulu after leaving Netflix

Back in the day, a show leaving Netflix (like the exodus of the beloved Battlestar Galactica reboot in 2014) meant you could only revisit it by buying a collection. But Hulu spent the latter half of 2016 scooping up big-name shows that left Netflix like Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, 30 Rock and Parenthood. Today, they scored another hit show that once enthralled network viewers nationwide: Lost.

It’s been over seven years since the show aired its finale; And yes, Lost has become a byword for mystery shows with huge promises and few answers. But the show was, is, and shall be a treasure — a series that tonally jogged between humor, terror, action and romance with erratic grace and occasional brilliance. In retrospect, Lost is nowhere near as cohesive as other highly-lauded shows, but its cocktail of supernatural events and all-too-human drama was potent enough to rule watercooler conversations for its whole six-season run. (And yes, I have been dying on this hill since it aired.)

You’ll never be able to tune in alongside millions of fans again, but the show’s existential quandaries are timeless. But should you want to fire up the pilot and join the 2004 zeitgeist, you can catch Lost on Hulu now.

A quick chat with Alexa can start charging your EV

If you drive an electric car and would rather not venture into the garage (or wade through a phone app) to start charging, you can now rest easy. ChargePoint has introduced Alexa support to its Home system, giving you voice control over your EV charging. You can start charging, stop charging or find out whether you’re plugged in just by talking to a device like an Echo speaker. If you have Nest hardware, you can link charging to multiple parts of your home. And if you top up at ChargePoint stations away from home, you can check your balance or see how much you’ve spent on electricity so far.

The ChargePoint app itself has a pair of upgrades. You can get notifications when a nearby station opens up, and upload photos of stations so fellow travelers know what to look for. There’s a third-party app update for Tesla owners as well — Teslarati now shows ChargePoint stations, which might save your hide if you’re nowhere near a Supercharger. If all goes well, you should spend less time hunting for a top-up and more time actually driving.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: ChargePoint

FCC releases the text of its order to undo net neutrality

A few weeks after the FCC voted to undo Title II protections for net neutrality, it has released the final text of its “Restoring Internet Freedom Order.” That includes the contained arguments for why chairman Ajit Pai and two other commissioners believe the existing rules were harmful and absolutely must go, as well as dissenting opinions from commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. Among the items addressed, it includes a note claiming that “identical or nearly-identical non-substantive comments
that simply convey support or opposition” did not impact the commission

If you’ve been paying attention to the debate then you’ll be familiar with the various sides, but the 539-page document’s release sets the stage for the next step: hearings, lawsuits, attempts by states and cities to establish their own rules, and attempts by Congress to firm up the rules in one way or another. Chairman Pai won’t speak at CES next week, reportedly due to death threats, so if you’d like more information on why he pushed through such an unpopular decision, then for now this is the only way.

The @FCC just released the text of its decision rolling back #NetNeutrality. https://t.co/bA0O2dmmwb

Warning: it’s not good. But we’re going to fight. And we won’t stop until internet openness is the law of the land. My statement below: pic.twitter.com/8ZMLLuHlJA

— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) January 4, 2018

Text of the @FCC majority’s #NetNeutrality repeal has finally been released. Took almost 6,000 words for me to detail all that is wrong with this action. Read my complete written dissent here: https://t.co/ZlEF3alRvD

— Mignon Clyburn (@MClyburnFCC) January 4, 2018

Great news! The final text of the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order is out.

My statement –> https://t.co/Qz6fLXDgo2 pic.twitter.com/n4HbAZwdBH

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) January 5, 2018

Source: FCC

Jimmy Iovine Allegedly Planning to Leave Apple in August

Apple Music exec Jimmy Iovine, who works alongside Dr. Dre, Eddy Cue, Robert Kondrk, Trent Reznor and other prominent executives is planning to leave Apple in August, reports Billboard.

The rumor about Iovine’s alleged departure from Apple first surfaced on music rumor site Hits Daily Double, but Billboard says its sources have confirmed the news. According to Billboard, Iovine’s exit will be timed with the vesting of stock he acquired when first joining Apple.

Iovine joined the Apple Music team back in 2014, when Apple acquired Beats Electronics and the Beats Music streaming service, both of which were co-founded by Iovine and Dr. Dre. Iovine has had a long history with the company, though, first pitching a subscription music service to Steve Jobs in 2003.

Iovine does not have an official title at Apple, but he has been heavily involved in with Apple Music since its 2015 launch and has negotiated many of the streaming deals for the service.

Under Iovine’s leadership, Apple music has seen strong growth since its debut, with the service now boasting more than 30 million subscribers.

Should Iovine leave Apple, it’s not clear if he would be replaced, nor what his plans are after departing the company.

Tags: Jimmy Iovine, Apple Music
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Apple Confirms ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ Vulnerabilities Impact All Macs and iOS Devices, Some Fixes Already Released

Apple today confirmed that it has addressed the recent “Meltdown” vulnerability in previously released iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 updates, with additional fixes coming to Safari in the near future to defend against the “Spectre” vulnerability.

Apple has also confirmed that the two vulnerabilities affect all Mac and iOS devices. The company’s full statement, available through a new support document covering Meltdown and Spectre, is below:

Security researchers have recently uncovered security issues known by two names, Meltdown and Spectre. These issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all computing devices and operating systems.

All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time. Since exploiting many of these issues requires a malicious app to be loaded on your Mac or iOS device, we recommend downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store.

Apple has already released mitigations in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2 to help defend against Meltdown. Apple Watch is not affected by Meltdown. In the coming days we plan to release mitigations in Safari to help defend against Spectre. We continue to develop and test further mitigations for these issues and will release them in upcoming updates of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

Apple’s statement does not make it clear if these vulnerabilities have been addressed in older versions of iOS and Mac, but for Macs, there were security updates for older versions of macOS released alongside macOS 10.13.2, so it’s possible fixes are already available for Sierra and El Capitan.

News of the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities first came to light this week, but Intel and major operating system vendors like Apple, Linux, and Microsoft have known about the issue for several months and worked to prepare a fix before the security flaws were publicly shared.

Spectre and Meltdown are serious vulnerabilities that take advantage of the speculative execution mechanism of a CPU. As these use hardware-based flaws, operating system manufacturers are required to implement software workarounds. These software workarounds can impact processor performance, but Intel has insisted every day users will not see serious slowdowns. Apple also says that no measurable impact has been detected in macOS and iOS.

Apple released mitigations for Meltdown in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2. watchOS did not require mitigation. Our testing with public benchmarks has shown that the changes in the December 2017 updates resulted in no measurable reduction in the performance of macOS and iOS as measured by the GeekBench 4 benchmark, or in common Web browsing benchmarks such as Speedometer, JetStream, and ARES-6.

The Meltdown vulnerability allows a malicious program to read kernel memory, accessing data like passwords, emails, documents, photos, and more. Meltdown can be exploited to read the entire physical memory of a target machine. The vulnerability is particularly problematic for cloud-based services.

Spectre, which covers two exploitation techniques, breaks the isolation between different applications. Apple says that while the Spectre vulnerability is difficult to exploit, it can be done using JavaScript in a web browser. Apple plans to release Safari updates for macOS and iOS to prevent Spectre-based exploits.

As with the Meltdown vulnerability, Apple says the upcoming Safari mitigations will have “no measurable impact” on Speedometer and ARES-6 tests, and an impat of less than 2.5% on the JetStream benchmark.

Apple says it will continue to test further mitigations for Spectre and will release them in future versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
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HP recalls laptop batteries due to overheating issues

If you’ve got an HP notebook or mobile workstation computer, you’ll want to check out the latest battery recall from the company. Lithium-ion batteries for affected HP laptops were shipped between December 2015 and December 2017. There have been eight reports of the battery packs overheating, melting or charring, three of which include reports of $4,500 in property damage and one report of a first degree burn to a hand.

You’ll want to go to here to see if your model is one of the ones named in the recall. If so, you can enable a battery safety mode and get instructions on how to get your battery replaced by an authorized technician, since these batteries are not able to be replaced by consumers. According to the recall notice, affected models include HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series), HPx360 310 G2, HP Envy m6, HP Pavilion x360, HP 11, HP ZBook (17 G3, 17 G4, and Studio G3) Mobile Workstations. In addition, batteries sold as replacement or accessories for the HP XBook Studio G4 mobile workstation are also named.

Source: Consumer Product Safety Comission

Ajit Pai reportedly cancelled CES appearance due to death threats

Yesterday, CES announced that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai would no longer be appearing at the trade show where he was scheduled to take part in a conversation with FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen. No reasons were given by CES or the FCC at the time for the sudden change in plans, but Recode now reports that the cancellation is due to Pai receiving death threats. Two FCC sources said the threats were the cause and that law enforcement had become involved with the issue.

Pai has come under fire for a number of the decisions he’s made since taking over as chairman, but none have garnered as much negative attention as his rollback of net neutrality protections. Pai has stated that he and his family have been threatened both in public and online and he and the rest of the FCC were forced to briefly suspend their December 14th vote on the net neutrality rollbacks after a bomb threat was issued. The person claiming responsibility for that threat was also allegedly responsible for a swatting hoax last week that ended in the death of a Kansas man. A congressman also received a death threat regarding the net neutrality decision.

A spokesperson for Pai told Recode, “We do not comment on security measures or concerns.” FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly will still be speaking at CES and Chairman Ohlhausen is now scheduled to appear alongside Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Via: Recode