LG’s next flagship phone may tout an extra-bright, low-power screen

Just because LG is shying away from typical smartphone release cycles doesn’t mean it will have nothing big to show in 2018. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has heard that LG is planning to unveil a new flagship phone, nicknamed Judy. The star attraction, as with the G6, would be the display — though not for the usual reasons like size or resolution. Judy would have a 6.1-inch, 18:9 ratio screen whose MLCD+ technology (which includes white sub-pixels) promises a high 800-nit brightness while consuming 35 percent less power than a typical IPS LCD panel. You could use the phone outside on a sunny day without killing your battery as quickly as usual.

After that? Mostly, LG would be ticking checkboxes on what you’d hope for in a 2018 smartphone. You’d get a Snapdragon 845 processor (albeit with ‘just’ 4GB of RAM), dual 16-megapixel rear cameras with glass optics and f/1.6 apertures, stereo speakers, HDR visuals, water resistance and wireless charging. Logically, the AI camera technology from the upcoming V30 upgrade would also make the cut.

Don’t expect to see it at Mobile World Congress later in February. Reportedly, LG launches Judy in June — later than usual for the company, and certainly later than Samsung’s Galaxy S9. The company will have to convince buyers that it was worth the wait, and a clever display will only go so far.

Source: VentureBeat

The flu is poking holes in hospital cybersecurity, and a shot can’t save you

BSIP/Getty Images

(in)Secure is a weekly column that dives into the rapidly escalating topic of cybersecurity.

When it comes to cybersecurity breaches, we tend to think of large corporations or governmental institutions that hold vast amounts of personal data. However, hospitals and medical centers are organizations that hold onto thousands of personal records. When they’re hit by epidemics as bad this year’s flu outbreak, they’re left completely vulnerable to a cyberattack that could touch their patients’ valuable medical records.

We spoke with Shane Whitlatch, an executive at the cybersecurity company FairWarning, whose clients are hospitals that have been or could one day be the victims of cybersecurity attacks. According to their information, something as harmless as checking in to a hospital when you have the flu could have huge ramifications on your cybersecurity — and you would never even know about it.

Digital Trends: This year’s flu outbreak was particularly bad. What kind of things happen at a hospital during something like a flu outbreak, that can have such a negative impact on a hospital’s cybersecurity?

Shane Whitelatch: The flu epidemic is just another crisis. There can be many different types, but what’s important in a crisis isn’t necessarily what happens right there during the actual event. What’s important is whether or not [the hospital] planned well before the crisis. Did you have processes, programs, and action items in place that prepare you so that when you do have a crisis — whether it’s a flu epidemic, a terrorist attack, or train accident — you aren’t left vulnerable to a cybersecurity attack.

“Are there steps I can skip so I process patient care faster and put less priority on security?”

It’s oversight. People start to skip steps. If I normally check in 10 patients an hour, but now I’m going to get double that, I need to move faster if I’m going to see these patients. Can I just stayed signed in? Do I have to badge in? Are there steps I can skip so that I process patient care faster and put less of a priority on security?

Criminals look for opportunities — and the during the flu outbreak, they know the focus is going to be on those events. So maybe there’s an opportunity for them there when employees are leaving sign-ins logged on to computers longer because they’re busy seeing more patients than they normally do. Maybe it means they’re sharing credentials more frequently because they’re focused on patient care. It just presents opportunity. If you don’t train your staff and you aren’t prepared — you’re going to not only hit by the crisis, but also by criminals who are looking to exploit those opportunities.

Is there a precedent for hospitals being hacked or attacked by cyber-criminals? Is that something that is happening regularly?

If it hasn’t happened yet, they probably just don’t know about it yet. So the answer is yes.

We confirm our company's computer network was compromised today as part of global hack. Other organizations have also been affected (1 of 2)

— Merck (@Merck) June 27, 2017

We’ve got an example — and this is in the public record — of Hurley Medical Center in Flint Michigan. It had hacktivist attacks going after medical record associated with the water crisis up there. I think the answer is “yes,” but I’d like to let third-parties be the reference points for that.

In the case of something like a hack, what should people be worried about as patients?

There are some things that are obvious, and some that are less so. The most obvious thing is your insurance information. That’s what’s valuable. They wouldn’t steal the data if it wasn’t valuable. They can take your insurance information, change your mailing address, and sell that to someone who can’t get insurance. That’s the first thing — so pay attention to your EOB (explanation of benefits) letters that you get in the mail. If it says you got some treatment for something that was covered that you never received, that’s a problem. That could maximize your benefits and hit your deductible and you never even got care. Those are the obvious ones.

They wouldn’t steal the data if it wasn’t valuable.

The ones that aren’t so obvious we’ve heard from our customers are where people have changed information on the stolen medical records. If I’m using a stolen ID and I go to a local hospital somewhere — and let’s say I haven’t been treated there before and I have a fake ID — to get seek care for something like a broken arm, or something worse, which it usually is. But if my blood type is different than the person it was stolen from, the hospital might change your blood type on your medical record because they assumed the person didn’t know their blood type. That may not matter to you now, but if you get in a car accident and need a blood transfusion or something like that, they might put the wrong blood in. That’s a less obvious consequence — and it can be a deadly one.

Right now, do you feel like hospitals are aware of how important cybersecurity is?

Certainly, now more than before. Our customers, obviously, are aware of them and are fighting the good fight. What’s encouraging from what I’m hearing from them and from the executives themselves, is that the board is becoming more aware.

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty Images

That’s partially because of education and because of very public breaches. The Anthem breach was a major one. There are very large breaches that are making the news where board members are seeing it and starting to ask questions. It’s becoming more well-known outside of just IT security, but absolutely IT security is aware of it.

Is there anything that patients can do to protect their own medical information when they’re checking into a hospital or interacting with their health records in any way?

I’ll speak personally — I try not to share my social security number as best I can. It’s probably already stolen anyways. The other thing you can always do is ask for an accounting of disclosures, which gives you a record of everyone who’s touched your records — and that’s part of a federal law.

The other thing is just being vigilant about where you go to seek care and what you do with your information and who you share it with. Pay attention to the forms they have you sign. When they ask if they can share your information, don’t just blindly sign all of them. Ask questions about it. Be vigilant. And when you do that, it’s another form of educating the hospital staff that this privacy things does matter. It’s not just a poster on a wall.

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Google Images altered to calm legal grumblings made by Getty Images

Google

Google said on Thursday, February 15, that it made a few adjustments to Google Images as part of its settlement with stock photo agency Getty Images. One change sees the removal of the View Image button, forcing Googlers to hit the remaining Visit button to see images as they are posted on websites. Google also removed the Search by Image button to prevent the spread and discovery of illegally obtained images. 

“Ultimately, Google Images is a way for people to discover information in cases where browsing images is a better experience than text,” Google said on Thursday. “Having a single button that takes people to actionable information about the image is good for users, web publishers and copyright holders.” 

In April 2016, Getty Images filed a competition law complaint with the European Commission against Google, accusing the search engine giant of “distorting” results for its own benefits. The complaint targets changes made to Google Images in 2013, allowing Googlers to hunt down, view, and retrieve high-resolution images without visiting the original source site. 

Headquartered in Seattle, Getty Images generates cash by licensing royalty-free still images and illustrations. For instance, the company charges $575 per download for a single 4K image or HD video, or $450 per download for a 10-pack of 4K images and HD videos. A single small image or web-based video costs $175 to download and use. 

That said, you can understand the company’s frustration. Using Google Search, companies and individuals could get around the fees simply by grabbing stock images and videos posted on other websites. The company claims that not only does the Google Images component impact its image licensing business, but the income of more than 200,000 photojournalists, content creators and artists providing content. 

“These [2013] changes have allowed Google to reinforce its role as the internet’s dominant search engine, maintaining monopoly over site traffic, engagement data and advertising spend,” the company said. “This has also promoted piracy, resulting in widespread copyright infringement, turning users into accidental pirates.” 

But just last week Getty Images and Google reached an agreement that now trickles down into the revamped Google Images component. “They are designed to strike a balance between serving user needs and publisher concerns, both stakeholders we value,” Google said. 

The agreement also sees Google licensing content from Getty Images presumably in a whoops-our-bad-type gesture for the financial damages Google Images likely caused. Getty Images content will still continue to appear in search results, only you can’t grab high-resolution images and videos without visiting the source webpage. 

But there is still hope for Googlers wanting high-resolution images without the need for a bank loan. Google’s very own browser, Google Chrome, now plays host to an extension that brings the View Image button back to Google Images. Simply called View Image, the free Chrome extension is no different than the original Google Images function, only images appear in a new tab rather than within the same window. You can also search by image using this extension too. 

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Intel explores ‘spin qubits’ as the next wave in quantum computing

Quantum computing holds the most promise for advancing computing processes such as artificial intelligence, climate forecasting, and more. So far, though, quantum computing is in its infancy, with a great deal of research but few real-life applications. Every major technology company is working on advancing quantum computing, and as one of the leaders, Intel hopes to use “spin qubits” to help usher the technology into the mainstream.

In its most basic form, a quantum bit (qubit) is similar to the binary bit used in traditional computing. With quantum computing, information is indicated by the polarization of a photon. While standard computing, bits are always in one of two states, zero or one. With quantum computing, however, qubits can actually be in multiple states simultaneously. Without digging too much into the details, this phenomenon theoretically allows a quantum computer to perform huge numbers of calculations in parallel and to perform much faster than traditional computers at certain tasks.

While most of the industry, including Intel, is working on one specific type of qubit, known as superconducting qubits, Intel is looking into an alternative structure known as “spin qubits.” While superconducting qubits are based on superconducting electronic circuits, as the name implies, spin qubits work in silicon and, according to Intel, overcome some of the barriers that have been holding quantum computing back.

This alternative approach takes advantage of the way single electrons spin on a silicon device and this movement is controlled through the use of microwave pulses. As an electron spins up, a binary value of 1 is generated, and when the electron spins down, a binary value of 0 is generated. Because these electrons can also exist in a “superposition” state where they can essentially act as if they are both up and down at the same time, they allow for parallel processing that can churn through more data than a traditional computer.

Spin qubits hold a number of advantages over the superconducting qubit technology that drives most contemporary quantum computing research. Qubits are fragile things, easily broken down by noise or even unintended observation, and the nature of superconducting qubits mean they require larger physical structures and they must be maintained at very cold temperatures.

Because they’re based in silicon, though, spin qubits are smaller in physical size and they can be expected to hold together for longer periods of time. They can also work at much higher temperatures and so don’t require the same level of complexity in system design. And, of course, Intel has tremendous experience in designing and manufacturing silicon devices.

Like all of quantum computing, spin qubit technology is in its nascent stages. If Intel can work out the kinks, however, spin qubits could help bring quantum computing to actual commercial applications much sooner than currently anticipated. Already, the company plans to use its existing fabrication facilities to create “many wafers per week” of spin qubit test chips, and should begin production over the next several months.

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Coinbase blames credit card reprocessing for incorrect Bitcoin purchase fees

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Following an influx of complaints from customers over exorbitant transaction costs and multiple charges on their accounts, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has issued a statement that suggests the problem was caused by credit and debit card issuers. Reportedly, a change to merchant category code meant that certain transactions were refunded and reprocessed, leading to additional and unexpected charges and fees.

The issue first came to light earlier this week, when Coinbase users began reporting that Coinbase was overcharging them, seemingly at random. Even removing cards from Coinbase seemed to have no effect and some customers of the cryptocurrency exchange were concerned as they watched their bank accounts slip into the red, resulting in unauthorized overdraft charges. One user reportedly lost $17,000 in this manner.

Although some called this a scam or a sign that Coinbase had been hacked, the exchange has now explained that it’s all down to its evolving relationship with credit and debit card providers. Following recent changes to policy at certain card operators, an MCC change meant that certain charges and purchases made between January 22 and February 11 were refunded and reprocessed. Due to some refunds taking longer to come through, that lead to some accounts being hit hard — especially if owners made major purchases during that period.

1/ We have determined that the erroneous credit and debit charges are the result of Visa reversing and recharging transactions. This was not done by Coinbase. We are working with Visa to ensure all affected customers are reimbursed.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 16, 2018

“We deeply apologize for any frustration this may cause. We are actively working with banks, processors, and networks to improve the digital currency purchasing experience,” Coinbase said in its statement. It has also pledged to pay for any bank charges that Coinbase users experienced as a result of this problem. For anyone who doesn’t receive that automatically, it has asked that affected users contact its support team directly.

Although that may be enough to placate users in the short term, this instance could see affected users opt for an alternate exchange to buy or sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the future. The Verge reports a number of users hit hard by this crypto-mix up as saying that they will never go back to Coinbase.

Considering the company is already under scrutiny for the way it handled the introduction of Bitcoin Cash on its exchange, its place as one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges may be severely impacted.

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Looking back on 5 years of Surface with the product guru who brought it to life

“When we launched the very first Surface Pro five years ago, there was a snowstorm in New York. We’d planned to have our launch at a Best Buy in Manhattan, but the weather had other ideas.”

That’s Panos Panay, the passionate Microsoftie who’s been the face of so many Surface product launches over the last five years. Panay wrote a blog post on the Microsoft site this week to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of surface, to reminiscence on how the team dealt with the storm (they moved the show to Vegas). He’s always quick to remind us about the team behind the products — the designers and engineers responsible for the most remarkable 2-in-1 to hit stores shelves in years.

Among them are minds like Steve Bathiche, a distinguished scientist who has been there from the start. “We realized when we had heavy competition from Apple, that we had to innovate in the PC space,” Bathiche told us recently. There’s also Ralf Groene, head of Industrial Design with the Microsoft Devices group, and the man most responsible for the look and feel of the products.

And there’s Microsoft GM Pete Kyriacou, the man who make sure everything happens right, and right on time. On the five-year anniversary of the Surface Pro line, Digital Trends sat down with Kyriacou to compare the products Microsoft released then and now. How has the design philosophy changed, how have the products evolved, and is there really a storage room full of wacky concept prototypes? (Spoiler alert: yes.)

This interview has been edited and condensed for publication.

Congratulations! Microsoft launched the Surface Pro five years ago this month — you must be a very proud parent!

Pete Kyriacou: Yeah! I didn’t have kids at the time, and I have a three-year-old daughter now, and a six-month-old son. And so, at the time [the Surface devices] meant the world to me, they were my babies. They’ve since been replaced, but the Pro has a spot in my heart, for sure.

Can you talk a little about how the design and engineering has evolved over time? How has your thought process changed from the first products you worked on to what you’re working on today?

The people have stayed the same. We’ve had the same engineers and team in the building. We are doing little shindigs for our five-year, and it’s funny to see the people turn out. You’re like, woah, this group has gotten so large, but the core team has remains intact.

“We’ve formed a relationship with Intel where we feel like we’re pushing the limits on what they’re doing and we’re doing.”

The things that have changed, I think is the impact we have made on the industry specifically in the three main areas we work on when we work on our devices. We focus on making great displays — that’s the main interaction people have with their computers. Look back to the displays we used on Surface Pro 1, 2, and it’s 16×9 aspect ratio. Although it was HD and had good specs from a display perspective, we changed a lot in the display industry. We pushed hard to get thinner modules. We locked onto these 3×2 aspect ratio which we feel improves productivity, and that’s across the board on all our products.

The second thing is materials, the form factor. We’ve been able to get really thin, we’ve homed in on magnesium, and we’ve done some really good stuff with aluminum. And then also on being able to dissipate thermals. So, putting 15 Watts into Pro 1 required two fans to dissipate the heat, and if you ever used a Pro 1 device, you could probably hear it. We’ve come a long way in being able to dissipate 15 W in a thinner form factor without having to have any moving parts, and it’s pretty incredible.

Microsoft

And the last part of the trifecta is processors. We’ve formed a relationship with Intel where we feel like we’re pushing the limits on what they’re doing and we’re doing, and it’s been great teamwork. And we’ve seen from performance — how devices Turbo — to what they’re doing when they’re asleep — what we call “connected standby,” or when you’re in hibernation in terms of low power drainage. The first version of Pro had around four of five hours of battery; we went up incrementally between iterations, but the next biggest leap we made other than Pro 1 or Pro 2 was Pro 4, the latest generation. We went from 9 hours to 13.5 hours. Part of that was adding physical battery, and keeping the weight the same because we got rid of the fans. Part of it was optimizations in the silicon of Intel, and a big part of it was pushing Windows and the work we have with Windows, as just one team now, in terms of optimizing the power state.

How do you think public perception of the product itself has changed? There was a lot of interest when the first Pro came out, but maybe not as much as the sales Microsoft might have wanted…was there a point at which you felt the momentum really shift?

You can see where it changed: Surface Pro 3. Pro 3 was something we had envisioned early on, like when we were making Pro 1, we had an idea of where the thing was going to go. We knew the 3×2 aspect ratio was something we wanted to do, but that was a custom display. It was hard to go in and make custom displays for yourself when you weren’t yet an established brand. And that is something we do now that’s totally normal. All our displays are something you don’t see anywhere else. All the way down to the aspect ratio and the pixels.

“It was hard to go in and make custom displays for yourself when you weren’t yet an established brand.”

When we came out [with Pro 1] people said, “are you a concept car, are you an aspirational brand, are Pro 1 and 2 what OEMs should go out and drive?” But when Pro 3 came out and we showed the actual productivity increase at the price points we were able to hit, and the form factors we were able to drive, you saw the whole industry starting to follow what we were doing. It wasn’t long before OEMs were able to go in and start selling at these higher prices after Pro 3 was in there.

Then you saw other people copying our form factors. You saw other people saying, yeah, this tablet device is thin and light and people carry it, but they want a keyboard to go with it. They want a pen to go with it. OEMs are doing it. Apple’s doing it. You see that we led the industry.

Surface was about Microsoft executing in a way that hadn’t happened before. There were thin and light notebooks for a decade before this. It took the Surface Pro line to say, here’s how this is supposed to work.

Product making is interesting, because if you think about physical atoms, it’s like a chef. Everyone has the same ingredients to start with. How do you find the right balance of what you want to do? You can make something super thin, but the battery might not be that great, and the performance might not be that great. You can make awesome battery life, but you’re sacrificing thickness or something else. Finding that right combination of the recipe for the customer and the experience you’re going for is really where the magic lies in our culture.

The other thing that’s changed is that, on campus, our hardware capability has expanded tremendously. Building 87, the lab we’ve created, has over 100,000 square feet of CNC machines, anechoic chambers, test facilities that let us go from an idea to testing that idea in 24 hours.

I bet there’s a back room somewhere with all sorts of prototypes and weird looking form factors of early Studio, early Laptop…

There’s tons, just stacks and stacks of models. We call it failing fast. The good and bad of having this lab on campus is you can pound out SLA models overnight. And that’s awesome, but then you also have this, well I have this idea, I have this idea, and it goes on and on. We are good about letting engineers be engineers. I think we have one of the most talented teams on the planet when it comes to processors, thermals, mechanics. And how they work with designers to understand the design intent and customers experience. And then the go.

“When they see Studio, they’re going to be blown away.”

Surface Studio? We knew what the feel was going to be because we asked an engineer to go nail the feel. And he’s like, well, what do I have to work with? And we said anything. So, they stole a desk from the conference room and they butchered it up and built a counterbalance that was about 4 feet long. And they were able to take the pin out and put it in at different lever points and say, what would a 28-inch screen feel like with this lever point, with that lever point. And they brought it in to our design team and our user research team and human factors team, and they said, this is exactly what it should feel like. And once you’re clear on what your goals are, then the great engineering team can succeed.

Is there some obvious idea you had in some early prototype that you wish you had done, something still waiting for a new iteration down the road?

The one or two times I had that feeling? One was, we were launching Pro 2, and Pro 3 was pretty far along in development, and it felt pretty good knowing that. And we had an awesome device in Pro 2 — the battery life was great, the screen was great. But knowing that we were making the bigger screen, lighter weight device that still improved the battery life, was one time I had that feeling you’re talking about.

The next one was when Surface Studio was in development. And you watch people at their desks and you’re like, no one has a 3×2 display, no one has a display they can write on. How natural and intuitive would it be for these people that are either on traditional all in ones or traditional desktops — when they see Studio, they’re going to be blown away.

That device, in its iterations, it got to the point where it had clutch mechanisms and brakes, so it would stop at different angles and lever arms and stuff like that. And they were all great concepts on a PowerPoint. They weren’t great from a user experience or even a concept perspective.

Believe me, our engineers made pneumatic systems that could stop on a dime and you could write on it — is that what the user wants? Does that keep you in your flow? And so, I’m happy with the stuff we’ve left behind as we’ve iterated and launched these products.

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Distracted employees are walking into glass walls in Apple’s new headquarters

Jeremy Kaplan/Digital Trends

Walking into glass walls when sleep deprived and stupid drunk is somewhat expected, but walking into the same walls when you’re perfectly wide awake can be a highly embarrassing “Yep, I did that” experience. That is exactly what’s supposedly happening to “distracted” Apple employees at the company’s new futuristic ring-shaped headquarters in Cupertino, California. 

The iPhone maker opened Apple Park to employees in April 2017. It’s nicknamed as “the spaceship” given its circular, futuristic design spanning a one-mile circumference. It plays host to around 13,000 employees seated on seven floors: Four above the ground, and three below. It’s a massive Close Encounters-inspired building packing glass walls, and if you’re not paying close attention, headaches and coffee stains could be in your future. 

Along with relying on glass walls, the ring-shaped Apple Park includes a 30-acre courtyard within the inner part of the complex consisting of a pond, fruit trees, and winding pathways. The building provides glass-based viewing portals of this park along with views of the landscape surrounding the building’s exterior. Apple shoved all roads and parking spaces underground. 

While the aesthetics of the building are unquestionably gorgeous, distracted employees are reportedly having a difficult time navigating through all the glass. According to reports, these workers are actually leaving sticky notes on the glass panes so co-workers texting on their iPhones as they walk through the building aren’t smashing their faces. Employees are leaving other markings too. 

Apple won’t comment on the report, so there’s no indication of how many Close Encounters of the Glass Kind incidents the company received since the building threw open its transparent doors. But according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s website, there are no reported glass-inspired injuries stemming from Apple Park … at least, not yet. 

Apple’s affinity for glass can be seen through its retail stores. In 2012, an 83-year-old woman sued Apple for $1 million after smashing her face on the glass-based entrance. Her argument was that Apple didn’t make the store more accessible for the elderly given its transparent customer-facing appearance. She simply approached the store, walked straight into the glass entrance, and broke her nose. 

“The defendant was negligent … in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning,” her lawsuit claimed. Her lawyer added that she was an octogenarian and could see very well but just didn’t see the glass because there were no clear markings. Apple settled the lawsuit in 2013. 

Still, the company apparently didn’t learn its lesson. Based on the description of Apple Park, there are no clear markings indicating where glass walls cross your field of view, requiring employees to create their own markings to safely navigate through the ring-shaped building.

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New patent reveals Microsoft’s intent to kill the mouse with its Surface Pen

A new patent awarded to Microsoft on Thursday, February 15, describes an updated Surface Pen packing a U-shaped touch-sensitive retention clip. Its main purpose is to emulate the scroll wheel found on all computer mice, allowing you to scroll up and down on pages, or zoom in and out of content. Simply roll your finger along the length of the clip to zoom and scroll accordingly. 

“By providing a touch-sensitive retention clip on the stylus, the stylus is able to provide scrolling, zooming, and/or other computing functionality in a manner that is similar to a scroll wheel of a mouse device,” the patent states. “As such, a user may forgo using a mouse device in favor of the stylus when interacting with a computer.” 

In one design example, the touch-sensitive retention clip extends between the tip end and the eraser end and connects to the pen toward the eraser side. It consists of an interior conductive material that has a greater electrical conductivity than the clip’s exterior isolating material. This outer shell could consist of plastic, paint, or some other “electrically isolating” coating. 

Microsoft’s patent shows the conductive material is at its thickness toward the top of the clip and grows thinner as it stretches down near the tip area. Meanwhile, the clip’s exterior material is the exact opposite: It’s thicker at the tip end and grows thinner as it stretches up toward the clip’s physical attachment to the pen itself. 

The clip’s conductive material connects to a capacitive sensor located within the pen-based peripheral. This sensor measures the electrical changes stemming from touch: The largest change is toward the top while the smallest change resides at the bottom of the clip due to the thickness of the interior and exterior materials. 

Meanwhile, in another design example, the interior conductive material doesn’t change thickness. The clip itself is still U-shaped, but the exterior material is thin at the tip end and grows thicker as it travels up the clip to the eraser end. Thus, its thickest point resides where the clip physically connects to the pen, but the overall scrolling/zooming function remains the same. 

“Because the finger is closer to the internal conductive material at the tip end, the finger draws more current and correspondingly increases the measured capacitance,” the patent explains. “In this manner, variable touch input information may be provided based on a position of a finger along the length of the touch-sensitive retention clip.” 

The current Surface Pen is available in platinum, black, burgundy, cobalt blue, and aqua blue colors for $100 each. It connects to Windows 10 devices via Bluetooth 4.0 and relies on a super-small AAAA battery. The peripheral consists of a single barrel button and a tail eraser button whereas Microsoft’s patent illustrates two barrel buttons along with the tail eraser. The two barrel buttons replace the left- and right-click buttons on a mouse. 

Ultimately, Microsoft wants you to illuminate the mouse on Windows 10 devices supporting the Surface Pen. When this design becomes a real product is anyone’s guess.

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LastPass’s main app finally updated with support for Oreo’s Autofill

No longer limited to beta users.

Android Oreo has a lot of different goodies to play with, but one of my favorite features to use is the Autofill API. This makes entering usernames, passwords, and other info a lot simpler than previous Android versions, and it allows password management apps to be more convenient than ever before.

LastPass, one of the world’s most popular password managers, first got support for Autofill last August alongside the release of 8.0 Oreo. Autofill was first made available for the LastPass Beta app, and it was expected that the primary one would soon see similar treatment. However, after months and months of waiting, nothing ever happened. That is, until today.

The latest v4.4.1749 update for LastPass is rolling out to the Play Store now, and once you open the app after updating, you’ll get a pop-up letting you know that Autofill is available to use.

To access this, go to Settings -> Autofill and there you can choose if you want to use Oreo’s Autofill or stick with the legacy method the uses Android’s Accessibility Services.

If this update for LastPass isn’t showing up for you on the Play Store and you want it now, feel free to download the APK file here.

Download: LastPass (free)

Deal: Get the Galaxy S8 at Cricket for just $349 (50% off)

If you don’t care about the S9, get on this deal now.

In a little more than a week, Samsung hopes to tantalize us with the launch of its Galaxy S9 flagship. We’re expecting the S9 to be one beast of a phone, but if you don’t care about having the very latest and greatest, Cricket’s running one heck of a deal on the Galaxy S8.

If you have an existing cell number and bring it over to Cricket, you can get the Galaxy S8 for just $349 with activation on a data plan starting at $30/month. The phone typically costs $699 on Cricket, meaning you’re looking at a 50% savings.

The Galaxy S9 will obviously be a better phone compared to the Galaxy S8, but that doesn’t mean the S8 isn’t still worth considering. It’s still got a great camera, one of the best designs of any phone on the market, and its Infinity Display continues to be downright gorgeous.

Cricket’s running this deal now through March 29 as an online-only offer, and you can check it out below.

See at Cricket

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ review!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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