Apple is reportedly developing water-resistant AirPods

Apple plans to release upgraded AirPods regularly, according to Bloomberg, much like how it launches new iPhones like clockwork. The publication says the team that also created HomePod is already developing at least a couple of new versions, including one with an upgraded wireless chip and another that’s water resistant. Apple reportedly plans to release the AirPods with an in-house designed chip for managing Bluetooth connections within the year, though it’s unclear if its the same W2 chip inside Watch Series 3 devices or something new altogether.

Bloomberg says that model will also give you a way to summon Siri without having to tap the headphones. You’ll simply have to say “Hey, Siri” the same way you do whenever you activate the voice assistant on an iPhone or a HomePod hands-free. Unfortunately, the model meant to be water-resistant won’t be ready until next year, at least — and it doesn’t sound like you’ll be able to take it swimming. At most, it won’t be affected by rain or splashes of water, but it might not survive being completely submerged in liquid.

Considering Cupertino’s “other products” category has been doing very well, it’s not exactly surprising that it’s taking the chance to grow that part of its business. The “others” category, which includes the AirPods, the Apple Watch and other accessories, saw a 70 percent year-over-year increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2018. You may want to temper your excitement for any new AirPod models, though. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Apple could still change its plans or experience delays.

They didn’t say if the tech titan plans to withdraw existing AirPods when new ones come out, but Apple is known to make older models available at a lower price when it’s time to release upgraded designs. That way, it’s lowering the barrier to entry and encouraging those on the fence to give its products a shot.

Source: Bloomberg

Net neutrality repeal goes into effect on April 23rd

Two months from now, net neutrality will officially be dead. Today, the Federal Communication Commission’s revocation order was published in the Federal Register. The effective date is April 23rd.

That doesn’t mean the next two months will be quiet; the attorney general of New York is set to sue the FCC over the repeal of net neutrality, and more states and advocacy groups will follow. Democrats in the Senate have the votes to restore net neutrality (but not the two-thirds majority required to override the president’s veto, which would surely follow any action on their part.)

The FCC’s recent action might be called “The Restoring Internet Freedom Order,” but that is, of course, misleading. Net neutrality forced ISPs to treat all content equally; without these rules in place, providers can charge more for certain types of content and and throttle access to specific websites as they see fit.

If April 23rd hits and this order is still in place, we probably won’t see an immediate shift in how we use the internet. But you can bet that, over the following months, internet providers will start introducing new tiered plans that allow them to pick and choose the content you see based on what you’re paying. We still have a few months to ensure this doesn’t happen, so let’s hope our legislators make the best of them.

Via: The Verge

Source: Federal Register

Intel will bring 5G to laptops in 2019

5G hardware is closer than you think. Intel’s upcoming XMM 8000 series modems will power 5G in notebooks in the second half of 2019, the company announced today. That’ll include machines from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft. (Yes, that means we’ll see a 5G Surface next year.) You can expect their mobile network speeds to be blazing fast, naturally, but they’ll also take advantage of 5G’s low latency. That’ll led you do things like play online games with the same responsiveness as a wired network connection.

To give us an idea of what 5G will look like in a laptop, Intel will also be showing off a 2-in-1 concept at Mobile World Congress next week. There aren’t too many details about that device yet, but Intel says it’ll demonstrate the power of 5G by streaming live video. Perhaps we’ll see them running multiple 4K streams at once — something the company has demonstrated on desktops over the last few years.

While the tech world is holding its breath to see how 5G transforms our phones, it has the potential to signifcantly impact how we use PCs, as well. Integrated LTE connectivity is still a rarity in laptops today. But if the 5G networks are as fast as we expect, and Intel’s modems make it easy for manufacturers to integrate 5G, there’s a good chance we’ll see even wider adoption. The new cellular technology is exactly what Intel and Microsoft need for their vision of “Always Connected” PCs — machines with incredibly long battery life and integrated network connectivity.

Intel has also signed up for a partnership with China’s Unigroup Spreadtrum to integrate its 5G modem in its 2019 mobile platform. While that’s not exactly a major brand to start with, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more phone makers partnering with Intel soon. Qualcomm has had a huge headstart with its X50 5G modem, which will be powering devices from Sony, LG, ASUS and more companies next year. So, thanks to the competitive push, we expect to see Intel kicking its 5G plans into high gear soon.

Anchor turns itself into a one-stop podcast creation app

Anchor started off as a social network for audio — the app let users make quick, impromptu broadcasts to their followers straight from their phone. But the company started seeing more and more people using it to make full-on podcasts, so it added features to push Anchor recordings to Apple Podcasts and Google Play last summer. That turned the app into a one-stop shop for amateur podcasting. The success of that feature has led Anchor to fully re-do its app and mission. Its goal now is to remove all the pain points and costs of making a podcast, from start to finish.

To that end, Anchor 3.0 for iOS and Android is an app for recording first and foremost; consuming short broadcasts from your friends is definitely taking a backseat now. For starters, users can record multiple bits of audio and create a library to build out a finished product. Those can be stand-alone recordings, call-ins from your listeners, group recordings, songs from Spotify or Apple Music, transitional audio effects from Anchor’s library and more. Once you have all the bits you want, you can arrange them with a drag-and-drop interface and prepare to publish it for all to hear.

Users can still publish straight to Anchor’s platform, and the app will include the ability to browse Anchor’s podcasts and follow recordings from people you know. But you can also publish these podcasts to feeds on the aforementioned Apple and Google platforms as well as Overcast, Stitcher and — as of today — Spotify. As part of today’s launch, Anchor is announcing a handful of notable partners using its new tools, including Buzzfeed, The Outline, Girls who Code and publisher Penguin Random House.

The next big part of Anchor’s redesign is that the service has a web app for the first time. From there, you can log in and build podcasts the same way you can in the app, with the benefit of more screen real estate. Users can also hook up external microphones, which should make for better-quality recordings than you’ll get from your smartphone. And naturally, the web interface makes it a lot easier to upload audio files to your library. People who have experience building their own podcasts in other audio apps can also just upload that finished product straight to Anchor, bypassing the Anchor system entirely.

A good reason to do that is the fact that Anchor is now offering free podcast hosting for all of its users. “Hosting podcasts is still expensive… you can pay $75 a month to host a few hundred MB of podcasts, while I can pay $10 to put all of my photos in Google forever,” says Anchor CEO Mike Mignano. With free hosting, he thinks that Anchor has removed both the technical and financial barriers to podcasting. “Our view has always been if we’re trying to democratize audio we need to remove all friction, including payment,” he says. “We don’t want money to get in way of people who have stories to tell.”

Since Anchor can let its users publish their creations to a wide variety of sources, each episode also gets a pretty slick little sharing page that’ll include links to all of the different places the episode can be downloaded. Rather than ending up with a link to Stitcher when you prefer using Overcast, Anchor creates a home page of sorts with subscription links to every source where it’s available.

Mignano said that “things really exploded for us” when podcast publishing was unveiled last summer. The podcasting phenomenon isn’t slowing down, and Anchor’s new features should be a big deal for those already using the app and may help bring in more new potential podcasters, as well. Another “explosion” may be a lot to ask for, but anyone interested in broadcasting their thoughts to the world should probably give Anchor a look.

LastPass rolls out Android Oreo autofill to the public

No need to sign up for LastPass beta anymore if Android Oreo has already made it to your device. The password manager has started rolling out autofill to the stable app for Google’s latest mobile platform, according to the company’s director of engineering, Anatoly Ivasyuk. If you’ve already been testing for LastPass, though, take note that you won’t be able to uninstall the beta version of the app yet.

The service is slowly rolling the feature out to the public channel to be able to catch any early issues that may arise before they make it to most users’ devices. Ivasyuk added that the company hopes to eventually be able to use the normal beta channel to test new features, so you wouldn’t have to install a separate app. For now, you’ll just have to wait for the feature to make it to the stable version of the manager on your device. That is, unless you’re still waiting for Oreo itself to hit your phone.

Source: Anatoly Ivasyuk (Google+)

Apple Pay Used on 16% of Active iPhones Worldwide, Widespread Adoption Still Expected in 3-5 Years

This morning, Loup Ventures shared new information on Apple Pay adoption, estimating that there were 127 million global Apple Pay users by the end of 2017, a jump from 62 million the previous year. Given that there are about 795 million active iPhones around the world, this means that about 16 percent of iPhone owners have activated Apple Pay.

Of that 16 percent base, five percent are located in the United States and 11 percent are international users. Loup Ventures broke these numbers down further, pointing out that around 38 million people use Apple Pay in the U.S., and 89 million use Apple’s mobile wallet globally.

The Apple Pay review also has a few other tidbits of research, including that the number of banks globally supporting Apple Pay have increased in the past year by 41 percent, to total 2,707 banks. Loup Ventures checked the top 100 retailers in the U.S. for Apple Pay compatibility as well, and found consistent growth of adoption across many online resources. In the last year, Apple Pay adoption in these retailers’ apps grew 9 percent, mobile sites grew 85 percent, and desktop sites grew 56 percent.

We completed our annual Apple Pay review and found year over year growth has been impressive with active users more than doubling (source: Apple), transactions more than tripling (source: Apple) and online merchant adoption increasing by ~50% (source: Loup Ventures). That said, we believe only 16% of global iPhone users have turned on Apple Pay. We remain optimistic that Apple Pay will gain widespread adoption over the next 3-5 years given integration OS and iOS makes it the easiest to use digital wallet.

Apple first debuted Apple Pay in the fall of 2014, and although many retailers joined in support of the platform it has faced push back from companies like Target and Walmart as each try to develop their own digital wallet service. Last spring, Apple said it wasn’t worried about the slow adoption of Apple Pay because it saw the mobile wallet as on track to soon become its customers’ “primary payment system.”

In an interview around the same time, Eddy Cue said, “Does it matter if we get there in two years, three years [or] five years? Ultimately, no.” Although Apple executives have remained in vocal support of Apple Pay, at the time of the launch consumer reticence to support Apple Pay was said to have permeated within the company, to the point where some executives “were reluctant to promote it.” Recent ads for iPhone have been heavily focused on the iPhone X’s new features, and the latest Apple Pay-focused commercials date back to 2015.

Despite the slow adoption, Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster said he and the researchers “remain optimistic” that over the next three to five years, Apple Pay will see ongoing, gradual growth and eventually “gain widespread adoption.” Although the report doesn’t discuss rival mobile wallets specifically, it states that Apple Pay is “the easiest to use digital wallet” because of its deep integration into iOS.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Discuss this article in our forums

Cat S61 hands-on review

Research Center:
Cat S61

If you don’t remember the Cat S60 phone, it was the world’s first smartphone with a thermal imaging camera on the back. It’s not something most of us would normally use, but the phone turned out to be incredible well-received by tradesmen in industries as varied as plumbers and security guards to vets. This is the Cat S61, the S60’s sequel, and Cat Phone-makers Bullitt Group have listened to the prime customers using or interested in the S60, and integrated three of the most desirable new features into the latest, even more capable device.

Improved thermal sensor

The thermal imaging camera, made by experts Flir, is still present, and while the Lepton sensor is the same as on the S60, the software has been reworked and updated. It’s more user-friendly, but more crucially, the thermal image resolution has increased. The S60’s old VGA image has been replaced by an HD picture, and the difference is dramatic. Now, the display shows considerably more heat spots, with more clarity, making at-a-glance temperature assessment easier and quicker. Additionally, the temperature range has improved as well, starting at -20 degrees centigrade (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) and rising to 400 degrees (752 degrees Fahrenheit), up from 100 degrees centigrade on the S60, making it more versatile.

Wondering what you’d use a thermal imaging camera for? The S61 is helpful for car mechanics, where engine operating temperatures are often much higher than 120 degrees. Vets, especially those that work with horses, have used the camera to identify internal swellings when horseshoes have been incorrectly fitted. The camera’s ability to see hotspots up to 30 meters away has helped security guards out too, as they use the phone to scan areas where their guard dog is barking, without the need to use a flashlight. Greater temperatures and more visual clarity will only increase the device’s usefulness.

More sensors

The first brand new addition to the phone is an air quality sensor. It’s a Volatile Organic Compound sensor (VOC), picking up a range of contaminants and designed for indoor use. It’s tailored for people working with potentially hazardous materials that affect the air in a room, including solvents, cleaning products, paint, or glue. The sensor provides real-time reports and adapts as you move around. The data is presented in clear, color-coded graphs. Additionally, it shows humidity and temperature data in case you need it.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Joining the thermal imaging camera and air quality sensor is a laser distance measure. It’s built into the rear of the phone, and is effective up to 10 meters. It doesn’t just measure straight lines, it can also plot 2D shapes like walls. For example, the laser can measure out a wall space to help estimate the amount of tiles needed to cover it. We didn’t see it working on the prototype of the S61.

Same rugged body

All this is encased in a hard-wearing Cat Phone body, with its IP68 water-resistant rating, and a rugged exterior that goes through extensive tests. For example, Bullitt claims the device withstands drops from up to 1.8 meters in height on to a variety of hard surfaces. The screen measures 5.2-inches and has a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution, is covered in Gorilla Glass 5, and there are three hardware Android buttons under it. The phone’s thick and heavy, which is a consequence of a 4,500mAh battery inside, but it does help improve grip especially if you’re wearing gloves. Also, the aluminum die-cast body is designed to meet MIL-STD-810G military toughness standards, and the screen works even if it’s wet.

The phone itself doesn’t have remarkable specifications, but it does everything you’d want.

Android 8.0 Oreo is kept relatively clutter free, with the only changes instantly obvious coming from extra tools for the thermal camera, and a toolkit-style recommended apps section. Bullitt confirmed it will release an update for this year’s Android P version in the future.

The phone itself doesn’t have remarkable specifications, but it does everything you’d want with a 16-megapixel camera on the rear, and an 8-megapixel camera on the front. Inside is a Snapdragon 630 processor, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage space. This gives the S61 an acceptable level of performance, and it slid through menus smoothly enough; but response times for apps was slow. We used a prototype phone, so it’s unfair to judge performance without further testing on a final unit.

Price and availability

Given what makes the Cat S61 special, it’s clear the phone is designed with specific use cases in mind. Anyone looking at a Samsung Galaxy S9 likely won’t be considering a Cat S61, but if you have considered a Galaxy S8 Active, then the Cat S61 may be a great alternative.

Cat S61 Compared To

Alcatel Idol 5

Lenovo Moto G5S Plus

HTC U11 Life

Sony Xperia XZ1

Lenovo Moto G5 Plus

ZTE Axon 7 mini

Meizu Pro 6

Huawei Honor 8

Nextbit Robin

Huawei Honor 7

Huawei P8

Motorola Droid Turbo

Sony Xperia Z3

Sony Xperia Z2

LG G2

Sadly, you’re going to have to pay a premium for all this tech — the Cat S61 will cost 800 British pounds or about $1,117 when it goes on sale in the next few months. There are no plans yet to bring the phone into the U.S. Still, when you add up the individual costs of a tough phone, a thermal imaging camera, an air quality sensor, and a laser distance measure, the Cat S61’s may just be worth the high cost.

Watch Airbus’ drone taxi take to the skies for the first time

Back in late January, Airbus’ Vahana team successfully flew their autonomous air taxi for the first time. Now, you can finally watch how the drone stayed in the air on its own in the video below the fold. It shows the aircraft hovering around 16 feet above the ground for a few seconds — not particularly exciting if you’re not enthused about the possibility of traveling aboard a single-passenger self-piloted taxi. But it was still a 53-second flight all on its own, without the input of a human operator.

The Vahana team’s goal is to leverage new and emerging technologies like electric propulsion and machine vision to “democratize personal flight.” Their drone only lifted off the ground and touched back down during its first set of tests — they definitely have a long road ahead to get it ready for forward flight — but it was a huge deal for the team and the company. If they succeed, Airbus could eventually use the drone for an autonomous passenger network that will give people a way to hail a flying taxi to get to where they want to go.

The Morning After: Netflix’s new ‘Lost in Space’ trailer

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Do you really need your own PC? Today we’re looking into personal cloud computing, the risky side of Spotify’s rumored hardware plans and how AI can help make CGI fur more realistic.

With Parker Posey as Dr. Smith.Netflix’s ‘Lost in Space’ reboot premieres April 13th

Netflix’s Lost in Space remake has been a long, long time in coming (word broke of it back in 2015), but it’s finally here… almost. The streaming service revealed its sci-fi show will debut on April 13th and offered a teaser trailer to whet your appetite.

How do you spell boondoggle?Spotify’s hardware ambitions seem like a risky distraction

We can’t be sure what Spotify is actually trying to build, but its search for employees is in line with what you’d expect from a company trying to make a smart speaker. Unfortunately, Chris Velazco would rather see the company invest in making its services better.

Do it for the culture.Amazon’s answer to ‘Altered Carbon’ is Iain M. Banks’ space opera

The retail giant announced it has acquired global television rights to Iain M. Banks’ space opera series called The Culture. The first book in the series centers on a spy tasked with recovering an AI that has the ability to help win the war.

Someone had to do it.AI is making more realistic CG animal fur

UC researchers used a concept called subsurface scattering to see how light ricochets around and through translucent fur medullas. Now they’ve trained a neural network to do it and are working on a process for real-time rendering that could make animals in games just as fuzzy as they are in real life.

Very remote desktop.Shadow virtualizes a high-end gaming PC on your desktop clunker

You could buy a powerful PC to sit on your desk, but Blade is proposing you leave all that power in the cloud instead. With its new Shadow service, you pay a monthly fee to stream the experience of an NVIDIA- and Xeon-powered Windows 10 system to whatever device you happen to be using. With a year-long contract, the price is $35 per month, and then you can play games, update spreadsheets or just read email — we won’t judge.

Say goodbye to ‘Tweetdecking’ spam. Twitter’s new rules prohibit bulk tweeting

Russian trolls and teens seeking social-media fame will need to find new tools.

The ‘Find My Glasses’ feature is the best part.Level’s activity-tracking smart glasses launch this March

Think of VSP’s Level less as a Glass successor and more like a Fitbit you wear on your face. These activity-tracker-embedded frames will go on sale in March for $270, excluding the price of lenses. Once they’re on your face, they’ll track steps, calories burned, distance and the total activity time, then sync the data to a phone via Bluetooth. You can also use it to connect with friends and find your misplaced frames with a Find My Glasses feature.

But wait, there’s more…

• Ford president and former CTO Raj Nair leaves over ‘inappropriate behavior’
• Qualcomm’s sample headset teases what’s next for mobile VR
• Twitter says its most recent follower purge is about bots, not politics
• Mike Pence’s space council is big on business, small on science
• ‘My PlayStation’ profiles are now available on the web

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

‘Super Mario Odyssey’ gets its Balloon World update

If you’re looking to squeeze a little more out of Super Mario Odyssey, then Nintendo’s got something that’ll brighten your day. The company has released a small update to the Switch title, named Balloon World, that includes a new mini-game, plus additional outfits and camera filters. All you need to do to access it is finish the main story, and then search for Luigi in each kingdom and strike up a conversation.

In “Hide It” mode, players are tasked with hiding a balloon under time pressure, while “Find It” asks you to, uh, do the opposite. The update also brings new clothes for Mario, including Musician and Knight Armor, again available after you’ve completed the main story. Rounding out the update is a new pair of filters that you can use in Snapshot mode: Coin and Neon.

Three new outfits have also been added to the post-game shop: Musician Hat & Outfit, Sunshine Shades & Outfit, and Knight Helmet & Armor! #SuperMarioOdyssey pic.twitter.com/eNnLpwE5rh

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 22, 2018

The update was initially announced during Nintendo Direct way back in January. This may not be the end of Nintendo’s largesse, however, as the company suggests that more new outfits will be added in the future, so perhaps we can hope that even more is coming as well.