Apple Sending Ad Spend and Install Reports to the Wrong Developers

Apple this morning has apparently sent several developers report emails for Search Ads Basics that belong to other developers.

The reports, which relate to promoted ads that show up in App Store search queries, have been received in error by several developers this morning, as noted on Twitter.

Um Apple you might want to check why Search Ads is emailing me some other developer’s ad spend details pic.twitter.com/hfBcsqpCiy

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) February 6, 2018

Introduced late last year, Search Ads Basic works so that developers only pay out if a user installs the app. It includes suggestions on how much a developer should pay based on historical data pulled from the App Store based on the type of app being marketed, and uses App Store trends to target the ideal audience.

Today’s communications error harks back to a similar issue Apple had with iTunes Connect that occurred two years ago, when users were shown someone else’s session after attempting to login to their own account.

TechCrunch contacted some of the developers who said they had gotten the emails, and confirmed that the mis-sent message currently appeared to be the only issue. We’ll update this article when we learn more.

Tag: App Store
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Google+ for Android gets rebuilt for the few that still use it

Remember Google+? The search giant’s take on a social network, complete with ‘Circles’ for organising contacts and ‘Communities’ for connecting with like-minded people? Well the site is still up and running, even if its active user base remains low. If you’re a holdout, however, good news — Google is working on a “brand new” version of the Google+ app for Android devices. Though it “closely resembles” the current app, the underlying rewrite means the team should be able to build new features “on a modern tech stack.” That’s according to Leo Deegan, anyway, an engineering manager for the Google+ team, who explained the changes in a public post.

The update will roll out “over the next several days” and includes some subtle tweaks, such as improved scrolling, a redesigned lightbox and a new animation for comment options. If all of that sounds tame to you … that’s because it is. But maybe, just maybe, this is a precursor to some larger, more meaningful changes. It’s unlikely that Google+ will ever rise up and match Twitter and Facebook’s influence. But if Google can carve out a corner of the internet that’s free from spam, harassment and everything else that plagues other social networks — while maintaining a half-modern design and feature set — that’s something we should all be interested in.

Via: Android Police

Source: Leo Deegan (Google+)

France bans smartphone use in cars even when you pull over

Road deaths have been on the rise lately in France and with nothing much else to pin it on, authorities are going after scofflaw drivers who text or call. It’s now illegal to hold your phone on public roads even when you’re pulled over to the side of the road, whether you’re blocking traffic or not, Le Figaro reports. The high court ruling means that taking what some consider to be a safe step — pulling over to talk on the phone — could still result in points and a fine of 135 euros.

Rather create a new law, the ruling has clarified exactly what it means to be “circulating in traffic.” Now, it’s not enough to pull over and cut the motor in order to use your phone; you have to be parked in a designated spot. When you’ve had an accident or breakdown, however, you are allowed to call or text.

France, a country with a well-deserved reputation for crazy driving, has introduced new laws to try to stem an accident rate that has been slowly rising after decades of steady decline. It recently reduced speed limits on two-lane roads from 90 to 80 km/h (55 to 50 mph), upsetting motorists across the country.

The nation’s equivalent to the AAA has a problem with the new cellphone ruling, implying it may do more harm than good. “I think we should encourage motorists to stop when they’re using their phones,” spokesperson Yves Carras told Le Figaro.

Via: The Local

Source: Le Figaro (French)

NYPD starts replacing cops’ Windows Phones with iPhones

Microsoft will soon lose 36,000 of its remaining Windows Phone customers, as the NYPD starts distributing iPhones to its officers. The department, which first announced its decision to replace cops’ Windows Phones last year, is now rolling out 600 iPhones a day in Manhattan. Once it’s done upgrading the phones of all the cops in the borough, it’ll start the rollout in Brooklyn and then in Queens. According to New York Daily News, the transition started just before Christmas, and officers can choose between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.

Although New York’s finest aren’t getting the newer iPhone 8 or its more expensive bezel-less sibling, the iPhone X, NYPD IT Deputy Commissioner Jessica Tisch said they’re seeing “a lot of excitement.” The department decided to use Windows Phones in 2016, apparently because it also used Microsoft software for a video surveillance program. Unfortunately, Redmond officially ended support for its mobile platform last year, so while the cops’ Lumias worked as intended, they’re no longer ideal.

Smartphones allow New York’s officers to get dispatches through the 911 app way before they’re announced on the radio. Tisch said that ever since they used phones for the job, response times to ongoing incidents dropped by 14 percent. The officers will also use their iPhones to fill out summonses, as well as to file accident reports, aided cards and domestic violence reports. If you’re wondering, the NYPD won’t be paying extra for the iPhone 7s, since it’s considered an upgrade under its contract with AT&T. It’ll even make some money from the transition, since it’s wiping the cops’ old Windows Phones and selling them back to the company.

Via: 9to5mac

Source: New York Daily News

The Amazfit BIP smartwatch promises 45-day battery life, costs just $99

The Amazfit BIP offers a laundry list of features for just $99.

Xiaomi ecosystem partner Huami has rolled out its latest product in the smartwatch segment, the Amazfit BIP. The smartwatch made its debut in China last year, and is now available in the U.S. for $99. While most Android Wear smartwatches tout a two-day battery life, the Amazfit BIP promises up to 45 days of usage between charges with minimal notification support. With everyday use, you’ll still be able to get 30 days on a full charge.

When it comes to the design, the Amazfit BIP looks an awful lot like the Apple Watch. You get a 1.28-inch always-on color display with a resolution of 176 x 176 backed by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It uses standard 20mm lugs, and comes with an optical heart rate sensor.

The smartwatch connects via Bluetooth 4.0 LE to either Android or iOS devices (you’ll have to install the Mi Fit app), allowing you to receive calls, texts, emails, and other notification alerts on your wrist. And at 31g, it is one of the lighter options available in this segment.

The feature list doesn’t stop there either, as the smartwatch also comes with GPS and GLONASS, IP68 dust and water resistance, a barometer, compass, 3-axis accelerometer, and 190mAh battery. In addition to tracking activity like running, walking, and cycling, the Amazfit BIP also analyzes your sleep patterns, displaying the data on the Mi Fit app.

If you’re interested, you can pre-order the smartwatch direct from Amazfit’s website for $99. There are four color options to choose from — White Cloud, Onyx Black, Cinnabar Red, and Kokoda Green — and orders are set to ship from March 2018.

See at Amazfit

New Jersey governor orders ISPs to uphold net neutrality

New Jersey has joined Montana and New York in the growing list of states fighting back against the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality. Governor Phil Murphy has signed an executive order prohibiting ISPs from blocking, throttling or taking payment to prioritize one web content over others if they sell internet service to state agencies. The order (PDF), which is pretty much identical to the ones signed by Montana Governor Steve Bullock and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, doesn’t cover ISPs that don’t count state agencies among their customers.

As Gov. Murphy said, “New Jersey cannot unilaterally regulate net neutrality back into law or cement it as a state regulation” — the FCC made sure states can’t enforce their own broadband laws when it repealed net neutrality. It can, however, “exercise [its] power as a consumer to make [its] preferences known.” Although the order can only cover some ISPs, it can also benefit ordinary customers, as long as they’re subscribed to a provider that does business with the government. Any ISP that signs a contract with New Jersey on or before July 1st will have to comply with the order, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re an NJ resident.

In addition to signing the order, New Jersey is also joining the lawsuit filed by a group of states that want to restore net neutrality. NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said they “are committed to taking whatever legal action [they] can to preserve the internet rights of New Jersey consumers and to challenge the federal government’s misguided attack on a free and open Internet.”

Source: The Hill, New Jersey (PDF)

Lawmakers call on US to extend conditions of Comcast-NBC merger

When Comcast acquired NBCUniversal back in 2011, the deal came with strings attached: among others, it had to abide by 2010-era net neutrality rules, provide affordable internet to low-income families and avoid discriminating against rivals. Well, all those conditions have lifted… and that’s not making some officials happy. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Senator Richard Blumenthal have written an op-ed calling on the government to either extend those conditions or institute new rules relevant to the modern era. The communications giant has discovered ways of using its resources to “harm consumers and competition,” the lawmakers argued, and some of those have violated the FCC’s terms for the merger.

Blumenthal and Clyburn note that the FCC had to crack down on Comcast a mere 17 months after the merger after it didn’t offer affordable internet as promised. It has also been busted for discriminating against Bloomberg Television, and just this October faced complaints from smaller cable providers who said Comcast was preventing rival regional sports networks from offering services at fair rates.

And then there’s internet video. While you certainly have many more options for streaming video than you did in 2011, Comcast can provide an “unfair advantage” to the services it supports (such as Xfinity Instant TV and Hulu) by keeping its channels and shows off of competing products. Without the merger terms in place, there’s nothing to stop Comcast from, say, pulling all NBC shows from Netflix.

The two officials are hopeful regulators will see the light, and not entirely without merit. They note that the Justice Department hit AT&T with an antitrust lawsuit over its attempt to buy Time Warner. However, we wouldn’t count on Blumenthal or Clyburn getting a warm reception. The current US administration is focused on wide-scale deregulation, including killing net neutrality and allowing media consolidation. It’s definitely not going to restore net neutrality terms, and it’s unlikely to be enthusiastic about imposing new conditions as a general rule.

Source: Bloomberg

NASCAR developing two different e-sports championships

NASCAR, like a number of other corporations keen on attracting a younger audience, thinks e-sports could be a successful tactic. Two different bodies within the stock car racing association are separately developing e-sports championships that aim to commence this year, one of them perhaps in time for the season-opening Daytona 500 on February 18.

In early January, Sports Business Daily reported that Blake Davidson, the sanctioning body’s VP of licensing and consumer products, was working on an e-sports championship that would take place at tracks during race weekends. Tournament players could choose to play in either NASCAR Heat 2, a more casual, entry-level racing game for the Xbox and Playstation, or opt for the deep-end seriousness of iRacing. Overhauled tracks like Las Vegas Motor Speedway might use their own screening areas to host virtual racing events, but it’s more likely that specially equipped trucks would travel between tracks.

As a work in progress, it isn’t yet clear how many tracks will host events, but International Speedway Corp and Speedway Motorsports Inc., which together own 20 NASCAR tracks, had signed on to the campaign. Involvement by the three independents, including Indianapolis Motor Speedway, isn’t clear. Nor are we clear on details like how the championship and payouts would work. NASCAR hasn’t announced a start date yet, but the digital flag could drop before the season.

Three weeks after revealing Davidson’s work, Sports Business Daily reported that Rob Kauffman, chairman of the Race Team Alliance and co-owner of Chip Ganassi Racing, was working with iRacing on a separate, team-based e-sports championship. Targeting far more skilled entrants, teams would draft racers to compete in team-liveried cars, each driver competing for some share of a six-figure purse. Races would take place either during the week or perhaps on weekends, and be streamed online. As a team-backed initiative, this RTA push has a likely shot at getting the pro drivers involved.

NASCAR’s might appear to be a latecomer to gaming and big virtual events, but the sport sanctioned Bill Elliot’s NASCAR Challenge PC and console game in 1990, and 1993’s NASCAR-like Daytona USA is one of the highest-grossing games of all time. Pro drivers used NASCAR Racing 2003 Season to train for tracks, iRacing itself was founded on the base code for that video game, and NASCAR and iRacing collaborated on the NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series Powered by iRacing.com in 2010. The 2017 Xfinity Series champion William Byron got his start on iRacing, and at 19 years old is now a rookie in the top flight with Hendricks Motorsport. Last year, Richmond Raceway hosted NASCAR Heat tournament. This year, NASCAR wants to make it permanent.

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Via: Jalopnik

Source: Sports Business Journal (1), (2)

Grammarly patches bug that could expose everything you write

Grammarly, a copyediting extension for Chrome and Firefox that points out typos and grammatical mistakes, had a major bug that allowed any website you visit to log into your account and read everything you ever wrote. It made all your documents, history, logs, tweets and blog posts vulnerable to high-tech snoops. Google’s Project Zero, which unearths and tracks vulnerabilities and reports them to software-makers, revealed the bug on February 2nd. Thankfully, the Grammarly team has quickly patched it up and has already auto-updated the extension used by over 20 million users.

Project Zero researcher Travis Ormandy called the vulnerability a “high-severity bug” since it severely violates users’ expectations of privacy and security. Grammarly told Gizmodo that it managed to issue a patch before it caused problems — Ormandy said the company rolled out a fix within hours of his report — and that there’s no evidence that anybody’s information was compromised. It’s keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity, though… as it should, because the vulnerability had the potential to expose more than just your typos.

Source: Travis Ormandy (Twitter), (2)

How to transfer data from one Nintendo Switch to another

The handheld nature of the Nintendo Switch means that transferring data from one to the other seems like it would be a handy feature. Unfortunately, Nintendo keeps a pretty tight leash on the data in your Switch. There are a few things you can transfer using a MicroSD card, such as sharing screenshots and videos, but you can’t swap game saves, or move over your game library.

It is possible, however, to move your user data and game saves from one Switch to another which may come in handy if you’re swapping consoles. Here is what you need to know about transferring data between two Nintendo Switch consoles.

Transferring user data from one Switch to another

You can make a direct transfer of most of your key Switch data from one console to another without microSD cards or other connections. To do it, you have to have both your original Switch and the Switch receiving the transfer in the same place, and connected to the internet. Unfortunately, that means if your Switch is broken, a transfer probably won’t work.

Set up your Switches

First off, you need both your Switches physically in the same place, connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and must be updated to the firmware version 4.0. You also need to make sure there is space on the “target” console, the one you’re transferring user data to. Specifically, the target console has to have fewer than seven user profiles on it — the maximum you can set up on one Switch — and enough free storage space for the data you will be adding from the “source” console. You might want to have a microSD card handy, just in case.

Sign in as the user you want to transfer on the source console

Using the source console, the one you’re moving the user data from, sign in with the user account you want to transfer. Go into the “Settings” menu (the little icon that looks like a gear on the Switch’s home screen), and navigate down to the “Users” tab. On this menu, scroll down to the option that reads “Transfer Your User and Save Data.”

Sign in on the target console

Now pick up the second, “target” Switch. As in the last step, go to the Switch’s home screen and navigate to the Settings menu. Head down to the Users tab and find “Transfer Your User and Save Data.” Select that option and then select “Target Console” so the Switch knows this is the console receiving the transfer. From here, you have to sign in to your Nintendo account, so have your email and password handy.

Wait for the source console to find the target console

Go back to the source console. It should have detected the target console: If it has, select “Transfer.” A bar will appear showing the status of the transfer. When it’s finished, hit “End” on the source console, and you’re done. The user account and save data will be gone from the source Switch, and will appear on the target Switch.

Transfer screenshots and videos using a microSD card

While you can move save data along with your user profile between Switches, doing so makes the target Switch your “primary” console — which means it’s the only one tied to your Nintendo account, and the only one to which you can download games, for instance. You can also use a given microSD card in one Switch: If you plug your microSD card into another Switch, that Switch will format the microSD card, deleting all the data on it.

The only files you can pass between microSD cards are screenshots and videos. To do that, you need a computer and a microSD card reader to make the transfer.

Plug your microSD card into your Switch

First, you need a microSD card for both the Switches you mean to transfer your images between. You can use a single microSD card to do the transfer, but only if you’re willing to delete all the data on it when you move it from one console to the other. The easier way is to use one microSD card for each console, and move the data between the two, so start by making sure your microSD card is set for each console.

Copy your screenshots and videos to your microSD card

If your card is formatted and ready to go, grab the Nintendo Switch that has the images and videos you want to transfer — the “source” Switch. Head to the “Album” icon on the source Switch’s home screen. You can set where your screenshots and videos are saved in the “Settings” menu, but the default sends your saved images and videos to the Switch’s internal memory. If that is where your images are being saved, you need to copy them to your microSD card so you can take it out of the device.

In the Album, select the image or video you want to transfer and choose the “Copy” option. This will automatically send your selection to the microSD card. You have to do each image and video you want to copy individually, however. Once you have copied everything you want on the card, turn off the Switch and remove it from the device.

Transfer your images and videos to a computer

With the microSD card out of your Switch, plug it into your microSD card reader, and that into your computer. You will now be able to access the files on the microSD card, starting with a folder marked “Nintendo.” Open that folder and look for one called “Album.” Inside are all the images and videos you have transferred to your microSD card, arranged in folders by date.

The easiest thing to do is to select the entire “Album” folder and copy it onto your computer. Pick somewhere convenient to save the file so that it’s easy to locate later. When the files are copied, eject the microSD card reader and take the card out of the reader.

Get your other microSD card

Insert the microSD card from the second Switch, the “target” Switch, into the microSD card reader, and plug that into the computer. You’ll see the same “Nintendo” folder, and inside, the same “Album” folder. Open the “Album” folder, then keep opening the date folders until you have no more folders to open. If you’ve got screenshots or videos saved, you’ll see them in one of these folders.

Find the images you saved on your computer from the source Switch’s microSD card, and copy it into the folder on the target microSD card. Once the copy is complete, eject the microSD card reader and take out the card.

Put the microSD card back in the target Switch

You’re free to put the target microSD card back into the second, “target” Switch. Since the microSD card is formatted to that Switch, it should work immediately. You will now be able to see the screenshots and videos you transferred by navigating to the target Switch’s “Album” icon on the home screen. Your new images and videos will all be there.

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