iPad users can beta test Microsoft’s Edge browser now

Microsoft has slowly been rolling out its Edge browser to various devices; it was officially released for iPhones back in November, with the promise that an iPad version was on the way. Now, it’s finally here — but only in beta. Microsoft Edge testers for iOS can download the iPad version today.

It’s basically a scaled-up version of the iPhone browser. Tom Warren over at The Verge notes that while it has similar features to the iPhone version, such as “Continue on PC,” it does not feature split screen support for iOS 11. However, it’s fully possible that feature might be implemented during beta testing or in the final release.

Source: The Verge

ColorWare’s Latest Skin Makes an iPhone X Look Like Original iPhone

ColorWare this week announced it has released a limited edition original iPhone skin for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and iPhone X.

Over 10 years ago, Apple debuted their revolutionary iPhone. This product changed everything for mobile phone owners. The bar of expectations was risen to a point that changed the market forever. ColorWare would like to pay homage to this historical event by offering our Limited Edition Original iPhone skin.

ColorWare says its single-piece matte skins are made with genuine 3M vinyl, allowing for easier installation and a better final look.

The skins are available for $19 each in the United States for a limited time only. They are estimated to ship in three to five business days.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTag: ColorWareBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Review: RAVPower HyperAir 7.5-Watt Wireless Chargers

We’re starting to see more 7.5-watt wireless chargers hitting the market, and RAVPower is another popular charging accessory manufacturer that’s getting into the mix. RAVPower’s previous Fast Wireless Charger has been one of my favorite chargers for the iPhone X, but the company has also been working on improvements leading to a recently launched series of chargers under “HyperAir” branding. The lineup includes flat charging bases, a charging stand, and even a power bank that can wirelessly charge your iPhone.

RAVPower promotes its new HyperAir accessories as supporting both 7.5-watt iPhone and 10-watt Android charging with optimal efficiency, using intelligent temperature monitoring and improved heat dissipation to maintain charging speeds for longer periods of time.

RAVPower notes that the iPhone uses a narrow fixed frequency for its wireless charging, and HyperAir chargers are optimized to match that frequency for fast charging. Upon placing an iPhone on a HyperAir charger, the charger quickly identifies the device and optimizes its charging profile, allowing for a complete charge in two and a half to three hours.

I’ve been testing three different types of chargers from the HyperAir lineup, and I’ve come away impressed with several of them. I’m always on the lookout for stand-style chargers, and the new HyperAir stand is a good one. It has an unobtrusive black finish but with a little bit more style than Anker’s stands, with rear and bottom supports that appear distinct from the main body, and it’s completely silent with no integrated fan. The lack of active cooling could result in temperature issues, but RAVPower’s temperature sensing and management technology helps overcome some of those challenges.

RAVPower HyperAir stand
In my testing, the HyperAir stand charged my iPhone X battery from 10 percent to 51 percent in an hour, well ahead of most other chargers and second only to Anker’s new PowerWave stand in that metric.

RAVPower HyperAir stand
A horizontal LED on the front of the stand pulses green during charging, briefly shines solid red when first plugged in, and can flash red if there’s a charging problem.

RAVPower HyperAir pad
I also tested RAVPower’s HyperAir pad, and somewhat surprisingly I found that it wasn’t able to charge my phone as quickly, reaching just 41 percent after an hour. That’s pretty much in line with charging speeds I’ve seen on many other chargers including those running at 5 watts, so I’m not entirely sure why it wasn’t quite able to match its stand sibling. The HyperAir pad is a fairly standard looking pad with a slim design and a similar horizontal LED to the one seen on the stand model, capable of shining green or red to let you know its status.

As with Anker’s PowerWave chargers, RAVPower’s HyperAir stand and pad each come with an 18-watt power adapter that supports the Quick Charge 3.0 standard. The chargers require a Quick Charge 3.0 adapter to function, and will not work with other power adapters or USB ports. RAVPower includes a really nice braided micro-USB cable in the box as well.

The HyperAir stand is normally priced at $49.99 and the pad at $39.99, but RAVPower is offering a special limited-time Amazon deal of 20 percent off for MacRumors readers, bringing the cost of the stand down to $39.99 with promo code MACRPC69 and the pad down to $31.99 with promo code MACRPC66.

In addition to the stand and pad, RAVPower’s HyperAir lineup also includes a 10,400 mAh portable power bank with built-in wireless charging pad, listed at $67.99 on Amazon but currently very short of stock. The power bank lets you charge up to two devices simultaneously, one wirelessly by setting your phone on top of the power bank and a second through a 2.4A USB port. At 10,400 mAh, there’s a decent amount of power available for charging multiple devices multiple times.

RAVPower HyperAir power bank
My charging test saw the power bank only push my iPhone X battery to 42 percent, which isn’t quite as good as some of the wired HyperAir and PowerWave chargers, but not bad considering this is for charging on the go.

Wireless charging on a power bank can be tricky if you’re out and about, as you need to keep the phone aligned with the charging pad, but if it works for your needs, this is a solid option and there aren’t a ton of these types of accessories on the market yet. The USB port also lets you fall back to wired charging if you need to charge without a stable surface around to set things up on. It feels like a pretty large price premium over standard power banks just to add wireless charging, but it might be worthwhile for some users.

The design is a fairly simple black plastic that’s nothing special, but it does the trick and has a non-slip surface for charging pad. There’s an LED on the side that lets you know the wireless charging status with the same green and red colors as the other HyperAir chargers, and the charging state of the power bank itself can be determined from a set of four small blue LEDs on the top surface. RAVPower includes a flat micro-USB cable and a USB-C to micro-USB adapter in the box, but there’s no included power adapter. RAVPower recommends you use at least a 2A adapter for maximum recharging speed.

RAVPower tells me it is applying to the WPC for Qi certification on these new chargers and hopes to receive it by the end of next month.

Note: RAVPower provided the wireless chargers to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Related Roundups: iPhone 8, iPhone XTag: RAVPowerBuyer’s Guide: iPhone 8 (Neutral), iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Apple Seeds Sixth Beta of iOS 11.3 to Developers

Apple today seeded the sixth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.3 update to developers for testing purposes, four days after seeding the fifth beta and almost a month after the release of iOS 11.2.6, an update that addressed a bug causing iPhones and iPads to crash when a character from the Indian language Telugu was rendered improperly.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.3 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

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iOS 11.3 is a major update that introduces a long list of new features, like Messages in iCloud for saving space and syncing messages across devices, and ARKit 1.5, a new version of ARKit able to more accurately map irregularly shaped surfaces, recognize images, and place objects on vertical surfaces like walls.

There are four new Animoji on the iPhone X (dragon, bear, skull, and lion), and in the Health app, there’s a new Health Records feature that aggregates all of your medical records in one easy-to-access place.

As of iOS 11.3 beta 2, the update includes a new “Battery Health” feature that’s designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.

Battery Health offers details on maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability, and for devices with degraded batteries, it provides information on if and when a device is being throttled with performance management features. It also provides a way for customers who do have a device with a degraded battery to turn off performance management all together.

By default, iOS 11.3 disables performance management on the iPhone, and the feature is only re-enabled once a device experiences an unexpected shutdown.

Early betas of iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 included support for AirPlay 2 features, allowing audio to be played to multiple Apple TVs, but these features were removed in iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3 beta 3.

Other features in iOS 11.3 include a “For You” section in Apple News that displays the top videos of the day, support for Advanced Mobile Location (AML) for more accurate location when placing an emergency call in a supported country, more information about app size in the Updates tap in the App Store, software authentication for HomeKit, and a new Privacy screen and icon that will show up whenever Apple asks you for info.

The privacy screen is reflected in several new splash screens that pop up when you first open apps. The App Store also now lets you sort reviews by most helpful, most favorable, most critical, and most recent, a handy change for better finding the app info you’re looking for.

Business Chat, which will let you interface with businesses like Wells Fargo, Delta, Hilton and Lowe’s right in the Messages app is coming when iOS 11.3 is released, and improvements to Apple Music will bring better support for music videos.

iOS 11.3 will be released to the public in the spring. Spring kicks off on March 20, so the public release of the update could be coming soon.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Steve Jobs Employment Questionnaire Sold for $174,757 at Auction

A rare employment questionnaire filled out by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was auctioned off last week, earning an impressive $174,757.

Jobs filled out the questionnaire in 1973, just after dropping out of Reed College, where he attended school for approximately six months and then audited classes for another year and a half.

The document provided a rare look into Jobs’ life at the time, with Jobs listing “english lit” as his major and Reed College as his address. “Computer” and “Calculator” were listed as skills, along with “Design” and “Tech,” and Jobs said that he had special abilities that include “Electronics” and digital “Tech or Design Engineer.”

Soon after filling out the employment questionnaire, Jobs took a position as a technician at Atari after showing the company a version of Pong designed by Steve Wozniak. Just two years later, Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer in Jobs’ now iconic garage.

Ahead of the auction, the auction site believed the questionnaire would fetch over $50,000, but it ended up tripling that estimate.

A separate auction for an Mac OS X technical manual signed by Jobs in 2001 also brought in $41,806, while a signed newspaper clipping that Jobs signed sold for $26,950.

Tag: Steve Jobs
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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a BentoStack Accessory Organizer Equipped With AirPods and Apple Pencil

For this week’s giveaway we’ve teamed up with Function 101 to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a handy BentoStack organizer for all of your Apple accessories, which will come equipped with AirPods, an Apple Pencil, and two Apple Watch bands.

The BentoStack, priced at $50, started out as a highly successful Indiegogo project, but it’s now available to anyone. Modeled after traditional Bento boxes that are popular as lunch containers in Japan, the multi-layered BentoStack is designed to hold and organize a variety of accessories. The BentoStack comes in three colors — Space Gray, Silver, and Rose Gold — and has a soft, smooth texture.

Each BentoStack consists of four storage compartments, a lid, and a silicone strap to hold it all together. The top lid (that can also double as a stand) holds an Apple Pencil or a standard pen, while the top compartment can hold an AirPods case, wound up iPhone cables, or similarly sized items.

A second lid in the middle can hold your Apple Watch bands, and the bottom compartment, which is the deepest, is able to hold a MacBook Pro-sized charger along with additional cables and accessories. For countries with larger MacBook plugs, there’s also a BentoStack XL that’s just a bit deeper.

Dividers in both of the two larger compartments allow you to arrange the BentoStack’s interior to meet your needs, and with these removable dividers, it can accommodate accessories in many sizes.

I reviewed the BentoStack back in November, and I was impressed with its capacity. I was able to fit three Apple Watch bands, an Apple Watch, a MacBook Pro power adapter, a USB-C cable, two regular-sized Lightning cables, a small Lightning cable, and an Apple Pencil.

Once filled up, the BentoStack fits all together in one neat little bundle, which you can leave on your desk or take with you anywhere. When you need to use it on the go, you can unpack whichever layers you need for a portable desk organization system. If you want to just take a single section of the BentoStack with you, you can do that too, as Function 101 includes an extra small silicone strap.

For all of our readers, we’ve got a special discount code that will discount the BentoStack by 40 percent. Just enter the promo code MacRumors40 when checking out on the Function website. That drops the price of the BentoStack from $50 to $30, with $10 shipping. The deal will be available through Thursday, March 22.

We also have one fully loaded BentoStack to give away to a lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach winners and send prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (March 16) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 23. The winner will be chosen randomly on March 23 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.

Tag: giveaway
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Apple Hosting Developer Workshop at Station F Parisian Incubator

Apple next week plans to host a workshop for developers at the Station F startup incubator in Paris, France. The event will take place on Friday, March 23 according to French site Mac4Ever.

A limited number of French developers have been invited to attend the workshop, which will consist of a two hour workshopping session followed by a question and answer period.

This special workshop will teach you to create amazing apps for Apple platforms and make the most of your presence on the App Store. After the workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to speak with Apple experts and fellow participants.

Station F is one of the largest centers for entrepreneurs in Europe, and Apple first became involved with the incubator in October of 2017 following Apple CEO Tim Cook’s visit to Paris.

Apple reportedly has a small team at Station F to help developers create, validate, and manage their iOS apps. Station F memberships start at €195 per month, but there are discounted yearly memberships available along with a free program for those who can’t afford the fee.
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Get your road or mountain bike ride-ready with our top-notch tuning guide

Maskot/Getty Images

Spring is nearly sprung which means it’s time to pull your bike down from its dusty garage rack and get back in the saddle. With warm weather comes riding your bike to work again and shedding those pesky winter pounds and now that daylight savings have passed, we’re in for longer sunlit hours to help fuel those after-work excursions.

For mountain bikers, it’s prime time to start planning weekend expeditions on the trail, as well. Due in large part to the fact your bike’s been sitting sedentary during the long winter months, it will likely require some quality TLC before it’s ready to hit the streets. Here are some tips on how to tune up your road or mountain bike — just in time for spring.

And if you’re looking to buy a new set of wheels this year, check out our picks for the best ebikes and mountain bikes on the market.

Step 1: Give it a proper cleaning

If you want your bike running efficiently, you’re going to need to de-grease and clean the parts collecting dust for the past few months. Start with the chain — there are many chain-specific cleaners on the market and most chain lubes double as excellent degreasers. The most important thing you’re going to need is a bit of elbow grease.

There are several ways to clean the chain but the easiest way is to remove it completely and soak it overnight. In the morning, take an old toothbrush and a towel and be sure to clean each individual roller. Before reattaching it, be sure to clean the cassette, as well. Alternatively, you can cover the chain in lube and, while holding the lower segment, pedal backward while using a towel to remove dirt and grime from individual nooks and crannies. No matter how you go about it, you’ll need to remove the chain for the next step.

To clean the cassette, first remove the bike’s rear wheel and apply lube to the cassette. Now, clean it similarly to how you cleaned the chain. Be sure to work your way through individual cogs and spacers, using a towel or an old toothbrush to remove grease. When you’re done cleaning the cassette, it’s time to reinstall it — and the rear wheel — and to re-grease the chain. Apply approximately one small drop per cog while shifting through your gears, then let it sit for five minutes to allow the lube to penetrate. Wipe off any excess lube with a rag.

Once you’re done with the chain and the cassette, it’s time to clean the rest of your bike. Focus your attention on the frame, derailleurs, and pedals. Want to change out your pedals this year? Here are some of the best mountain bike pedals you can buy. A helpful tip? Remove the seat post, clean it, then apply a small amount of bicycle grease before reattaching it.

Step 2: Brake inspection

Brakes serve as your primary stopping mechanism, so we can’t overstate how important it is to have them fully functioning. Start by checking your brake pads for excessive use and evaluating your cables for stretching. Disc brakes have pads that wear down over time, so analyze them to make sure they don’t need replacing. Remove the wheel and inspect the area where the rotor spins. If the pads seem glazed, it might be helpful to remove them from the calipers and gently apply a piece of sandpaper to return some texture. If the pads measure less than three millimeters including their metal holder, they need to be replaced.

Check the rotors for any dirt and debris and clean them with rubbing alcohol, then lightly scuff them with sandpaper as you did the brake pads. Now, evaluate how straight they are — ideally, they should be rubbing each brake pad evenly. Make sure the bolts that attach the rotor to the wheel are snug, as well.

You’ll now want to ensure your brakes are aligned properly. Squeeze each brake lever on your handlebars and watch as the pads hit the rim. Do they strike the wheels at the same time? If not, they’re going to need an adjustment. Loosen the five millimeter bolt securing the brake caliper to the frame, then make adjustments until they’re even. Finally, retighten the bolt.

Alternatively, you can adjust the brakes using the brake tension screw located on one of the brake lever arms. Use a wrench to fine-tune each brake pad’s position. Do you want your breaks to react more quickly? You’re going to need to remove slack from the cable. Roll out the barrel adjuster at the end of the lever to add tension to the cable.

Extra brake inspection tips

Consider cleaning and lubricating the brake levers and checking to see if you need to bleed your brakes. If you have hydraulic disc brakes and the levers feel spongy when squeezed, there may be air bubbles in the line. You’ll need to bleed your breaks in order to remove air and to allow the brakes to function efficiently. You can bleed the brakes yourself or take the bike to a maintenance shop if you’re not comfortable performing the process. It’s also important to inspect all hydraulic hoses and fittings for possible leaks, as this could indicate a bigger brake system issue.

Step 3: Check tires and wheels

Inspect your tires for signs of wear, including splits, cracks, or tears. If there isn’t much tread remaining, you may consider purchasing new tires for the season. Casings often wear out before tires, so do a thorough inspection of the sidewalls, as well. If your brakes were out of alignment, they may have damaged the tires, so take your time working through each section with a flashlight. Tires are fairly inexpensive to replace and the saying holds true: Prevention is the best medicine. There are also special inserts available for purchase which help reduce the risk of a flat tire.

Once you’re done investigating your tires, it’s important to check your wheels. Look over your spokes to make sure they’re in good condition and give them a squeeze to ensure stability. Check for hairline cracks as they could pose a bigger problem down the line.

Step 4: Evaluate shifting

It’s imperative your bike changes gears easily and doesn’t have any hiccups in the shifting system. The primary issue you’re looking for is loose chain tension. Here’s how to test for this: Set your bike on a stand and shift to the smallest cog. Now, turn the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur one-half turn clockwise before rotating your pedals, shifting one gear. The chain should jump to the next cog but if it doesn’t, you’ll need to execute another half turn.

Note: If your chain is jumping two cogs as opposed to one, you’re going to want to back it down a half turn. This process might require a little trial and error, but it will be worth having a smoothly shifting bike when you’re finished.

Step 5: Lubrication

After a thorough cleaning, tweaking, and evaluation of your bike, it’s time to lubricate the rest of the components of the drivetrain before your first ride. Lubrication prevents the build-up of dirt and grime and allows your bike to run smoothly for a longer period of time. You’ve already lubricated the chain, so now it’s time to lubricate the moving parts on the derailleur, the pivot point on the brake levers, and any exposed cable wires.

Mountain bike specific tips

Mountain bikes have more moving parts to worry about, including front and rear suspension components. You’ll need to inspect your suspension for wear, tear, and abrasions, and also clean dirt from fork seals. Check seals for cracks or fluid build-up, as this may indicate the need for repair or replacement. Cycle the fork and rear suspension before evaluating your sag settings and then increase or decrease air pressure until the bike is riding how you prefer. Suspension tuning is one of the more complicated elements of a bike tune-up and if you’re concerned about a major system flaw, you might want to take it in for professional maintenance.

The essential pre-ride checklist

Test your brakes: Make sure your brake levers are functioning properly and the pads strike the wheels evenly.

Check your tires: It’s a good idea to perform a once-over of your tires every time you set out on a ride to make sure they’re properly inflated. It’s also smart to carry a portable pump with you in case of a flat.

Rattle check: This might seem elementary but letting your bike fall a few inches off the ground and listening for any unusual sounds can help you find loose parts or eliminate problems.

Wheel check: Spin each wheel to make sure there’s no wobbling and that the brakes are securely attached. Make sure each quick release lever is securely tightened. Also, be sure to check the headset, which is located at the front of the bike serving as the connection between the forks and the frame. Tighten the headset if you hear clicking while applying the brakes and tilting the bike forwards or backward.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best electric bikes
• Standing desks are so 2017 — the Deskcise Pro is a biking desk
• The best mountain bikes you can buy
• The best bike locks
• The Focus Project Y is the ebike built for traditional cyclists

How to secure your Samsung Galaxy S9 and keep it safe from sneaky snoopers

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The days of securing your phone with just a PIN code or a pattern are long gone, and although the new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus both offer those features, they have a selection of other more secure options too. These new security features rely on biometrics — in this case your fingerprint, iris, or facial features. When you first start up the Galaxy S9, you may rush through these options in the excitement of actually using the phone; but they’re important and should be revisited.

Here’s everything you need to know about setting up the security systems on your Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9 Plus.

Security settings

You’ll need to dig into the Settings menu to find the right options.

• Open Settings, and scroll down the list to find Lock Screen and Security. Tap it.
• You’ll need your PIN code, which you likely put in place when you set up the phone. If not, tap Screen Lock Type and then PIN, and you’ll be prompted to set it up. It’s important not to forget it, so make it memorable. Without a PIN, you won’t be able to set up any of the other security features.

Fingerprints

The most reliable way of unlocking your Galaxy S9 is to use the fingerprint scanner. The sensor is located just below the camera lenses on the back of the phone, in a slightly more sensible place than it was on the Galaxy S8.

• Look for the Fingerprint Scanner option in the Biometrics section under Lock Screen and Security. Tap it and you’ll be prompted to input your PIN. Find the Add Fingerprint option and tap it, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Fingerprint verification can be used for Samsung Pay, and an option for it is found under the same menu.

Intelligent Scan

This is Samsung’s hybrid face and iris unlock system, designed to be more reliable than using just one of these two biometric systems on its own. Even if you enable fingerprint recognition, we still recommend setting this up and giving it a try. We’ve seen varying results, with some people finding it more reliable than others.

It’s not suitable for high-security features like Samsung Pay, and Samsung warns that Intelligent Scan could be fooled by someone who looks like you. It’s less secure than a PIN, pattern, or password. Lighting that’s different than when you set the system up may confuse it, along with glasses, hats, fake noses (probably), and other changes to your face following registration.

Once you’ve read the warnings and advice, you’ll be guided to hold the phone up to your face, in adequate lighting, ready to register your face. This takes a very short amount of time. Next is iris recognition, and if you wear glasses or contact lenses, you should remove them.

With this done, you’ll be prompted to activate Intelligent Scan. Returning to the main menu, we recommend making sure both Intelligent Scan unlock and Screen-on Intelligent Scan are activated.

Screen lock type

There are plenty of security options on the Galaxy S9, so why not use them all?

• Tap Screen lock type, enter your PIN, and select the options you want from the list. If you’ve registered Intelligent Scan, select this and fingerprints for the most versatile unlock system on your phone. Be aware you cannot opt for either face or iris unlock separately if you choose Intelligent Scan.
• If you want to use biometrics for Samsung Pay, you can use either fingerprint recognition or iris scanning. Intelligent scan and face unlock cannot be used.

Using Intelligent Scan and the fingerprint sensor

Using Intelligent Scan may sound as simple as holding your phone up to your face, and it is — but there are a few things to know about using Intelligent Scan effectively. First, you should wake the phone to the lock screen using the sleep/wake key on the side of the phone. Look out for the red LED, which lights up when Intelligent Scan is active. Provided you’re in decent lighting, and aren’t too close to the phone’s screen, it should work on a consistent basis. If it’s not working, go back and re-register your face and iris again. Varying lighting conditions, especially during this stage, really do affect Intelligent Scan’s performance.

The fingerprint sensor is the faster way to wake the phone, as touching the sensor unlocks the device without the extra step of pressing the sleep/wake key. To make it more convenient, register your index finger on both hands, so you don’t have to juggle the phone if you pick it up with the “wrong” hand.

That’s about it for the security settings on the Samsung Galaxy S9, and all the instructions apply to the Galaxy S9 Plus as well. Protecting your phone with one or more of these methods is essential.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Master your Samsung smartphone with these Galaxy S8 tips and tricks
• Try these Honor View 10 tips and tricks to get more from your phone
• Samsung Galaxy S9 review
• The Samsung Galaxy S9 is finally here: Here’s everything you need to know
• Essential BlackBerry Motion tips and tricks to help you master your new phone

Food app Ritual is sharing users’ precise workplace information

Ritual is a “social ordering” app that allows users to place an order for a meal and have it ready for pickup at a local restaurant. That’s not new, but what Ritual allows is for other users to add their own food orders, or “piggyback”, onto the order already in place. That way one person can head to the restaurant and bring back all the office’s orders at once. Sounds fine, right?

Well, there’s a huge problem with all this, as Twitter user Caitlin Tran (@caitlinsays_) pointed out. People can join any company on Ritual without any sort of verification and see which floor people work on. And the default settings of the app have users sharing the address of their office and the floor on which they work, as well as sending push alerts about where they’re heading to pick up a meal.

Bad data privacy: On the “social [meal] ordering app” Ritual, you can join any company without email verification and see which office floor users work on at places like @DHSgov, @LockheedMartin, @PalantirTech, and the Pentagon. pic.twitter.com/fZrwPCGJaw

— Caitlin Tran (@caitlinsays_) March 16, 2018

In the app, there’s no way to block people and the default setting is to automatically share orders with the “piggyback” feature where your “coworkers” get push alerts about what specific restaurant you’re planning to go to and can add to your order. pic.twitter.com/HqmkAstFnl

— Caitlin Tran (@caitlinsays_) March 16, 2018

TL;DR: Ritual users are by default sharing info with anyone about what floor & address they work at (can’t be hidden) & sending push alerts about where they’re planning to go for meals.

My best friend couldn’t block a stalker on Spotify from sending her messages. This is worse.

— Caitlin Tran (@caitlinsays_) March 16, 2018

We wanted to test it out for ourselves, so Deputy Managing Editor Nathan Ingraham signed up for Ritual and joined the Department of Justice. He then told the app that he worked on the ninth floor of the Chicago office. He was then able to see the first initials and last names of other people who worked in the building and which floor they worked on. This is, of course, limited to people who have downloaded the app, but for secure workplaces, it’s absolutely a terrible breach of privacy.

Tran points out that you can sign up for Ritual and see office locations for employees at the Department of Homeland Security, Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon and more. It’s important to note that while Ritual doesn’t force users into the “Teams” feature, it’s a vital part of the app experience. While the idea behind Ritual makes sense, it’s shocking that there aren’t better privacy controls and data sharing options — users can’t hide their location from other people, and with no verification to confirm you work in a building, there’s rampant potential here for abuse.

Source: Twitter