Senate bill would require clearly worded terms for online data privacy

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) have introduced a new bill aimed at protecting consumers’ online data privacy. They announced plans for such a bill earlier this month after Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress. “Every day companies profit off of the data they’re collecting from Americans, yet leave consumers completely in the dark about how their personal information, online behavior, and private messages are being used,” Senator Klobuchar said in a statement. “Consumers should have the right to control their personal data and that means allowing them to opt out of having their data collected and tracked and alerting them within 72 hours when a privacy violation occurs and their personal information may be compromised. The digital space can’t keep operating like the Wild West at the expense of our privacy.”

The Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act of 2018 would require terms of service agreements to be written in plain language and would ensure consumers have the ability to see what data of theirs has been collected and shared. It would also grant users the right to opt out of data tracking and collection and give them more access and control over their online information. When a privacy violation occurs, companies would have to notify the affected users within 72 hours and online platforms would be required to have a privacy program.

Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have introduced legislation as well. The CONSENT Act would also require opt-in consent, data security parameters and more transparency regarding data collection and sharing. Other Congressional leaders have called for tech companies to get involved in the design of more stringent data privacy regulations.

“I don’t want to hurt Facebook, and I don’t want to regulate them half to death, either. But I have a job to do, and that’s protecting the rights and privacy of our citizens,” Senator Kennedy said. “Our bill gives consumers more control over their private data, requires user agreements to be written in plain English and requires companies to notify users of privacy violations. These are just simple steps that online platforms should have implemented in the first place.”

Via: Phys.org

Source: Senate

Hobbyist builds the first Sony E-Mount film camera

Sony is the one major imaging company that has never built a film camera, having leaped straight into DSLRs in 2006 after buying Minolta. A hobbyist named Alexander Gee has just pulled off a neat trick then, by creating what might be the world’s first Sony E-Mount 35 mm film camera. Called the LEX, it’s the result of a year’s worth of work, and when it’s finished, you might be able to buy one and even build it yourself.

Gee started working on the LEX over a year ago, using the shutter mechanism from a Sony A7. Since then, he’s done a lot of prototyping, electronics work, design and 3D printing to create the mockup you see above (and prototype below), detailing his development on the LEX website.

“After doing some research it became obvious the 18mm flange focal distance which makes E-Mount amazing for building compact cameras like the Sony A6500 was going to rule out adapting any existing film body I could find,” Gee told Sony Alpha Rumors. “The easiest approach was to start at the beginning and make a whole system from scratch.”

He now has a working prototype that looks rougher than the mockup, but it does work, as Gee has used it to take some sample photos, as shown in a gallery here. Going forward, he plans to release open source plans “so simple, that with a 3D printer and a soldering iron you can build it yourself.” If you’d rather just do the photography part, “we may crowdfund a small batch of devices before opening the design files up,” he said.

Via: Sony Alpha Rumors

Source: Lex Optical

‘Sense8’ finale will debut on Netflix June 8th

We’re still wondering what happened to Wolfgang on head-scratcher sci-fi series Sense8, and it sounds like our answers might arrive sooner than expected. Netflix today announced that the wrap-up movie for the Wachowskis-created show will premiere on June 8th. If you’ll remember, the series was unceremoniously cancelled last June.

The streaming service never said why outright, but when the wrap-up movie was announced, Lana Wachowski hinted that it wasn’t living up to expectations in terms of viewership. With the way Netflix is flooding the service with originals this year, one has to wonder if a show or movie amassing an audience and positive reception still matters.

The @sense8 finale arrives June 8! Tell your cluster. pic.twitter.com/FlDwnKzOYW

— Netflix US (@netflix) April 24, 2018

Source: Netflix (Twitter)

‘Destiny 2’ Warmind add-on puts a horde event on arctic Mars

Bungie had teased that the second DLC for its sci-fi shooter Destiny 2, named Warmind after the game’s humanity-defending mega-AI, would come out May 8th. In a livestream today, the company finally released details. In addition to a brand-new area in Helles Basin, Mars, players get a new public event and tweaks to almost every exotic in the game, plus a slew of other changes.

Unlike the Martian desert in the original Destiny, Helles Basin is an arctic region where players will fight the frozen Hive faction Grasp of Nokris on the way to confront Rasputin, the rogue Warmind. The region will host a new horde-like public event called Escalation Protocol where groups of Guardians face seven waves of Hive capped by a unique boss — one of five that will rotate every week. The elite foe drops custom gear so folks will have to wait over a month to collect them all; Since players activate the event, at least it won’t be random.

PvP is getting two ranked modes, one for casual (Valor) and competitive (Glory), though the latter will move players up and down the rank ladder as they win and lose games. Every season will introduce a new gun exclusive to PvP for players to earn.

Fans already knew that tweaks were coming for their favorite exotic guns, including Sturm/Drang, Graviton Lance, Skyburner’s Oath and Rat King, but the stream also showed off changes to Fighting Lion, Riskrunner, Crimson and the infamous Hard Light.

There will be two new strikes, Strange Terrain and Will of the Thousands, and one coming exclusively for PS4 players: The Insight Terminus. The Leviathan raid will get a second lair called Spire of the Stars, which will arrive after Warmind launches. Finally, the prestige version of Curse of Osiris’ raid, Eater of Worlds, will arrive when the game’s third season starts.

Source: Twitch

Apple Watch Boosts Verizon Activations Amid Phone and Tablet Subscriber Loss

Verizon, the largest carrier in the United States by subscriber count, saw a monthly subscriber increase of 260,000 during the first quarter of 2018, reports Bloomberg, largely due to an increased number of smart watch activations.

The company actually lost phone and tablet subscribers last quarter, but the dip in subscribers did not hurt its bottom line because of smart watches, wearables, and other connected devices like vehicles.

Image via Bloomberg
Verizon says it added a total of 359,000 subscribers who are using smart watches and other devices during the quarter, making up for the loss of 24,000 phone customers and 75,000 tablet customers.

There was no breakdown in the number of activations by specific device, but Verizon’s jump in smart watch subscribers comes following the September release of the Apple Watch Series 3, the first Apple Watch with LTE connectivity.

The Apple Watch Series 3 allows customers to use the Apple Watch sans iPhone for the first time, as it has its own cellular connection. Verizon and other carriers charge customers $10 per month to add a smart watch to an existing smartphone plan.

Verizon shared the numbers during its first quarter 2018 earnings results, released this morning. Verizon stock has since surged as much as 3.6 percent.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Tag: VerizonBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Flipboard’s latest update makes it easier to stay on top of all things tech

On Tuesday, April 24, Flipboard officially launched its latest update designed specifically for those interested in technology — whether you’re a professional, an insider, or an enthusiast. Ranging from the ability to put together team magazines to a richer overall content experience, the new features gives users more opportunities to easily stay on top of tech news.

For those unfamiliar with Flipboard, the app curates news stories gathered from blogs, news publications, and social networks based on your interests, all in one place. After downloading the app and picking your interests, Flipboard creates a Smart Magazine for you, filled with different content that you can then add to your own magazine that you create.

Flipboard currently has over 35 million different magazines curated by its community — based on topics like politics, travel, recipes, and more. But in its latest update, the company focused on deepening the personalization around tech specifically — whether it’s tech professionals, insiders, or enthusiasts.

Once you start following the tech section on the mobile app, Flipboard starts the selection process off with a couple of editorial roundups chosen for you. But you can deselect these and add other topics to influence what you see in the feed, such as specific companies or people in the industry. This then generates the experience for you, incorporating the best of what well-known tech publications, editors, experts, and the algorithm are choosing.

In addition to showcasing articles like reviews, long-form pieces, news stories, and breakthroughs, there’s also a new “Book Picks” feature. This is where industry insiders and thought leaders can pick books and recommend them to anyone following technology. Every Saturday, users also receive an email with the five book recommendations.

There’s also now a way to privately share stories with teammates or co-workers. By starting a team magazine, you’re able to invite colleagues to join by sending a link via email, text message, Slack, or other messaging apps. From there, your teammates can begin to flip stories they find into the magazine, and can also add different comments.

“A lot of times what people tend to do is, they’ll share stories in Slack or they’ll share stories in email. And that’s fine, but they tend to get lost in the midst of all this other communication that’s going on,” Flipboard co-founder and CEO Mike McCue told Digital Trends. “And so what we’re trying to do is create one place you can go when you’re ready to really read about your industry, to see everything that everyone in your team is sharing all in one place.”

Users are able to start a magazine on either Flipboard’s tech section or through the mobile app as well. The magazines you start with co-workers are private by default, but you’re able to toggle the mode off if you want to make the magazine public.

The information you see on the app is accessible through desktop as well. You can quickly scan top stories of the day, what’s happening in the team magazine, your personalized feed, and other suggested tech-specific content from the Flipboard team. All of this content will be rolled up in a new daily email sent Monday through Friday — allowing users to easily flip top stories into the app and then add it to their team magazine.

Flipboard’s new features are now available for users on its app via Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. While these capabilities are only currently available through its tech section, Flipboard does plan on adding the same collaborative features across more verticals over time.

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U.S. Galaxy S9 handsets can be forced into a reboot by a ‘complex shader’

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Samsung Galaxy S9, one of the most advanced smartphones in the world, can be forced into a reboot by a particularly complex shader, says research by U.K. GPU testing company GraphicsFuzz and XDA Developers.

According to GraphicsFuzz, the discovery came about during testing of the Galaxy S9’s rendering capabilities, and was not intended to be malicious. The issue stems from a problem with how the phone’s Adreno 630 graphics driver attempts to render a particularly complex shader inside Samsung’s default Samsung Internet app.

According to a deeper investigation, the graphics driver starts the process of creating the shader, but fails at one of the initial steps of allocating resources. The browser fails to terminate the process properly, which causes the phone to panic and reboot.

The issue is reproducible on other browsers — but though the shader does cause the phone to freeze, only on the Samsung Internet browser is the phone forced to reboot, meaning the problem is seemingly specific to Samsung’s browser. Since the issue only affects the Galaxy S9 models equipped with the Snapdragon 845 (unfortunately means the majority of the models in the U.S.), it seems that it’s the pairing of Samsung’s browser and Qualcomm’s graphics driver causing the problem.

This assumption can be backed up by reproducing a similar error on the Google Pixel 2 XL. That phone is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and Adreno 540 graphics driver, and when subjected to the same test on Samsung Internet, the browser slows to a crawl — though a reboot isn’t forced.

A video of the problem has been made available, and shows the lengthy freeze, as well as the forced reboot of the device.

The problem here is that the bug is reproducible, and capable of being deployed to remotely attack and force affected Samsung Galaxy S9 models into reboots. Thankfully, as soon as this became apparent to GraphicsFuzz, it reached out to XDA Developers in order to contact Samsung. In a disclosure timeline, XDA reported that a Samsung engineer had been assigned to the case on April 4, and it can be hoped that a fix will be deployed to rectify this problem soon.

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Google Play Awards nominees include ‘Lifesum,’ ‘Pokemon Go,’ and ‘PUBG Mobile’

Google announced the nominees for this year’s annual Google Play Awards, including awards for all kinds of different apps and games that can be downloaded straight from the Google Play Store.

The winners for each category will be announced on May 7 at Google I/O, and are aimed at representing the best of the best apps on Google Play. This year is the third year that Google is running the Google Play Awards and Google is highlighting a few new categories this time around — including augmented reality and virtual reality categories.

There are a few categories of apps. First up, there are well-being apps, which are defined by Google as apps that empower users to “live the best version of their lives, while demonstrating responsible design and engagement strategies.” There are a few apps in this category — including Clue, a period-tracking app; Lifesum, a diet planner and calorie counter; and Headspace, a meditation and mindfulness app.

The second category is “Best Accessibility Experience,” and is aimed at offering a game or helpful app to those with disabilities or special needs. Apps include Audio Game Hub, which is an audio-based game, and Be My Eyes, in which users who can see can help blind people with tasks through a video feed.

There are a few gaming categories, including “Standout Indie” games, which have to be developed by independent developers, and “Best Community Building Game,” which are aimed at connecting gamers. In the latter category, you’ll find apps like Pokémon Go and PUBG Mobile.

As mentioned, AR and VR experiences are highlighted, too. There is a category dedicated to “Best AR or VR Experience,” and in that category, you wéill find a few different apps. For example, BBC Earth: Life in VR and Porsche Mission E are both nominated as the best in that category.

There are a few other categories, including “Standout Startup,” which highlights apps from new developers, and “Standout Build for Billions Experience,” which includes apps and games optimized for performance and localized for emerging markets. Last but not least is “Best Breakthrough Hit,” which includes high-profile apps like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition.

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Spotify revamps its mobile app, adds on-demand listening for free users

Free users are also getting recommended playlist creation and a low-data mode.

During a recent event in New York City, Spotify talked about a heap of new goodies that are in the works for its mobile app and free users.

Looking first at the new app, there are visual changes in tow for just about everything – including the search page, now playing tab, and more. The bottom navigation bar is also less cluttered, and Spotify says it’s currently in the process of pushing the new UI to all of its users.

Spotify’s main focus was clearly on its free members, however, and there’s a lot in the pipeline for them.

Perhaps the biggest feature for free users is the ability to listen to certain titles on-demand. Free Spotify members have previously been limited to listening to only shuffled playlists, but now they’ll be able to pick and choose which songs they want to listen to as many times as they’d like – as long as those songs are offered in one of Spotify’s personalized playlists (such as Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, etc.)

Speaking of playlists, Spotify’s also adding “assisted playlisting” to the free version of its mobile app. Previously reserved for Premium subscribers, this will show recommended tracks to add to a playlist you’re creating based on what’s currently in it.

Along with all this, free members will also be able to turn on a new data-saver mode that’ll decrease data usage by as much as 75%.

While these new features for Spotify’s free service are great to see, there are still plenty of reasons to pay for its Premium offering. If you want to get rid of ads, listen to any song on-demand, or download your tunes for offline listening, you’ll still need to cough up 10 bucks each month.

Download: Spotify Music (free)

Best Verizon Wireless Deals of April 2018

No matter what T-Mobile says, you can actually find some pretty great deals on Verizon.

Verizon Wireless has some of the largest coverage for customers in the United States, and although T-Mobile likes to continually poke fun at the carrier for having high monthly rates, there are actually some really solid deals to be found if you know where to look.

You can typically find quite a few deals being run by Verizon at any given time, but if you only want to look at the best of the best and don’t have time to sift through the garbage, that’s where we come in.

These are best deals on Verizon Wireless right now.

Get 50% off the Pixel 2, two months of YouTube TV, and a free Home Mini + Chromecast

The Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL are two of the finest Android phones you can buy, and right now Verizon’s offering one of the best deals for them that we’ve seen yet.

As long as you trade in an eligible device, you can get up to 50% off the cost of a Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL. You’ll also get two free months of YouTube TV, as well as a free Google Home Mini and Chromecast.

This deal goes live on April 5, and you’ll need to pay for the Pixel 2/2 XL on a monthly installment plan.

See at Verizon

Take $200-$300 off the Galaxy S9, Note 8, and more

If the Pixel 2 isn’t for you, Verizon’s still got you covered.

Although you won’t be able to get the free Home Mini, Chromecast, and two months of YouTube TV, you can still score between $200 and $300 off a number of the carrier’s best Android phones — including the Galaxy S9/S9+, Galaxy Note 8, and Moto Z2 Force.

In order to take advantage of this, all you need to do is buy one of the phones on a monthly installment plan. You don’t need to add a new line of service and no trade-in is required! This is about as simple of a deal as you can get, and that’s something we’re always excited to see.

See at Verizon

Buy the Moto Z2 Play for only $10/month

Motorola’s Moto Z2 Play isn’t the best Android phone ever made, but it is a reliable, mid-range handset that comes with a lot of possibilities thanks to its accompanying Moto Mod system.

Verizon usually sells the phone for $17/month with 24 monthly payments, but right now you can pick it up for just $10/month. There’s no trade-in required to get this deal, but you will need to add a new line of service.

See at Verizon

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• Join the Discussion

Updated 4/24/2018 – Added new deals for April!