Facebook Working on ‘Clear History’ Tool for Ads and Analytics

Ahead of Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is building a new “Clear History” privacy control option to erase some of the data Facebook has collected.

Zuckerberg likens the new Clear History tool to the ability to clear cookies and cache on a web browser. Zuckerberg says it “will be a simple control” that will clear browsing history on Facebook, erasing what you’ve clicked on, the websites you’ve visited, the ads you’ve interacted with, and more.

Facebook’s first focus will be on the information that Facebook gets from websites and apps that use Facebook’s ads and analytics tools. When the Clear History update debuts, users will be able to see and erase this information.

Once we roll out this update, you’ll be able to see information about the apps and websites you’ve interacted with, and you’ll be able to clear this information from your account. You’ll even be able to turn off having this information stored with your account.

Zuckerberg warns that after clearing your content “your Facebook won’t be as good” until it relearns your preferences, but he says Facebook believes this is an “example of the kind of control we think you should have.”

Zuckerberg says the company is working to make sure the controls are clear, and that more info will come soon. Additional details on new privacy control options may be shared at today’s F8 conference, which begins soon.

Tag: Facebook
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of iOS 11.4 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 11.4 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta and over a month after releasing iOS 11.3, a major update that introduced several new features.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.4 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

The iOS 11.4 update introduces a new ClassKit framework for educational institutions, which supports new features announced at Apple’s March 27 event.

For standard users, the iOS 11.4 update adds features that were originally present in the iOS 11.3 beta but removed ahead of release. It includes support for Messages on iCloud, designed to store your iMessages in iCloud rather than on each individual device, allowing for improved syncing capabilities. Currently, incoming iMessages are sent to all devices where you’re signed in to your Apple ID, but there is no true cross-device syncing.

Messages on iCloud will allow you to download all of your iMessages on new devices, and a message deleted on one device will remove it on all devices. Older messages and attachments are also stored in iCloud rather than on-device, saving valuable storage space.

The update also offers AirPlay 2 features, with the Apple TV once again available in the Home app. With AirPlay 2, the same audio content can be played in multiple rooms on devices that support AirPlay 2, such as HomePod. Speaking of HomePod, there were initially signs of support for stereo sound, a long-promised feature, but stereo sound never worked in the beta and the mention was removed in beta 2.

For the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, there is a new (PRODUCT)RED wallpaper available, which is not available on iPhone X.

iOS 11.3, the previous update to iOS 11, introduced a new Battery Health feature for monitoring the status of your iPhone’s battery, Business Chat for iMessage, which lets you communicate with companies directly in the Messages app, ARKit 1.5 with augmented reality improvements, new Animoji on iPhone X, Health Records from participating medical providers, and more.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second beta and a month after releasing the macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 update.

The new macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 beta can be downloaded through Apple Developer Center or the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 introduces support for Messages on iCloud, a feature that was previously present in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 betas before being pulled ahead of the release of the update. Messages on iCloud is also available in iOS 11.4.

The Messages on iCloud feature is designed to store your iMessages in iCloud for improved syncing. Right now, incoming iMessages will be sent to all devices where you’re signed into your Apple ID, but it’s not true cloud-based syncing because your old messages don’t show up on new devices nor does deleting a message remove it from all of your devices, both features enabled through Messages on iCloud.

Messages on iCloud also allows your older iMessages to be stored in iCloud rather than on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, saving valuable storage space. Older attachments are also stored in iCloud.

The update also likely includes bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren’t addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, but as Apple does not provide detailed release notes for macOS High Sierra updates, we may not know exactly what’s included until the new software is provided to the public.

No major outward-facing changes were found in the first two betas of macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, but we’ll update this post should any new features be found in the third.

The previous macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 update brought support for external graphics processors (eGPUs) along with Business Chat in Messages and several other bug fixes and smaller feature improvements.

Related Roundup: macOS High Sierra
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of tvOS 11.4 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.4 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first beta and a month after releasing the tvOS 11.3 update.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 11.4 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that’s installed using Xcode.

tvOS 11.4, paired with iOS 11.4, reintroduces AirPlay 2 features that were present in early tvOS and iOS 11.3 betas but were removed ahead of release. With AirPlay 2, the same audio content can be played on multiple devices (like the Apple TV) throughout your home. After installing iOS 11.4 and tvOS 11.4, the Apple TV will once again be listed in the Home app.

There were no other new features discovered in the first two tvOS 11.4 updates, and it’s likely it focuses on bug fixes and other small improvements. Apple’s tvOS updates have historically been minor in scale, and we may not find any other new additions.

We’ll update this post should new features be introduced in the third beta of tvOS 11.4.

Related Roundup: Apple TVBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 4.3.1 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.3.1 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the first watchOS 4.3.1 beta and a month after releasing watchOS 4.3.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS 4.3.1 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software update.

To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

Shortly before watchOS 4.3.1 was introduced, Apple stopped allowing developers to update Apple Watch apps built on the original watchOS 1 SDK. In watchOS 4.3.1, there’s an alert when launching a watchOS 1 app that warns that the app may not be compatible with future versions of watchOS. This suggests Apple will drop support for watchOS 1 apps entirely in the future, just as it did with support for 32-bit iOS apps in iOS 11.

Code hidden within watchOS 4.3.1 also suggests Apple is working on introducing support for custom third-party watch faces, but this is likely a feature that would be introduced as part of a major watchOS 5 update rather than through watchOS 4.3.1.

There were no other new features discovered in watchOS 4.3.1, which is unsurprising as this is a minor 4.x.x update. It’s likely this update focuses primarily on bug fixes to address issues discovered since the release of watchOS 4.3.

Apple does not provide detailed release notes for watchOS, so we may not know what’s included in the update until it sees a public release.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Vivo V9 review: An iPhone X clone with AI selfies

Vivo may not be as popular or well-known outside of China, but if its recent innovations with an under display fingerprint sensor and the Apex concept phone are any indication, this is a company worth paying attention to. Vivo is advertising its latest smartphone, the Vivo V9, as a phone with the perfect shot and the perfect view, due to its 24-megapixel front-facing selfie camera and large, nearly bezel-less display.

Does the Vivo V9 live up to those bold claims? How does it fair as a smartphone in daily use? Find out in our Vivo V9 review.

Design

In an era where the majority of our smartphones are giant slabs of glass and metal, the Vivo V9 decides to go a different route.

The Vivo V9 has a few attention-grabbing aspects, but from the outside, there isn’t much to get excited about. Instead of the usual slab of glass surrounded by metal, The V9’s body is mostly made of polycarbonate coated in a glossy finish that makes it tough to keep clean of fingerprints. This makes the phone extremely light, at only 150 grams. It feels very sturdy, despite the plastic build. The Vivo V9 also has a curved back and rounded corners, which make the phone comfortable to hold.

There’s no denying the Vivo V9’s similarities to Apple’s iPhone X, but that’s quite common with Chinese OEMs. The rear cameras are laid out in a vertical orientation. The display has an impressive 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, but features a notch. The notch is smaller than the iPhone X, as it only houses the front-facing camera, earpiece, and the standard proximity and ambient light sensors.

The Vivo V9 includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a feature that is becoming increasingly more rare in smartphones.

As modern as the design of the V9 is, it uses the outdated MicroUSB port instead of USB Type-C, which feels like a very odd decision for a phone trying to keep up with current smartphone trends. Flanking the MicroUSB port is a single speaker, which provides adequate audio in terms of loudness and clarity but is an average speaker experience at best. On a more positive note, the Vivo V9 includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is becoming increasingly rare.

Face unlock is available as a secondary method of unlocking and works equally as fast provided you’re in adequate lighting.

The V9 maintains its bezel-less appearance by moving its fingerprint sensor to the back. The sensor is centered nicely, making it easy and comfortable to reach with an index finger. It’s also one of the fastest fingerprint sensors I’ve had the pleasure of using. The phone unlocks the second my finger touches the fingerprint sensor — it feels almost instantaneous. Face unlock is available as a secondary method of unlocking and works equally as fast if you’re in adequate lighting. Vivo says the face unlocking uses “AI attention sensing” to check if you’re looking at the display before it unlocks. This is a great security measure to prevent unwanted face unlocks. In practice, it works, but I’d hardly consider it AI.

Display

Whether we like it or not, it looks like the notch is here to stay. That doesn’t take away from how gorgeous the Vivo V9’s display looks. The screen is a massive 6.3-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2,280 x 1080 and an aspect ratio of 19:9. The 19:9 aspect ratio means the screen is slightly taller than what we’re used to seeing, but aside from the extra pixels it isn’t a noticeable difference. The screen is an absolute joy to use — being surrounded by thin bezels allows it to truly be the center of attention. It looks incredible, with vibrant colors, great viewing angles, and plenty of sharpness (even if it is 1080p).

While the notch cuts into the display, it does not negatively affect how the screen displays apps, nor does it change any interaction with the notification shade. Applications on the Vivo V9 appear as they normally would on any other Android smartphone, though the notification bar matches the color of whatever app is open to create the illusion of the app running underneath the notch.

Videos and games haven’t played well with the new aspect ratios we’re seeing on our smartphones, and the V9 brings a significant amount of pillar boxing. Like Samsung and LG, Vivo has baked in software to adjust the aspect ratio for third-party apps that don’t natively fill up the entire display. This means you can get a fullscreen experience with videos and games, though the trick crops some of the content.

Performance

The Vivo V9 is considered Vivo’s flagship smartphone, but the specs put this phone squarely in the midrange category. Inside the V9 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 626 processor and 4GB of RAM. For storage, the V9 comes with 64GB of internal storage and supports microSD expansion up to an additional 256GB.  It’s not the most exciting spec sheet, but should be more than powerful enough for most tasks. In my week of usage, the phone was fast and responsive with ordinary tasks like navigating through the UI and launching applications. The 4GB of RAM was plenty for a smooth multitasking experience. Games also ran well, with smooth frame rates. Very rarely did the Vivo V9 ever feel laggy or slow.

The Vivo V9’s battery is a respectable 3,260mAh cell, though my usage was purely on Wi-Fi. I was unable to receive carrier data despite trying multiple SIM cards, rebooting the device, and double checking the APN settings. That being said, the Vivo V9 got me comfortably through a full day even with heavy amounts of video watching and gaming. I would imagine, the V9 should still perform well on LTE data as the battery is reasonably large and the Snapdragon 626 is very battery efficient.

Camera

The front-facing camera is backed by an AI-powered beauty mode that is suppose to detect your age, sex, skin tone and texture to give you the best possible selfie.

Vivo equipped the V9 with a 24MP front-facing camera that will give you some of the highest-resolution selfies on any smartphone. The front-facing camera is backed by an AI-powered beauty mode that is supposed to detect your age, sex, and skin tone and texture to give you the best possible selfie. This sounds great on paper but I didn’t notice much of a difference in quality from an AI beauty selfie and a standard selfie photo other than how the AI selfie softened my face and made details less prominent. In general, the quality of the front-facing camera is very good. It provides plenty of sharpness, detail, and natural skin tones.

The primary camera on the rear is a 16MP f/2.0 lens, backed by a 5MP depth sensor for portrait-style photos. Unlike portrait modes found on other smartphones, the V9’s camera lets you simulate an aperture ranging from f/0.95 to f/16 and readjust the point of focus after the fact. This means you’re never stuck with the initial results and the images can be tweaked to create a different look. Portrait mode is also available on the front-facing camera, but does not allow for any adjustments to the background blur due to the lack of a depth sensor.

The 16MP camera performs well in most well-lit situations, with crisp detail, sharpness, and adequate color reproduction. The camera struggles to find the proper exposure in high contrast settings, with photos either coming out too dark or too bright. Low light photos typically resulted in muddy details, washed out colors, and overexposed highlights. Considering the lack of optical image stabilization this wasn’t too surprising and the f/2.0 aperture while respectable isn’t the brightest on the market.

Software

Like many other aspects of the V9, Funtouch OS is very heavily inspired by Apple.

The Vivo V9 is running Vivo’s own custom software called Funtouch OS on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Like many other aspects of the V9, Funtouch OS is heavily inspired by Apple. The V9 does not have an app drawer and many of its icons look almost identical to iOS. Swiping down on the home screen reveals a spotlight-esque search function. Swiping up from the bottom opens a control-center style interface for accessing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness, and other system functions. The Vivo V9 even includes an option for replacing the default Android soft keys with iPhone X-style navigation gestures. This lets you swipe up for home, swipe up and hold to open the app switcher, and swipe left or right along the bottom to cycle between recently opened applications.

As much as Funtouch OS tries to emulate iOS there are some features that I did appreciate. If you’re a mobile gamer like myself, the game mode is handy for auto-rejecting phone calls and using chat applications without exiting the game. Vivo also puts an emphasis on smartphone safety with its Motorbike mode, which can be set to automatically reject phone calls, mute notifications, or only allow you to answer phone calls when the motorbike has stopped.

There are many other great features including a one-handed mode for easy one-handed operation and the ability to clone applications which can be very useful for apps that don’t support multiple account logins. Although I’m not a fan of how much Vivo attempts to copy iOS, the software is easy to use and many of the features are more useful than gimmicky.

Gallery

Specifications

Pricing & final thoughts

The Vivo V9 is currently only available in India for Rs. 23,990 (~$360). Despite the iPhone’s influence, it’s a very good midrange smartphone with some great qualities, but it’s also tough to recommend to U.S. buyers. Comparable alternatives like the Honor 7X  are not only cheaper, but also sold in the U.S. If you’re able to easily get your hands on a Vivo V9, it isn’t a bad choice. Vivo has more exciting smartphone releases coming up for everyone else.

What do you think of Vivo’s latest? Let us know down in the comments below.

Wonder what the bottom of the ocean sounds like? Check out this livestream

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Thanks to the likes of the Amazon Echo and Google Home, we’re well and truly used to the concept of “always listening” devices here in 2018. But an “always listening” device that’s located 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface, 18 miles off the coast of California? That’s a new one.

The underwater microphone is the work of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), which installed the deep sea “hydrophone” and is now recording the sounds from it  — and then livestreaming them via YouTube. If you’ve ever wanted to listen to the live sounds of dolphin pods or whale calls emanating from the largest open bay along the West Coast, this is your lucky day. (There’s even a listening guide to help you learn!)

“Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a special place,” MBARI lead scientist John Ryan told Digital Trends. “It is located in a certain type of marine ecosystem that is exceptionally productive — that is, where life flourishes. The reason for this flourishing of life traces back to how the wind blows over the ocean, and how rotation of the Earth affects ocean currents. These physical factors drive the transport of surface ocean water away from the coast; in turn, drawing deep water to the surface along the coast. The deep water contains high concentrations of the nutrients that microscopic algae — phytoplankton — need to grow in the sunlit water near the surface. These phytoplankton are the core of the oceanic food web.”

The hydrophone is linked to the team’s research facility on the shore by a 52 kilometer cable. This allows for continuous recording and transmission. In order to pick up as many sounds as possible, some of which are at a higher frequency than humans can ordinarily hear, the sounds are recorded at more than 6 times the sample rate of a CD. Per month, this adds up to around 2TB worth of data. The microphone was installed in 2015, but is only now being streamed to the public.

“We share the recordings in a livestream not only as sound, but also also as a visual representation of sound — a spectrogram,” MBARI software engineer Danelle Cline told us. “We are also applying machine learning methods to help us analyze this big data to learn more about patterns of marine life and human sounds, and how they might relate to the environment. We think it’s a real treasure trove of information.”

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With 64 microphones and one lens, this camera lets you film sound

OK, now slow us down if we get a bit too technical with our terminology, but microphones are things designed to record sound. Cameras, on the other hand, are there to record images. Got it? Well, most of the time that is true. A new device, currently raising funds on Kickstarter, messes around with that equation — thanks to a camera that is designed to record sound in the form of an image.

While acoustic cameras are already a thing, this new device aims to substantially bring the cost down, from more than $100,000 to just a few thousand dollars.

“Soundcam is the first handheld camera that images sound and is affordable for everyone,” creator Maik Kuklinski told Digital Trends. “It locates sound sources in real time and immediately displays the results on the screen. The system is intuitive and as easy to use as a smartphone with its touchscreen.”

The Soundcam camera functions by combining 64 separate microphones, a traditional optical camera, and an integrated data analysis system. The data from the microphones, aided by some smart algorithms, allows the device to work out where in a frame a particular sound is coming from. It can then overlay this information in real time on the optical camera’s live view.

Kuklinski said that the device can be used for a variety of applications, such as leakage detection in pipes, products or buildings, environmental noise, drone detection, and more. It should happily find a home in just about any research and development, service, maintenance, and quality assurance department — even when they don’t have a whole lot of cash.

“Acoustic consultancies who mostly know this technology already but weren’t able to afford it due to the high price,” Kuklinski said about who Soundcam will most likely appeal to. “Now they have the opportunity to get a very simple and helpful system [at] the lowest price.”

While we offer our usual precautions about the risks of pledging money for crowdfunding campaigns, if you’re interested in getting involved you can head over to the team’s Kickstarter page for more information. Prices start at $5,420, with shipping set to hopefully take place this November.

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Here’s everything you need to know about the 2018 Samsung Galaxy J7

The Samsung Galaxy S series may get all the glory, but they’re not the only great phones under Samsung’s belt. For a few years now, the company has released phones under the Galaxy J name, including the Samsung Galaxy J7.

The Galaxy J7 has been updated every year for a few years now, and while rumors indicate that Samsung may soon launch a J8, it still seems like Samsung will launch a 2018 refresh of the Galaxy J7. What should we expect from that refresh? Here’s everything we know so far.

Specs

While we don’t really know what the 2018 Samsung Galaxy J7 will look like just yet, we do have some hints as to what kinds of features we can expect under the hood.

According to a posting on Geekbench, which was picked up by GSMArena, the phone may feature some pretty decent specs. For starters, we can expect the device to feature a 2.2GHz Exynos 7885 processor, along with 2GB of RAM — though some reports hint at 3GB of RAM instead.

Of course, it’s possible that reports of both 2GB and 3GB of RAM could be true — multiple different model numbers for the J7 have been spotted online, and with slightly different specs. Some models seem to boast a dual SIM tray, while others offer different amounts of RAM.

Dutch site Let’s Go Digital has also published a report about a so-called “Galaxy J7 Top,” which seems to be the Korea-only version of the phone. According to the report, the device will feature an Exynos 7870 chip, coupled with 2GB of RAM.

Price and availability

We don’t really have much information about how much the phones will cost and when they’ll be available, but we can go off years past to get a pretty good idea. The 2017 version of the Samsung Galaxy J7 came in at a little over $250, so we expect the 2018 version to come with a similar price tag. It was first launched in April 2017, so it’s possible we’ll see the updated version of the phone in the very near future. The phones will likely be available from Sprint and Verizon, but it’s possible they could make their way to other carriers, too.

We’ll update this article as we get more information about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy J7.

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Float like a botterfly: This robotic punching bag will dodge your blows

When robots eventually rise up, they will do so with force. They will kick in our doors, drag us out by our ankles, and make us repent for every lewd question we ever asked Siri.

That day is hopefully some ways away.

But in 2018, the robot revolt is playing out in a much more subtle fashion. Not with the brute force of Mike Tyson’s uppercut but with the subtle jukes and fades of Muhammad Ali.

Enter BotBoxer. From what we can tell, it’s the first robotic punching bag designed to simulate a real opponent with the added bonus of making you look like a fumbling fool. Unlike your boring old punching bag, BotBoxer can “see,” “feel,” and “react.” It can dodge punches, nonverbally taunt, and maybe even train you into a better boxer.

Developed by sports simulator company SkyTechSport, BotBoxer works something like an arcade game.

It’s engaged and calibrated using a control panel next to the punching bag. Once powered on, the machine then uses an array of sensors that enable it to track and dodge oncoming punches.

Alex Golunov, project leader at SkyTechSport, told Digital Trends, “When you press ‘box,’ you will notice two lines of infrared illuminators light up on both sides of the fence of the machine. At that moment, we engage a system of high-speed cameras that track the position of fists, elbows, shoulders, and torso. We then use this data to predict where your punch will be coming from and engage three electric motors to move the target away from the oncoming blow.”

SkyTechSport designed Botboxer to be faster than professionals. Whereas average human reaction time is about 230 microseconds, and a pro’s reaction time is about 150 microseconds, BotBoxer, when dialed up to 10, can react in just 75 microseconds.

Olympic medalist Tony Jeffries had a go at BotBoxer and said, “That bag is unbelievable. I know I can punch fast, but this thing was even faster! Is this the future for boxing training?”

Maybe for you, Jeffries, but it’s doubtful most amateurs will see the robotic bag in a gym near them. SkyTechSport is currently taking $990 deposits on the $24,900 machine, which is scheduled to ship in September.

Until then, free demonstrations are being held every Tuesday and Thursday in Los Angeles at 5553 Hollywood Boulevard. So go spar a robot and tell us how it goes.

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