Vudu update brings 4K Disney movies to Apple TV

When the Apple TV 4K arrived, there was one glaring omission in its movie catalog: Disney. No matter how much you wanted, you couldn’t (officially) see the latest Marvel or Pixar flick in its full glory. If you live in the US, though, you now have a viable alternative. An update to Vudu’s Apple TV app has enabled 4K HDR support, opening the door to watching Disney’s movies at maximum quality if you live in the US. You’re not going to get Dolby Atmos audio (the Apple TV just doesn’t support it), but that’s fine if you don’t need to be fully immersed while watching The Last Jedi.

There’s one main gotcha: the price. The Apple TV is missing 4K Disney movies in part because of Apple’s insistence that 4K titles cost as much as their HD counterparts, and that means you’ll be paying as much as $25 to buy a movie instead of Apple’s usual $20. With that said, it might be worth the premium if you have an Apple TV and would rather not use another media hub (or smart TV) to fill out your 4K catalog.

Via: Reddit, 9to5Mac

Source: Vudu Forum

Apple’s influential, iconic iMac turns 20

There are few individual computer models that have left a lasting mark on the industry, but you can definitely put the iMac on that list. Apple introduced its signature all-in-one desktop at a special event on May 6th, 1998, and it’s safe to say the system has had a lasting impact on technology at large. At the same time, the iMac has also been a symbol of the cultural zeitgeist, including for Apple itself — it shows how the company evolved from an underdog in a Windows world to a behemoth focused more on phones than PCs. The iMac has had a long journey, but it’s worth following to see just how much the industry has changed in the past 20 years.

The original iMac

The very first iMac may seem quaint today with its 15-inch CRT screen, tiny 4GB hard drive and decidedly late ’90s translucent styilng, but at the time it was a minor revolution in… well, just about everything. This was a departure from the beige boxes that defined most PC designs, and it was designed from the ground up for internet access at a time when the feature was still far from ubiquitous — that’s primarily where the “i” in iMac comes from. It also helped usher in the USB era. While USB was certainly available before the iMac, Apple’s complete shift away from legacy ports (combined with Microsoft’s improved USB support in Windows 98) prompted many companies to build USB peripherals and jumpstart adoption of the universal connector.

And it’s no secret that the iMac was instrumental to Apple’s comeback. Its commercial success revitalized Apple after years of business blunders, giving it the financial runway to expand as well as a clear focus: Apple would be focused on ease of use, simplicity and design from here on out. It was also instrumental to the career of legendary designer Jonathan Ive — it was the project that cemented his reputation for minimalist yet memorable products.

iMac G4: Apple gets experimental

Apple faced a difficult problem as the original iMac line reached its twilight. How do you follow up on an iconic computer when its defining feature, the tube display, was outdated? For Apple, it was simple: design something even more radical than its predecessor. The 2002-era iMac G4 took its inspiration from a sunflower, putting its then-impressive 15-inch LCD (later models would jump to 17 and 20 inches) on a neck that let the display tilt and swivel while preserving Apple’s all-in-one design.

It wasn’t as big a hit as its predecessor, as high prices and the trailing performance of PowerPC chips did it no favors. However, it was central to Apple’s digital hub strategy (where the Mac was the center of your media creation and playback) and helped spur technological concepts like digital cameras and home movie editing. It also showed that Ive wasn’t afraid to mess with success — one of his defining traits over the past 20 years.

The iMac G5 and Apple’s leap to Intel

The iPod had barely been around for a few months when the iMac G4 arrived, but it had become the star of the show by 2005 — and Apple wanted a computer that was a perfect complement to its popular music player. The result was the iMac G5, a 17- and 20-inch all-in-one that borrowed more than a few pages from the iPod’s design book even as it broke some ground of its own. It brought a much-needed speed boost (Apple finally had a reasonably fast 64-bit CPU in a home machine), but it also introduced the distinctive floating-computer-on-a-stand design that Apple uses for iMacs to this day. Later models also helped popularize desktop webcams and served as Apple’s first experiments with media hubs through its Front Row interface. If you owned an early Apple TV, you could trace its roots back to this machine.

However, many will know this design for another reason: the iMac was Apple’s first production Intel-based machine. The very first x86-based Mac was virtually unchanged on the outside from the iMac G5, but it was both faster and could do things unheard of for any Mac, such as dual-booting Windows. That Apple led its processor switch with the iMac said a lot about both the flexibility of its design (it wasn’t nearly as exotic as the circular iMac G4) its symbolic importance in the lineup.

The aluminum iMac: Apple turns serious

Up until 2007, iMac designs always had a certain amount of whimsy to them that indicated they were for home users. The aluminum iMac changed all that. Its metal-and-glass design was not only reminiscent of the original iPhone, but decidedly more sober, as if it was destined for your office. Its feature set reflected that, too. Apart from larger 20- and 24-inch screens, the aluminum iMac touted dual-core processors and options for a wireless mouse and keyboard. While the iMac was no longer turning the industry on its ear, it had clearly matured a lot in the space of a decade.

Later aluminum models were refinements of the 2007 version’s basic formula, but they mirrored the evolution of both the wider tech industry and the iMac’s role — it was becoming an entry-level pro machine in a period where laptops and smartphones were taking over. The unibody iMac (from 2009 onward) touted a 27-inch display and quad-core processors, with later models helping to introduce Intel’s high-speed Thunderbolt port. The 2012 iMac, meanwhile, symbolized the death of the optical drive as people turned to cloud services and streaming video instead of burning backup discs and watching DVDs. It was far from the centerpiece of Apple’s lineup by that point, but ther was no question that it showed where Apple was going.

The iMac as workstation: Retina Display and iMac Pro

By 2014, the computing landscape was much, much different than in 1998. Smartphones and tablets were putting a serious dent in PC sales, and the iMac was being asked to fulfill roles that would have been unimaginable for an all-in-one in the ’90s, such as pro-level media editing. Apple’s solution? Lean into the iMac’s growing importance as a workhorse. The iMac with Retina Display packed one of the first 5K screens on the market, and with an aggressive price to boot. Many stand-alone 5K displays at the time cost more than the entire iMac, making it a bargain for creatives who valued resolution over a modular design.

And if you need evidence of exactly how much the iMac and Apple have changed in 20 years, you need only look at the iMac Pro. It’s arguably a stopgap system for customers waiting for the redesigned Mac Pro, but it represents an almost complete inversion of Apple’s strategy. Where the 1998 system was built to be accessible for computing rookies, the iMac Pro is strictly for demanding work between its Xeon workstation processor, pro-level graphics, SSD storage and its eye-watering $4,999 starting price. It’s far from a “computer for the rest of us,” as Apple used to say, but that’s also because computers themselves are no longer the all-purpose devices they used to be.

Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data models survived until 2017

Facebook may have succeeded in getting Cambridge Analytica to delete millions of users’ data in January 2016, but the information based on that data appears to have survived for much longer. The Guardian has obtained leaked emails suggesting that Cambridge Analytica avoided explicitly agreeing to delete the derivatives of that data, such as predictive personality models. Former employees claimed the company kept that data modelling in a “hidden corner” of a server until an audit in March 2017 (prompted by an Observer journalist’s investigation), and it only certified that it had scrubbed the data models in April 2017 — half a year after the US presidential election.

In a response to the Guardian, a Cambridge Analytica spokesperson denied that there was a “secret cache,” and said that it had started looking for and deleting derivatives of that data after the initial wipe, finishing in April 2017. It was a “lengthy process,” the company claimed.

Facebook has already outlined its stance on the subject. In his testimony to the US House of Representatives, company chief Mark Zuckerberg said that Cambridge Analytica “represented to us” that it had deleted models based on the social network’s data. A spokesperson added that Cambridge Analytica claimed all the derivative data was gone in a September 2016 statement from its lawyers. If the scoop is accurate, however, both statements are problematic. Facebook did tell Cambridge Analytica to erase derivatives, but it didn’t double-check that Cambridge Analytica had done exactly that. And if Cambridge Analytica’s attorneys had testified that the data had been erased by September 2016, why did it just claim the deletion took months longer?

This is partly water under the bridge now that Cambridge Analytica is closing down. At the same time, it underscores just how messy the situation was (and to some degree, still is). Whether or not Facebook was completely diligent in getting on-the-record promises, there was only so much it could do to verify that all aspects of the data were gone. The only certainty is that users and their privacy were caught in the crossfire.

Source: Guardian

Chinese spies linked to decade-long hacking campaign

China’s long-running hacking efforts may be more extensive than first thought. Security researchers at ProtectWise’s 401TRG team have determined that a long series of previously unconnected attacks are actually part of a concerted campaign by Chinese intelligence officials. Nicknamed the Winnti umbrella, the effort has been going on since “at least” 2009 and has struck game companies (like Nexon and Trion) and other tech-driven businesses to compromise political targets.

There are common methods and goals to the attacks. They usually start with phishing to trick someone into compromising the company network (often using political bait), and then use a mix of custom and off-the-shelf malware to collect info. They’ll often stay undetected by “living off the land” with the victim’s own software, such as system admin tools. The intuders are primarily looking for code signing certificates and “software manipulation,” according to the report.

The perpetrators also make occasional mistakes, and it’s those slip-ups that helped identify the Chinese origins. They normally use command-and-control servers to hide, but they inadvertently accessed some machines using IP addresses from China Unicom’s network in a Beijing district.

Even with these mistakes, the Winnti umbrella is an “advanced and potent threat,” 401TRG said. It’s also a not-so-subtle reminder that China’s state-backed hacking efforts are deeper than they seem at first glance — hacks that appear to be one-off incidents may be linked if you look for subtler similarities.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: 401TRG

Companies in China are collecting data from their employees’ brains

Worried about your boss seeing an angry Facebook status? It could be worse. Companies in China are using specially designed helmets to monitor employees’ brainwaves, according to the South China Morning Post.

The companies use data collected from the devices to monitor their employees for signs of stress, depression, and other issues that could affect workplace performance. When an issue is detected, the worker in question is told to take a day off or is reassigned to a less stressful job.

Hangzhou Zhongheng Electric, which is just one of the companies making use of this tech, says that it has led to an an overall increase in worker efficiency. One of the examples cited is adjusting the length and number of breaks to be more in sync with their employees’ individual needs.

Some companies are also using the technology to augment their training regiments. At Ningbo Shenyang Logistics, these brainwave monitoring helmets are combined with virtual reality devices that simulate workplace tasks. One of the company’s managers, Zhao Binjian, says that the devices have “significantly” reduced the number of mistakes made by new workers thanks to “improved understanding” between employees and employers.

Binjian said that the helmets were mainly used to train new employees. He did not comment on whether or not the helmets were only used by new employees, however.

This technology is not unique to China. It has been used in western countries as well, but only for limited and voluntary tasks such as archery. China is the first country to employ the technology on a wide industrial scale. Researchers in the field are hopeful that the influx of data will allow them to improve the algorithms and artificial intelligence which work to monitor the devices.

Unsurprisingly, this technology is not without its problems. Many employees were initially wary of the devices and some experts believe they were right to be. Professor Qiao Zhian of Beijing Normal University said that the technology could be abused by employers to violate privacy.

“There is no law or regulation to limit the use of this kind of equipment in China,” Zhian said. “The employer may have a strong incentive to use the technology for higher profit, and the employees are usually in too weak a position to say no.”

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How to jump a car battery the correct way

If your car doesn’t start, the most likely cause is a dead battery. Being stranded with a lifeless car is never fun, but getting back on the road is relatively easy. Whether it’s to avoid being late for work, or to escape a hoard of zombies, every driver should know how to jump a car. All you’ll need is a set of jumper cables, a second vehicle, and a few minutes of work. Here’s everything you need to know.

Causes of dead batteries

It’s rare for a car that’s driven regularly to have a completely dead battery; it’s more common when cars sit for long periods of time. But older batteries have a harder time holding a charge — meaning they can go flat unexpectedly (portable battery chargers can help keep them juiced). Leaving the engine off with power-consuming accessories (like interior lights) on can also drain the battery.

sirnength88/123rf
sirnength88/123rf

Get a set of jumper cables

Make sure to carry a set of jumper cables in your car at all times, just in case. Any set will do the job, but look for cables gauge 4 to 6 in size, with a length of 10 to 20 feet. Cables of that size should be durable enough to work reliably, and a relatively long length allows flexibility, in case you can’t park another car right next to the one being jumped. You don’t want cables that are too long, though, as the extra distance electricity has to travel may decrease the strength of the charge.

Portable jump-starters are also available, but the batteries that power them must be kept charged in order for them to work.

Find a power source

You’ll need to park the running vehicle close enough to the one being jumped for the cables to reach from battery to battery, so identify where the battery is located in each vehicle. Batteries are usually mounted in the engine compartment, toward the front, but that isn’t always the case. They may be obscured by plastic covers, which need to be removed before jumping, located in the trunk or under the rear seat. Familiarizing yourself with all of this beforehand will help save time when you actually need to jump a car.

Connect the jumper cables

Once the running vehicle is maneuvered into position, shut it off and open both hoods. Now it’s time to break out the jumper cables.

When handling jumper cables, make sure to keep the red (positive) and black (negative) clamps from touching each other. Once electricity starts flowing through the cables, this will create sparks and could lead to a short circuit in one or both of the vehicles. Having one person at each end of the cables can make the whole process easier.

The clamps connect to battery terminals, which are exposed metal nodes with wires connected to them. Before connecting the cables, make sure to brush away any dirt or grime to ensure a good connection. Confirm which terminal is positive (+) and which one is negative (-). You’ll normally find each symbol on the battery itself, next to the terminal. Sometimes the positive is under a red cover. Ask for help when in doubt; it will save you a potentially costly repair bill.

Found them? Good. Connect one of the red clamps to the positive terminal of the dead battery. Then, connect the other red clamp to the positive terminal of the live battery. Next, connect a black clamp to the negative terminal of the live battery. Instead of connecting the second black to the negative terminal on the dead battery, find an unpainted metal surface on the vehicle and connect it to that instead. This will make jumping safer.

Fire it up

Start the functioning car, then try to start the dead car. If the car refuses to start, the battery may be too far gone, in which case it may need a replacement or simply more time to charge. If interior lights come on, or you hear the engine try to start and fail to catch, you may have other problems.

If the jump is successful and your car fires up, leave it running while you disconnect the cables. Making sure not to let the clamps touch while any part of the cable is still attached to the battery, disconnect the clamps in the reverse order of how they were attached, starting with the black clamp clipped to the car being jumped, and ending with the red clamp on the positive terminal of that car’s battery.

Once the cables are disconnected, keep your car running. You need to give the battery enough time to recharge, so a short drive should do the trick.

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These are the seven best RAW camera apps for Android and iOS

Hillary Grigonis/Digital Trends

A RAW photo offers better image quality than a JPEG, but capturing RAW images was once a feature reserved for only DSLRs and other high-end cameras. But thanks to increasingly capable smartphone cameras and clever developers, it’s now possible to shoot RAW photos on your smartphone. In fact, both iOS and Android support RAW photo capture out of the box.

But to take your mobile photography even further, you’ll need an app that can really put those files to use. We’ve rounded up the best RAW-compatible mobile apps for both Android and iOS, each of which takes a unique approach to shooting, editing, and managing RAW photos on your phone.

Adobe Lightroom CC (Android, iOS) — Free (with optional subscription)

Adobe Lightroom CC shouldn’t need much of an introduction. Like its desktop counterpart, Adobe Lightroom CC is both a digital asset manager (DAM) and post-production studio, where you can edit almost any image you throw its way, including proprietary RAW formats. Better yet, you can even capture RAW photos directly inside the app using the built-in camera.

Whether it’s a photo straight from your smartphone or one imported from a DSLR, there is no shortage of editing tools available. From basic exposure settings to layered gradient adjustments, Lightroom has it all. The best part is, if you have one of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription plans — including the $10 per month Photography plans — all of your photos will sync across all of your mobile and desktop devices, so you can start an edit on your phone and finish it from your computer when you get home.

VSCO (Android, iOS) — Free (with optional in-app purchases)

VSCO started out as a simple app to add film-like presets to photos and has now grown both in features and users. There are more than 50 filters to choose from and a whole collection of tools for editing your images. VSCO not only works with RAW images, but also captures them using the integrated camera, making it a great all-in-one solution to shooting and editing RAW photos on the fly. VSCO is free to download and comes with a small collection of sample presets. More presets can be purchased via in-app purchases, while a VSCO X subscription — which gives you access to all presets, tools, and beta features — is offered for $20 per year.

Snapseed (Android, iOS) — Free

It was six years ago that Google bought out the photo editor Snapseed. Although many thought it was the end for the app, that proved to not be the case. Not only has Snapseed been updated over the years, it continually gains new features, albeit at a slower pace than most people would prefer. Still, it’s a free app that has a lot to offer, including RAW photo editing, a curves tool, built-in filters, and much more.

ProShot (Android) — $4

Generally speaking, RAW photo apps outside of those above tend to be less than impressive, with the exception of ProShot. Designed by Rise Up Games, ProShot is an all-in-one camera app that supports both JPEG and RAW photo capture, as well as 4K video capture on compatible devices. ProShot offers both manual and automatic shooting modes to fit your style and creative endeavors. As almost all of the apps on this list do, ProShot also features live adjustments, including white balance and exposure. It’s available in the Google Play Store for $4.

Halide (iOS) — $6

If you want all of the latest iOS photo features boiled down into a simple, minimal app, Halide is what you’re looking for. Described by its developers as “perfect photography, within reach,” Halide is designed so that you can completely control it using only one hand. Despite its simple interface, it includes professional-grade features, including Portrait Mode, focus peaking, and — of course — RAW photo capture. It also supports the new HEIC format found in iOS 11. Halide is $6 on the iOS App Store.

ProCam 5 (iOS) — $6 (with optional in-app purchases)

Stills, video, RAW images — ProCam 5 has it all. With more than half a dozen shooting modes, including night mode, burst mode, portrait mode, and even 3D photos, ProCam 5 manages to pack a lot of firepower into a single app. The interface is a bit daunting for those who aren’t familiar with heavy-duty camera apps, but once you find your way around, ProCam 5 has a lot to offer.

RAW Power (iOS) — Free (with optional in-app purchases)

Unlike most of the other apps on this list, RAW Power doesn’t take photos. Instead, it acts as a digital asset manager (DAM) for photos — including RAW files — you have on your iOS device, be they from your phone or an external camera. In addition to being able to sort and organize images, you can also make edits, including basic exposure changes and curve adjustments. There’s even an option to edit Depth Effect images taken by dual-camera iOS devices. RAW Power is available for free in the iOS App Store with in-app purchases for advanced editing tools.

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Forest: Stay Focused helps keep you off your phone when work needs to be done

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

We all have the internet and our smartphones to thank for our short attention spans. Tasks that normally take a few seconds can often take double the amount of time when you find yourself checking your phone every few minutes. This week we have an app that will help keep you focused on your work instead of mindlessly scrolling through your social media accounts.

Forest: Stay Focused — for iOS and Android — is an app that’s specifically meant to keep you productive. By planting a seed in Forest, you’ll watch it gradually grow into a tree. But if you leave the app to answer a text message or check Twitter, then the plant immediately dies and you’ll have to start over again. But you aren’t faulted the first time you exit out to access a different app — a banner that pops up warning you that your tree is going to die. If you do it a second time, you’ll have to start over.

Setup is simple: after creating an account, you set a timer and begin your task. Depending on how long you set the timer, you’re able to see it count down as the tree grows above it. You’ll also see different encouraging phrases at the top that change every so often to remind you to keep going, like “Put down your phone!” or “Don’t look at me!”

The interface is not only clean and simple, but also very cute. You can set the time on the homepage by moving your finger along the dial to either increase or decreate the time. You’re able to set the timer for up to two hours for longer tasks, or as little as ten minutes for smaller ones. Once you tap “Plant,” the timer will start — but you do have ten seconds to cancel if you change your mind.

I’ll admit I’m the type to check my phone even when I don’t have any notifications. I’ll be focusing on a task one minute and the next I find myself checking Instagram even though it looks the same way it did five minutes ago. But when I have Forest open, I feel terrible knowing that swiping out of the app will kill my cute little tree. To keep you in the zone, there’s also calming music you can add in the background like “Rain in the Forest,” which might make you so relaxed you’ll find yourself feeling a tad sleepy.

But to complete the experience, I also suggest downloading the browser extension. That way, when you can’t access social media or other distracting sites on your phone, you won’t be able to use your laptop instead. It also helps to make sure you’re not cheating. The extension works the same way it does on your phone — but this time you can add specific sites to blacklist. If you try to access the site, you’ll receive a message letting you know your tree is still growing and the amount of time you have left. On both the app and the chrome extension, you can of course end it by pressing “give up.”

When I had the entire ecosystem set up via my phone and my laptop, I was able to get the most out of the app. It allowed me no choice but to focus on what I was doing because I physically couldn’t access the sites. At times, however, having the option to give up was definitely tempting; especially having used chrome extensions that force me to stay locked out of sites based on the time frame I originally set.

You’ll earn currency every time your tree fully grows without any interruption. This can be used towards unlocking more options such as a lemon tree, flower tree, or even cherry blossoms. There are also more quirky choices like a pumpkin, mushroom, or a rafflesia. While this feature seems minor, I found myself wanting to earn as many coins as I could in order to purchase the sunflowers. Thankfully, there are no micro-transactions for this app to let you cheat the system either.

For those who want to help towards a cause, you can use your coins to plant a real tree instead. In partnership with Trees for the Future — a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that works with farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa — you’ll have the option to plant one tree for every 2,500 coins you earn. While that might sound like a lot, it could rack up quickly for those who spend most of their days checking off one thing after another on their to-do lists.

Other features include graphs that track your progress throughout the week. You’re able to see a timeline of the plants you’ve grown throughout the day and how long it took to grow them. You can also see an illustration of all the trees you’ve grown and, sadly, all the trees you’ve killed as well. Swiping through gives you the complete history of past weeks as well.

If you need a little extra encouragement, there’s also a collaborative feature available. You can create a room and invite friends and family members to join you. If any one of you exits the app when the timer is running, then the shared tree will automatically die — talk about not wanting to let the team down.

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Pumpkin Pie perhaps? Just what should Android P be called?

We have high expectations for Google I/O 2018, but the star of the show will be Google’s newest flavor of Android, which is set to usher in some major changes for the world’s most popular smartphone platform. Will gestures replace navigation buttons? Will there be a new design language? What about notifications, Google Assistant, battery life, and a host of other considerations?

There’s likely to be some good stuff in Android P and it should be available to test out in beta form ahead of the official launch later in the summer. But what everyone really wants to know is the choice of confection. Google’s dessert-based naming convention makes Android more palatable, but some picks are better than others. Will Android P be something irresistible?

Here are our thoughts on possible names in alphabetical order, with a likelihood score of one as the lowest and 10 as the highest.

Pancake: 8

It’s a classic, as well as one of the only desserts you’re allowed to eat for breakfast, so it must be in the running. The fact that people will work “flat as a pancake” into Android articles knocks a couple of points off.

Panna Cotta: 7

This wobbly, creamy, delicious dessert from Italy is always good and Android 9.0 Panna Cotta has a nice ring to it, but is it universal enough?

Pastille: 2

You know, like Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles– sugar-coated lumps with real fruit in them that demand to be chewed. Nah, probably not.

Pavlova: 4

Meringue, cream, and fruit is a heavenly combo, and this dessert is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. We don’t think this is too likely.

Peanut Brittle: 1

Too much of a mouthful? This crunchy mix of nuts with hardened sugar and syrup is the only option on the list capable of breaking your teeth.

Pecan Pie: 4

Almost as American as the apple variety. Legally, Pecan Pie must be said in a Southern accent, which might harm its chances of being picked.

Peppermint: 8

The simplicity and strength of this name can’t be denied, but strictly speaking, peppermint is a plant that we use to flavor some candies.

Petit Four: 3

This has become a blanket term to cover bite-sized cakes, eclairs, biscuits, and tarts, and it means “small oven” in French, which probably isn’t a great Android name.

PEZ: 5

Google has done tie-ins before (KitKat), so these tiny candy bricks — invented in Vienna as an alternative to smoking — could be in the running.

Popcorn: 8

This traditional accompaniment to movies isn’t strictly a dessert is it? But hey, if you want to end a meal with a bowl of popcorn, that’s fine, as long as it’s not salty and buttery.

Popsicle: 9

We think this is the current favorite because it sounds right, it’s in keeping with past names, and there have been some clues that point to it, like this Android wallpaper Google released. But popsicle is a brand name owned by Unilever, so it will require a licensing deal.

Pop-Tarts: 2

These rectangular toaster pastries, also an acceptable breakfast food for some reason, are the closest shape to a smartphone. On the other hand, Android 9.0 Pop-Tarts sounds stupid.

Praline: 5

We can’t help feeling this would be perfect if it was pronounced pra-line, instead of pra-leen, because it would rhyme nicely – Android 9.0 Pra-line. But it isn’t, so it doesn’t.

Profiterole: 6

Delicate choux pastry filled with cream and topped with hot chocolate sauce, like irresistible bite-sized eclairs, but the word itself doesn’t hint at the deliciousness.

Pudding: 7

If Google was a British company, then pudding could be a good shout-out – it’s the generic term Brits tend to use in the same way that Americans use dessert.

Pumpkin Pie: 5

“Let’s not waste the pumpkin from the carved Halloween lanterns I’ve heard you can make pie from it,” sadly, it was disgusting pie because you’re meant to use pie pumpkins which are different. Personal antipathy aside, this name could work.

That’s our current list of possible Android P names. Tell us your favorite, and if you’ve got another suggestion, let’s hear it.

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Debating between Apple and Samsung phones? Open your eyes a little wider

Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr

It’s becoming increasingly hard not to buy a Samsung or Apple phone, or at the very least, avoid being convinced they’re the only options for the keen phone buyer. It’s incredibly frustrating. They’re not the only two smartphone brands out there, and no matter what their rabid fan bases or grouchy reviewers say, they’re equally as flawed as the brands that are being unfairly ignored.

We’re already dangerously close to only having the choice of these two brands in stores, and no-one is going to benefit from that duopoly, except Samsung and Apple. If the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and iPhone X were perfect — by which I mean flawless, 10/10, the best you can possibly ever get — that’d be fine.  But they’re not.

It’s becoming increasingly hard not to buy a Samsung or Apple phone.

If you’re buying a smartphone this year, then it’s time to take a good, long, hard look at yourself and what you really want from the device that’s going to at your side for the foreseeable future.

We’re not saying don’t buy the Galaxy S9 or iPhone X, we just want to make sure you’re not ignoring other fine devices just because of the noise from the massive marketing machines driving Samsung and Apple deep into the public consciousness.

Stop listening to the whiners

Where to start? This week, we’re hearing about how the new LG G7 ThinQ doesn’t have an obvious major selling point, and that it’s evidence of a company that’s lost. The screen notch is a problem. The artificial intelligence is a problem. Even the name is a problem. We’re not deluded here, LG’s definitely lost in the smartphone wilderness, unsure of the direction it needs to take to find its way back to civilization. But that doesn’t mean the G7 ThinQ is a bad phone.

The LG G7 ThinQ (left) and Huawei P20 Pro. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Here’s our first change-the-way-you-think task. From this point on, stop echoing the nonsense about “hated trends.” The notch, for example. When you’ve looked at a phone with a notch for more than a few hours, you forget it’s there. The reasons for and against it are so incredibly dull, I’m on the verge of filling my ears with cement the next time someone mentions how it should or shouldn’t be implemented.

Is the artificial intelligence an issue? Fine, it’s an option, so don’t use it. You don’t like the name of the phone? We don’t either, it’s rubbish; but if this passes your lips as a reason you won’t be buying it, then we really don’t know what to tell you. Take these away and you’re left with a Snapdragon 845-powered phone with an attractive design, a wide-angle camera, amazing audio, a super bright screen, and even a 3.5mm headphone jack. Remember how much moaning there was about that being missing from phones? Look, there’s one here! Buy, buy, buy!

Is the artificial intelligence an issue? Fine, it’s an option, so don’t use it. You don’t like the name of the phone? We don’t either, it’s rubbish; but if this passes your lips as a reason you won’t be buying it, then we really don’t know what to tell you.

It just happens to be LG’s turn in the stocks at the moment. Last month it was Huawei because the P20 Pro is apparently the equivalent of inviting a shady man in an overcoat, dark glasses, and a fedora to dinner and not noticing he didn’t leave afterwards. Next it’ll probably be HTC. The HTC U12 Plus, if it’s called that, has an illogical name, will likely not have the world’s most visually exciting design, and if AI is mentioned somewhere, then it’s all over. The OnePlus 6 is also on its way, which we know will have a notch, as will the Honor 10.

Take Samsung and Apple to task

Arguments levied at these perfectly acceptable, well-made, and high-performance phones also apply to Samsung and Apple, with just a few tweaks to the wording. Samsung’s 2018 flagship phone is fundamentally dull, and when examined in any detail, suffers from the same lack of those ephemeral “compelling reasons” to buy as the G7 ThinQ and every other current flagship phone. But its huge brand name obscures all. “It’s a Samsung,” says the Android-buying world, “therefore it should be my first choice.”

The Samsung Galaxy S9 Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

There is a single reason to buy the Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus: The camera. It’s fantastic; but every other feature is a damp squib. For all the people who won’t use the G7’s monster speaker or audio capability, there are just as many people who won’t use Samsung’s cringe-making AR Emojis. Once the novelty of slow-mo videos wears off, because they’re very hard to do properly, it’ll become as little used as LG’s AI camera enhancements.

The S9 doesn’t have a notch, but it does have a very similar design to the Galaxy S8, and arguably the Galaxy S7 before it. Come on, let’s get mad about that. Nah, let’s not, because like the notch, it’s utterly irrelevant.

But its huge brand name obscures all. “It’s a Samsung,” says the Android-buying world, “therefore it should be my first choice.”

What we should get mad about is Samsung’s cash-grab at the expense of you, the customer. It signed a deal with Verizon to pre-install apps on new and existing Verizon Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus phones, purely to receive a share of the ad revenue. It’ll tell you it’s about delivering “quality content,” but that’s bollocks. It’s about money, at your expense. We’re not mad about the apps, because you can uninstall them, but it’s the principle.

Samsung’s transgressions are quickly forgiven, while LG, HTC, Huawei, and most other flagship phone makers’ will be pulled up again and again, and used as erroneous reasons not to buy the phone. It’s the same selective blindness that affects Apple buyers. The iPhone X is much too expensive, Face ID is a pain, the notched screen is apparently the root of all evil, and the operating system is bloated with features no-one ever uses. Worst of all, it has (whisper it) an Apple logo on the back. Oh, the humanity.

The iPhone X. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Yet, Strategy Analytics estimates Apple sold 16 million iPhone X models during the first three months of 2018, and it was for the second quarter running, the world’s most popular smartphone. Samsung hasn’t released its Galaxy S9 sales numbers, but Strategy Analytics also estimates it sold in total more than 78 million phones over the same period. Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo — all major players in China — filled the remaining top five spots.

Don’t dismiss choice

Brand loyalty is the domain of the unimaginative. Just because you liked an old Galaxy phone, doesn’t mean you should buy the latest one, in the same way that loving the iPhone 5 isn’t a reason to buy an iPhone 8. It also applies to anyone wanting to jump away from Apple then simply choosing Samsung, and vice versa. You’re not being daring, or showing your individuality, because these two are inherently the same mega-corp, just with a different name and using different software.

There isn’t a single manufacturer offering
the perfect package. Each has flaws, and each has positives.

If you buy a new smartphone this year, try the alternatives. There isn’t a single manufacturer offering the perfect package. Each has flaws, and each has positives. Read the reviews, visit the stores and carriers, use the devices, and try to ignore anyone who tells you “X phone is way better than Y phone, for spurious Z reason” until you’ve tried it for yourself.

We’re spoiled for choice in 2018 when it comes to great phones — whether it has a Samsung, Apple, LG, Google, Huawei, OnePlus, HTC, or even a BlackBerry badge on it — so don’t get caught up in the blinkered assumption that there are only two phone brands worthy of attention. Buy the one you then think is best, and be proud of your informed decision. If we stop, choice will erode away, and we really don’t want that.

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