Another Facebook fail: Bug caused it to publicly share 14M private messages

Facebook finds itself in hot waters again. With the now infamous Cambridge Analytica breach still fresh in people’s minds, Facebook has now inadvertently made the private posts of some 14 million users on its network publicly visible.

So rather than being shared with a small group of family and friends, these posts — including photos and videos — were made available for everyone to see. Facebook said the issue has been corrected, and posts that were intended to be shared privately have been recategorized. However, Facebook’s latest misstep comes at a time when the company’s privacy practices have been called into question.

This latest glitch was blamed on a bug that appeared during Facebook’s testing of a new feature. Facebook was trying out a new option for people to share featured items on their feeds. Instead of relying on previous privacy settings established by the users, the glitch made postings public as a default. This bug affected posts between May 18-22, but Facebook didn’t correct the issue and recategorize these posts as private until May 22, CNET reported.

“We recently found a bug that automatically suggested posting publicly when some people were creating their Facebook posts,” Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said in a statement. “We have fixed this issue and starting today, we are letting everyone affected know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time. To be clear, this bug did not impact anything people had posted before – and they could still choose their audience just as they always have. We’d like to apologize for this mistake.”

If you’re affected by this error, Facebook will notify you by Thursday, June 7, with an alert in your notifications.

This latest incident could result in a deception investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton University assistant professor of computer science and public affairs.  “That’s because the company had promised that the setting users set in their most recent privacy preferences would be maintained for future posts,” ABC News explained. “In this case, this did not happen for several days.”

In addition to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that exposed the personal data of as many as 87 million users of the social network, Facebook was most recently in hot water when it was reported that the company may have shared the data of its users with device manufacturers, including Chinese companies ZTE, Huawei, and Lenovo.

The best free recording software

Thanks to advances in computer software, it has never been easier to make your own music from home or on the go, rather than in a pricey studio. When it comes to the search for a free and reliable Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) to record music, the internet has a lot to offer, but what is the best free recording software?

Though “freemium” software often lacks the advanced functionality of renowned programs like Pro Tools, it still provides options for recording audio, adding effects, and cutting waveforms, among other basic tasks. Below, we compiled a list of the best free recording software you can download, install, and immediately start using on your computer.

If you want to play around with someone else’s tracks, these are the best music download sources.

The best

GarageBand

Although MacOS isn’t always the only platform for great software, when it comes to free recording applications, it has the best of the bunch. GarageBand is an Apple exclusive program that gives you a full audio creation suite with features for audio recording, virtual instruments, MIDI-editing, and even music lessons built right in.

Part of the appeal of GarageBand is how simple it is to get going with. Its interface is intuitive and easy to learn and if you want to record something you just plug in your instrument or device and get started. There is a wide array of virtual amps and effects you can use, as well as drum tracks that sound like they were performed by real musicians.

The sound and loop library that’s available for editing into your own tracks is growing all the time and you can even bring in your iOS devices for wireless control of your set up. GarageBand is the most fully featured, free application on this list. While you will need to have an Apple device to run it, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better application that doesn’t force you to get out your credit card first.

Download now for:

MacOS iOS

The rest

Avid Pro Tools First

Avid
Avid

Pro Tools First is a limited version of the main Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD applications, but it’s still pretty capable in its own right. Aimed at singers, songwriters, and musicians who are just getting started with audio recording or want to try out the software before buying, the main limitation is that you can only store projects in the cloud and then, only up to 1GB in total size. You’re also limited to 16 simultaneous audio tracks, four inputs, and 16 instruments.

Beyond that though, the features and capabilities are much the same, giving you a good idea of what the tool can do. For example, you still gain access to 500MB of bundled loops from leading producers, the Xpand!2 multitimbral music workstation with 20 effects and plugins, and the same support for third party-interface systems as the premium versions.

One upside of not having quite so many features as the premium editions of Pro Tools, is that Pro Tools First has less strenuous system requirements. It only needs an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with 2GB of RAM and 15.5GB of install space. If you do choose to upgrade to the standard or HD version further down the line, they’ll set you back $25 and $83 a month respectively.

Download now for:

Windows MacOS

Audacity

First released in 2000, Audacity has gone on to become one of the most popular pieces of free software around, and for good reason. The open-source program gives users a wide range of options for recording and editing audio, all tied together with a simple interface. Everything Audacity has to offer is free of charge. Compared to other notable DAWs such as ProTools and Sound Forge, Audacity’s layout is very minimalist. There are toolbars for navigating a track, editing it, and mixing. When tracks are loaded, they will appear as waveforms, and users can edit specific sections of a track by highlighting the appropriate section of the waveform.

Of course, no piece of free software is without its shortcomings, and despite Audacity’s many virtues, it has some issues. The most notable problem is that Audacity uses “destructive editing,” which means that when users add effects to a track, they are actually altering the waveform; these changes happen to the original file, so you can’t go back and undo them later. This isn’t necessarily a problem if you’re carrying out simple tasks — such as editing pauses out of a podcast — but more complex actions like mixing might be difficult.

Further, Audacity requires numerous plugins to reach optimal functionality; it cannot export projects as MP3s, for example, unless you install an MP3 encoder. Though, you could just convert the files from MP3 yourself, using external apps. Overall, however, Audacity offers one of the most robust packages available among free recording programs.

Download now for:

Windows MacOS Linux

Ardour

Ardour is an open-source DAW designed for Linux and available for MacOS and Windows. Its developer, Paul Davis, also invented the Jack sound server for Linux and worked previously as one of the original programmers at Amazon.

Ardour features highly versatile multi-track recording features that include the ability to import video for film scoring purposes, to record and edit either non-destructively or destructively, and to prepare any combination of individual tracks for recording. Its use of Jack makes it compatible with a number of outside applications, as well. However, unlike other DAWs, Ardour does not come with any built-in effects or instruments and relies instead on the installation of third-party software.

Download now for:

Windows MacOS Linux

Zynewave Podium Free

In 2005, programmer Frits Nielson left his position as a user interface designer with TC Electronic to focus his efforts on a recording application he began developing back in the early ‘90s. Nielson started a company called Zynewave and released a program called Podium — a fully functional DAW with a 64-bit sound engine, MIDI capabilities, VST and third-party plugin compatibility, and a number of other advanced functions. It was also priced at a mere $50.

Zynewave now offers a free version of its software called Podium Free. Granted, it comes with some limitations — Zynewave has disabled Podium’s multiprocessing capabilities, which hinders the program’s performance under pressure and its surround-sound playback capabilities. Otherwise, though, Podium Free is identical to Podium, a program that takes some getting used to.

Once users learn how to use it, however, they will find that Podium Free offers an interface that excels in terms of customization, while offering a suite of effects and other features on par with premium DAWs. The program also never times out or displays a nag screen, and Nielson regularly updates the software to fix bugs and known issues.

Download now for:

Windows

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Essential Phone gets new 3.5mm headphone jack module and MQA certification

Essential’s also giving its customers three free months of TIDAL.

One of the big selling points with the Essential Phone was supposed to be a magnetic accessory system that would allow for all sorts of fun modules. The only one that’s actually come to market so far is the 360-degree camera, but now Essential’s confirmed its next accessory is a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Similar to the 360-camera, this headphone jack adapter will snap onto the back of the Essential Phone using its two-pin connection system. You can already bring back the 3.5mm port using a regular USB-C adapter, but Essential says this will offer an “audiophile-grade amp” for enhanced tunes. It’ll be available this summer and pricing details are still unknown.

Essential goes on to say that:

The Audio Adapter HD can fit almost all types of 3.5mm headphones and is crafted from machined titanium for exceptional durability. Plus, with Click technology, you can charge your phone and listen to music simultaneously.

Along with the new accessory, the Essential Phone’s also receiving a software update that gives it MQA certification. MQA stands for “Master Quality Authenticated” and allows the Essential Phone to properly handle lossless music files “so you can experience the sound of the original recording” for what you’re listening to.

Lastly, Essential’s rounding these audio upgrades out by giving new and existing owners of the Essential Phone three free months of TIDAL.

Essential Phone 2 reportedly canceled, Andy Rubin considering selling the company

Essential Phone

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• Join our Essential Phone forums!

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Apple Signs Writers Guild Contract, Setting Possible Precedent for Future Negotiations

Apple has signed the current Writers Guild of America master contract, agreeing to terms above the minimum for programming offered free online. This is significant because it could have implications for the next round of WGA talks ahead of the expiration of the current contract in May 2020, Variety reports.

In a message to WGA West members, President David A. Goodman and executive director David Young wrote:

These deal terms are significant. First, the current MBA does not contain minimums or residuals for projects on free-to-consumer services (think Crackle). Terms have to be negotiated on a writer by writer basis. Except, now, at Apple.

Second, while almost all Guild-covered Internet programming has thus far been under a subscription (consumer pay) model — like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu — Facebook has already launched shows on their free-to-consumer service. As this market develops, it will be imperative to negotiate MBA protections for writers creating content for such services. Our Apple deal moves us in that direction while the 2020 negotiations are still two years away.

In other words, the better deal (for writers, at least) that Apple agreed to with the WGA could act as a starting point for contract negotiations, rather than the lower standards in the current contract.

Apple has been active in developing shows and movies for its own platforms in recent years, including signing actress Lizzy Caplan for its new series “Are You Sleeping?” and landing the TV adaptation rights to Gregory David Roberts’ 2003 novel “Shantaram.”

Tag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitions
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Apple Stops Signing iOS 11.3.1 Following iOS 11.4 Release

Following the release of iOS 11.4 on May 29, Apple has stopped signing iOS 11.3.1, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 11.4 will no longer be able to downgrade to earlier versions of iOS.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date.

iOS 11.4 is now the only version of iOS 11 that can be installed on iOS devices by the general public, but developers can download iOS 12, the next-generation version of iOS that’s in beta testing ahead of a fall release.
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Apple Pay Promo Offers $20 Gift Code With $100+ Purchase From Nike App

A new Father’s Day-themed Apple Pay Promo is providing customers who spend at least $100 in the Nike app with a $20 gift code, according to emails Apple sent out to Apple Pay customers this afternoon.

The offer is valid from June 7 to June 11 and requires customers to make a $100 purchase using Apple Pay in Nike’s app. The $20 code is not provided at the time of purchase, but will be delivered within two weeks of purchase.

The $20 promo code must be redeemed by August 25 on a separate Nike app purchase. Apple is also promoting the Apple Store, StubHub, and Newegg as recommendations for Father’s Day.

Apple regularly sends out Apple Pay promotional emails to customers with discounts on a range of products. Recent deals have included $15 off flowers for Mother’s Day and 10 percent off furniture from Hayneedle.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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TreVolo S review: Strangest but most popular speaker in the house

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If you picture “Bluetooth speaker” in your brain, you are almost certain to conjure up a very plain black or very very dark gray brick, with a perforated front and near-invisible control buttons. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of these clone-like bricks in the market. Heck, I have at least three of them in the house as I type this. But, I’ve been given the opportunity to try out a speaker from BenQ; the Trevolo S.

If you’re familiar with BenQ, you know their wheelhouse is high-quality projectors and displays. Seems that BenQ wanted to put their unique spin on a speaker….and boy did they ever! The Trevolo S is an very high-quality electrostatic speaker… easily the most unique in the market- and honestly, the most popular speaker in our house. It’s not cheap, but as you’ll find, every part of this speaker sings quality. It currently retails for $199 (link to the Amazon listing here).

Body & Design

Starting with looks, the Trevolos S is unlike any speaker before it. The highs and mid-range are provided by impossibly-looking thin “wings”, which fold out from the main body for listening. These super-thin speakers are not built like traditional cone speakers but are in fact electrostatic speakers.

Electrostatic technology makes this speaker unique.

OK, so what on earth is an electrostatic speaker??? This was my question exactly, and if you have even a little bit of nerd blood in you, it’s actually pretty cool science. Instead of the traditional magnet-driven vibrating cone, electrostatic speakers are comprised of a very thin membrane sandwiched between two plates. For audio, electrical current is passed through this membrane, causing the vibrations.

The woofer section in the main center body is comprised of two 12W woofers (each driven by a dedicated amplifier). The front woofer grilles stand out with bold large-perf faces rimmed with a very handsome copper trim. On the sides the body has more integral perforations for passive bass sound.

Controls are (thankfully) large circular buttons with the familiar icons. There is one extra button on top, titled MODE. This button is to enable what BenQ calls “3D Audio”, cranking up the spacial aura of the sound. BenQ’s goal here is to make the audio more multi-directional, and for the most part it works; more on this farther below. The backside has a microUSB charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Controls are simple and easy to figure out.

The wife and kiddos just love the looks of the speaker. The kiddos argue who gets to use it, mostly because of the novel aesthetic. My wife (Hi Lisa!) thinks it’s the most handsome speaker available, and requests it front-and-center in our kitchen/entertaining area (a statement that’s never been previously made in this house). It’s replaced the aging Big Jambox as the ‘main’ house speaker. I can’t argue that point, either; it’s a conversation-starter but not in a weird “what is that?!” way.

Audio Experience

As I stated before, the Trevolo S is uber-popular at our house, and in my opinion is simply the best Bluetooth speaker experience I’ve ever had. It’s mainly a story of quality over quantity here.

Backside of the speaker.

While most other speakers are carrying on about their volume and super-duper bass output, the Trevolo S focuses on audio quality. The electrostatic speakers make much less distortion than traditional speakers. So much so I’ve kinda fallen for the audio delivered by this speaker. It’s a bit hard to explain, but while most speakers have a boom-y sound effect, the sound profile of the Trevolo S is just so much much more clear. Actually, clear doesn’t cut it- transparent is more like it. There is almost zero hum, buzz, for fuzz coming through — just extremely clean, pure music.

Playing tunes while working around the house, I physically stopped to listen closer more than once. Familiar songs came through on another level, almost like when you hear a band live for the first time.

I know I’m gushing a bit, but let me be clear here that these are uncompensated words of mine, here. The Trevolo S is my favorite Bluetooth speaker; one truly deserving of its elevated price point.

What Could Be Better

Now, every speaker is a compromise. And the Trevolo S doesn’t escape this truism. While a lot of music types truly shine on this speaker, more bass-heavy genres (hardrock,metal, hip-hop) will suffer a bit here. There just isn’t enough output to match loud hard-hitting music.

As for volume, two 12W woofers it has, but when you crank it up, the audio quantity starts to flatten out pretty fast. This speaker is best used for normal-level listening habits.

Treveolo S: Not exactly a party animal.

Physically, while certainly pretty, The Trevolo S is not best used as a portable sound unit. The fold-able electrostatic wings infer portability, but they are not robust enough to be used for this purpose (my opinion here). Also, the tall, skinny profile of this speaker makes for a top-heavy thing….so much so that I keep it up high in the house for fear of tipping incidents. It certainly doesn’t seem like it would take a whole lot to topple it.

While it offers multi-speaker stereo mode (dedicated left & right channel function) and party mode (multi-speaker broadcasting), and while these are great features, most of us just aren’t going to be shelling out for multiple units of this speaker, so it’s fairly moot.

Conclusion

I can’t recommend it as a portable/traveling companion, but this is perfectly okay as I don’t think BenQ is fooling anyone here. This speaker belongs front-and-center on your shelf, table, or bedroom dresser.

Other than that, and the higher-than-normal price for a Bluetooth speaker, I have nothing but positive things to say about the BenQ Trevolo S. Between its beautiful looks, solid construction, ease of use, and top-notch audio experience, it will appeal to most if not all of your household for daily use.

Nvidia’s ‘infinite resolution’ patent could change gaming forever

In a patent filing released on Thursday, June 7, Nvidia describes a technology that could fundamentally alter the way games look, feel, and perform. Nvidia calls it “infinite resolution,” and it’s effectively a clever way of using vector graphics to replace static textures in games. Let’s dive into what that means and why it could be a big deal.

Today, most games use textures that are created for a set of fairly standard resolutions, 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 4K — and some in-between. These textures cover just about every surface in modern PC games, from character models, to weapons, to environments, every 3D model is effectively “wrapped” with a 2D texture. Nvidia filed a patent to change how these textures are rendered.

Currently, developers package games with a series of these textures, one for each resolution the game runs at, and one for each detail setting at each resolution. This requires a lot of storage space, and it means that today’s games have a ceiling or a maximum resolution.

To see what we mean, try opening up Diablo 2 on a modern computer. Your resolution in that game is going to max out somewhere around 1024 x 768, way below what current monitors are capable of. As a result, it’s not going to look its best. The game is going to stretch those old under-sized textures across your whole display, like when you zoom in really far on a small picture.

Nvidia’s solution would fix these issues. Instead of packaging games with a massive set of static textures, games built using Nvidia’s technology would include only a single set of texture information, not the actual textures themselves. Effectively, each in-game texture would be drawn in real time from instructions the developers include in the game. Your computer would use its processing and graphics rendering horsepower to do the heavy lifting here.

Because your computer would be drawing each texture in real time, your games would be future-proofed to some extent. If a game like Diablo 2 was built using this technology, that would mean playing the game on a massive 8K monitor would look just as tack-sharp and detailed as it would on an old 800 x 600 CRT monitor.

This technology isn’t actually anything new, it’s just a novel application of an existing technology: Vector graphics. If you’re unfamiliar, vector graphics are used for a variety of purposes, but most notably they’re used in graphic design. When a designer creates a logo or design with vector art, that logo or design can be blown up or shrunk down to any size without losing detail. Nvidia’s patent filing here simply applies these principles to textures in PC games.

It’s unclear what potential speed bumps this technology might encounter, how it might bog down a typical gaming PC, or whether it would only be useful for certain types of games, but it’s an interesting concept and we’re excited to see where it could lead. To be clear, Nvidia has been working on this for quite a while, but this latest patent filing suggests the company could be close to bringing it to market.

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Microsoft’s Surface Pen may never need recharging in the future

Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends

If you’re a fan of digital inking on Microsoft’s Surface line of computing devices, you may — in the future — never need to recharge your stylus or change its batteries again. Microsoft has filed a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a solar-powered stylus. The patent was initially filed at the end of 2016, but it’s unclear if Microsoft has any intentions of commercializing this idea in a future iteration of its Surface Pen.

Rather than using light from an external source, like the sun or a nearby lamp, Microsoft’s invention calls for a light collecting mechanism to be placed near the tip of the stylus to collect light emitted from the display when the stylus is being used. This way, the light that your Surface Pro‘s screen gives off could be harvested to power and recharge your Surface Pen. The light is sent via fiber optic cables positioned inside the barrel to a solar panel array on the inside of the pen, located at the end opposite its tip.

“The stylus collects light during interaction with the touchscreen, while the stylus is in close proximity to the touchscreen,” Microsoft wrote in its patent filing. “Due to the close proximity of the stylus to the touchscreen during harvesting, the intensity of light that is collected from the electronic display is significantly higher than intensity from ambient lighting in a room or from outdoor lighting.”

To maximize recharging efficiency, Microsoft said that the solar panels — used to convert the LED light given off from the touchscreen display into energy — could be optimized for the light wavelengths emitted from LED displays, rather than other types or sources of light. Higher intensity light — for instance, with a screen set to a higher brightness level — could lead to faster charge rates. Reflective surfaces inside the barrel of the stylus could also be used to help the solar panel absorb the greatest amount of light.

In another example, Microsoft showed a dock for a Surface Pen that allows the stylus to be positioned upright with the tip inside the dock. The dock also contains a small LED light that can be used to charge the stylus when it’s not in use.

What’s unique about Microsoft’s invention is that the solar panel is located on the interior barrel of the stylus, rather than on the exterior. This would allow the Surface Pen to maintain its clean and minimal aesthetics similar to today’s battery-powered counterpart.

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Here are the iPads and iPhones getting Apple’s latest iOS 12 update

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple’s iOS 12 update is official and it’s filled with tweaks that should improve performance — even on older devices. The update is still in developer beta, but it’s coming to more devices than ever before.

Apple was keen to point out in its Worldwide Developer Conference keynote that iOS 11, in particular, had reached an amazing 81 percent of all active iOS devices, and all of the devices that were qualified to receive the iOS 11 update would also be receiving the iOS 12 update. Which devices does that actually mean? Five years worth of devices will be applicable for the update, and even within Apple’s tightly controlled and well-kept garden, that is a lot of devices. We rounded them all up so you can easily check.

iPhone devices that will receive iOS 12

Device

iPhone X (2017)

iPhone 8 Plus (2017)

iPhone 8 (2017)

iPhone 7 Plus  (2016)

iPhone 7 (2016)

iPhone SE (2016)

iPhone 6S Plus (2015)

iPhone 6S (2015)

iPhone 6 Plus (2014)

iPhone 6 (2014)

iPhone 5S (2013)

There are some devices on this list that won’t surprise anyone. As the latest devices, it was always going to be a certainty that the iPhone X and iPhone 8 range would be getting the update to iOS 12, and given how long Apple tends to support devices for, the iPhone 7 and 6S range also seemed likely.

There are a few surprises though — chief among them is the inclusion of the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 5 and 5C was cut off from iOS updates with iOS 10.3.3, so it was likely that the 5S would be seeing an end to support with iOS 12. The same could have been said for the almost four-year-old iPhone 6 range. We’re happy we’re wrong — these devices will get iOS 12, which is a nice surprise.

Not included are any iPhones that didn’t already receive an iOS 11 update, such as the iPhone 5, 5C, as well as the iPhone 4S and earlier. You will need to upgrade your iPhone if you want a chance to play with the newest version of the operating system.

iPads that will receive iOS 12

Device

iPad (2018)

iPad Pro 10.5 (2017)

iPad Pro 12.9 (2017)

iPad (2017)

iPad Pro 9.7 (2016)

iPad Pro 12.9 (2015)

iPad Mini 4 (2015)

iPad Mini 3 (2014)

iPad Air 2 (2014)

iPad Mini 2 (Retina) (2013)

iPad Air (2013)

There are a couple of solid rules you can follow when checking up on this list — if you own any iPad Pro, then you will be getting iOS 12, and it’s the same story for both models of the iPad Air as well.

It’s a little more complicated when we turn to other models. Every iPad Mini will be getting the iOS 12 update — except for the very first iPad Mini. If you’re in ownership of an iPad simply titled “iPad,” then you best hope it was made either this year or last year, as none of the original run of the iPad — from iPad 1 all the way to the iPad 4 — will be getting iOS 12. If you’re not sure which iPad you have, the best option is to check your current version of iOS under your Settings. If it lists any version numbers other than iOS 11, then you’re not getting iOS 12.

Why isn’t my device getting iOS 12?

Unfortunately, all consumer technology has a shelf life, and while you’re free to use a device until it drops dead, manufacturers tend to set their own limits. Manufacturers will generally support devices for up to two years, supplying new updates and security patches, though it does tend to vary. Apple is considered better than most other manufacturers in this regard, and will commonly support a device for a longer period of time. The range of devices updating to iOS 12 is particularly notable in this regard since it contains the iPhone 5S — an almost five-year-old device. For comparison, the iPhone 5S came out the same year as the Samsung Galaxy S4 — which received its last major update in April 2015.

Even with Apple’s longevity, there is a limit. The devices not supported for iOS 12 are 34-bit devices and the ones that are supported at 64-bit devices. Sometimes, the hardware just isn’t capable of handling the demands of the new OS version.

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