AMBER Alerts and Android: What you need to know

Emergency alerts on your Android smartphone are a good thing — even if they are a bit annoying sometimes!

Every so often — or frequently, depending on your tolerance level — you get an emergency alert on your phone. That horrible blaring of the emergency tone, the buzzing the vibration motor, and then the grim news. Someone’s missing. Or there’s a severe weather alert headed your way. Suddenly and without warning, your phone’s scaring the hell out of you. It’s bad enough during the day, and downright dreadful in the dead of night.

And that’s the idea.

The U.S. carriers have worked with the federal government to come up with a way to push alerts to your Android smartphone to warn you about dangerous weather, missing persons or other matters of grave national importance. The point is they want you to see this information in hopes that it could save your life — or someone else’s.

Here’s what you need to know about these emergency alerts and how you can control them on your Android phone.

What kind of emergency alerts are there?

There are three (or four, depending on how you’re counting) types of emergency alerts you can receive on your Android. They’re grouped into the less-dangerous-sounding “Cell Broadcast” heading, and include:

• Extreme threats: Classified as threats to your life and property, like an impending catastrophic weather event like a hurricane or tsunami.
• Severe threats: Less serious than the extreme threats, these could be the same types of situations, but on a smaller scale — stay safe, but you won’t need to pack up the car and head for the hills.
• AMBER alerts: These are specific alerts aimed at locating a missing child. Technically AMBER stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.” But it was named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old who was kidnapped and killed in 1996. AMBER alerts can appear to be a bit cryptic, giving you the location of the alert, a car license plate number and the make, model, and color of the vehicle.
• Presidential alerts: These alerts will often fall into the “extreme threats” category, but are issued directly by the President of the United States and cannot be turned off in your phone’s settings.

What does an emergency or AMBER alert sound like?

It’s loud and annoying — particularly if you have a phone with really good speakers, or are with several people who have their phones out.

You’ll likely also find your phone is vibrating when an alert is issued.

How can I turn off emergency alerts on my Android?

Though you don’t have a choice as to whether you receive the presidential alerts, you can turn off the other types of alerts. We would recommend leaving them on, though, as the information could help you (or help you help someone else) in a time of danger. But if you want to familiarize yourself with the settings or tweak their parameters, here’s how you do it.

The settings will be found in a different place depending on what phone you have (yay, Android!) but the common theme is that the settings will be called “Cell Broadcasts.” The best way to start looking for them is to open up your settings, and if you have a search function to simply type in “cell broadcasts” or “emergency” — chances are the phone will present you with the settings right away. If you don’t have a search function, look under your sound, notification or display settings.

Here’s now things look in Android 7.1 Nougat, Android 6.0 Marshmallow and on a modern Samsung phone.

Depending on your phone, you’ll be able to toggle each of the alerts independently, choose how they alert you and whether or not they vibrate when you receive one.

Other helpful links for emergency and AMBER alerts

If you want to learn more about how emergency alerts are handled, we’ve compiled a group of handy resources:

• CTIA (The Wireless Association) and Wireless Emergency Alerts
• AmberAlert.gov
• Active AMBER Alerts
• FCC and Wireless Emergency Alerts
• For iOS: Alerts on your iPhone
• Alerts on your Windows Phone

Updated July 2018: This article was refreshed and updated to make sure all the information is still relevant.

Catch up on the latest books any time with an Audible subscription for $5 per month

You’ll want to hear this.

Amazon is offering Prime members an exclusive 66% discount on their first three members of Audible this month as an early Prime Day deal. Through July 31, you can start an Audible membership (or re-activate one) for just $4.95 per month for three months. After that time, the price of the membership will rise to its regular price of $14.95 per month. If you’re not yet a Prime member, you can start a free 30-day trial to get in on this deal and all the rest of the Prime Day offers.

You’ll be billed monthly for the service, so if you decide during the first month that it isn’t for you, you can cancel your subscription immediately after only having paid $5. You’ll get one credit each month, which are each good for any audiobook on Audible regardless of its price. You’ll also get access to podcasts and other audio programs ad-free.

Additional audiobooks beyond the credits you receive are discounted by as much as 30%. If you want, you can swap books out for no extra charge. And if you cancel your subscription, you get to keep any books you’ve already collected forever.

Audible makes listening easy, as you can download the app on a range of devices, from Amazon Kindles to smartphones and more.

Other early Prime Day deals are available right now too, like the Echo Show on sale for $130.

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How to Enable and Disable Automatic Workout Detection in watchOS 5

Apple’s watchOS 5 update includes a new automatic workout detection feature, which is designed to make sure you never miss out on getting credit for one of your workouts.

Automatic workout detection is a setting that’s enabled by default once you upgrade to watchOS 5, but if you don’t want the feature, it can be turned off using the Apple Watch app on the iPhone or on the Apple Watch itself.

Enabling/Disabling Automatic Workouts on Apple Watch

Open the Settings app on Apple Watch.
Choose General.
Select “Workout.”
Scroll down to “Start Workout Reminder” and “End Workout Reminder.”
Set the toggles to your personal preferences.

Enabling/Disabling Automatic Workouts on iPhone

Open up the Watch app on the iPhone.
Choose “Workout” to access the settings for the Workout app.
Scroll down to “Start Workout Reminder” and “End Workout Reminder.”
Set the toggles to your personal preferences.
Automatic workout detection for starting a workout and ending a workout are two separate settings, so you can control them individually if so desired.

Start Workout Reminder

Automatic workout detection is designed to let the Apple Watch remind you to start a workout if you forget to do so, which it will do through a notification that pops up on the Apple Watch asking if you want to begin a workout.

Automatic detection when your workout starts is compatible with running, walking, swimming, elliptical workouts, or rower workouts.

Even if you initially forget to start a workout in watchOS 5, this new workout detection feature will give you credit for the exercise you’ve already done.

End Workout Reminder

With automatic detection for when a workout ends, which is labeled as “End Workout Reminder” the Apple Watch will remind you to end a workout if it looks like you’ve finished up. This too works through a notification that directs you to the workout app.

Unlike automatic workout detection for starting a workout, automatic detection for ending one works with all workouts aside from those in the “Other” category.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Deals: eBay’s 10% Off Tech Flash Sale and Rakuten’s 2-Day 15% Off Sitewide Sale

eBay today launched its latest sitewide coupon code, this one focusing on items in the tech category, which is a good chance for those looking to save a little money on Apple products and accessories. The code is lower than previous sales at 10 percent off, but works the same way: find a tech item anywhere on eBay, add it to your cart until the total reaches or exceeds $50, then enter coupon code PRIMOTECH to gain access to the discount.

The code’s savings will be capped at a maximum value of $100 and applies to the purchase price (excluding shipping, handling, and taxes) of eligible items on eBay. Eligible items include those from the following categories: computers and electronics, cameras and photo, cell phones and accessories, computers/tablets and networking, consumer electronics, and video games and consoles — essentially any category in the Electronics tab. If you’re interested, be sure to browse eBay and make your purchase before the code expires tonight at 11:00 p.m. PT.

In a similar vein, Rakuten today kicked off a coupon code promo on its website that nets shoppers a 15 percent discount when entering the code SAVE15 at checkout, with maximum savings of up to $50. You’ll need a Rakuten account to use the code at checkout, and only one coupon can be used per account within a single transaction. There are also some limits and exclusions, including any gift cards.

Otherwise, you can shop across Rakuten for savings that include the Beats Studio3 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones for $181.90, down from $214. Comparatively, the headphones are discounted to $213.75 currently at Walmart and Amazon, making Rakuten’s sale a great chance to get the Beats headphones at an all-time-low price. Other ideas include a Nest Thermostat E for $135.99, down from $159.99, a 2-pack of iHome ISP6X Wi-Fi Smartplugs for $49.30, down from $58.00, and more.

Similar to eBay, Rakuten’s products are sold by third-party sellers with ratings that you can find at the bottom left of each item page. Rakuten’s sitewide sale will end tomorrow, July 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT. For more sales going on this week, be sure to head to our full Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Apple Updates Leadership Page to Include New AI Chief John Giannandrea

Apple today updated its Apple Leadership page to include John Giannandrea, who now serves as Apple’s Chief of Machine Learning and AI Strategy.

Apple hired Giannandrea back in April, stealing him away from Google where he ran the search and artificial intelligence unit.

Giannandrea is leading Apple’s AI and machine learning teams, reporting directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He has taken over leadership of Siri, which was previously overseen by software engineering chief Craig Federighi.

Apple told TechCrunch that it is combining its Core ML and Siri teams under Giannandrea. The structure of the two teams will remain intact, but both will now answer to Giannandrea.

Under his leadership, Apple will continue to build its AI/ML teams, says TechCrunch, focusing on general computation in the cloud alongside data-sensitive on-device computations.

Giannandrea spent eight years at Google before joining Apple, and before that, he founded Tellme Networks and Metaweb Technologies.

Apple’s hiring of Giannandrea in April came amid ongoing criticism of Siri, which many have claimed has serious shortcomings in comparison to AI offerings from companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google due to Apple’s focus on privacy.

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In 2018, Apple is improving Siri through a new Siri Shortcuts feature that’s coming in iOS 12, which is designed to let users create multi-step tasks using both first and third-party apps that can be activated through Siri.

Tags: Siri, machine learning, artificial intelligence
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Former Apple Employee Charged With Theft of Trade Secrets Related to Autonomous Car Project

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation this week charged former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang with theft of trade secrets, according to documents filed with the Northern District Court of California.

Zhang was hired at Apple in December of 2015 to work on Project Titan, developing software and hardware for use in autonomous vehicles. Zhang specifically worked on Apple’s Compute Team, designing and testing circuit boards to analyze sensor data.

The intellectual property disclosure on one of the documents Zhang stole
He was provided with “broad access to secure and confidential internal databases” due to his position, which contained trade secrets and intellectual property for the autonomous driving project that he ultimately ended up stealing.

In April 2018, Zhang took family leave from Apple following the birth of his child, and during that time, he visited China. Shortly after, he told his supervisor at Apple he was leaving the company and moving to China to work for XMotors, a Chinese startup that also focuses on autonomous vehicle technology.

Zhang’s supervisor felt that he had “been evasive” during the meeting, which led Apple’s New Product Security Team to begin an investigation, looking into Zhang’s historical network activity and analyzing his Apple devices, which were seized when he resigned.

Apple found that just prior to Zhang’s departure, his network activity had “increased exponentially” compared to the prior two years he had worked at Apple. He accessed content that included prototypes and prototype requirements, which the court documents specify as power requirements, low voltage requirements, battery system, and drivetrain suspension mounts.

The majority of his activity consisted of both bulk searches and targeted downloading copious pages of information from various confidential database applications. The information contained within the downloading contained trade secret intellectual property, based on the level of Zhang’s access within Apple’s autonomous vehicle team.

A review of recorded footage at Apple indicated Zhang had visited the campus on the evening of Saturday, April 28, entering both Apple’s autonomous vehicle software and hardware labs, which coincided with data download times, and he left with a box of hardware.

In a second interview with Apple’s security team, Zhang admitted to taking both online data and hardware (a Linux server and circuit boards) from Apple during his paternity leave. He also admitted to AirDropping sensitive content from his own device to his wife’s laptop.

All of Apple’s evidence was relayed to the FBI after the company’s Digital Forensic Investigations team discovered that at least 60 percent of the data Zhang had downloaded and transferred to his wife’s computer was “highly problematic.” The FBI, in the court filing, describes the information as “largely technical in nature, including engineering schematics, technical reference manuals, and technical reports.”

Of interest, the filing also gives a glimpse into Apple’s security protocols. To access sensitive projects like Titan, an employee must be logged into Apple’s virtual private network and must be granted “disclosure,” a status that can only be granted when an employee is sponsored by another employee who already has access to the project, with an administrator reviewing all requests. Approximately 5,000 Apple employees have access to data on Apple’s autonomous driving efforts, with the databases Zhang accessed further restricted to approximately 2,700 “core employees.”

When hired, Zhang signed an Intellectual Property Agreement and attended a mandatory in-person secrecy training session, which he violated. Zhang was interviewed by the FBI in late June, where he admitted to stealing the information, and he was later arrested attempting to leave to China on July 7.

For stealing Apple’s trade secrets, Zhang is facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

It’s no surprise that Apple cracked down on Zhang. Shortly before Zhang’s theft was discovered, Apple sent out a lengthy cautionary memo to employees warning them against leaking data to the media. In the letter, Apple said that in 2017, it caught 29 leakers, with 12 of those individuals being arrested and charged.

USA v. Xiaolang Zhang by MacRumors on Scribd

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Google Phone app will feature direct-to-voicemail spam filtering

Google Pixel, Pixel 2, and Google Nexus users are about to receive a welcome software update. The tech giant released a beta version of the Google Phone app, the pre-installed dialer on Pixel and Nexus handsets, that automatically sends unwanted spam and scam callers to voicemail.

The new feature uses your Caller ID along with Google’s robust database to identify suspicious calls. When it finds a match, it automatically sends the call directly to voicemail, allowing you avoid unwanted calls altogether.

The update comes two years after Google added spam call detection to the Phone app. That update warned users with a large red banner when a suspicious call came in and provided options to send the call to voicemail or block the number.

And while the latest Google phone app update will definitely reduce the number of unwanted calls you receive, it looks like Google may become even more aggressive with spammers in the coming months. An upcoming feature looks like it will finally offer great protection against spam calls as well as a way to avoid “call spoofing” from scammers.

XDA Developers is reporting Google may roll out a new feature called “Call Screening” in the coming months for Google Pixel and Google Nexus users. The feature, found while reviewing code in an APK teardown, will use real-time audio transcription to answer and screen unknown calls. You will then be able to send quick messages to the caller via SMS.

The upcoming “Call Screening” feature will reportedly work without a Wi-Fi or data connection, though you’ll need one to send an SMS message. The feature will also store all call audio and transcripts locally on the phone, meaning you it will not be accessible to Google or others who may attempt to access your data online.

Right now the Google Phone app is only available to users in the Android Beta Program. We anticipate seeing an official rollout in the coming weeks. If you use a Google Nexus or Pixel handset and want to get your hands on the latest version of the Google Phone app now, here’s the quickest way to sign up for the beta program.

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With manual controls, Moment’s new app makes a smartphone feel more like a DSLR

Moment

Moment, a company known for its high-quality smartphone lenses, launched its redeveloped Moment Pro Camera App. Just like its lenses, which brought a DSLR-like interchangeable lens system to smartphones, the app brings DSLR-like manual controls — the combination of lens and app makes a phone’s camera function even more like a DSLR. The app offers manual exposure, focus, and white balance controls, within what the company describes as a minimal user interface. It’s available as a free download for iOS and Android now, and costs $3 to unlock the “Pro” manual functions.

Several different smartphone apps promise DSLR-like controls using exposure adjustments, but Moment goes further with no only manual controls, but adds a dual-stage shutter (iPhones with 3D touch only, and requires Pro access). Using Apple’s 3D touch, shooting a photo feels a bit more like controlling a regular digital camera, with a half-press to focus and a full press will take a photo (3D Touch can differentiate between a firm touch and a softer touch, a feature Apple has included on models since the iPhone 6S).

Unfortunately for Android users, the half-press function won’t be available. But both iOS and Android versions include manual control over shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus, and exposure compensation. The interface uses sliders to make those adjustments, while a double tap will revert that setting back to the default. Users can also overlay various grids, enable or disable flash, and set a timer. (In the free version, you get basic access, plus exposure compensation.)

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Like most native camera apps, mobile photographers can also tap to focus, but unlike those built-in apps, Moment Pro can separate focus and exposure with a double tap. That allows photographers to focus on one area but measure the exposure off another area of the photo.

Moment says the app is also different because of the interface. Controls like RAW photos and adjusting video frame rates are all accessible without digging through a menu. Along with DNG or RAW photos, the app also supports HEIF, HEVC, TIFF, and JPG file formats. The interface also displays a histogram, a feature found in more advanced cameras that many photographers rely on.

For video, the app enables automatic video stabilization. But you can also adjust resolution (from 720p to 4K) and frame rate directly from the app. This is a huge convenience, particular with iOS, which requires you to make these changes via the settings app. There is a slight delay when cycling from one resolution or frame rate to another, however. While this function isn’t unique to the Moment app, it’s still nice to have.

While the app works with or without a Moment lens attached, several features are designed for pairing the app with a Moment lens or case. On dual-lens iPhones, the app lets you choose which lens to shoot from (wide-angle or telephoto). This is particularly useful: When you tap on the zoom button in the native iOS camera app, it doesn’t always use the telephoto lens; depending on lighting conditions, it may employ digital zoom rather than the optical telephoto lens. The Moment app, however, actually forces the camera to pick either the wide-angle or telephoto lens when you hit the 1x/2x icon (if you want to use digital zoom, just pinch in or out on the screen). Unfortunately, the function isn’t available on Android yet (mainly the Samsung S9 Plus), but Moment says it’s working on it. The Moment app is also compatible with the Moment Original Photo Case and Moment Battery Photo Case, including support for the physical shutter button on the case.

We’ve been using the app for the past few days and found it simple to use. We appreciate the clean and elegant interface, but still have easy access to the various camera parameters without having to drill through menus. It is much easier to understand than apps like Adobe Lightroom Mobile and Filmic Pro — both terrific, but have a bit of a learning curve than the Moment app, we feel. In fact, many iOS users might be surprised that their iPhones’ cameras are more powerful than they realize, with the ability to adjust shutter speed and ISO (manual controls are more apparent in Android phones). While it complements Moment lenses, the app works great without one, and is ideal for advanced users like YouTubers. Experienced photographers and videographers would feel at home with these manual options, but it’s a great way for casual users to learn how to exert control their photos, rather than relying on the camera’s auto function.

Looking for more great camera apps? Check out our favorites for iOS and Android, as well as the best camera apps for shooting RAW.

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This A.I. goes against the grain, cleans noisy images with a single shot

Low-light images are often plagued by grain, small dots created by increasing the camera’s sensitivity or ISO that obscure the image’s finer details. But researchers from Nvidia, Aalto University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have trained a computer to eliminate the grain using nothing but the original photo and software. 

While earlier artificial intelligence programs can clean up a noisy image, these programs required two photos, one full of grain and one without. The new Nvidia research, published on Monday, July 9, only needs one grainy photo to create a cleaner image using A.I.

The researchers trained the program by feeding the computer 50,000 pairs of images. The pairs were almost identical images, except each image in the pair had a different randomized pattern of grain added with software. Earlier research used image pairs, but one image was a clean, low noise file. The research, the group wrote, proves that it’s possible to reduce grain in an image without using a low-noise image as a reference point.

To test the program, the group used both traditional images and even medical MRI scans, suggesting the technology could be used for more than just cleaning up low-light photos. The team used images with added noise in order to have a clean reference image to see how well the A.I. performed. The resulting images had less noise than the original and took only milliseconds to correct. In the samples the researchers shared, the A.I.-treated program was a bit softer than the original reference image, but the adjusted images no longer had distracting levels of grain.

The researchers point out that the program, of course, can’t find details that aren’t there or were too obscured by the noise, but the program allows images to be adjusted without a clean reference photo. “There are several real-world situations where obtaining clean training data is difficult: Low-light photography (e.g., astronomical imaging), physically based rendering, and magnetic resonance imaging,” the researchers wrote. “Our proof-of-concept demonstrations point the way to significant potential benefits in these applications by removing the need for potentially strenuous collection of clean data. Of course, there is no free lunch — we cannot learn to pick up features that are not there in the input data — but this applies equally to training with clean targets.”

The research will be presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning in Sweden later this week — but like most new research, there is no word yet on if and when the technology may be widely accessible.

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AMD’s second-gen Ryzen Threadripper CPUs could rip into stores in August

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

AMD’s next-generation Ryzen Threadripper desktop processors for enthusiasts will supposedly launch on August 13, 2018. We already knew they were on the way given that AMD introduced the Ryzen Threadripper 2000 family during its Computex livestream in early June, but now unnamed sources close to AMD are providing an actual launch date.

Here’s what we know about these processors so far:

The new Threadripper chips will be based on AMD’s refreshed Zen architecture manufactured with the 12nm process. They’ll include the latest Precision Boost and XFR clocking technologies for higher, more stable out-of-the-box boost speeds and better overclocking. And like the first-generation Threadripper chips, these processors will require motherboards with the large TR4 seat/socket.

According to AMD, you can swap out your current Threadripper chip for one of the newer models without any issues. But you may not see the full performance level and overclocking benefits of the second-generation chip if it’s installed in the older motherboards compared to the second-generation motherboards that were designed to support all the second-generation Threadripper benefits. Even more, the 250-watt power draw may (or may not) be an issue with some first-generation Threadripper motherboards.

AMD released three Threadripper processors in 2017, with the 1950X serving as the company’s flagship processor for enthusiasts. Pulling a lower 180 watts of power, it includes 16 cores and 32 threads with a base clock speed of 3.4GHz and a maximum speed of 4.0GHz. The upcoming 2990X doubles the core count, keeps the base speed, and increases the maximum speed by 200MHz. The drawbacks are a higher power requirement and a higher price tag.

Meanwhile, the 2950X seemingly serves as a replacement of the current 1920X. The older chip packs 12 cores and 24 threads with a base speed of 3.5GHz, a maximum speed of 4.0GHz, and a power draw of 180 watts. The 2950X doubles the core and thread count, but currently we don’t know anything about the newer chip’s base and boost speeds. It will supposedly have a larger power draw and a higher price tag, too.

As a sign of the impending second-generation Threadripper release, the current chips are marked down if you want a high-end AMD processor without having to sell your organs on the black market. The 16-core Threadripper 1950X can be purchased for $779, which is $220 off the chip’s original price. The 12-core Threadripper 1920X can be purchased for $620 – $179 off the original price – while the 8-core Threadripper 1900X remains at a steady $429.

While $1,500 for the Threadripper 2990X may look highly expensive next to the now-discounted Threadripper 1950X, Intel’s 28-core monster showcased during Computex will supposedly cost around $10,000. The chip ran overclocked at 5GHz thanks to a Hailea HC Series water chiller mounted within the demo desktop. Given that setup, don’t expect the out-of-the-box speeds to be quite that high.

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