Amazon’s $88 refurb Echo Plus comes with a full one-year warranty

One day to save!

As part of its daily deals, Amazon is offering the Echo Plus in refurbished condition for $87.99, the lowest it has sold for yet. In new condition, this speaker sells for $150, which is almost double what the refurb is going for. The Echo Plus is Amazon’s most advanced Echo device, and it has its own smart home hub built right in so you can connect your Philips Hue bulbs, Yale locks, and more to it without needing any extra hubs or hardware. In addition, you can use Alexa to set timers, convert measurements, and all of the other great features it offers.

Amazon backs the refurbished units with the same one-year warranty that it does new products, so the only big difference here is the price. If you’ve wanted to add another Alexa device to your home, this is the one to get, especially with today’s discount. The deal ends when the day does, so don’t miss out.

See at Amazon

Broadcom Expects 2018 iPhone Sales to Drive ‘Seasonal Uptick’ in Q4 Revenue

Broadcom on Thursday offered analysts an upbeat end-of-year revenue forecast, thanks in part to the imminent launch of Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup, which is expected to boost the chipmaker’s wireless business.

Reuters reports that Broadcom predicted current-quarter revenue largely above estimates, due to higher demand for components that power data centers, as well as an increase in manufacturing at a certain “North American customer,” which analysts identified as Apple.

The chipmaker expects Apple’s smartphone sales to increase its wireless revenue by 25 percent compared to the previous quarter, although the overall forecast may be down in single-digit percentage compared to the previous year.

That said, Broadcom’s enterprise storage business was up 70 percent in Q3 2018, and CEO Hock Tan believes that another strong show will feed into a “seasonal uptick” in its wireless arm:

“More than half our consolidated revenue … is benefiting from strong cloud and enterprise data center spending,” Tan said on his post-earnings call with analysts.

“This, coupled with a seasonal uptick in wireless, will drive our forecast revenue in the fourth quarter.”

Next week sees Apple launch its new flagship iPhone lineup, for which Broadcom traditionally supplies several components, including the wireless charger controller, touchscreen, and more.

Apple’s September 12 event is expected to usher in a next-generation iPhone X, a larger 6.5-inch OLED screen mobile handset, and a mid-tier 6.1-inch device with an LCD display. The date should also see the company debut a new Apple Watch series and redesigned iPad Pro models.

Related Roundups: iPad Pro, Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5, iPhone XsTag: BroadcomBuyer’s Guide: 10.5″ iPad Pro (Don’t Buy), Apple Watch (Caution), 12.9″ iPad Pro (Caution)
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How to Perform a Clean Installation of macOS 10.14 Mojave

This article guides you through the process of performing a clean installation of macOS 10.14 Mojave using the bootable USB drive method, rather than upgrading your Mac using Apple’s standard installation package.

Creating a bootable USB drive provides you with a convenient way to install a fresh copy of macOS Mojave on multiple Macs. Performing a clean install can also remove annoying quirks and strange behaviors that your Mac may have inherited over time, and often helps to reclaim disk space caused by junk files left by third-party apps.

The following procedure works with the latest public beta of macOS Mojave, which you can download by enrolling in the Apple Beta Software Program. It will also work with the final version of Mojave, once it’s released in the fall. To follow the steps, you’ll need an empty 8GB or larger USB thumb drive (USB-C or USB-A, depending on your Mac) and an hour or two of downtime while the installation procedure completes.

Also, be sure to perform a full backup of your Mac beforehand using Time Machine. That way you can restore your system from the Recovery partition if something goes wrong.

Compatibility Check

macOS Mojave is a major update that introduces a range of new features like a Dark Mode, Desktop and Finder improvements, new apps, and a revamped Mac App Store, but not every Mac that can run macOS High Sierra will run macOS Mojave. The full list of compatible Mac models is as follows:

• MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013, plus mid 2010 and mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable GPU)

To check if your Mac is compatible, open the Apple () menu in the upper left corner of your Mac’s screen and select About This Mac. Look just below the OS X version number in the Overview tab – if the Mac model name is the same or a later model year than the one shown in the compatibility list above, your Mac is compatible with macOS Mojave.

How to Perform a Clean Install of macOS Mojave

Download macOS Mojave, either via Apple’s Public Beta Program or from the Mac App Store (once it’s available).
Once the download is complete, close the installer window by selecting the Quit Install macOS option in the menu bar or using the keyboard shortcut Command (⌘) + Q.

Launch the Terminal app (found in Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
At the Terminal command prompt, type sudo followed by a space.

Next, open a Finder window, navigate to your Applications folder, right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the macOS 10.14 installer, and select Show Package Contents from the contextual dropdown menu.

Navigate to Contents -> Resources within the installer package.
Drag the createinstallmedia file into the Terminal window.

Still in the Terminal window, type –volume followed by a space.

Click the open Finder window to bring it to the front, and in the Finder menu bar select Go -> Go To Folder….
In the Go to the folder input box, type /Volumes and click Go.

Connect your USB thumbnail drive to your Mac.
Drag the USB drive’s icon from Finder into the Terminal window.

Press the Enter key on your keyboard to run the completed Terminal command.
Enter your administrator password when prompted.

Type Y and press Enter when prompted, and the command will create your bootable Mojave installer on the USB drive. This will take a few minutes to complete, so leave it running. Note that if you’re asked whether you want to install Xcode during this time, you can safely click Not Now and the process will complete successfully regardless.

Restart and Install

Once the USB installer has been created, restart your Mac and hold down the Option (⌥) key as soon as you hear the reboot tone. Then follow these steps:

Use the mouse pointer or the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the disk called Install macOS Mojave in the drive list that appears on the screen.

Once the USB drive has booted, select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, choose your Mac’s startup drive from the list, and click Erase.

When your Mac’s startup disk is formatted, return to the Utilities window and select Install macOS, choose your freshly erased startup drive when asked where to install the OS, and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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Lyft’s first app-based scootershare service rolls into Denver

Lyft

The company that’s aiming to take a million cars off the road by the end of 2019 has just launched an app-based scooter service as part of efforts to achieve its goal.

Ridesharing giant Lyft introduced its electric scooters to the folks of Denver, Colorado, on Thursday, giving everyone with the Lyft app the chance to hire the two-wheelers for short hops across town.

Starting as a one-year trial, the scooters cost a dollar to unlock and 15 cents a minute to ride. When you’re in a service area in downtown Denver, the app shows available scooters on a map. Scan the scooter’s QR code and you’re good to go. If you need to take a short break during the ride, tap “lock” to hold your scooter until you’re ready to set off again. When you’re done, hit “end ride.”

Lyft’s dockless electric scooters, which have a top speed of 15 mph and a range of around 15 miles, will be available to ride between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., seven days a week.

The company’s ridesharing rival, Uber, is also clamoring to make its mark in the scooter- and bikeshare space, acquiring bikesharing startup Jump in April 2018. Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi recently said it’s intending to focus more on bikes and scooters instead of its core car-based service because the smaller vehicles are better suited to inner-city travel than large cars.

Scootershare services have been proliferating along with bikeshare schemes in cities across the U.S. The sheer number of bikes and scooters on the streets has caused problems in some cities, prompting the authorities to start looking at stricter regulations. In Lyft’s home city of San Francisco, for example, officials banned scooter schemes in June while it worked out a permit scheme. Earlier this month, the city awarded permits to just two schemes, with Lyft and Uber and rejected along with eight others. Two relatively minor players, Scoot and Skip, will resume their scooter services in San Francisco on October 15.

Lyft’s vision

Lyft hopes its scooter and bike schemes — it bought bikesharing operator Motivate in July for a reported $250 million — will complement public transportation services, helping riders to move quickly between homes/offices and locations where they can pick up faster modes of transport, whether a train, bus, or Lyft car.

The company’s bold ambition is to bring car ownership to an end. Earlier this year Lyft president and co-founder John Zimmer said that in 2017 alone, around 250,000 Lyft passengers gave up their cars.

Lyft’s next scooter launch is in Santa Monica later this month, where it’ll go up against Uber as well as Lime and Bird, two companies that currently dominate the market.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Uber wants to focus on bikes over cars for shorter journeys
• Lyft wants to partner with cities to add bike and scooter sharing
• San Francisco is drowning in electric scooters. Will permits help?
• NYC just dealt a major blow to Uber and Lyft
• Bird electric scooters ruffle city officials’ feathers with surprise launch

British Airways data hack hits 380,000 recent customers

One of the world’s biggest airlines has been targeted by hackers.

British Airways said the data breach involves around 380,000 customers who used its website or mobile app between August 21 and September 5 to book a flight or vacation.

The U.K.’s flagship carrier confirmed in a message on its website that the personal and financial details of customers had been compromised in the breach, adding that the stolen data did not include any information linked to passports or travel itineraries.

It’s now in the process of contacting affected customers, though at the same time it urged anyone who made transactions using British Airways’ website or app between the specified dates to contact their banks and credit card providers for advice.

The airline also said that its computer systems have now been secured and online services are operating normally again. But as a precautionary measure, it advised affected customers — or those who believe they may have been affected — to visit ba.com and change their password.

British Airways said it was investigating the hack “as a matter of urgency” and will provide updates on the case as and when more information comes to light. The police and relevant authorities have been informed of the data theft, the airline confirmed.

We are investigating the theft of customer data from our website and our mobile app, as a matter of urgency. For more information, please click the following link:https://t.co/2dMgjw1p4r

— British Airways (@British_Airways) September 6, 2018

Flights and bookings have not been affected, the airline said, so British Airways customers can turn up at the airport in the knowledge they’ll be able to check-in as usual.

In a statement, Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and chief executive, said: “We are deeply sorry for the disruption that this criminal activity has caused. We take the protection of our customers’ data very seriously.”

This isn’t the first time British Airways has suffered at the hands of hackers. In 2015, cybercriminals accessed “tens of thousands” of accounts belonging to frequent flier executive club customers, though airline officials insisted no personal information was viewed or stolen in the breach.

While consumers have every right to demand that businesses keep their personal data secure, hardly a week seems to go by without news of another hack affecting huge numbers of people. Targeted businesses will contact you once it discovers that its systems have been compromised, but because it may take time for them to find out — or indeed to share the news — you should always keep an eye on your credit card statements and bank accounts for any suspicious activity.

Cybercriminals in possession of nabbed credit card data may try to sell it via illicit hacking forums, with buyers hoping to use it for online shopping sprees or, if possible, to withdraw money from bank accounts.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Hack affects 2 million T-Mobile customers, unclear if passwords included
• South Korean cryptocurrency exchange loses $40 million in hack
• Australian student hacks into Apple, steals 90GB of data because he’s a ‘fan’
• Sprint holds another flash sale, offers the iPhone X for $5 per month
• A second massive Comcast outage leaves customers without service this month

British Airways Website and Mobile App Suffer Huge Customer Data Breach

British Airways says it is investigating the theft of customer data from its website and mobile app over a two-week period, during which 380,000 payment cards were exposed (via The Guardian).

“From 22:58 BST August 21 2018 until 21:45 BST September 5 2018 inclusive, the personal and financial details of customers making bookings on our website and app were compromised,” the airline revealed in a statement on its website.

According to BA, travel and passport information was not accessed during the data breach, but concerned customers are being advised to get in touch with their card issuers in the first instance. The company said all customers affected by the breach had been contacted on Thursday night.

“British Airways is communicating with affected customers and we advise any customers who believe they may have been affected by this incident to contact their banks or credit card providers and follow their recommended advice.”

The airline said it was informed of the hacking by a third party, which is why it was able to continue undetected for two weeks, but the company insists that the breach has been resolved and its website and mobile app are now working normally.

Tags: security, United Kingdom
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The inside story of how the POCO F1 costs just $300

Two factors: conscious cost-saving and Xiaomi’s supply chain.

With so many diverse options in the smartphone segment, it’s hard for a new player to stand out. However, Xiaomi’s sub-brand managed to do just that. When POCO unveiled the F1, it did something that I thought wasn’t possible anymore: take Indian consumers by surprise. India is one of the hardest markets to sell a phone — there’s no dearth of choice across any given category, and the average Indian customer is inherently price-conscious.

So when POCO announced that the Snapdragon 845-powered F1 retails for just ₹19,999 ($300) in India, it set off a cavalcade of excitement that I haven’t seen for a long time. The only other devices that evoked such enthusiasm were the Xiaomi Mi 3 and the OnePlus One. The POCO F1 shares many similarities with those devices: at its core, it makes flagship-level hardware accessible to a more mainstream audience.

To put things into context, the POCO F1 costs ₹15,000 ($210) less than the OnePlus 6 and an incredulous ₹47,901 ($670) less than the asking price of a new Galaxy Note 9. You can essentially pick up a Pixel 2 XL and a POCO F1 for the amount you’d shell out for a Note 9 in India.

Devices like the POCO F1 don’t come around often, so I talked to POCO’s head of product Jai Mani on how the brand pulled it off. Mani said that the goal from the beginning was to launch the phone at ₹19,999, and that the main challenge to hit that price point was the currency fluctuation against the dollar. The Indian rupee is currently at its lowest point in a decade, and that makes things harder for brands like POCO, which have thin margins to begin with.

Our goal to start with was to hit this ($300) price as we thought it would make it interesting.

POCO had to make several cost-conscious decisions to get to that price. Mani said his team initially mulled the idea of an AMOLED display for the device, but had to ultimately reject it as it wasn’t feasible in terms of cost. Another feature that didn’t make the cut is NFC. Its omission isn’t a huge deal in India, but it makes a difference in markets like the UK, where contactless payments are ubiquitous. The choice of materials also made a tangible difference, as a polycarbonate back costs much less than a glass-based design.

The factor that played a key role in getting the POCO F1 down to that $300 figure is Xiaomi’s supply chain. POCO was able to leverage Xiaomi’s existing infrastructure to bring down the R&D costs for the F1. The F1 uses the same IR-based face unlock as the Mi 8 — hence the reason for the notch on the display — and the same 12MP IMX363 rear camera module as the Mi Mix 2S. The 20MP front camera module is also identical to that of the Mi 8, and by reusing components, POCO was able to save a lot of time and resources in tuning the cameras for the device.

If not for Xiaomi’s scale, POCO could not have launched the F1 at $300.

Another area where Xiaomi’s infrastructure paid off is with the Snapdragon 845. Mani said that Xiaomi is one of Qualcomm’s largest customers for Snapdragon 800-series chipsets, so the company was able to source a large volume of the processors at a “great” price. Same goes for memory — POCO wouldn’t have been able to offer LPDDR4X RAM or UFS 2.1 flash storage as standard were it not for Xiaomi’s scale.

The main components in terms of cost are RAM, flash storage module, display, SoC, and camera, with Mani saying that these five components make up a huge chunk of the price of the phone. Sourcing these components directly from Xiaomi ultimately made all the difference for POCO as the company wouldn’t have been able to launch the F1 at such a competitive price otherwise.

POCO is also leveraging Xiaomi’s after-sales network.

It’s not just during the manufacturing where POCO benefits from Xiaomi’s scale. POCO is using Xiaomi’s logistics and distribution network, and more importantly, its service centers — with Mani noting that doing so “saves us a lot of money.” Xiaomi now has over 1,000 service centers across India, and POCO customers will be able to access that same network for after-sales service.

What’s interesting is that POCO is selling the F1 in decent volumes — there were over 75,000 units up for grabs during the first sale last week. POCO says it will continue to make a similar number of units available in future weekly sales. All units sold in India are being assembled locally at Xiaomi factories, and that also makes a difference when talking about pricing.

Furthermore, POCO is adhering to Xiaomi’s goal of not exceeding 5% in profits from hardware sales. By selling at near manufacturing cost, POCO is able to effectively undercut every other company, a strategy that Xiaomi has used to great effect in the past. That’s why it’s unlikely we’ll see anyone else offer a Snapdragon 845 phone for $300.

POCO F1 review: Incredible performance at an unbeatable price

Mark your calendar: Google will launch new hardware on October 9 in NYC

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Google’s annual hardware launch event will take place on October 9 in New York City. The company sent out invites to media (including Digital Trends) confirming the date, which had leaked in August.

The date and venue are a change of pace, considering the past two Google October events have taken place in San Francisco on October 4. The company is widely expected to launch a slew of hardware products ranging from smartphones to smart home devices.

The highlights will be the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, successors to last year’s critically acclaimed Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. There have been an alarmingly high number of leaks for the Pixel 3 series, and if true, we know quite a lot about the phones. It may be due to carelessness. Recently, someone left a Pixel 3 in the back of a Lyft. Separately, a group in Russia claims to have gotten its hands on a shipment of Pixel 3 XL smartphones and even posted an unboxing video, showing everything you get in the box.

The Pixel 3 XL is expected to have a notch design, where a cutout at the top of the screen houses the front-facing camera. This has garnered some criticism, as the notch on the Pixel 3 XL looks unusually large. The smaller Pixel 3 may have a more traditional design, with slimmer bezels on the top and bottom. You can learn more about the two phones in our Pixel 3 roundup.

OnLeaks/MySmartPrice

As the new Pixel 3 devices are rumored to support wireless charging, leaks suggest Google will also announce the Pixel Stand — a wireless charging dock that also turns the phone’s screen into a Smart Display for Google Assistant, similar to what Lenovo offers with its Smart Display.

Google is also rumored to be launch its own Smart Display to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Echo Show. It will essentially be a Google Home with a screen; you’ll be able to access YouTube videos with your voice thanks to Google Assistant, and make video calls with Google’s Duo app.

Other products rumored to be on the docket are two Pixelbooks, which are Chromebooks from Google running Chrome OS, and a potential followup to the Google Pixel Buds. There’s likely more Google will announce at the event that we haven’t heard much about — for example, last year Google’s Clips announcement came as a surprise.

Digital Trends will be on the scene in New York on October 9, reporting on everything Google will announce, so stay tuned.

Editors’ Recommendations

• James Bond 25: Danny Boyle bows out of directing the next 007 movie
• Pixel Stand may turn your phone into an Assistant-powered smart screen
• Here’s how and where to buy the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Everything you need to know about the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Google may launch two Pixelbook 2 laptops in October

Mark your calendar: Google will launch new hardware on October 9 in NYC

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Google’s annual hardware launch event will take place on October 9 in New York City. The company sent out invites to media (including Digital Trends) confirming the date, which had leaked in August.

The date and venue are a change of pace, considering the past two Google October events have taken place in San Francisco on October 4. The company is widely expected to launch a slew of hardware products ranging from smartphones to smart home devices.

The highlights will be the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, successors to last year’s critically acclaimed Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. There have been an alarmingly high number of leaks for the Pixel 3 series, and if true, we know quite a lot about the phones. It may be due to carelessness. Recently, someone left a Pixel 3 in the back of a Lyft. Separately, a group in Russia claims to have gotten its hands on a shipment of Pixel 3 XL smartphones and even posted an unboxing video, showing everything you get in the box.

The Pixel 3 XL is expected to have a notch design, where a cutout at the top of the screen houses the front-facing camera. This has garnered some criticism, as the notch on the Pixel 3 XL looks unusually large. The smaller Pixel 3 may have a more traditional design, with slimmer bezels on the top and bottom. You can learn more about the two phones in our Pixel 3 roundup.

OnLeaks/MySmartPrice

As the new Pixel 3 devices are rumored to support wireless charging, leaks suggest Google will also announce the Pixel Stand — a wireless charging dock that also turns the phone’s screen into a Smart Display for Google Assistant, similar to what Lenovo offers with its Smart Display.

Google is also rumored to be launch its own Smart Display to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Echo Show. It will essentially be a Google Home with a screen; you’ll be able to access YouTube videos with your voice thanks to Google Assistant, and make video calls with Google’s Duo app.

Other products rumored to be on the docket are two Pixelbooks, which are Chromebooks from Google running Chrome OS, and a potential followup to the Google Pixel Buds. There’s likely more Google will announce at the event that we haven’t heard much about — for example, last year Google’s Clips announcement came as a surprise.

Digital Trends will be on the scene in New York on October 9, reporting on everything Google will announce, so stay tuned.

Editors’ Recommendations

• James Bond 25: Danny Boyle bows out of directing the next 007 movie
• Pixel Stand may turn your phone into an Assistant-powered smart screen
• Here’s how and where to buy the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Everything you need to know about the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL
• Google may launch two Pixelbook 2 laptops in October

You don’t need scuba certification to use this clever crowdfunded diving system

Trying to find Nemo? Well, look no further than Kickstarter. That’s where you’ll come across a new portable diving system called Nemo, which looks like it should be a whole lot of fun. Nemo takes the form of a super-compact, surface-supplied-air (SSA) diving system that allows users to dive beneath ocean waves (or use it in their swimming pool) without having to worry about carrying a bulky tank on their back. Instead, wearers are attached to a colorful battery-powered air compressor that floats on the surface and relays air to the diver via a 10-foot hose.

“What makes it so great is how portable it is: The entire system weighs just 10 pounds and measures fewer than 12 inches on all sides,” creator Blake Carmichael told Digital Trends. “Two Nemos can fit in a carry-on suitcase, and we’ve even designed a feature-rich backpack specifically for Nemo, making travel a breeze. Another thing that makes Nemo so unique is our patent-pending smart reg, which monitors the diver’s breathing in order to conserve battery power.”

Yasmin Santos, who handles marketing for Nemo, told us that the project has so far attracted the support of everyone from boaters, kayakers and paddle-boarders to treasure hunters. “We’ve also received a ton of messages about using Nemo in physical and occupational therapy sectors as a tool for aquatic therapy, as well as equipment for underwater exercise,” she said. “Those are two demos we hadn’t thought of, which tells you just how versatile Nemo can be.”

Nemo

As ever, we offer our usual warnings about the risks inherent in crowdfunding campaigns. However, Nemo does have some credibility behind it in the form of parent company Brownie’s Marine Group, which has more than 30 years of experience in surface-supplied-air diving systems.It’s also worth noting that, as enjoyable as this looks, you should still make sure you know what you’re doing before using it. Nemo may be more approachable than plenty of other diving technologies, but diving always carries an inherent risk.

Prices for Nemo start at $399, which represents a $300 discount on the eventual retail price. It comes with everything you need to get started — including the Nemo,a  battery pack and charger, harness, flotation tube, dive flag, and safety training program. Shipping is set to take place in January 2019.

Editors’ Recommendations

• This diving system lets you stay submerged for 2 hours, no tank needed
• Surface Go vs. Surface Pro
• The Titan underwater drone promises to go deeper than its rivals
• An iPhone survived 48 hours in the ocean and retained most of its battery
• Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus review