Amazon just unveiled its new Fire HD 8 tablets

These tablets are fiiiiiire.

Today Amazon announced its new generation of Fire tablets. Packed with new features and upgraded specs, the tablets are still highly affordable, which is a huge plus.

First up is the new Fire HD 8. It features up to 10 hours of mixed use battery life, an 8-inch HD display, a quad-core processor, and — newly — hands-free access to Alexa. That’s something that the Fire HD 10 tablet has had for awhile, but this is a first for the Fire HD 8. You can upgrade the storage, too, up to 400GB depending on what microSD card you go with.

In addition, the tablet now has Show Mode. This gives your tablet some of the same features that the Echo Show has. You can use your voice to ask Alexa to show you the news or weather, play a song, call a family member, control your smart thermostat, and more. If Show Mode sounds like something you’ll use frequently, you can pre-order the Fire HD 7 with a Show Mode dock for $94.99. The dock will automatically switch your tablet to Show mode.

There are four different color options to choose from, all starting at $79.99. You can pre-order the new Fire HD 8 and it’ll start shipping around October 4th.

Next up, there’s a new addition to the Fire Kids tablet lineup. The new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, which is available for $129.99 as a pre-order, has lots of upgrades to enjoy. It features the same display and specs as the Fire HD 8, but with more kid-friendly software. There are multiple customizable profiles, up to two for adults and up to four for kids. This is $30 more than the Fire 7 Kids Edition, but the upgrades are worth it.

The purchase includes a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which can now be used in Spanish, which gives kids access to over 20,000 books, videos, apps, and games that are all age-appropriate. The newly-designed FreeTime makes it easier for kids to use it, and it has awesome parental controls too. You can set time limits, bedtimes, age filters, and the content that kids can see. You can even disable the web browser. You’ll also be able to view screen time statistics and restrict non-educational content until they’ve met their learning goals for the day. After your free year runs out, you can get FreeTime Unlimited for $3 per month.

By far the most alluring feature of these tablets is the kid-friendly warranty. For two years, Amazon will replace your tablet. No questions asked. Did they throw it out the car window? Step on the screen and shatter it? Leave it outside in the rain? Amazon gets that kids are hectic, and this warranty makes your life a little easier should something happen.

Head over here to pre-order the new Fire HD 8 or the new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition.

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Canada Deal: The 1080p HD Arlo Q security camera is just $141 — today only

The Arlo Q is capable of recording when motion or sound is detected and is down to its best price ever right now.

Netgear’s Arlo Q 1080p HD Security Camera is on sale for just $141 at Amazon Canada for a limited time. This deal saves you almost $60 off its usual price and brings the camera down to the lowest its ever been.

This camera allows you to live stream 1080p HD video from anywhere in the world using your smartphone, tablet, or computer, while its enhanced night vision ensures you can see clearly even in total darkness. You can set it to record when motion or sound is detected and then access your recordings from anywhere using the Arlo app. The camera features a built-in microphone and speaker so you can talk back and forth with people using the app as well. Arlo allows you to keep seven days of footage and audio in the cloud for free automatically and you can opt to back up your last 30 or 60 days’ worth of footage with a monthly subscription starting from $10.75.

The coolest thing about this camera however is that it works with Alexa for voice control, allowing you to pair it with a device like the Echo Dot.

These deals expire at the end of the day, so act fast to make sure you don’t miss out.

For more Canadian deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter CA, sign up for the Canadian newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

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European Regulators Approve Apple’s Acquisition of Shazam

The European Commission today announced it has approved Apple’s proposed acquisition of music recognition service Shazam.

“After thoroughly analyzing Shazam’s user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market,” said Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition.

The regulatory body concluded that Apple and Shazam mainly offer “complementary services” and “do not compete with each other,” and that a merged Apple-Shazam entity would not adversely affect competitors in the European Union:

In particular, access to Shazam’s data would not materially increase Apple’s ability to target music enthusiasts and any conduct aimed at making customers switch would only have a negligible impact. As a result, competing providers of digital music streaming services would not be shut out of the market.

The regulators were concerned that the merger could reduce choice for users of streaming music services in Europe. In particular, they were concerned that Apple might gain access to sensitive data that would allow it to directly target competitors’ customers and encourage them to switch to Apple Music.

While the Commission did not name any specific companies, Apple Music’s biggest rival in Europe is Spotify, headquartered in Sweden. Shazam is currently integrated with multiple services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer.

Apple announced its plans to acquire Shazam in December, describing the two companies as a “natural fit” with “exciting plans” ahead. In February, however, the Commission received requests from Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden to assess the deal under European merger law.

Shazam is a popular service that can identify the name and lyrics of songs, music videos, TV shows, and more. It has apps across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iMessage, and Mac, while the service has been built into Siri since iOS 8.

Via: Reuters

Tag: Shazam
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‘Life is Strange: Before the Storm’ Launches on macOS September 13

In March, Feral Interactive announced that its latest video game port for macOS would be the adventure game Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and at the time said it would launch in the spring. After a delay, the prequel is set to release next week on Thursday, September 13 on macOS and Linux.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm was originally developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix on consoles and PCs in August 2017. The story takes place three years before the events of the original Life is Strange, tracking the friendship between rebellious sixteen-year-old Chloe and a popular schoolmate named Rachel.

Gameplay puts players in the shoes of Chloe as she must make choices that ultimately shape a branching story with multiple endings influenced by every decision. One of the main gameplay hooks of the game is “Backtalk,” which the developers describe as a “risk and reward-based system” in which Chloe uses her wit to provoke NPCs or get her way.

The game requires macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 or higher, an Intel Core i5 2.0 GHz processor, 8GB RAM, and 28GB of hard drive space. Required graphics cards include 1GB Nvidia 650M or better, 2GB AMD Radeon R9 M290 or better, or 1.5GB Intel Iris 5100 or better. The full list of supported Macs can be found below:

• All Mac Minis since Late 2014
• All 13″ MacBook Pros released since 2013
• All 15″ MacBook Pros released since mid 2012 with a 1GB graphics card or better (Mid 2015 models with an AMD 370X are not supported.)
• All 21.5″ iMacs released since late 2013
• All 27″ iMacs released since late 2013 (Late 2012 models with Nvidia 675 or Nvidia 680 graphics are also supported.)
• All 27″ iMac Pros released since late 2017
• All Mac Pros released since late 2013

Life is Strange: Before the Storm includes three episodes that make up the base game, and will also come in a Deluxe Edition that includes all three episodes as well as all available additional content, including the bonus episode “Farewell.” The Deluxe Edition will be priced at $24.82 and is available to pre-order beginning today on the Feral Store.

Tags: Mac App Store, Feral
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Apple Shelves Plans for Apple Pay in India After Facing Regulatory Issues and Technical Hurdles

Apple has temporarily halted plans to launch Apple Pay in India after facing troubles with regulators in the country and a few technical hurdles, according to The Economic Times. Specifically, Apple is said to be concerned about the Reserve Bank of India’s recent data localization rule, which requires companies to store all of their payments data for local users only in India.

Because of this rule, numerous companies — including Apple, Amazon, PayPal, WhatsApp, Visa, and MasterCard — have faced uncertainties regarding the rollout of their respective mobile wallets in India. Apple is said to have gone so far as to meet with a few leading banks and the National Payments Corporation of India, which manages the country’s Unified Payments Interface platform.

In addition, Apple has reportedly encountered a few technical and design hurdles surrounding Apple Pay’s India launch, relating to the inclusion of Touch ID as a mode of authentication for payments in India on supported iPhones. The NPCI did not agree to this plan, because the country’s UPI is based on a six or four-digit passcode to authenticate transactions and does not have support for smartphone-based biometric security features yet.

Following these hurdles, plans as of now have been shelved, according to two people familiar with the matter.

“Apple will not launch payments in India yet. They are waiting to see how the regulatory landscape shapes up,” one of them said.

The Apple Pay news is just the latest in a string of negative reports regarding Apple’s attempt at expansion in India, one month after the company faced a potential legal threat over noncompliance with the Indian government’s anti-spam iPhone app. Otherwise, the company has had trouble in the country due to ever-increasing taxes on imported smartphones, rising iPhone prices because of such taxes, and user frustration with poor Apple services like Apple Maps.

In an attempt to finally rectify these issues, Bloomberg in August reported that Apple is planning a completely revamped India strategy led by Apple executive Michel Coulomb. This includes better and longer-lasting retail deals with higher sales targets, the opening of official Apple retail stores in India, “overhauling” the company’s relationship with independent retailers, and improving apps and services “aimed more closely at Indians.”

Apple Pay was never mentioned as part of that strategy, so it doesn’t appear that users in India will have a chance to use the company’s mobile wallet anytime soon. Otherwise, Apple Pay is available in over two dozen countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland.

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: India
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Apple Pay Celebrates Football Season With 10% Off Under Armour Orders

With the latest Apple Pay promotion you can get 10 percent off your next order from Under Armour through Wednesday, September 12. If you’re in the United States, you can shop in the Under Armour app and then place your order before next Wednesday to see the discount automatically applied when you check out using Apple Pay.

Apple is promoting the beginning of football season with the new Apple Pay offer, which also points users towards apps like Fanatics, Gametime, and Grubhub, offering sports apparel, tickets, and food respectively.

The last few Apple Pay promotions have included partnerships with Postmates, Nike, StubHub, TGI Fridays, and Adidas. As we enter the fall, users can likely expect some of the same promos we saw last holiday season, potentially including free Postmates subscriptions, savings on Fandango tickets, free Instacart deliveries, and more.

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: Apple Pay promo
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Apple to Launch a Global Law Enforcement Web Portal by End of 2018

Apple this week announced it will be launching a dedicated web portal for authenticated law enforcement officers to submit lawful requests for data, track requests, and obtain responsive data from the company by the end of 2018.

Photo: Alejandro Mejía Greene via Flickr/Creative Commons
Apple also said it is building a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers, which the company believes will improve its ability to reach smaller police forces and agencies around the world. This will include the development of an online training module for officers.

The web portal will be available globally as part of Apple’s new Law Enforcement Support Program, which the company detailed on the Government Information Requests page of its privacy website this week.

Apple says the program will allow it to uphold its fundamental commitment to protect the security and privacy of its users:

We believe that law enforcement agencies play a critical role in keeping our society safe and we’ve always maintained that if we have information we will make it available when presented with valid legal process. In recognizing the ongoing digital evidence needs of law enforcement agencies, we have a team of dedicated professionals within our legal department who manage and respond to all legal requests received from law enforcement agencies globally. Our team also responds to emergency requests globally on a 24/7 basis.

We publish legal process guidelines for government and law enforcement agencies globally and we publish transparency reports twice a year detailing the types of requests we receive and how we respond. In addition, we regularly provide training to law enforcement officers on the types of data available from Apple and how to obtain it consistent with our legal process guidelines.

By the end of 2018 we will begin the launch of an online portal for authenticated law enforcement officers globally to submit lawful requests for data, track requests, and obtain responsive data from Apple.

We are building a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers globally, which will significantly increase our ability to reach smaller police forces and agencies. This will include the development of an online training module for officers. This will assist Apple in training a larger number of law enforcement agencies and officers globally, and ensure that our company’s information and guidance can be updated to reflect the rapidly changing data landscape.

Apple is committed to protecting the security and privacy of our users. The above developments and the work we do to assist investigations uphold this fundamental commitment.

Apple requires law enforcement and government officials to follow applicable laws when requesting customer information and data. If they do, Apple complies by providing the narrowest possible set of data relevant to the request.

That information can include device identifiers, customer service records, and iCloud content such as emails, stored photos, documents, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, Safari browsing history, Apple Maps search history, iMessages backups, and iOS device backups, according to Apple’s guidelines.

Where and when legally required, Apple may also provide basic customer information such as name, physical address, email address, phone number, and IP address, along with customer service records and Find My iPhone logs.

Apple ensures that it has never created a backdoor or master key to any of its products or services, and never will. Perhaps the biggest example of this was Apple’s refusal to create a loophole for the FBI to brute force their way into the passcode-locked iPhone owned by the shooter in the 2015 San Bernardino attack.

Twice per year, Apple publishes a transparency report that outlines how many data-related requests it has received from law enforcement, government, and private party officials, both in the United States and abroad.

In the United States, during the second half of 2017, for example, Apple received 4,450 requests for 15,168 devices. Apple provided data in 3,548 cases, or approximately 80 percent of the time. Worldwide, Apple received a total of 29,718 requests covering 309,362 devices, providing data 79 percent of the time.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Uber’s upcoming ‘Ride Check’ feature could save your life

Uber has recently been making more of an effort to improve the safety of its service via features that include Trusted Contacts, an in-app panic button, and a new Safety Center section within the app. A recent clash with the authorities in London also prompted Uber to focus more on safety for not only riders but drivers, too.

Now the ridesharing giant is harnessing the technology inside your smartphone for a new feature that aims to detect when an Uber vehicle crashes. For sure, this is a rare event, but when it happens, a speedy arrival by first responders could be the difference between life and death.

Ride Check

Using built-in smartphone sensors such as the accelerometer and gyroscope together with GPS data from hundreds of millions of Uber rides, the new feature, called Ride Check, is able to detect with a high degree of accuracy whether the Uber vehicle you’re riding in has been involved in an accident.

When Ride Check kicks into action, both the rider and the driver will receive an alert to their smartphones asking if they’ve been in a crash. If they have, a number of options come up, including one-tap buttons for 911 and Uber’s safety line. Alternatively, if the ride is going just fine, you can tap another button to let the system know that everything’s OK.

You might believe you’d be perfectly capable of making an emergency call by yourself without any prompt from Uber, but the disorientation than can follow a serious accident means you might not even think about calling 911. And consider this: What if the accident is so serious that neither you nor the driver can respond? If Uber’s notification receives no response,  its safety team will be alerted to the possibility of a serious incident, thereby allowing it to take quick action.

Variations of Uber’s crash-detection technology are already in use. San Francisco-based Zendrive, for example, has been developing the technology for a number of years, while GM’s OnStar system is also designed to automatically contact first responders in the event of a smash.

Ride Check can also alert Uber to potential security issues, too. For example, if the Uber vehicle stops for longer than what appears to be necessary, Ride Check will send a message asking if everything’s all right. Response options include hitting the app’s emergency button or reporting any problem to Uber’s critical safety line.

The Ride Check feature, which is expected to roll out in the next few months, was announced on Wednesday by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Now a year in the job, the former Expedia CEO was hired to help sort out the company after several years of increasingly chaotic leadership under its founder, Travis Kalanick.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Uber is testing a low-fare option that’s great if you’re not in a rush
• Deadly Uber crash was ‘entirely avoidable’ had the driver not been watching Hulu
• Lyft’s self-driving taxis have made 5,000 trips for paying riders in Las Vegas
• Uber could soon know if you’re drunk before the car arrives to pick you up
• Fossil adds Noonlight’s emergency feature to its latest lineup of smartwatches

UK Deal: Power your devices on the go with two dual USB car chargers for £6

These compact car chargers both feature two USB ports which can charge devices like your smartphone or tablet in the car.

Amazon UK has the two-pack of RAVPower Dual USB Car Chargers on sale for only £5.99 when you redeem the on-page voucher or use code ECHUSATA at checkout. This set usually sells for £9.99 and never seems to have dropped below £8.99 without a promo code before, so now is a great time to pick up some in-car power.

You’ll receive two compact car chargers which can each provide a 4.8A output with their dual 2.4A charging ports. Its circuit design ensures your devices will remain safe from over-heating and over-charging. You’ll need to bring your own charging cable or consider buying extras for the car like this MFi-certified braided nylon option for iPhone from Syncwire that’s currently on sale or this durable Anker USB to USB C cable, also reduced in price right now.

Those wanting more port should check out the newest RAVPower in-car charger featuring a 4-port design and Quick Charge support.

For more UK deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter UK, sign up for the UK newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

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The first 9 things to do with your Galaxy Note 9

Unbox, set up, and do these things first.

So you just got your Galaxy Note 9. You’re in awe at the size of the phone, the pile of features it has and you want to jump right in to using the S Pen’s new wireless capabilities. Wait! For as exciting as the phone is, there are some things you should do first in order to make the most of your Note 9.

Set up face/iris scanning in addition to fingerprint

With the Note 9’s fingerprint sensor moving to a good location on the back of the phone, the discussion about face and iris scanning has moved to the back burner. But Samsung’s implementation of these alternative unlocking methods is really good, and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t turn on at least one of the two — and preferably both.

The fingerprint sensor is great, but sometimes you need other ways to quickly unlock.

Go into Settings and then Biometrics and security to get started with the setup. You can choose to use Face Recognition, which is fast but less secure, or Iris Scanner, which is slower but more secure. If you’re planning to use Face Recognition, you really should just use Intelligent Scan, which tries to scan your face or your irises at the same time.

The most important setting for making this face and iris unlocking work seamlessly is under Intelligent Scan, it’s called “Screen-on Intelligent Scan.” When you turn this on, the phone starts looking for your face and irises as soon as your screen comes on, rather than after you already swipe. For those times when you can’t reach the fingerprint sensor, your phone will unlock quickly without any further intervention.

Enable easier access to your notification shade

The Note 9 is a massive phone. With a 6.4-inch display and 18.5:9 aspect ratio, it’s really hard to reach the top of the screen to pull down the notification shade. But Samsung has two ways you can more easily get your notifications without reaching.

First, there’s a fingerprint gesture like on so many other phones. Go into Settings, Advanced features and find Finger sensor gestures. Turn it on, and now you can swipe down on the fingerprint sensor to lower the notification shade.

Second, if you’re still using the default Samsung launcher you can change a setting to pull down notifications with a swipe down on the home screen. Pinch in on the home screen to open its settings and tap on Home screen settings. There’s a toggle for Quick-open notification panel to turn on. Now it’s as simple as a swipe down on the home screen to bring down the shade — and a swipe up still opens the app drawer.

Set up S Pen button actions

There’s a good chance that part of your Note 9 buying decision was predicated on the new wireless S Pen features. Now that the S Pen connects over Bluetooth, it can perform actions with single and double presses of its button even when it’s away from the phone. Go into Settings, Advanced features and then S Pen to control all of these settings and get familiar with what it’s capable of.

S Pen remote is the settings are for all of the wireless features. You’ll see a list of every app that supports S Pen remote features, plus the top-level choice of which app you’d like to launch with a long-press of the S Pen’s button. For each app, you’ll see options to assign a different action to a single-press and double-press of the button. You can also choose to have one or the other do nothing, if you think there’s a chance you’ll accidentally do something you don’t want.

It may take a little while of using the new feature to see what works best for you, but these settings will always be there to help you tweak and get the most out of your new S Pen. The Note 9’s software will also highlight the fact that you can use S Pen remote features whenever the S Pen is removed and a supported app is launched.

Turn on all of the notification icons in the status bar

The Galaxy Note 9 has a huge screen and no display notch, but curiously Samsung has it set by default to only show the last three notification icons in the status bar. Sure it looks a little cleaner, but you bought a Note 9 to see everything and be aware of your notifications, not forget about them because the software restricted the display.

Go into Settings, Display and then Status bar to bring them back. Turn off the toggle for “Show recent notifications only,” and your Note 9’s status bar will now show all of your unread notifications across the status bar — at least, until they run into the persistent icons on the right. If that happens, maybe you should think about tweaking the notification settings in your apps …

Configure your navigation buttons

Years after moving away from hardware navigation buttons, Samsung is still shipping its phones with the “back” button on the right and “recents” on the left — but thankfully, you get options to configure them. Head into Settings, Display and Navigation bar to set them up how you like.

“Button layout” lets you switch the back and recents buttons, which is the most useful part of this whole area. But you can also change other parts. You can set a background color for the bar if you want something a bit more unique than a grey gradient. You can also select how sensitive the home button is to a hard press, which is used for (among other things) turning on the screen from the Always On Display.

“Show and hide button” is an interesting one — it gives you a small dot on the left side of the navigation bar that lets you hide the bar entirely. Double-tap the dot to hide the bar, and then it only appears when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen — once it’s visible, double-tap it again to lock it in place. It isn’t that useful considering how tall the screen is, and full-screen apps will hide the bar anyway, but if you have a specific need for it, the choice is yours.

Set up the blue light filter

It’s been shown that being exposed to bright, blue light in the hours before you sleep can strain your eyes more than necessary and influence your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you ascribe to this theory, you should use your Note 9’s Blue light filter. With this feature, the display will turn to an orange-red hue at a specific time so when you look at your screen you don’t strain your eyes so much.

Go to Settings, Display and then Blue light filter to configure it. First, toggle “Turn on now” to see what it looks like, and use the “Opacity” slider at the top to change how intense the blue light filter is. Turn it back off, and choose when you’d like to it to come on automatically. “Sunset to sunrise” is a great choice, because it changes as the length of the day changes throughout the year, but if you have specific needs you can also set a custom schedule.

If you ever want to turn off the Blue light filter manually, perhaps if you’re editing a photo and you want accurate colors represented on the screen, you can add a toggle to your notification shade for quick access.

Configure Always On Display

Samsung pioneered the information-dense always-on display with its exclusive use of OLED screens, and though it isn’t as interactive and useful as other implementations it’s highly configurable. To start, go to Settings, Lock screen and tap Always On Display. Here, you can choose wether you want to see a clock on the Always On Display, whether you want it to automatically change brightness (believe me, you do) and when you want it to stay on. I typically set my Always On Display to only come on from morning to night, rather than 24 hours a day, but each person has their own needs. You can also turn off Always On Display when your Note 9’s battery hits 15%, which is a smart battery-saving move.

Now back out of those settings and go to “Clock style” to configure how it looks on the Always On Display. Samsung has about a dozen different clocks to choose from, ranging from simple to extravagant, and each one has further configuration options. You can choose the style and color of each one, and then tweak further features depending on which one you choose. You can add subtle backgrounds to the clock, get multiple time zones set and so much more. Give yourself a few minutes to play around and see the options so it’s set up uniquely for your needs and style.

Turn off app icon borders

This is a small thing, but one you’ll be scrambling to if you haven’t been using a Samsung phone lately. By default, Samsung’s software places a squircle-shaped border around all of your apps, so that they all have the same size. This looks fine from a glance, but most app icons really don’t look good with an auto-generated background, and you may want to turn it off.

Back in Settings and Display again, you’ll see Icon frames at the top. Just tap it, and select “Icons only” and you’ll be good to go. The interface even shows a quick representation of what apps look like with and without the frames.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

• Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review
• Galaxy Note 9 vs. Note 8
• Where to buy the Galaxy Note 9
• Galaxy Note 9 specifications
• Is the Note 8 still a good buy?
• Join our Galaxy Note 9 forums

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