Original Apple Watch Named, Current Models Omitted in Latest Proposed U.S. Tariffs on Chinese Goods

The latest proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods name Apple Watch and other activity trackers assembled in China, according to government rulings. Reuters reports the latest rulings list names the original Apple Watch, Fitbit Charge, Charge HR and Surge models, and Sonos Play:3, Play:5 and SUB speakers.

If the list goes into effect this fall following its public comment period, affected companies could face a 10 percent tariff and could consider passing the cost onto the consumer. However, Apple discontinued the original first-generation Apple Watch in September 2016 when it released the Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch Series 2, so the proposed tariff makes little practicable difference to Apple.

It is possible that the products from Apple, Fitbit and Sonos no longer fall under tariff codes in the $200 billion list, trade experts said. The codes applied to specific products are only public knowledge because their makers asked regulators to rule on their proper classification. And some of the products have been replaced by newer models that could be classified differently.

Nevertheless, while smartphones and computers have so far avoided the threat of import duties, the rulings show that technology companies aren’t completely immune to the tariffs, which could end up hitting a range of smaller product lines.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials have decided the devices listed above fall under the subheading “data transmission machines”, one of more than 6,000 codes in the most recent round of proposed tariffs released in early July.

All three companies declined to comment on the proposed tariff list, but in its recent IPO filing, Sonos claimed that the imposition of tariffs and retaliatory trade measures could require it to raise prices.

As for Apple, The New York Times recently reported that during a meeting in May, President Trump told CEO Tim Cook the U.S. government would not levy tariffs on iPhones assembled in China. No mention was made of other product categories, however.

If companies have products whose tariff codes are on the list, they have three options, experts said: Advocate to get the code dropped from the list during the public comment period, apply for an exclusion once tariffs go into effect, or try to have their products classified under a different code not on the list.

Apple includes the Apple Watch in its “Other Products” category in an effort to keep its competitors from getting a detailed look at its shipments, so research firms look for clues in Apple’s earnings reports to estimate shipments.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimates that the Apple Watch will bring Apple $9.9 billion in sales this year, although that estimate includes sales outside the U.S. that wouldn’t be affected by tariffs.

Apple Watch saw its best quarter ever in Q1 2018, with the new Series 3 models selling at twice the volume of the Series 2 models last year. In his last earnings call, Tim Cook said Apple’s wearables business – which includes AirPods, Beats, and Apple Watch – is the size of a “Fortune 300” company, with revenue up almost 50 percent.

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.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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How to Use App Limits and Downtime in iOS 12

In iOS 12, Apple’s digital health push includes a couple of special new features for iPhone and iPad users who want to cut down on their app usage: App Limits and Downtime. In this article, we’ll show you how to use them.

App Limits allows you to set specific time limits on a particular app category (games, for example). When you’ve spent the designated time using the app category, iOS sends you an alert notifying you of the fact. Of course, you’re free to ignore these alerts, but the idea behind them is that they’ll help you manage your time better.

The second feature, Downtime, enables you to set a daily schedule for when you’d rather not use your iOS device at all. Once activated, the feature restricts device usage to phone calls and any apps you’ve specifically exempted from Downtime. Like App Limits, you can override these restrictions – they’re more like good guidance than anything else, and can still help if you honestly want to self-regulate your mobile usage.

How to Set Individual App Limits in iOS 12

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Screen Time.
Tap the Screen Time graph for this device. Alternatively, tap All Devices.

Scroll down to the Most Used list and tap an app you want to set a limit for.
Tap Add Limit at the bottom of the menu.

Select a time limit using the hour and minute wheels. If you want to set different limits for particular days of the week, tap Customize Days.
Tap Add to apply the app limit.

How to Set App Category Limits in iOS 12

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Screen Time.
Tap App Limits.
Tap the categories in the list that you’d like to include in the limit, or select All Apps & Categories.

Tap Add in the upper right of the screen.
Select a time limit using the hour and minute wheels. If you want to set different limits for particular days of the week, select Customize Days.
Tap Back when you’re done.
Add another limit if desired, or tap Screen Time to return to the main Screen Time menu.When you’re approaching a designated limit, iOS will alert you in advance with a standard notification. When you finally reach the limit, the alert will take over the screen.

If you want to override the custom limit, simply tap Ignore Limit. You can then select either to Reminded Me in 15 Minutes or Ignore Limit for Today.

To delete app category limits and individual app Limits at any time, go to Settings -> Screen Time -> App Limits, tap on the limit you want to remove, then tap Delete Limit.

How to Use Downtime in iOS 12

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Screen Time.
Tap Downtime.

Slide the Downtime toggle to enable it.
Select a Start and End time using the dropdown hour and minute wheels.

How to Exempt Certain Apps From Downtime

If there are particular apps which you’d like to remain accessible during Downtime, you can add these to your Allowed Apps list, located in Settings -> Screen Time -> Always Allowed.

Simply tap the green plus buttons beside apps that you want to add to the list, or the red minus buttons to remove them.

Related Roundup: iOS 12
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WhatsApp Limits Message Forwarding to Cut Down on Hoaxes and Misinformation

WhatsApp says it is limiting the ability to forward messages to multiple chats at once in an attempt to reduce the spread of spam and misinformation.

The news follows WhatsApp’s recent decision to add labels that indicate to users that a message has been forwarded.

The change was announced by the company in a blog post that specifically mentions India, where the spreading of fake messages over the chat platform has reportedly incited lynchings.

Today, we’re launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp. In India – where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world – we’ll also test a lower limit of 5 chats at once and we’ll remove the quick forward button next to media messages.

We believe that these changes — which we’ll continue to evaluate — will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app.

WhatsApp’s wording suggests the limit is a test, however a spokesperson told Recode that the company was “horrified” by the violence in India, and that it had announced several changes to help address the issues.

On Thursday, the BBC reported on one incident in India that left one man dead and two others severely injured after false rumors went viral on WhatsApp that they had tried to abduct children. It’s the latest in a series of viral message-related crimes in the country that has resulted in 12 dead over the last month.

(Via TechCrunch.)

Tags: WhatsApp, India
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Blue Origin reaches a big milestone, lands rocket booster and crew capsule

Blue Origin is inching ever closer to sending folks into space. With tickets slated to cost somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000, it’s safe to say that folks are getting antsy for their opportunity to blast off. Earlier this week, Jeff Bezos’ space endeavor completed its most important test yet in the form of a live separation of its crew capsule from its rocket booster. Everything went according to plan and because the crew set off its escape motor at just the right time, the capsule was sent further into space than ever before. With this most recent trial green light, the rocket company is closer than ever to its goal of becoming fully operational by the end of 2018.

The launch marked the ninth such occasion for Blue Origin and the third for the New Shepard rocket. Like SpaceX’s spacecraft and boosters, both of Blue Origin’s major components are meant to be reused. In total, the launch lasted around 150 seconds, after which the engine was shut off. The capsule then coasted the rest of its way into space, while the booster plummeted back to Earth, engaging its landing gear and rocket-powered brakes in order to safely land on the ground. The capsule makes use of its parachutes to safely land. The capsule ultimately floated for about nine minutes (the whole thing lasted 11 minutes), and reached a top speed of 2,236 mph and a top height of 389,846 feet above Earth’s surface.

The launch has clearly captured the public’s imagination, as more than 20,000 folks watched Blue Origin’s YouTube livestream to see the test. Perhaps some of the interest was spurred by the likelihood that these watchers may one day become passengers. During the test, Blue Origin engineers placed a mannequin inside the capsule to represent a human passenger.

“[The mannequin] probably peaked at 10 Gs,” Blue Origin’s Ariane Cornell said during the livestream. “But you know what? That is well within what humans can take, especially within such a short spurt of time and in those reclined seats. It’s just important that we bring the astronauts home safely.”

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New report suggests India’s local manufacturing sector is struggling

Investment in India’s local manufacturing industry is drying up.

Earlier this month, Samsung announced that it opened a new manufacturing plant in India capable of producing 120 million handsets a year — making it the largets phone factory in the world. The move is a win for Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, which is designed to facilitate foreign investment in India’s manufacturing industry.

The government’s goal is to get manufacturing industry to account for 25% of the economy, but it looks like it isn’t close to meeting that target. A new report from Bloomberg suggets the manufacturing sector hasn’t seen a meaningful boost in the last four years, with investments declining and more and more projects failing to take off the ground.

The Modi government is betting big on the manufacturing sector to boost the economy and create millions of jobs. Over the last four years, the government rolled out a series of incentives to lure companies to set up factories in India, which included giving away wide swathes of land to set up the facilities, and free electricity.

And when that didn’t work, it introduced regulation that made it harder for the companies to do business in India. To boost local manufacturing in the smartphone segment, the government imposed a 15% duty on devices being imported into the country, affecting Apple’s — which doesn’t manufacture its latest devices in India — ability to compete effectively.

There’s no infrastructure to support the manufacturing sector in India.

The latest data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy show that investments in local manufacturing have declined to $96.6 billion in 2018, down from $270 billion in 2015. And while there have been a few key investments by foreign brands — like Amazon’s $5 billion cash influx — they have gone to the services industry.

One of the main reasons for foreign investments drying up is the fact that there’s no infrastructure to support manufacturing. India lacks the skilled labor and the factories to manufacture key hardware components like the PCB (printed circuit board) and displays. These parts are flown in from China or Taiwan and assembled in local factories — like the one Samsung built recently.

In fact, Xiaomi became the first company earlier this year to start local assembly of PCBs, so it’s clear that the manufacturing industry has a long way to go before it is anywhere close to the same level as China. For now, it looks like the best way to see any meaningful growth is by focusing on the services sector. From Bloomberg Economics analyst Abhishek Gupta:

Job creation in India could hugely benefit if Make in India’s focus is expanded to include more services, relative to its overemphasis on manufacturing,” Gupta said. “India’s tough labor laws and higher bureaucratic entry barriers into manufacturing, along with its widespread fluency in English — a boon in global services — suggests that its comparative advantage lies in services.

1Password for iOS Updated With Secure Notes Markdown Support and Several Fixes

Popular third-party password manager 1Password received an update today that takes the iOS app to version 7.1 and introduces Markdown support in secure notes, stickers for Messages, and a couple of notable fixes.

Following on from the Mac version updated in May, 1Password for iOS now lets you create rich secure notes that can include headers, bold and italic text, lists, tappable links, and more.

Also in this version is a collection of 1Password stickers for users to enliven their chat threads in the Messages app.

Several lingering bugs have been squashed in version 1.7, but two stand out: Searches no longer return broken or incorrect results, and creating a new item no longer causes 1Password to become unresponsive.

Elsewhere, an issue where search borked when vault items where syncing has been resolved, and occasional crashes when users add new items should no longer occur.

Lastly, the developers have updated all text in the app to make it more consistent, and ensured improved the rendering of template icons in list and detail views.

1Password for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free, but there is an in-app fee to access the service. A standard 1Password account is priced at $3.99 per month and a multi-user family account is priced at $6.99 per month. [Direct Link]

Tag: 1Password
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Xiaomi Mi Band 3 review: The best fitness tracker for under $100

For $30, you’re not going to find a wearable that offers the same set of features as the Mi Band 3.

Xiaomi entered the wearable market four years ago, emulating a similar strategy as its phone business that saw the brand edge out its Chinese rivals. The key takeaway from the first-gen Mi Band was its affordability: costing just $15, it was much cheaper than any other product that offered a similar set of features.

It’s no wonder, then, that the Mi Band turned out to be one of the most popular products for Xiaomi. The company introduced an updated variant — the Mi Band 2 — back in 2016 with an OLED display and heart rate monitoring, all for under $25.

With the Mi Band 3, Xiaomi is offering a larger OLED screen, better heart rate, activity monitoring features, and water resistance up to 50 meters. The Mi Band 3 is just as affordable as earlier models in the series, retailing for the equivalent of $25 in China. There’s even a model with NFC connectivity that is available for just $30.

You’ll have to shell out over $100 to get a fitness tracker from the likes of Fitbit that offers heart rate monitoring, but with the Mi Band available for a quarter of the cost, it’s easy to see why Xiaomi is the second-largest wearable manufacturer in the world.

Xiaomi sold over 3.7 million Mi Bands in the first quarter of 2018, and the Mi Band 3 saw over one million sales in the first two weeks of its availability in China. The Mi Band 3 definitely ticks all the boxes if you’re looking to get started with a fitness band, but what’s it like to use on a day-to-day basis? Let’s find out.

Xiaomi Mi Band 3

Price: $30

Bottom line: The Mi Band 3 is a great way to get started with wearables. At $30, the barrier to entry is low enough to make the Mi Band 3 accessible to a wider audience, and the features on offer make it one of the best budget fitness trackers available today.

Pros:

• Large OLED panel
• Water resistance up to 50m
• Heart rate monitoring
• Automatic activity tracking
• Incredible battery life

Cons:

• Plain design
• Tracking isn’t always accurate
• Screen visibility isn’t great outdoors

See at GearBest

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 What I like

Interest in wearables has plateaued in recent years, but Xiaomi’s offerings have always fared well because they lower the barrier to entry. That’s the main draw with the Mi Band 3 as well — at its core, it is an affordable way to measure your daily activity, sleep pattern, and mirror notifications from your phone to your wrist.

The larger 0.78-inch OLED panel (with a resolution of 128×80) is particularly useful for things like notifications and weather updates, as the Mi Band 3 is able to fit more information on the screen. The touchscreen isn’t the most responsive, but it isn’t any worse than the one on the Fitbit Alta HR.

When it comes to value, there’s nothing in the market that comes close to the Mi Band 3.

In fact, the Mi Band 3 is largely similar to the Alta HR in terms of dimensions, although the larger screen means it is a tad wider. It comes in at 20g — just under the Alta HR’s 22g — so you won’t feel any discomfort wearing it over the course of the day.

Like its predecessor, the Mi Band 3 does a great job utilizing the screen size to the fullest. You’ll be able to scroll through various screens on the band itself, including the steps taken, weather information, and incoming notifications, and there’s also the option to select from a variety of watch faces.

The Mi Band 3 also has a button at the bottom of the panel that lets you go back to the home screen. Like the Alta HR — which automatically measures your heart rate over the course of a day — the Mi Band 3 logs your resting heart rate, and you can trigger a measurement by long-pressing the home button.

The hardware itself is just one half of the story — you’ll need an app that breaks down all the information in an easy-to-use format. That’s where Mi Fit comes in. Xiaomi added new features into Mi Fit with every new generation of Mi Band, and it offers an easy way to view your activity details, calories burned, and sleep data. The app itself is basic and doesn’t offer quite as many insights as Fitbit or Garmin, but you’re getting what you par for in this regard.

As for battery life, the Mi Band 3 easily delivers over a week’s worth of usage from the 110mAh battery. In just under three weeks of usage, I’ve had to charge the Mi Band 3 just once. It takes a smidgen under three hours to fully charge the band, and the one issue I have on this front is that it’s easy to lose the charging cradle.

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 What needs work

While the Mi Band 3 has no dearth of features, it is lacking in overall refinement. The display, for instance, doesn’t get bright enough for outdoor use, so you have to cover it with your hand to see the information on the screen. I’ve only had to do this a few times under intense sunlight, but the panel is lacking in this regard.

The Mi Band 3 isn’t as refined as a Fitbit, and that’s okay.

While the silicone strap is serviceable for daily usage, it feels cheap (which it is). Thankfully, there’s a quick fix if you’re not a fan of the band, as there are plenty of third-party options available for under $10.

The main issue with the Mi Band 3 is that it isn’t quite as accurate as the likes of Fitbit or Garmin. I used the Mi Band 3 alongside my Alta HR, and in general it was off by 5% in terms of counting steps, and 5-7BPM for heart rate readings. That’s the tradeoff for affordability, but overall the Mi Band 3 managed to do a decent enough job automatically tracking (and logging) workouts.

There’s also the fact that the Mi Band 3 doesn’t offer a lot of reminders to meet your daily goals. You can set up an inactivity reminder if you’ve been idle for a few hours, but aside from that, there isn’t a whole lot going on. One of the reasons I was able to get more active using the Alta HR is because of its challenges feature that lets you go up against a friend or family member that also has a Fitbit device.

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review

There’s very little to fault when talking about the Mi Band 3. Xiaomi has done a masterful job offering a vast array of features while retaining the $30 price point. Sure, it doesn’t offer the specialized features of Garmin or Fitbit’s software refinement, but for $30 you’re getting a lot of value for your money.

4.5
out of 5

If you’re interested in trying out a fitness band, the Mi Band 3 is an ideal starting point. You’re not going to be wowed by the design, but the range of features on offer makes it a great budget wearable.

See at GearBest

Apple CEO Tim Cook Congratulates 2018 iPhone Photography Award Winners

Each year, the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) highlights the best photographs captured with an iPhone over the course of the year. This year’s winners were announced yesterday, with the winning photographs selected from thousands of entries submitted by iPhone photographers from more than 140 countries.

The Grand Prize Photographer of the Year Award went to Jashim Salam, who submitted a photograph called “Displaced,” captured in Bangladesh.

The first place award went to Alexandre Weber for his shot of a woman wearing a colorful skirt in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, while second place went to Huapeng Zhao for a photograph of a boy with a fish.

Along with the overall winners, IPPA also chooses winning photographs from a range of categories that include abstract, animals, architecture, children, floral, landscape, lifestyle, nature, news-events, other, panorama, people, portrait, series, still life, sunset, travel, and trees.

Winning photographs from the sunset (left) and floral (right) categories
Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter this evening to congratulate the award winners.

Congratulations to this year’s @ippawards winners! Take a look at some of the best #shotoniPhone photography from around the world.https://t.co/sW6Uew7VYZ

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 20, 2018

Apple’s iPhones are popular photography tools, and Apple has maintained a long running “Shot on iPhone” ad campaign to showcase photos and videos captured with the iPhone. IPPA award winning photos were captured using a range of devices, from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone X.

All of the winning photographs from 2018 are displayed on the IPPA website.

Tag: iPhone Photography Awards
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Garmin’s latest fitness wearables get a workout boost from Gold’s Gym

Apple isn’t the only fitness watch company making its way into the gym. Garmin now is extending its reach into the personal training and fitness realm by partnering with Gold’s Gym, one of the top fitness franchises in the world. The first fruit of this collaboration is a new Garmin version of the popular Gold’s AMP app that bundles in support for the latest Garmin fitness wearables.

Released in 2017, the Gold’s AMP app is a combo fitness coaching and music app designed to free you from tedious and unmotivating workouts. The app uses upbeat music playlists to keep you moving and audio coaching that encourages you throughout your workout. The app has thousands of DJ mixes in a variety of music genres and more than 100 workouts for both indoor and outdoor activities. It’s like having the best music and a great trainer right by your side while you push yourself to run farther, bike faster or lift more no matter what level you are at. You don’t even have to be a Gold’s Gym member to use it, the app is available to everyone.

The new Garmin integration keeps the audio coaching and curated music of the original Gold’s AMP app and makes it even better by connecting it to Garmin’s latest GPS smartwatches and its fitness trackers. In this first version, Garmin owners working out with the AMP app will be able to track their heart rate in real time within the app. Heart rate tracking can be a useful tool to gauge the intensity of a workout to ensure you are working hard enough to improve your fitness and not slacking off.

The Garmin heart rate tracking is just the first step in this collaboration. A future update coming in fall 2018 will add a Garmin Connect IQ version of the app. This Garmin-specific version will reside on the fitness tracker or smartwatch and will allow users to log and store their workouts in both Golds AMP and Garmin Connect. You can workout once and analyze your fitness data on both platforms.

The Garmin-enabled Gold’s AMP app is available in both the iOS app store and Android’s Google Play. Compatible Garmin devices include the Vivosmart 3, Vivosport, Vivomove HR, Vivoactive 3, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 645 Music, Fēnix 5s, Fēnix 5, and Fēnix 5x.

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Genetically modified bacteria may be the key to plants that fertilize themselves

For decades, ever-increasing population growth has made people worried about the long-term sustainability of our planet. Perhaps the biggest concern? How best to feed everyone. Looking for a solution to this problem, scientists from Washington University in St. Louis have been searching for a means by which plants can create their own fertilizer. Such a breakthrough could mean that farmers would no longer have to buy and manually spread it on their crops in order for them to grow.

Their innovative solution involves a genetically engineered bacteria that is able to pull fertilizer out of thin air. Because bioavailable nitrogen is a critical nutrient for crop productivity, this could turn out to be an agricultural game-changer.

“A long-term and sustainable solution will be the plants fixing their own nitrogen,” Himadri Pakrasi, a professor in the department of biology in arts and sciences, told Digital Trends. “The energy required can come from the sun via photosynthesis. However, biological nitrogen fixation in bacteria is catalyzed by nitrogenase, an enzyme that is poisoned by oxygen, the product of photosynthesis. The exciting news from our study is that we have been able to engineer functional nitrogenase in cyanobacteria that perform photosynthesis and also produce oxygen. This is an important step toward engineering nitrogen-fixing crops in the future.”

For their study, the researchers were able to isolate genes in a cyanobacteria called cyanothece, which carries out photosynthesis during the day and uses nitrogen to create chlorophyll for photosynthesis during the night, and then splice them into another type of cyanobacteria. As a result, this new type of cyanobacteria was also able to pull nitrogen from the air. While the work is still at a relatively early stage, they are hopeful that the end result will be to apply these findings to create nitrogen-fixing plants.

“Engineering nitrogen-fixing plants is a grand challenge in agriculture, and it will take some time to achieve this dream,” Pakrasi said. “In collaboration with other plant scientists, we will next attempt to emulate our cyanobacterial engineering approach in vascular plants.”

A paper describing the work, “Engineering Nitrogen Fixation Activity in an Oxygenic Phototroph,” was recently published in the journal mBio.

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