Google might face a $2.82 billion fine for pushing its services on Android

The European Commission is behind this.

When you get a new Android phone, you probably don’t think too much about the Google Search widget on your home screen, Chrome being set as the default browser, or all of Google’s big apps pre-installed out of the box. However, the European Commission certainly has and is planning on fining Google billions of dollars for these actions.

According to a report this week from The Wall Street Journal, it’s expected that the Commission will fine Google more than $2.88 billion USD as it allegedly “abused the dominance of its Android operating system for mobile phones.”

As WSJ reports:

The EU has alleged that Google strong-arms phone makers into pre-installing Google Search and the company’s Chrome internet browser on their mobile devices by bundling them with its popular Play store for Android applications, and at times paying them to pre-install Google exclusively.

Furthermore, the European Union is targeting Google for restricting OEMs from marketing devices with Android if those companies also promote devices with unofficial versions/forks of the OS. However, Google says that it retains the right to do this as an effort to keep official versions of Android safe.

Google has yet to respond to this most recent allegation, but in the past, the company’s tended to deny these sort of threats from the EU.

What do you think? Should Google be charged for its actions?

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Pixel and Nexus dialer will send spam calls directly to voicemail [Update]

This will be available for all users in the next few weeks.

Updated July 13, 2018: Well, looks like those “few weeks” ended up being a few months. Either way, this feature is now widely rolling out to all users. To access it, open the Phone app and go to Settings -> Caller ID & Spam and you’ll see a new toggle labeled “Filter spam calls.” Once you turn this on, you’ll never be interrupted by a spam call again.

You know what’s not fun? Spam calls. Picking up the phone to be told you’ve won an all-expense-paid cruise after simply handing over your credit card info gets old real fast, and to help filter these out of your day, the Google Phone app for Pixel and Nexus devices is getting a new direct-to-voicemail feature for them.

First spotted by 9to5Google, this will send any calls that are detected as spam right to your voicemail. You’ll be able to listen to the messages on the voicemail tab in Google Phone and you’ll see the calls show up in your call history, but your phone won’t ring and you won’t get a notification when a voicemail is left.

Google Phone already offers some protection against spam calls by showing a red screen when it detects one with a “Suspected spam caller” message, but this still rings your phone like a regular incoming call. Not being notified of these calls altogether is a big change, but it’s one I imagine most people will be perfectly fine with.

You can access this now by signing up for the Google Phone beta testing program. If you’re not a tester yet but want to become one, just find the Google Phone app in the Play Store, scroll down to the bottom of its page, and tap “I’m in” on the “Become a beta tester” card.

Alternatively, you can just wait for this to come to the public version of the app in the next few weeks.

Download: Google Phone (free)

True Tone in 2018 MacBook Pro Extends to LG UltraFine and Apple Thunderbolt Displays

When using certain external monitors with the new 2018 MacBook Pro models, the built-in True Tone feature that matches the color of the MacBook Pro’s screen to the ambient lighting in a room will also extend to the connected display.

According to a support document published this morning by Apple, True Tone can adjust the Apple Thunderbolt Display using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, the LG UltraFine 5K Display, and the LG UltraFine 4K display.

When using these displays, you can activate or deactivate True Tone by clicking on the Apple logo in the menu bar, opening up System Preferences, choosing the Displays section, selecting the Display tab and then selecting or unselecting the True Tone checkbox.

With other third-party monitors, True Tone will not be an available option.

True Tone, first introduced on the iPad Pro and then the iPhone X, uses the sensors in the MacBook Pro to measure the white balance in the room, adjusting the tone of the display for a more natural viewing experience.

True Tone can cut down on eyestrain and it allows for a more paper-like look for websites, documents, and more.

The True Tone feature is available in the new 13 and 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro models, which Apple unveiled yesterday. You can purchase the new machines from the Apple online store, with stock configurations set to arrive in just a few days after purchase.

Related Roundup: MacBook ProBuyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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MacRumors Giveaway: Win a HomeKit-Compatible Smart Home Bundle From Eve

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with Eve Systems to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win the company’s entire HomeKit product line, which includes an Eve Motion, an Eve Energy, an Eve Door & Window sensor, an Eve Button, an Eve Light Switch, an Eve Degree, and an Eve Aqua.

Eve Systems, formerly known as Elgato, was one of the first companies to create HomeKit products for Apple’s smart home platform, and today, there are a wide selection of Bluetooth-enabled HomeKit products available from Eve.

All Eve products work over Bluetooth so there’s no need for a WiFi connection or a hub, and because we here at MacRumors have reviewed many of the Eve products, we can confirm that they work well with any HomeKit setup. Eve offers a lot of nice little HomeKit add-on features for automation and monitoring, so it’s worth checking out the product lineup if you’re looking to improve your HomeKit setup.

– Eve Motion ($50) – Eve Motion is a wireless motion sensor that can be used as a trigger device that works with other HomeKit products. Eve Motion can do things like turn the lights on when you enter a room or turn them off when you leave, let you know if motion is detected in a room in the home while you’re away, or trigger a product like a light or a fan when movement is detected. It works in complex scene and automation setups.

– Eve Energy ($50) – Eve Energy is a smart plug solution that turns any appliance into a HomeKit-connected appliance. You can turn an appliance on or off using Eve Energy, even when away from home, and you can see just how much power it’s using. Like all other Eve products, Eve Energy can be paired with other HomeKit devices, included in scenes and automations, and controlled via Siri.

– Eve Door & Window ($40) – Eve Door & Window is a two part sensor that goes on a door or a window to let you know whether it’s open or closed for peace of mind. With a door, for example, one side of the sensor goes on the door while the other goes on the door frame, with Eve Door & Window able to send an alert when the door is opened or closed. Eve Door Window can be used as a trigger in HomeKit scenes, turning on the lights and adjusting the thermostat when the door is opened.

– Eve Button ($50) – Eve Button is a physical remote control device that lets you activate scenes with a single press, double press, or long press. You can assign up to three scenes to the Eve Button that can be activated by anyone in the home. So you could set up a “Good Night” scene, for example, that shuts off the lights, turns down the thermostat, and locks the doors, all of which could be activated with a single button press without the need to get out your iPhone or use a Siri command.

– Eve Light Switch ($50) – Designed to replace a traditional wall switch, Eve Light Switch lets you turn your lights on and off using Siri and it allows them to be paired up with other HomeKit-enabled products in scenes, while retaining the functionality of a standard light switch.

– Eve Degree ($60) – Eve Degree is Eve’s mini weather station, designed to provide the temperature, humidity, and air pressure. It has an LCD display so you can see the temperature at a glance, and it lets you view the temperature in the home when away or ask Siri for temperature details. Eve Degree lets you see and monitor temperature trends over months, weeks, and days, and it lets you use temperature or humidity-based triggers for other HomeKit products.

– Eve Aqua ($100) – Eve Aqua is Eve’s latest product, designed to automate sprinklers and irrigation systems, converting an outdoor water faucet into a smart faucet. With Eve Aqua, you can turn the sprinklers on via Siri voice command or your iPhone, and you can automate watering times. You can also keep an eye on how much water you’re using, both day to day and over time.

We have three bundles with all of the above listed Eve products included. To enter to win the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (July 13) at 11:15 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:15 a.m. Pacific Time on July 20. The winners will be chosen randomly on July 20 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

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Malala Fund Partners With Apple’s Developer Academies in Brazil to Advance Education Opportunities for Girls

Apple today announced a new collaboration between its Apple Developer Academies in Brazil and the Malala Fund to further advance education opportunities for girls.

Apple became the Malala Fund’s first Laureate partner in January 2018. The Malala Fund, led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, advocates for quality education and equal opportunity for girls around the world.

Apple CEO Tim Cook with Malala Yousafzai and students in Beirut, Lebanon
Through its expanded partnership with Apple, the Malala Fund will “harness the creativity and ingenuity” of Apple Developer Academy students and alumni in Brazil, providing them with the opportunity to work with the Malala Fund to design and develop apps aimed at furthering the Fund’s goals.

Developers at the Apple Developer Academy in Rio met with Malala Yousafzai on Friday, where she said that with Apple’s help, the Malala Fund will gain new tools to support its mission to empower girls, teachers, and policy makers through skill development, education advocacy, and school enrollment.

“My hope is that every girl, from Rio to Riyadh, can be free to choose her own future,” said Malala Yousafzai. “Whether she wants to be a developer, a pilot, a dancer or a politician, education is the best path to a brighter future. By tapping into Apple’s network of student developers, Malala Fund will gain access to new tools to support our mission of free, safe, quality education. The students in Apple’s Developer Academy program share my passion for improving the world around us, and I am eager to see their innovative ideas to help girls in Brazil and across the globe.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook also said that the company is “thrilled” to further its partnership with Malala Fund.

“We share Malala’s goal of getting more girls into quality education and are thrilled to be deepening our partnership with Malala Fund by mobilizing thousands of Apple Developer Academy students and alumni across Brazil,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple has been committed to education since day one, and we can’t wait to see what our creative student developers come up with to help Malala Fund make a difference for girls around the world.”

Since it launched in 2013, more than 3,000 students have participated in the Apple Developer Academy program in Brazil, with another 500 currently enrolled. Apple has 10 sites in Brazil in Brasilia, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

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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Canary’s Safety Button adds personal security when you’re away from home

Since its Indiegogo crowdfunded launch in 2013, Canary’s smart security cameras and monitoring service have focused on protecting people and property at home. In partnership with Noonlight, Canary subscribers now have a personal Safety Button for automated emergency response regardless of location.

Noonlight’s emergency response app costs $3 per user per month purchased from the developer. Canary subscribers get the button for all family members at no extra charge beyond the $10 monthly Canary fee per residential location.

Canary subscribers with relatives living at the same location who aren’t registered with the application can send invites so those people can register and have access to the Safety Button immediately.

The personal Safety Button is in the updated Canary mobile app. After a user sets up a personal Noonlight account, any time or place when they feel uncomfortable all they have to do is start the app and tap and hold the Safety Button.

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As long as a user’s thumb is on the button icon, nothing happens. Releasing the button starts a 10-second countdown. If the user correctly enters their four-digit Safety Button PIN within 10 seconds, nothing happens. In any other case, when the countdown reaches zero the app sends a distress signal to the closest emergency service dispatcher with the user’s name, identification, and location.

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According to Canary, the Safety Button app’s location identification is faster and more precise than 911 services. Canary claims the Noonlight app determines the precise location with 5-meter accuracy within five seconds while average 911 calls determine location with a 50- to 300-meter accuracy and can take more than six minutes.

If you’re in a threatening situation and need to connect with emergency services, the Safety Button doesn’t require any talking. You don’t need to know your location and you don’t need to attract the attention of someone within hearing distance who is already making you nervous.

If you use the Canary Safety Button and don’t talk to anyone or add any information, the service sends police to your precise location. If you used the Safety Button because other than police response is needed, such as a fire or injury that requires an ambulance, you can also send a text message or speak with the emergency service to share more information.

“With Noonlight, Canary customers can access an added layer of security that extends beyond their physical environment, equipping them with a personal safety net and empowering them with even more ways to take action in an emergency,” Canary Chief Marketing Officer Bob Stohrer said in a statement.

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Best Replacement SSD for PlayStation 4 in 2018

Gotta have an SSD for your PS4? Here are some great options

So you have decided that you have got to throw an SSD in your PlayStation 4. You read our article about whether or not it’s worth it, and you have your heart set on a solid state drive to replace the stock PS4 drive. Here are some of the best options available to you.

• Crucial MX500
• Samsung 860 EVO
• Mushkin Reactor
• SanDisk Ultra II
• Seagate 2TB SSHD

500 GB SSD’s

Solid state drives are cheaper than they used to be but they still land on the pricey side when compared to their mechanical drive brethren. If you want SSD speeds but you aren’t horribly concerned about having a ton of space, you might want to consider a 500 GB drive.

Crucial MX500

This crucial drive will get you into SSD speeds while not breaking the bank. In addition, if anything goes wrong with it, you are supported by a 5 year manufacturer warranty. You can pick up yours for $110.

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Samsung 860 EVO

The Samsung Evo drive is about twenty dollars more than the Crucial drive but also offers slightly faster advertised write speeds. Just like the Crucial, you will have a 5 year manufacturer warranty. You can pick one up for $120

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1 TB SSD’s

If you need an SSD and you want to have a good amount of storage space, then a 1TB drive may be the place to start. 1TB drives are of course going to be more expensive than their 500GB counterparts but the increase in price is going to give you space for a lot more games.

Mushkin Reactor

When it comes to bang for your buck in the world of 1TB solid state drives, you can’t do much better than this Mushkin Reactor drive. For less than $100 more than the previously mentioned SSD’s you will have a lot more room to spread out. You can pick this one up for $190 on Amazon.

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SanDisk Ultra II

SanDisk has been in the solid-state storage game for some time and from my experience, they make pretty darn reliable products. This drive comes with a three-year warranty and it can be had on Amazon for $256.

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The compromise

If you’re looking at all these SSD prices and getting overwhelmed, I don’t blame you. Solid state storage is still pretty expensive. If you still want to see an increase in speed on your PS4 but you want to save some bucks, there is another option.

Seagate 2TB FireCuda SSHD

SSHD stands for Solid State Hybrid Drive. The elevator pitch for drives like this is that you will see SSD speeds with traditional drive prices. This claim is somewhat dubious and I probably wouldn’t put one in my PC and expect the same performance as an SSD. That being said I would totally put one in my PlayStation. Upgrading from the stock PS4 drive to a Hybrid drive like this one should show a marked increase in speed and you will only have to pay $95 to do it.

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No matter how you get the job done, expanding the storage in your PlayStation is a really nice quality of life upgrade. I know that once I expanded my storage space and got to stop worrying about what to delete next, my PS4 experience got just a little more enjoyable.

Have you put an SSD in your PS4?

Did you upgrade the internal drive on your PS4? What drive did you use and what was your experience?

Why are we talking PlayStation 4 on Android Central? Let us explain.

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BlackBerry announces an Android Oreo beta for the KEYone

An upgraded beta program is also launching.

The BlackBerry KEY2 is the best way to get your hardware keyboard fix in 2018, but if you’re still rocking a KEYone, it looks like you’ll soon be able to finally throw Oreo on it.

If you’re registered for the BlackBerry Beta Zone, you should be receiving an email soon that highlights a couple big changes.

First off, BlackBerry’s moving its beta testing program over to a new platform that’s hosted by Centercode.

Secondly, the email also announced the following:

We’re also happy to be starting an invitation-only beta program for Android Oreo on the BlackBerry KEYone. If you’re a KEYone user, make sure to visit the new community and complete your profile to secure an invite.

It’s interesting BlackBerry’s even bothering with a beta considering that the KEY2 ships with Oreo out of the box, but even so, at least there’s a way to upgrade the phone from the now stale-tasting Nougat.

Sign up for the beta and new community here

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• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
• Join the Discussion

Google Assistant music controls are now everywhere, and it’s a geek’s dream come true

I had precision playback control once, and how I’ve longed to have it once again.

I was the person who always had her headphones snaked up her shirt. I was so attuned to the click wheel on my iPod video — and my iPod mini before that — that I could fast forward and rewind my music without even pulling it out of my pocket with almost frightening precision. I don’t miss much from my iTunes days — especially not having to replace my earbuds once a year because the right earpiece on my Sony MDR J20s went out again — but I really did miss being able to sit in total darkness and fast forward or rewind my music without having to turn on the screen and blind myself.

Thank you, Google Assistant, for finally bringing it back to me.

Google Assistant’s music controls have always been rather robust, but only on Google Home. In fact, when Google Assistant first replaced Google Now on most smartphones, music controls saw a huge downgrade as even basic commands like Pause and Next Song didn’t work on phones for a long time. Eventually, basic music commands migrated from Google Home out to other platforms, but the best of its commands were still reserved for Google Home: the precision commands like “rewind 45 seconds” or “fast forward 8 minutes.”

Oh, like you’ve never skipped the beginning of ‘Funeral for a Friend’ on ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’.

Rewinding and fast forwarding is something that isn’t usually included on music apps’ persistent notifications, though for a very brief period years and years ago you could summon a progress bar in Google Play Music’s notification if you knew the secret handshake. Even the most advanced music widgets still can’t offer consistent rewind and fast forward options, and so you can hit next and previous track all the livelong day, but to just rewind a few seconds and replay that killer bridge or drum solo, you had to unlock your phone, open the music app, and seek from the Now Playing screen.

The ability to fast forward and rewinds music with just my voice was all the justification I needed for the Google Home I purchased the day it hit store shelves. I mostly used it in the shower — a duty now taken over by my battery-powered Google Assistant-powered TicHome Mini — but I longed to have that ability everywhere instead of just my bathroom. I wanted to use it in the car when my hands shouldn’t be fiddling with any music controls beyond the volume. I wanted it at work so I could control music while my phone charged on the other side of the control room.

I wanted to control my music with my voice everywhere, and I finally have it. Google Assistant’s music controls now work on Android smartphones and tablets, as well as Android TV, Chromebooks, and Android Auto. “OK Google, fast forward 95 seconds” works when I’m in the car, the office, or singing in the shower.

“OK Google, rewind 60 seconds while I drive 60 MPH.”

This isn’t to say that things are perfect. The music commands available for Google Assistant still vary by platform/app and the number of music services that can be set is still pitifully small. YouTube Music isn’t an option in most of the countries that were recently added to the service, and for all of Google’s smarts about which device is the closest to answer respond, Google Assistant doesn’t recognize while device is playing music and respond to a media command there, subjecting me to “Nothing’s playing right now” with depressing regularity.

I’m happy we’ve come so far with voice controlling music on Android, Chrome OS, and other Google-controlled platforms, but the execution still needs fine-tuning. The difference between what Google Assistant can control with a service that’s tied into it like Spotify or Google Play Music and other music apps that Google Assistant tries to interface with strictly based on persistent notifications is wide and growing. We need more music service options with Google Assistant, too, especially abroad.

For now though, I’m going to settle in for a nap. “OK Google, fast forward 4 minutes to the softer part of this suite.”

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Deal: HTC’s knocking up to 20% off the U11 and U11+ in the UK

A 64GB U11 can be yours for as little as £323.19.

If you’re an HTC fan but aren’t quite sold on the new U12+, now might be the time to pick up last year’s U11 or U11+.

Right now in the United Kingdom, HTC’s offering 10% off the U11 and U11+ for all customers — bringing prices down to £359.10 and £539.10, respectively.

That’s not a terrible deal, but if you sign up for the free HTC Club, you can score an additional 10% off on top of that to bring your total savings to 20%. Under that scenario, you’d only spend £323.19 for the U11 and £485.19 for the U11+.

The U11 at that price is a pretty good offer, but if you’re in the market for a bigger phone, we’d still recommend looking beyond the U11+. While it’s a good handset, the newer OnePlus 6 costs just a few pounds more at £519.

If you’re interested in either the U11 or U11+, HTC says its 10% offer for all customers will be good until supplies last.

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