Android 8.1 Oreo coming to Razer Phone in April

You can download the Developer Preview right now.

If you own a Razer Phone, chances are you’ve been itching to get your hands on Android Oreo. The phone shipped with 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, and Razer’s finally broken the silence and announced that Oreo is officially on the way.

On its Twitter account, Razer confirmed that it’ll be skipping Android 8.0 and simply updating the Razer Phone to 8.1.

The update will be available for everyone to download in mid to late April, but if you want to get your hands on the new software earlier than that, you can manually download the Developer Preview right now.

The Developer Preview has the Feb. 5 security patch.

Razer hasn’t provided a change log or release notes for its 8.1 update quite yet, but we should expect all of the basic Oreo features we’ve come to love – including picture-in-picture, better restrictions on apps running in the background, notification dots by app icons, and more.

The Developer Preview is said to come with the February 5, 2018, security patch, and assuming this is the same one that ships with the final build, the Razer Phone will be behind on patches by two months.

If you own a Razer Phone, what Oreo feature are you looking forward to the most?

Razer Phone review: Don’t go outside

Android Oreo

• Android Oreo review!
• Everything new in Android Oreo
• How to get Android Oreo on your Pixel or Nexus
• Oreo will make you love notifications again
• Will my phone get Android Oreo?
• Join the Discussion

These are the watches that support Google Pay

Google Pay on your watch makes paying easier than ever.

Google Pay has been making payments easier on all of us for a while by linking your bank card to your smartphone. Things have just gotten even easier though, because it has been added to the Wear OS ecosystem. Using your watch to pay means that you don’t even need to take anything out of your pocket when it comes time to pay for your purchases, but to use Google Pay on your watch there are a few requirements.

Note: This list will be updated as new devices are released with Wear OS support.

What is necessary for Google Pay to work?

While Google Pay is brand new to the Wear OS ecosystem, it does have a few requirements to work correctly on your watch.

Namely, you’ll need to make sure that your watch is running Wear OS, and includes NFC. While there are a number of watches that have received the update to Wear OS, the second part is a bit trickier. That’s because most watches don’t include NFC, so you may need to pick up a new watch if you’re hoping to use Google Pay as soon as possible.

Download: Google Pay (free)

Which watches support Google Pay?

Since Wear OS is fairly new, the list of supported watches is extremely short. At the time of writing, it’s limited to just a handful of models. This list is sure to expand as more watches are released that include NFC specifically to support Google Pay. The list of compatible watches is as follows:

• LG Watch Sport
• Huawei Watch 2
• Huawei Watch 2 Classic
• Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45
• Movado Connect

Android Wear

• Everything you need to know about Android Wear 2.0
• LG Watch Sport review
• LG Watch Style review
• These watches will get Android Wear 2.0
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

Google Play audiobooks get Bookmarks, Smart Resume, and more

Audiobooks have been available to download and listen to on Google Play for just about two months, and now Google’s aiming to make your listening experience even better with a few new tricks.

First on the list, you’ll find a new feature called “Smart Resume.” Pausing an audiobook in the middle of a sentence and then resuming your playback a couple minutes later can be a jarring experience, but with Smart Resume, your audiobook will automatically go back to the beginning of a sentence or word so the transition process back into your story is much more seamless.

Also new to Google Play audiobooks are Bookmarks. If there’s a line or paragraph of a title that you find particularly captivating, you can tap the Bookmark icon so you can easily return to that spot whenever you’d like.

Google already allows you to control the playback speed of audiobooks, but you now have much greater control over this – including the ability to speed things up to 3x or slow down by as much as 0.5x.

Lastly, Google’s expanding its Family Library feature to 13 additional countries (including Germany, Russia, Spain, Mexico, and others) and adding audiobooks as an option for Google Home’s new Routines feature that just launched earlier this month.

All of these new features are rolling out to Android and iOS users starting today, so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Download: Google Play Books (free)

Apple to Launch Revamped Apple ID Website That Lets Users Download All Their Data

Apple will soon introduce an updated website for managing Apple IDs, which will allow Apple users to download a copy of all of their data stored by the company, reports Bloomberg.

Customers will be able to download data like their Contacts, photos, music preferences, Calendar information, and more. The site will essentially let users download all information stored across Apple’s apps and services.

Apple also plans to allow customers to use the site to correct personal information, disable their Apple ID account, and permanently delete an Apple ID.

At the current time, there is no way for users to download their data or delete their accounts without directly contacting Apple.

Apple is making the change to comply with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, which goes into effect on May 25.

Apple plans to release the new web-based privacy tools in Europe in early May, with an expansion to come to other countries at a later date.

The iOS 11.3 update, released this morning, also has privacy improvements in the form of new privacy splash screens that are displayed within each of Apple’s apps when you open them for the first time to explain what data Apple collects and why.
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Pinterest’s new tab will only show pins from people you follow

Pinterest’s home page is mostly about discovering pins relevant to your interests, with all its recommendations from various users on the platform. Well, Pinterest must have realized that some might prefer to see pins from specific users, so the virtual corkboard has launched a new tab that only shows pins from people you follow. Also, it shows pins in the order those users save them.

The new “Following” section has a plus (+) icon on top that shows who’s on your list, so you can remove them if their pins don’t seem relevant anymore. You can quickly replace the people you unfollow, though, because it also recommends users you can add based on your interests.

This new feature sounds especially useful if you couldn’t be bothered to organize your boards — the website recently rolled out a collection of useful organizational tools — but can’t bear to see all the clutter. You’ll start seeing it today, no matter what device you’re using, since it’s rolling out on Android, iOS and the web.

US soccer stars to play with GPS performance trackers

FIFA has been vocal about its ideas for the future of wearable tech in soccer, and now its vision is coming to life. Statsports is set to become the official on-field performance monitoring device of US soccer, and in the biggest partnership of its kind, will distribute 6,500 Apex GPS devices to players across the men’s, women’s, youth, Paralympic and Beach National Teams, Development Academy clubs and NWSL.

The Apex unit is worn by a players under a vest, at the base of the neck and alongside a heart monitor across the chest. It measures the usual physical metrics, such as distance, speed, load and heart rate, but instead of storing the data somewhere for future examination, it feeds the information live to smart watches, tablets and smartphones. This means decisions can be made on the field and in real time about training, game strategy and player performance. The devices will also help to develop a huge bank of performance data based on age groups, genders and skill levels.

GPS performance trackers are already being used elsewhere around the world, including soccer federations in Belgium, Brazil, England, Germany and Portugal, the English Premier League, NFL, NBA and Rugby Union. But it remains a relatively new technology, and it’s certainly a big deal for US soccer. There are over four million registered soccer players in the US, so there’s huge potential for expanding Statsports’ program, which could be the catalyst for bringing US soccer into the modern age.

Windows chief out as Microsoft reorganizes its business

Microsoft is reorganizing itself to be better-equipped for the future, according to an email sent to employees by CEO Satya Nadella. One casualty of the change is Terry Myerson, who has headed up the company’s Windows business for the last five years. His team, the Windows and Devices Group, is essentially being cleaved in two, with hardware and software now handled by different teams.

An Experiences and Devices division, led by Rajesh Jha, will concentrate on Microsoft’s products, with Panos Panay put in charge of all hardware. Panay’s role makes sense, since he has already had broad involvement with products like Xbox, HoloLens and Surface. Windows, meanwhile, will continue to be led by Joe Belfiore, but with the added responsibility of products like Edge.

Other parts of the team will be moved over to a Cloud and AI team, which will be led by current Azure chief Scott Guthrie. Unsurprisingly, that group will be responsible for building servers and artificial intelligence products for Microsoft’s clients. It may also be a sign that MS is taking Amazon Web Services, which offers a competing product, very seriously.

Mary-Jo Foley at ZDNet believes that the motives behind the reorganization are to do what Nadella has done to Office to the rest of Microsoft. Turning Office, a staid software package for desktops, into a subscription service, has become something of a runaway success. By adopting a similar approach to Windows, Servers, AI and Hardware, Nadella is hoping to build an even bigger business on subscription revenue.

Nadella’s email makes it clear that Myerson’s departure isn’t acrimonious, and that the 21-year company veteran will stick around to advise on the transition. It doesn’t appear that the reorganization will do much to the company’s Xbox division, led by Phil Spencer, which was already pretty distant from Microsoft’s core structure.

Source: Microsoft

Facebook may have kept the videos you recorded but never pubished

Mark Zuckerberg’s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad 2018 keeps getting worse. As people have begun downloading their Facebook data, they’ve found something unsettling: videos they recorded, but never published on the site. Recently, a Select/All writer’s sister was sifting through her data and found clips of her playing a scale on a flute, all without comments, and then one video with comments. The former were “takes” with mistakes that weren’t published.

One of the writer’s colleagues noticed similar, with unpublished videos in their data pack dating back to 2008. A Facebook representative told Select/All that it was investigating the reason the old videos were resurfacing.

At the time, it seemed as if using Facebook’s webcam recorder and discarding the videos that didn’t pass muster would delete them. That certainly doesn’t seem the case anymore. Problem is, if you recorded a video and didn’t publish it, there’s probably a good reason for it. That’s to say nothing of videos (and photos) being far more intimate than the other forms of data Facebook sells to its advertisers. The videos are stored in the ancient .FLV format, which you need to use a media player like VLC to view.

How widespread this was, and if certain aspects of the practice are still in place isn’t clear. We’ve reached out to the social network for additional information and will update this post should it arrive.

Source: Select/All

Google’s piracy filter nixes ‘Kodi’ from autocomplete search results

Google has made an effort in recent years to bury any content that might infringe upon copyrights or promote piracy. Now, according to TorrentFreak, the company has banned “Kodi” from its autocomplete feature. Now, if users type “Kodi” into a Google search box when looking for the media player software, it won’t come up as a suggestion.

We tested this in Google and indeed, we found that Google did not autocomplete or suggest the term. “Since 2011, we have been filtering certain terms closely associated with copyright infringement from Google Autocomplete,” a company spokesperson told TorrentFreak. “This action is consistent with that long-standing strategy.” It’s important to note that if you actually type in the term manually and search for it, the results you’d expect will still come up. Google just won’t help you by autocompleting the term.

What’s really interesting here is Google’s phrasing “terms closely associated with copyright infringement.” While many people use a Kodi add-on to illegally stream media, the application itself is perfectly legal to use. The company has made efforts to distance itself from the idea that the platform is used solely for pirated content; this move from Google doesn’t help their case very much.

Source: TorrentFreak

‘Not Tonight’ makes you a bouncer in post-Brexit Britain

In exactly 12 months, Britain will leave the European Union. It’s a troubling time for the island state as politicians squabble over exit conditions and citizens grapple with a deep divide in their economic, societal and cultural values. For many, the future seems bleak, but it shouldn’t compare to the one found in Not Tonight, an upcoming video game by Tiki Taka Soccer developer Panic Barn. In this alternate version of Britain, one ruled by an extreme right-wing government, you’re forced to work as a bouncer that gets paid for identifying and turning away European citizens. It’s a horrific job, but one that’s necessary to pay the bills and keep your British citizenship.

The core gameplay is similar to the 2013 indie hit Papers, Please. Instead of a border crossing, though, you’re stationed outside pubs and night clubs in chilly rural England. At first, the job is simple — just look at everyone’s IDs and make sure they’re over 18 — but it soon grows into a complex and morally heartbreaking affair. “You’re asked to essentially sift through and distinguish whether someone is European or not,” Panic Barn founder Tim Constant said. Do this while checking tickets, removing contraband and managing VIP queues, and you’ll walk home with a respectable paycheck.

Constant, however, doesn’t want you to do that. “Even if you’re in a shit place, and you’re being persecuted, the overall tone of the game is just… be nice,” he said. “Try to be nice, whatever your situation.” Early in the game, for instance, you’ll be introduced to a resistance group that wants to overthrow the government and its “right-wing awfulness.” To help them, however, you’ll have to disobey your employer and promote a diverse, multicultural society. “Instead of spotting French people walking into a pub, you might be asked to let all the French people in,” Constant added.

Supporting the rebels will improve your standing inside their organisation. You will, however, lose pay and the chance to improve your living standards. Just to make things interesting, there will also be a health meter that depletes if you overwork yourself. By the end of the game, every job or “mission” should feel like a big decision. “Do I feel right about implementing all of this anti-European legislation? I can do something about it, but I might not get the money I need to pay the bills this week.”

Your flat is where you pick and choose jobs.

No More Robots

The game’s grim world is paired with a dark and typically British sense of humor. There’s a pub, for instance, that deteriorates to the point where it’s just a car park in an empty field. “He’s still holding a party there and you can still go and work for him,” Constant said. The zany tone was inspired by the “crappy clubs” he was desperate to get into as a teenager in Somerset. “The bouncer made that decision and if you didn’t get in, your whole weekend, actually your whole week was basically ruined,” he added.

“This game is anti-Brexit, absolutely.”

Constant hopes that players will laugh and contemplate in equal measure. Not Tonight is a commentary on Brexit, but its exploration of poverty, immigration and social diversity goes beyond Britain’s borders. “It’s not necessarily Brexit itself,” he said, “but anything that’s used to divide us. Anything that divides us into categories is bad in my opinion.” The game will launch “soon” on PC followed by the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later this year. Mike Rose, the founder of British publisher No More Robots, hinted that a mobile version could be possible in the future too.

Source: Panic Barn