Daily Briefing: LG tries to fix what’s broken, and Samsung goes all-in on AI

This was the best Friday since last Friday. Here’s what you need to know for October 28, 2016.

I was on a plane today and saw someone in the waiting area with a Galaxy Note 7. I facetiously tweeted out that I could either ignore the problem and hope for the best or tackle him and remove his phone forcefully. In fact, I did neither: I let the flight attendant know that I thought I saw someone using a Note 7, but by then I had lost him in the crowd, and they said they’d be making an announcement.

Airport waiting areas are really interesting for a number of reasons. It’s a concentrated area full of diversity, people anxious to return home or begin their adventures. It’s also full of technology. These days, I keep a look out for the phones people are using, and the equipment they use to stay connected. Tablets, even iPads, appear to be less common than they were a couple of years ago as smartphone sizes have grown. I see a lot of Galaxy S6s and 7s, a lot of iPhones and, in the U.S., quite a few Droids. I still even see some BlackBerrys in business class.

These pocket computers have taken over our lives. Have you welcomed your new phone overlord, lately?

The LG V20 is now available in the U.S. and Canada

It’s not exactly the perfect phone, but if you’re looking for basically the only phone with expandable storage and a removable battery, the LG V20 is the only game in town. And today it is available from T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Wind Mobile and Videotron in the U.S. and Canada, respectively. More

Stranger Things stickers arrive for Allo Messenger

Are you a fan of Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things? If so, you can find a new set of Hawkins-style stickers for Allo Messenger through the app. Coffee and contemplation in time for Halloween.

Google Play and Android apps coming to Lenovo’s Thinkpad 13 Chromebook

The message behind this video and its catchy tune is that Android app support will soon be available for Chromebooks for Business, and that Lenovo plans to enable them for their 13-inch Touchscreen model Thinkpad 13 Chromebook. There’s been no word on other Chromebook for Business partners (like HP or Dell) as of yet. Here’s hoping!

Sunshine team returns to unlock the Verizon Pixel’s bootloader

It’s that time of year again when every would-be Android tweaker starts hitting up XDA Developers for news of that elusive mechanism to unlock the latest hottest phone’s bootloader. Right now, though, that phone is the Pixel, and most of the models are easily opened, thanks to Google’s liberal stance on “fastboot oem unlock.”

The Verizon and EE models of the Pixel, though, are not unlockable out of the box, which has led to the Sunshine team coming back from the dead to crack the Pixel’s bootloader. You may remember Sunshine from the work they did on various HTC and Motorola models over the years, and given that the Pixel is HTC-built, this makes a lot of sense.

Action Launcher October 2016 update is available

The October 2016 update for Action Launcher is now available. Developer Chris Lacy notes a bunch of new features and enhancements that are available in this release. You’ll notice better support of Quickcuts, an option to pick a global icon style and much more. If you are an Action Launcher user, you’ll want to check this update out.

Pocket Casts update brings app shortcuts and shared lists

Shifty Jelly, purveyors of fine podcasting apps, has returned with a new version of Pocket Casts for Android, adding multi window and app shortcut support for those few running Nougat, and a fantastic shared list feature for everyone else. More

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 will focus on camera and AI improvements

Samsung has a lot riding on the release of its next flagship, the Galaxy S8, which is likely coming in February. In an interview with WSJ, Samsung’s Lee Kyeong-tae, vice president for mobile communications, said that the phone will feature a “slick design and an improved camera, as well as an enhanced artificial-intelligence service.” More

Barnes and Noble is considering the Google Play Store for the Nook

An FCC listing suggests that Barnes and Noble is looking to adopt the Play Store for its Nook tablet. Once a direct competitor to Google’s Nexus tablets, the forthcoming 7-inch Nook might have the Play Store already installed, according to the sample user manual included in the filing.

Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge 4G+ is coming to Taiwan and Singapore

If you were lusting for a Blue Coral version of the Note 7 just before the phone was recalled, (and then recalled again, and then discontinued, and then…) you have a chance to live your dream… if you live in Singapore or Taiwan. It’s coming on November 5 for $1098 SPD ($789 USD). Via

The Google Pixel has been rooted

Anything can happen if you will it. Chainfire, a revered developer in the Android community and the brains behind SuperSU, has announced that he’s managed to successfully root the Google Pixel.

Victory is mine! Full systemless root achieved. Boot image mods only, /system fully intact, dm-verity switchable. #pixel

— Chainfire XDA (@ChainfireXDA) October 27, 2016

It appears that full SuperSU support for the Pixel and Pixel XL is in our future.

Make your Vines into GIFs with Giphy’s new tool

Coming soon!

That’s it for this week! See you on Monday, folks. Be safe out there.

Windows 10 Creators Update: 6 new features Microsoft didn’t announce

Microsoft’s next major Windows 10 update has a few hidden features.

While at its 26 October event in New York City, the company announced the Creators Update, an update coming to Windows 10 in early 2017. Microsoft also demoed a bunch of features we can expect: the ability to work with, export, and print 3D objects, as well as a new Paint 3D app, support for VR headsets, game broadcasting, and a streamlined way of communicating with friends. But Microsoft didn’t detail everything.

Thurrott.com looked closely at a fast promo video (above) for the Creators Update that Microsoft released earlier this week, and it discovered other additions in the Windows 10 Creators Update.

We’ve listed the biggest changed below.

• Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update: What’s new?

The People bar

Microsoft

Microsoft demoed how the Creators Update will put your favourite people into the Windows 10 taskbar. In other words, it’s bringing a quick-access-like option for you to quickly contact a friend or loved one. It’s described as a faster way to connect and share with people directly from the taskbar. You can share with someone via mail, messenger, Facebook, Twitter, and of course, Skype.

Although Microsoft demoed its people integration in the Windows 10 taskbar, it didn’t say that the feature would extend to breakout widgets that let you quickly send Skype or emails to your favorite friends. You’ll be able to switch between those apps within the same window. So far, according to Microsoft’s video, it looks like only Microsoft’s apps will be available in this feature. 

Groove Music Maker

Microsoft

Microsoft might have a new Groove Music Maker app in the works. In the video, you can see a simple-to-use music creation tool that’s touch-enabled. You’ll be able to select riffs from a library, add sounds from different instruments, adjust the the BPM and length of tracks, etc.

Edge tab browser

Microsoft

Microsoft’s Edge browser will get a tab browser option that lets you navigate open tabs with the page-preview open. A session manager is also coming to Edge, which makes it easier to restore tabs from old browsing sessions.

Custom Accent colour

Microsoft

With the Creators Update, you’ll get access to a colour picker with advanced options. It’ll let you select a custom colour and preview how it’ll look across Windows, so you can better match the look of your system to a specific wallpaper. 

Windows 10 themes

Microsoft will soon sell themes for Windows 10 in the Windows Store. To complement custom accent coloure, Microsoft will add a “personalization” hub in the Windows Store. It’ll offers themes that change the look of Windows 10. There will also be franchise themes, like Minecraft and League of Legends, and it’s thought they’ll also extend to the Xbox dashboard. 

Microsoft Word full pen support

Microsoft

Microsoft is bringing full pen support to Word, according to its video. You’ll be able to edit and delete text and leave comments.

Zip around Taiwan on the faster Gogoro S electric scooter

Gogoro’s battery-powered scooter left us rather impressed after our test ride in Taiwan back in 2015, and the startup has since sold over 14,000 units locally plus rolled out 240 GoStations nationwide for customers to quickly swap batteries — as opposed to having their electric scooters plugged in for hours. To keep the momentum going, today the company announced the Gogoro S, a high-performance model equipped with the new 7.2 kW G1-S motor which pushes the scooter from zero to 50 km/h or 31 MPH in just 3.7 seconds — a notable improvement from the 4.2 seconds with the original 6.4 kW G1 motor, which is already quite quick. But for the sake of safety, the top speed is still capped at 95 km/h or 59 MPH.

The vehicle has a maximum horsepower of 9.65 hp at 5,000 rpm, and for the first time, Gogoro has also made the front suspensions’ stiffness adjustable to suit one’s preference. In addition to the larger brakes to match this performance jump, the Gogoro S comes with exclusive 12-inch six-spoke wheels coated in glossy black paint, which go well with the matt graphite gray body and the dark titanium gray pedals. Even the seat is stiched with a big “S” and the word “performance” toward the back end, just so passersby know not to mess with you.

The Gogoro S will be available for purchase in Taiwan tomorrow for NT$123,000 (about US$3,890). For those who don’t have the need for speed, they can still opt for the more affordable Gogoro Plus which costs NT$108,000 (about US$3,410), or the original Gogoro for NT$98,000 (about US$3,100), or the Gogoro Lite for just NT$88,000 (about US$2,780). These three models share identical performance, with the main differences being their color choices, bundled add-ons and the lack of certain automated features plus customization on the Lite.

It’s also worth mentioning that in Taiwan, electric motorcycles are subsidized by the government as an attempt to wean off reliance on their air-polluting counterparts. The subsidy varies depending on the municipality, with New Taipei City covering NT$24,000 (about US$760) for new purchases, and an extra NT$3,000 (about US$95) for those who are getting rid of their two-stroke motorcycles, meaning the Gogoro S can be as cheap as NT$96,000 (about US$3,030) for residents in that area.

The vehicle prices go on top of a monthly subscription fee for using the GoStations, and it’s very much like how we pay for our mobile data, except it’s by kilometers instead of gigabytes. For instance, there’s an NT$799 (US$25.25)/month plan that lets you ride 600 km each month, with every extra 1 km costing NT$1.50 (about 5 US cents). To put this into context, this will just about cover weekday commutes between, say, Apple Campus and Googleplex for a month, but the Gogoro scooters are obviously more suited for shorter distances.

While Gogoro has yet to roll out its battery network — either with GoStations or with GoChargers — outside of Taiwan, its scooters are already available as rentals in Berlin by way of Coup. For just €3 ($3.29) you can rent this electric scooter for 30 minutes, and for €20 (about $22) it’s yours for the whole day. Gogoro is also expected to deploy in Amsterdam some time this year.

Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: Gogoro

NASA’s New Horizons has sent back its last data from Pluto

The New Horizons probe had just one shot at gathering as much data from Pluto as it could, a process that took more than a day. But it’s taken the past fifteen months to actually receive all 50-plus gigabytes of data that it captured. NASA announced this morning that the probe has finally sent back the last bit of data, a Pluto and Charon infra-red sequence. Next up, NASA plans to double-check the data it’s received before wiping New Horizons’ data recorder. Its next stop: the Kuiper Belt.

“The Pluto system data that New Horizons collected has amazed us over and over again with the beauty and complexity of Pluto and its system of moons,” Alan Stern, New Horizons’ mission head said in a statement. “There’s a great deal of work ahead for us to understand the 400-plus scientific observations that have all been sent to Earth. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do—after all, who knows when the next data from a spacecraft visiting Pluto will be sent?”

Source: NASA

GM’s car-sharing service arrives in Los Angeles

Maven, General Motors’ car-sharing service, is finally coming to the City of Angels. Though Maven has been around in other cities for awhile now — Ann, Arbor, Mich., Boston, New York City and San Francisco to name a few — its move to Los Angeles is a pretty interesting one due to the city’s car-centric culture. Essentially GM’s answer to services like CityCarShare and ZipCar, Maven makes it possible for residents of Los Angeles to live a car-free life, but still have the convenience of a car if they want it.

To start, you’ll need to register and then use the app to reserve a vehicle of your choice. At first, Maven will only have 60 vehicles available at more than 24 locations in the city, but there’s always a chance it’ll roll out more if the service gets popular enough. Those locations include downtown Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, South Park and areas near the University of Southern California.

You can rent cars for $8 an hour — that cost includes both fuel and insurance. As you might expect from a GM service, all of the available cars are part of the GM family. They include the Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu, Tahoe and Volt, the GMC Acadia and Yukon, plus Cadillacs like the ATS, CTS, CT6, XT5 and Escalade. And, of course, they’ll all come with the OnStar service built right in.

‘WALTR 2’ for Mac Lets You Quickly Transfer Any Content to Any iOS Device

Softorino today announced the launch of its next-generation WALTR app, introducing WALTR 2 for Mac. WALTR 2 builds on the features introduced with the original WALTR app, making it easier than ever to transfer any file from a Mac to an iOS device.

With WALTR 2, you can transfer all kinds of media file types to an iPhone or iPad, even if they’re not in a format that’s normally compatible with iOS. It supports music, ringtones, videos, PDFs, ePubs, and more, converting files when necessary. If you transfer an MKV or AVI, for example, WALTR 2 will convert it to a usable format and put it directly in the built-in iOS video app.

The same goes for music — upload any music file and it’ll be transferred to the Music app with no loss of quality. Uploaded music is even properly recognized in Apple Music.

Using WALTR 2 is simple. You open the WALTR 2 app, plug your iPhone or iPad into your Mac (or use the new Wi-Fi feature) and then simply drag and drop the file you want to transfer to an iOS device into WALTR 2. WALTR 2 works with all iPods, iPads, and iPhones, starting with the iPod Classic from 2001.

With Automatic Content Recognition for music, movies, and TV shows, WALTR 2 can fill in metadata information, and a new Wi-Fi detection feature allows WALTR 2 to automatically find nearby iOS devices so transferring content can be done without a USB cable if desired. File transfers go much quicker with a cable though, with Softorino promising average transfer speeds of 2GB per minute.

New to WALTR 2 is support for ePUBs, PDFs, and audiobooks, which are automatically uploaded to the iBooks app. WALTR 2 can also be used to upload full-length ringtones to the iPhone and it supports subtitle files. Supported audio formats include MP3, FLAC, APE, ALAC, AAC, AIFF, WAV, WMA, OGG, OGA, WV, TTA, and DFF, while supported video formats include MKV, AVI, MP4, MOV, MPEG, m2ts, 3GP, WMV, H264, and H265.

WALTR 2 is available for download from the Softorino website for $39.95. Existing WALTR users can upgrade for $19.95. Downloading the app offers users with a 24-hour free trial to try it out.

We’re also giving away 10 copies of WALTR 2 to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, 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 of age or older 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 (October 28) at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time through 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time on November 4. The winners will be chosen randomly on November 4 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond before new winners are chosen.

Tags: giveaway, WALTR, Softorino
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Teardown Reveals New MacBook Pro Without Touch Bar Has Removable SSD

The new entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar has only been available for a day and just made its way into Apple retail stores, but OWC has already managed to take apart one of the machines to get a glimpse inside.

The teardown is still underway, but OWC can confirm that the new MacBook Pro has a removable SSD, meaning it is replaceable and can potentially be upgraded after purchase. Previous MacBook Pro models have also featured a removable SSD, but the MacBook SSD is soldered to the logic board, so it was unclear if the new MacBook Pro would continue to offer a removable SSD due to its thinner body.

OWC has noted a number of other observations about the new MacBook Pro:

– Solid State Drive module is removable
– Bottom was more difficult to remove than previous generations, but it was not glued
– Speaker module needs to be removed to pull SSD back
– SSD had very strong tape covering the interface port
– Laptop automatically turns on when you open it regardless of pressing power button

OWC’s discoveries only apply to the 13-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar. It’s likely models with a Touch Bar have a similar build, but the internal hardware is different because it incorporates a new component. We’ll need to wait a few more weeks to see what’s inside the higher-end 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro machines, as they won’t be available until mid-November.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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