Lyft could be getting rid of its pink mustache

Lyft’s pink mustache could be going away. In an interview at WSJD Live, co-founder and CEO John Zimmer teased that the company’s iconic colorful facial hair could be replaced in favor of a new logo, which he wouldn’t reveal. He also said that Lyft had 17 million rides this past October, and even though that’s not as good as Uber’s 40 million monthly rides, it’s still a sign of rapid growth. For reference, Lyft reported just 7 million rides last December.

Zimmer also talked a bit about monthly Lyft subscriptions, which it’s currently testing in a few markets. “You’ll subscribe to Lyft just like you subscribe to Spotify,” he said. You could pay $20 up front, and every Lyft Line ride would then be $2 each, for example. This is similar to Uber’s own test of a $79 “unlimited commute card” for its UberPool service in New York City.

“In the next ten to twenty years, car ownership will be irrelevant,” said Zimmer. This will be especially apparent once the cost of taking a Lyft is less than the cost of ownership. The rise of autonomous driving could contribute to that, he said. “The price point could come down to something like $5.”

Though Zimmer said Lyft is focused on building out its network right now, he added that he’s optimistic about the future of self-driving rideshares. Noting the company’s partnership with GM, he said that autonomous cars will be a critical turning point in the industry.

“In five years, the majority of Lyft rides will be done autonomously,” he said.

Notably too, while Zimmer was on stage he took the opportunity to deny rumors that Lyft reportedly tried to sell itself to suitors like Apple and Uber. “We were never up for sale,” he said.

High tech meets haute couture at Silicon Valley Fashion Week

Pop culture loves to pit fashion and technology against one another. While fashionistas are often portrayed as really really good looking buffoons (looking at you, Derek), techies are rarely seen without being swaddled in their trusty black hoodies. But, as the 2016 Silicon Valley Fashion Week shows, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Silicon Valley Fashion Week 2016 – 30sec from Florence Lumsden on Vimeo.

Nearly two dozen designers and tech companies came together in San Francisco to exhibit their latest creations. Whether they were designed with CAD programs, extruded from 3D printers, controlled with smartphones or embedded with a litany of LED lights, each piece shown deeply incorporates modern technologies. Styles ranged from Renaissance to risque, with some designs geared for everyday consumers and others as wearable artwork. Check out the gallery below to see some of the most jaw-dropping examples from the show.

iPhone 7 With Powerbeats3 Wireless Among Best Buy’s List of Must-Have Holiday Gifts

Best Buy has shared its annual list of “must-have” tech gadgets ahead of the holiday shopping season, with four Apple products making the cut this year.

Specifically, the iPhone 7, Apple Watch Series 2, Powerbeats3 Wireless Earphones, and 9.7-inch iPad Pro were named to the list in no particular order:

• Google Home
• Bose® QuietComfort® 35 Wireless Headphones
• Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer
• Lenovo Yoga 910 2-in-1 Laptop
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch
• Oculus Rift
• Sony PlayStation VR
• Sony 65” Class LED Smart 4K Ultra HD TV with High Dynamic Range
• GoPro Hero5 Black
• DJI Mavic Pro Drone
• Fitbit Charge 2
• Microsoft Xbox One S
• Samsung 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
• iPhone 7
• Powerbeats3 Wireless Earphones
• Apple Watch Series 2
• Rand McNally OverDryve Connected Car System
• HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop
• Google Chromecast Ultra
• Samsung Galaxy S7

Best Buy will be hosting its usual holiday sales events and it is offering free shipping on orders placed through its website until December 24.

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Duet Display for iPad Gains ‘Pro’ Drawing Features

Duet Display, the app that allows you to turn your iPad into an extra display for your Mac, is today gaining new features designed to turn the iPad Pro into a high-performance graphics tablet able to compete with Intuos or Wacom drawing tablets.

The new “Duet Pro” capabilities allow Duet Display to support the Apple Pencil on a 12.9 or 9.7-inch iPad Pro, allowing users to draw directly on their iPads and have the result show up on a connected desktop app.

Duet Display is also being updated with new algorithms to make drawing more responsive and to allow for better color quality and color correction. Features like palm rejection and hover functionality are included.

Duet Pro will be available as part of a subscription tier that’s priced at $20 per year for both new and existing customers.

Duet Display’s pro features are available on Macs running OS X 10.9 or later and Windows machines running Windows 8 and 10. An iPad Pro is also required.

Duet Display can be downloaded from the App Store for $9.99, a temporary discount. [Direct Link]

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New macOS Virtual Keyboard Layouts Confirm Rumors of MacBook Pro OLED Touch Bar

A collection of new assets within the system resources for the virtual keyboard on macOS 10.12.1 essentially confirms Apple will be releasing new notebooks that include a touch-based OLED bar in lieu of the physical function key row seen on all current Macs, as has been rumored for the upcoming MacBook Pro.

On 10.12.0, the System Preferences assets for Apple’s virtual keyboard – which lets users type on a Mac without a physical keyboard – include a number of different keyboard image files covering the physical key layouts used across Apple’s product lineup, including full-height versus half-height function rows and different international layouts. Each file represents an image of macOS Sierra’s virtual keyboard that mirrors the user’s current physical keyboard layout, including a row across the top for function keys, Escape, and a power or eject key.

In yesterday’s 10.12.1 update to Sierra, a new set of assets was discovered by MacRumors reader Gabriel Lorin, revealing an updated physical keyboard layout coming for machines supporting the new operating system version. Three additional sets of layout files are included in system resources on macOS 10.12.1, with each image depicting a virtual keyboard that lacks the standard tactile row of function keys.

The image files do not directly represent the OLED touch bar and its functionality, which will likely be managed using separate preferences, but the omission of the function row entirely in these new layouts leaves no other reasonable explanation beyond those key functionalities being moved to a separate location such as the rumored touch bar.

The significantly redesigned MacBook Pro, which is expected to be at the forefront of Apple’s Mac event on Thursday, has been expected to include an OLED touch bar for some time now, so today’s discovery is just another piece in a long line of rumors and evidence leading up to Apple’s announcement later in the week. The panel is rumored to include Touch ID so users can gain easy access to a locked MacBook and perhaps direct Apple Pay functionality, and the remainder of the OLED keys will change contextually depending on which app is active on the computer.

Besides a 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro, Apple is believed to be launching a new 13-inch MacBook Air at the event, but recent reports suggest that users may have to wait until 2017 for a refresh to the iMac and a new standalone 5K display.

Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Don’t Buy)
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BlackBerry’s DTEK60 is its most powerful phone yet

BlackBerry has announced its latest smartphone today, the oft-leaked DTEK60. Succeeding the DTEK50, which was announced earlier in the year, the DTEK60 is also made by Chinese manufacturer TCL, but steps up the specs, and the price, significantly, for people looking to interact with BlackBerry’s heralded Android software suite.

With a 5.5-inch QHD display, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 3,000mAh battery, and 21 megapixel rear camera, the BlackBerry DTEK60 is considerably more powerful than its predecessor, but at $499 USD ($650 CAD), it is not in the same price range, either.

According to BlackBerry, the phone “provides enterprises and organizations with full access to the Android ecosystem and higher-end specs to help power productivity. It comes equipped with all the security features that BlackBerry’s Android OS devices have, including best-in-class security patching and the DTEK by BlackBerry app that allows users to monitor and control their privacy on their phone.”

The phone itself, as powerful as it is, was unveiled with little fanfare and no carrier support in the U.S. or Canada. While it does have some features that the DTEK50 lacked — a fingerprint sensor, a high-resolution camera with 4K capture support, and a high-density display — BlackBerry is not emphasizing the hardware, but the software. This mixed message is something that BlackBerry does very well, and is best seen in the introductory paragraph of the DTEK60’s press release:

BlackBerry Limited, a global software leader in securing, connecting and mobilizing enterprises, today announced the latest in its series of most secure Android smartphones, DTEK60.

It’s the software that the company wants people to care about, and rightfully so: it had almost no influence over the DTEK60’s hardware, but has built its version of Android into a powerful, attractive and, most importantly, secure conduit for its enterprise-first philosophy.

To that end, the DTEK60 has the same security features as its Android predecessors: DTEK, the app; Hardware Root of Trust; FIPS 140-2 encryption; Secure Boot; and Android for Work support, in partnership with Google. Because of that extra security, it launches with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with no immediate plans to update to Nougat.

More: Read CrackBerry’s hands-on with the DTEK60!

According to BlackBerry, “customers who order DTEK60 from ShopBlackBerry.com will receive a complimentary accessory bundle. US and Canada customers will receive a DTEK60 Soft Shell and Rapid Charger for free and customers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands will receive a DTEK60 Pocket Case and Rapid Charger for free. This offer expires on November 8th at 11:59 pm PST.” Go get it!

See at BlackBerry

BlackBerry Priv: How does it stack up a year later?

How has BlackBerry’s first Android offering held up this past year?

With the BlackBerry Priv closing in on its first birthday, now is a perfect time to take another look at the phone and see how it has held up over the year, and whether or not it is still a phone worth considering. This was BlackBerry’s first device to run Android, and it has the company’s iconic physical keyboard under its well-known slider. At first, many loved the idea of having the keyboard again, but is that enough to tie you to a phone for more than a year?

BlackBerry has been great about pushing monthly security patches the same day as Google, and in comparison the company did a pretty great job of getting Marshmallow pushed out timely. For all the things that BlackBerry has done great with this phone, there are a number of things that could have been done better, and those are more obvious after a year.

Let’s take another look at the BlackBerry Priv and see if it is worth buying one today.

BlackBerry Priv Hardware

From the beginning, the BlackBerry Priv’s hardware was divisive. The slider design with the physical QWERTY keyboard was appealing to some people, while others thought that it was a waste and unnecessary. It has a 5.4-inch display with a resolution of 2560×1440, which is still great even compared to the latest flagships.

Inside, you’ve got a Snapdragon 808 paired with 3GB of RAM, which still offers great performance for most daily tasks. From streaming media to browsing the web, and even some casual gaming, the Priv holds up well with very little lag.

With the Priv being a slider, the build quality has always felt a bit off to me, and the phone doesn’t feel as high quality as it should. When tapping on the screen with it slid down you’ll notice some bounce, and when it is extended up touching the top of it throws off the balance of the phone in your hand.

Luckily, the sliding mechanism has held up well.

The back is non-removable, like the battery, but it is made from a plastic piece with a carbon fiber-like design on it. Several times over the past year I’ve noticed times where the sides of the back piece didn’t feel secure giving the back some bounce during use.

Luckily, the sliding mechanism has held up well, and I’ve yet to experience an issue with opening or closing the phone. The keyboard is something that I want to use more than I actually do, but sliding the phone open to use it gets a bit annoying at times. If you’ve used a BlackBerry keyboard in the past, you’ll feel right at home, and the new swipe gestures that made their way over from the Passport are great if you remember to use them.

The hardware is definitely unique, and that means that some will love it and others will hate it.

BlackBerry Priv Software

The software on the Priv has made great strides over the past year. With the OS version jumping up to Marshmallow from Lollipop, the monthly security updates being available the same day Google announces them and the various updates to its own set of core apps, BlackBerry has made it far more enjoyable to use this phone. Recently, the company announced that it would transition to focus mainly on software, and in the past few months it has shown the value of that decision — even if it means doing away with in-house designs like the Priv in the future.

First up, the BlackBerry Hub. Having one central place for your notifications is awesome, and makes finding things much easier, but when the Priv was first announced, it was slow and didn’t support all the apps it should. Over the past year, BlackBerry has made it significantly faster and has added support for apps like Slack, Facebook Messenger, and more.

Other apps, like the BlackBerry Launcher, BlackBerry Keyboard, and the BlackBerry Camera, have also seen big improvements over the year. With features like touch and hold to lock focus, faster HDR merging, a quicker shutter response and more arriving for the Camera, it makes it more enjoyable to use, though the picture quality doesn’t stand up to phones that have been released more recently. The BlackBerry Keyboard has become even more secure, gained the ability to use gestures like swipe to delete and much more.

As for major software updates, BlackBerry did a decent job of updating the phone from Lollipop to Marshmallow (on most carriers), but there is still no word as to when, or if, it will hit Nougat. BlackBerry has done a phenomenal job with its monthly security patches, making them available the same day that Google announces them. When it was first announced the Priv was said to be the most secure Android phone available, and BlackBerry has continued to back that message with the quick security patches and updates to its apps that make them more secure.

BlackBerry Priv Cameras

When it first came out, the Priv had what we considered to be a pretty great camera. Over the past year, a number of phones have been released with much-improved sensors, diminishing the Priv’s somewhat. The quality hasn’t got any worse over the past year, but as you can imagine it didn’t get much better, either.

The rear-facing camera is still acceptable, but the front-facing is laughable.

The Camera app has received a bunch of updates this year that enabled a number of new features and functionality. You can now lock onto a particular part of the photo to focus on it, and the shutter speed has been improved. This allows you to get the shot that you may have missed before, and the faster HDR merging speeds up the whole experience from taking to processing the photo.

For most, the rear-facing camera is still acceptable, but the front-facing camera is somewhat laughable. If you are looking for a phone with a top notch camera, the BlackBerry Priv was likely never what you were considering, and that still holds true.

BlackBerry Priv Battery life

Regardless of the phone, the older it gets the worse the battery gets. These things are not meant to last forever, but the Priv has done a great job at standing pretty strong. The battery improved greatly when the phone moved from Lollipop to Marshmallow and has held up well since. On average, getting through a day without charging isn’t overly difficult thanks to the 3,410mAh cell inside. Even being on cellular data all day, streaming some music, a few YouTube videos, various web browsing and social media usage, I get around 15 hours off the charger and have around 25-30% left at the end of the day.

As always, battery life depends on a number of things, like how many email accounts you have syncing, how much time the display is on, the strength of your cellular signal and more. Luckily, the Priv is Quick Charge 2.0-compatible, so you can plug in a Quick Charge 2.0 charger and get a huge battery bump in a short period of time. I’ve found that this is a far more feature to have in a phone than a proclaimed “all day battery life”.

BB Priv Should you buy it today?

Overall, the Priv has held up relatively well over its first year. Unfortunately for BlackBerry, many of the other manufacturers that have released phones in the past year have offered better complete packages, minus the physical keyboard. Between better battery life, significantly improved cameras and more, the BlackBerry Priv was left behind somewhat quickly.

The biggest factor here would be price. We’ve seen the Priv drop to around $300 off-contract, and at that price, it is worth picking one up. With BlackBerry taking over the updates for unlocked AT&T units you’ll be able to receive timely updates even if you aren’t an AT&T customer. At this price, the Priv is still worth picking up if you can deal with its flaws. For younger kids, or someone who really wants a physical keyboard, this is a great phone for that price.

At closer to $600 it is really hard to recommend purchasing the Priv over other phones that are available. With the less-than-stellar cameras, the occasional lag and the less than ideal battery life, you can find another phone to spend the money on.

See at ShopBlackBerry

BlackBerry Priv

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BlackBerry DTEK60 specs

What’s inside the BlackBerry DTEK60?

BlackBerry’s second phone in 2016 is a more powerful Android phone than its predecessor, the DTEK50, but follows the same path to market. The DTEK60 is made by TCL, the company behind Alcatel’s line of devices, but steps up the specs game in a big way.

Here’s what’s inside.