Twitter makes it slightly easier to interact on iOS
There was a time when a Twitter user on iOS had to click from their timeline all the way into a tweet in order to interact with it or its account. Imagine that: Like, two taps of your finger to share it elsewhere or unfollow that person. Ugh! But Twitter’s hot on a fix, giving you the ability to interact with one straight from your flow just by clicking a little arrow on the top-right corner of any given tweet. The experience has been righteously streamlined.
Okay, obviously there are worse things in the world than having an easier time blocking haters. But instead of a very slight UI upgrade, it would be a better use of Twitter’s time to build serious internal anti-troll tools instead of giving users a slightly quicker way to report abuse. It isn’t adding anything new to the experience. It’s just rearranging the deck chairs while we continue cleaning up the trash.
Starting today on iOS: It’s now easier to act on any Tweet directly from your Home timeline! https://t.co/QhNvcqZoPn pic.twitter.com/NjQzgKqm3E
— Twitter Support (@Support) September 16, 2016
Source: Twitter
iPhone 7 Home Button Doesn’t Work Without Skin Contact
As discovered by Myke Hurley (via Daring Fireball), iPhone 7 and 7 Plus users are going to have a tough time unlocking their devices during wintertime. As it turns out, the new “solid-state” Home button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus requires skin contact to function.
If you put on a pair of gloves or cover your finger with the sleeve of a shirt and attempt to open the iPhone 7, the Home button will not respond to a press unless it’s touching skin. And because the iPhone 7 uses the redesigned Lock screen in iOS 10, there’s no easy way to bring up the passcode entry screen to unlock the phone manually.
We tested with a pair of gloves that are designed for touch screens and while we could unlock the iPhone 6s Plus with the gloves, that wasn’t possible with the iPhone 7 Plus. There are reports suggesting some of these types of gloves do work, however, so it may vary based on the material of the gloves.
So here’s a thing.
Cover your iPhone 7 home button with material (like from a t-shirt) and try to click it.
😑
— Myke Hurley (@imyke) September 16, 2016
The redesigned Home button in the iPhone 7 is no longer a physical button — it’s flush with the iPhone and uses haptic feedback to give the sensation of button presses. Because it’s requiring skin contact to unlock the device, it’s likely the iPhone 7 is using the Touch ID fingerprint sensor to register touch.
While skin contact is required to unlock the phone, the new “Raise to Wake” functionality still allows the Lock screen to be viewed without a touch, so it continues to be possible to view incoming notifications. Fully unlocking the phone will require a free finger that’s unobscured by fabric.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Evening brief: Samsung apologizes, Xperia X Compact ready for ROMs, and cows deserve privacy
All the news that’s fit for your eyes to wrap up the week.
With the iPhone launching and it being a Friday, it was a relatively slow day in terms of Android news. The one funny bit that took over social media today was the BBC report of a cow having its face blurred by Google after being caught in a Street View scene — nice catch! (But seriously cows deserve privacy, too, right?)
In more on-topic news, LG teamed up with Boost Mobile to launch a small phone with a massive 4100 mAh battery, Sony’s new Xperia X Compact was added to its AOSP program and SanDisk updated one of its most popular apps. In the ongoing Samsung Note 7 recall saga, we got an official apology for the incident from Tim Baxter, President of Samsung America. Here’s all of the day’s news!
BBC with the hard-hitting news: Cow’s blurred face on Google Street View
In Google’s attempt to blur the faces of unsuspecting bystanders caught in Street View imagery, it blurred the face of a cow in the UK. Far too many cow jokes ensued, but we’re bullish that Google will sort this out properly in the future.
Sony’s new Xperia X Compact added to its AOSP program
The new tiny phone is now available for developers to target with AOSP-based custom ROMs, with a little help from Sony’s tools. Bravo, Sony — more manufacturers should have such policies.
Samsung’s execs are getting personal over the Note 7 recall
Tim Baxter, Samsung America’s President & COO, took to the teleprompter this week to earnestly apologize for his company’s part in the Note 7 battery issues (which were actually manufacturerd a company adjacent but independent from Samsung itself). While over 130,000 Note 7s have been recalled in the U.S. alone, there’s still a lot of work to be done, as indicated by the bags under his eyes and the knowledge that there were over a million sold before the recall was issued. This thing ain’t over yet.
Don’t miss the tail end of the OnePlus Back to School sale
There are some pretty hefty discounts in the OnePlus online store through this weekend on cases, chargers and accessories of all types. It isn’t applicable to the whole store, but it’s worth checking out briefly if you have a OnePlus phone.
LG X Power comes to Sprint and Boost Mobile with massive battery
The $129 5.3-inch X Power has an octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and an 8MP camera — not a bad combo for the price. It also has a positively huge 4100 mAh battery. With simple specs and a small screen, it should last a long time.
SanDisk’s Memory Zone app gets revamped
The latest version of the app includes boosted performance (it claims a 10-times jump), built-in file compression/decompression and a new photo and video viewer. The app is designed to help you view content across your phone and external storage.
Grammar Snob for iMessage will turn you into a super annoying person
We can’t stop playing with the new iMessage app.
When Apple rolled out iOS 10 to the public earlier this week, it also unleashed a new iMessage app with its own mini app store. Pocket-lint has already detailed how the updated messaging app works, as well as several of the coolest new apps you can use directly in iMessage, but we’ve just discovered one app in particular that you must try right now. We’ll warn you, though: it might turn you into the most annoying person ever.
Grammar Snob. Go check it out.
The new iMessage app is perfect for those of you who can’t stand it when your friends text typos like “your” when they really meant to write “you’re”. The app offers up a 99-cent pack of stickers that basically let you edit your friends’ sentences with a red pen – just like your old high school English teacher did to you. The coolest part about the stickers is you can place them over their texts.
Just drag and drop the appropriate suggestion over a typo, and then your friend will instantly see the corrections you’ve made. The only downside is that there is currently no way to remove a placed sticker, so you have to be careful when putting them in place. Also, if you’re texting with an Android user, they won’t see stickers but rather a garbled mess of MMS messages, which stinks.
Still, between you and your iOS buddies, Grammar Snob can be a lot of fun. It can also be really annoying, however, especially for the person who is getting corrected all the time. Who knows -maybe Grammar Snob will save the English language and teach everyone how to properly write again. (We doubt it.)
FAA officially bans airline passengers from using Note 7 in flight
The Federal Aviation Administration has officially banned passengers from using their Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones while on planes. This decision comes one day after the US government issued a formal recall of the device.
Samsung with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is tasked with promoting the safety of consumer products, developing uniform safety standards, and conducting research into product-related illness and injury, are trying to get US consumers to return their Note 7 devices, but according to The Verge, only 130,000 units have been exchanged so far.
The CPSC revealed Thursday that about one million devices have been affected by the recall, meaning 90 percent of the them are still floating around, even though they might explode at any moment due to a battery malfunction. It’s therefore no surprise that the FAA, which last week strongly advised airline passengers from using the Note 7, has banned use of the device during flight.
“Passengers may not turn on or charge the devices when they carry them on board a plane,” said the FAA in a statement. “Passengers must also protect the devices from accidental activation, including disabling any features that may turn on the device, such as alarm clocks, and must not pack them in checked luggage.”
The CPSC said Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the US, 55 of which involved property damage such as fires in cars and garages. Fortunately, most US retail locations should be able to offer consumers replacement Note 7 phones beginning 21 September.
Pocket-lint has a guide with more information about the recall, which includes details on how this saga began.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall: How to exchange or return your phone
Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida ‘understands the criticism’ of ‘No Man’s Sky’
The vast and ambitions No Man’s Sky didn’t have the smoothest of launches. Even after pushing out a huge day-one patch, some players still encountered glitches and crashes, and some players even feel like the game didn’t deliver on what the marketing campaign promised. Speaking to Eurogamer, Sony Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said he understands complaints from players who don’t feel like they’re getting what was promised to them.
“I understand some of the criticisms especially [creator] Sean Murray is getting, because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one,” Yoshida said.”It wasn’t a great PR strategy, because he didn’t have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer.” Indeed, No Man’s Sky is one of the most massive “indie” releases of all time, and it’s plausible that Murray simply got overwhelmed with the work as his game got bigger and its release became more and more anticipated by players.
Regardless of some unhappy players, Yoshida is still happy with the game overall and is glad it’s on Sony’s platform. “I am super happy with the game actually, and I’m amazed with the sales the game has gotten,” he said. But Yoshida has also had to deal with lots of customers unhappy with the game who wanted to return it, so even if it’s selling well, it’s far from a runaway success for Sony.
Source: Eurogamer
Twitter counted over 2 million viewers for Thursday Night Football
Twitter’s first big splash in TV arrived with last night’s NFL simulcast, and now the numbers are in. According to the stats, the livestream averaged some 243,000 viewers that it says watched an average 22 minutes of action, with 2.3 million people watching at least 3 seconds of the game or pregame show. Despite being mostly well received by viewers, those numbers are quite a bit lower than the 2.36 million average / 15.2 million unique Yahoo noted for its stream of a London NFL game last year.
This Jets/Bills game was also a national simulcast on CBS and NFL Network, with a viewing audience across platforms that had an average audience minute basis of 15.7 million. Another difference is that Yahoo had a number of international viewers, and featured the game on its homepage which still gets a lot of traffic.
Oh hey, how’s the #TNF Twitter livestreaming goin… dammithttps://t.co/QKDpn8nAgP pic.twitter.com/RkmbvJ9KFf
— Richard Lawler (@rjcc) September 15, 2016
I checked out the stream last night and found it on point in terms of the technology. Twitter relied on Bam Tech (formerly MLBAM) for a stream that was high quality and didn’t drop, although it was anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or so behind the TV broadcast. I had trouble starting the Twitter app on Xbox One, but on Apple TV it worked reliably, and displayed the Tweets next to the broadcast, mostly filtering out any trollish or unrelated #TNF conversation.
Thanks for watching #TNF LIVE on Twitter! Catch the @Patriots vs. @HoustonTexans next Thursday right here 👇 https://t.co/eCsgy1y604
— Twitter (@twitter) September 16, 2016
Twitter proved itself as a capable platform for distributing this type of media, however at least from my view, it didn’t do enough to make the conversation a part of the experience. The tweets didn’t bring much more to the game than watching with my phone or laptop, and most people weren’t really replying to or reading one another. It did help make viewing at home seem more lively, and the company has nine more games this season to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
it doesn’t seem like anyone’s actually reading or interacting with the Twitter stream. Although, it makes viewing more “live.”
— Richard Lawler (@rjcc) September 16, 2016
We’ve seen plenty of smart TVs try to build in Twitter integration and fail, as well as apps that tried to bring social aspects to TV. Since Twitter already has the audience, it’s a natural fit for hosting broadcasts, but it still has to prove that people will come to Twitter to watch and engage at a higher level than they would on other platforms. Facebook apparently turned down the streaming package, while trying a different approach to pump up sports talk on the platform. Real-time conversation around TV broadcasts is coming, but it’s still hard to see exactly what that will look like.
Source: NFL, CBS Press Express
iTunes and App Store Down for Some Users
According to Apple’s System Status page, both the iTunes Store and the App Store are down for some users. The iTunes Store has been experiencing issues since just after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time this afternoon, and while the App Store outage period is not listed, MacRumors has seen several complaints about accessing it going back an hour or two.
Apple’s System Status site says some users may be unable to sign into the App Store and the iTunes Store, an outage that comes at an inconvenient time as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus were just released, so many people are trying to set up their devices and download new apps.
There’s no estimate given for when services might return to normal.
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Japanese tax investigation ends with Apple paying $118 million
After an in-depth investigation, one of Apple’s Japanese subsidiaries paid ¥12 billion ($118 million) in back taxes, according to a report from the Yomiuri Shimbun. Japanese tax authorities ordered the payment after determining the company hadn’t correctly paid taxes on funds it had quietly funneled out of the country. This whole thing might sound a little dry, but hey — what better way to spend a Friday than to dig into some corporate cloak-and-dagger dealings? Let’s take a closer look.
First, here’s a little background. If you live in Japan and you buy an iPhone from Apple, that money goes to (who else?) Apple Japan. If you buy apps, movies or music from iTunes in Japan, however, that money goes to a different subsidiary: iTunes K.K. Ah, but there’s more: much of Apple’s intellectual property is owned by two subsidiaries in Ireland, and other Apple business units around the world pay those entities royalties to use that IP. iTunes K.K. had one such arrangement set up — when people used the iTunes service to listen to music or watch videos, the subsidiary owed part of its profits to an Apple-owned holding company in Ireland as royalties.
And why Ireland? Well, Apple had a lucrative structure in place that allowed the company to pay hardly anything in corporate taxes on that cash. (Tim Cook, by the way, strongly asserts this isn’t true.) Moreover, Apple has never and will never talk about how much those licensing fees are, so they’re widely seen as a tool to help keep Apple’s money away from the governments who want to collect their share. So, iTunes generates profits in Japan, and Apple ultimately wants it to go to Ireland where it’ll barely get taxed. The problem is, Japanese income tax law holds that a Japanese company (like iTunes K.K.) has to pay a roughly 20 percent withholding tax on royalties paid to foreign companies… like Apple’s Irish operation. That’s no chump change, so the parties involved had to get a little crafty.
iTunes K.K. didn’t make royalty payments to Apple’s Irish subsidiaries — it paid them to Apple Japan, the company’s other, separate half. Then, Apple’s Irish subsidiary sold iPhones to Apple Japan by way of an affiliated company in Singapore. Tokyo’s Taxation Bureau alleged that Apple Japan bundled those royalties into the price of the iPhones it was buying so the holding company in Ireland ultimately wound up with the amount the iPhones actually cost plus software profits that never got taxed. Apple kept this up between 2012 and 2014 and moved around ¥60 billion (or about $586.5 million) in the process. Japanese tax authorities wanted — and reportedly received — the back taxes on that shifted money, and now the case is closed.
If all of this sounds a little familiar, well, you’re onto something. Apple had to pay Italy’s tax bureau €318 million (or $348 million) after it was alleged the company underpaid its corporate taxes for six years. Oh, and then there’s the whole “having to pay back $14.5 billion to Ireland” thing for creating a tax structure EU regulators have called “illegal.” Playing by the rules won’t make anyone as obscenely rich as if they hadn’t, but man — Apple is probably getting a little tired of being batted around.
[Image credit: ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images]
Source: The Japan News
Talking about everything Android adjacent
There’s a lot more to Android than the OS.
The launch of the HTC G1 was significant for two reasons. First and foremost, this phone was weird because it was Google’s effort “against” Apple and their iPhone and somehow it might actually compete well. Second, and in my mind the most important, Android was positioned from day one as a platform where third-party apps could be submitted and people could choose whatever apps they wanted. It took Apple a little while to catch on, but in the next revision of iOS they did.
Now, apps are everything and everything has an app. The second part of that sentence is significant, because it’s a big part of what I am passionate about. Android phones are exciting to me because they are pocket-sized hubs to everything, and I’m going to spend a lot of time talking about that experience.
You may have noticed recently that we started talking a little more about PlayStation here at AC. It’s a decision that came with some obvious feedback — what does this have to do with Android? PlayStation has just as much to do with Android as drones, robot vacuums, smart thermostats, or pillar-shaped talking speakers — there’s an app that improves the overall experience for those who use Android. Instead of limiting the conversation to the app, we’re going to talk about the whole product. If something has a fantastic Android app but is a garbage overall product, the glowing review that follows does everyone a disservice.
This isn’t going to detract from our normal Android coverage.
We’re not so much changing our existing editorial focus as we are more clearly defining it. The Ring Doorbell doesn’t run Android, but those who use Android can benefit from its existence. If something Android adjacent is a great product with a great app, we’re going to talk about the whole product. That includes the drone you clip onto paper airplanes so they can fly farther, the Sous Vide cooker that updates you with notifications, all things Amazon Echo, some VR that directly applies to Android, and occasionally some cool things you can do with your PlayStation.
This isn’t going to detract from our normal Android coverage, but it’s something we’re going to have some fun with. We’re not going to fill the homepage with tutorials on how to fix a stuck button on your connected scale, but we are going to let you know what we think after using it. Here’s hoping you’re ready to have some fun with us!
