Mobile Nations Weekly: Ludicrous zero-day nougat

Android goes to 7, Apple goes to the repair kit, and Tesla goes for maximum speed.

Android 7.0 Nougat is finally here! … if you have a Nexus phone. If using a modern Nexus phone, it might be a while before you get the update — or never. But does that really matter?

Apple found itself in sticky security waters following the disclosure and prompt patching of a trio of particularly nasty zero-day exploits. What’s more terrifying than these sort of “fix it immediately” exploits is who is making them: private malware firms that cater to governmental desires for ever-more-prying eyes. Thankfully, Apple did the right thing and moved fast to patch their products.

The long-awaited HP Elite x3 is finally here. Kind of. Almost. But Windows Central got one and went hands-on with the latest and greatest Windows Phone anyway. It’s the first Windows Phone to tout both a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner, and all sorts of high-powered bits.

The Tesla Model 3 is set to start at $35,000. Tesla’s newest Model S option, the P100D, starts at $134,500. It’s just a small difference. But that P100D is the quickest production car on the planet, making it to 60mph in a dizzying 2.5 seconds. If you can afford it… and the inevitable speeding tickets.

So you’re interested in getting into VR, but which headset should you be donning? VRHeads sits down and looks at the desktop-class options to figure out which is better: HTC Vive or Oculus Rift?. It’s a tough call with how many variables are at play here, but rest assured that both are pretty damn cool.

Android Central — New-gat software

Though we’ve had months of Developer previews to play with, Android 7.0 Nougat was finally made official this week. Updates started hitting Nexus devices, and we got to dig into the headline features of the final release version. The Developer Preview track is sticking around, too, and we’re in line for a new version by the end of the year.

If you’re wondering why phones like the Nexus 5 and Xperia Z3 Compact won’t be getting Nougat, Jerry has a great explainer for you. It basically comes down the Snapdragon 800 not offering the right specs for the software, and that’s unfortunate.

Further on in Nougat land, we got a couple more teases of the upcoming LG V20, which will be the first phone to ship with Android 7.0. Google teased it with the launch of Nougat, and a later leak showed off what seems to be another “second” display ticker like the V10.

• Your phone may never get Nougat, but does it really matter?
• Moto Z, a second opinion — Mods shouldn’t make the phone
• Will my phone be updated to Android 7.0?
• Top 5 Android 7.0 Nougat features you need to know!
• How to manually update your Nexus
• How to fix Galaxy Note 7 battery life problems

CrackBerry — DTEKing around the globe

BlackBerry’s rollout of the DTEK50 continued this week. Multiple Canadian carriers have made the device available in-store and across their online store-fronts. Additionally, BlackBerry has now added the device to the BlackBerry Beta Zone which offers up beta versions of BlackBerry’s applications and upcoming OS releases. In other news, BlackBerry’s software business continues to gain momentum with new customers in Australia and New Zealand.

• BlackBerry’s software business continues to grow with new customers in Australia and New Zealand
• BlackBerry DTEK50 now available from multiple Canadian carriers
• BlackBerry adds DTEK50 and Hub+ Suite beta programs through Beta Zone

iMore — The age of the zero-day

Both Apple and the iMore staff are getting busier and busier as event season nears, and this week was no exception. The company disclosed and patched three nasty zero-day exploits, released two new betas (one as a result of the aforementioned patch), and had another headphone jack-less rumor come to the forefront. Over on our side, we released our Back to School Gift Guide, took a look at the Logitech Create for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and dug into the hidden history of educational gaming on the Mac. And on the Network, special guest Jason Snell of Six Colors wonders if betas and leaks have spoiled the magic mystery of Apple events — but if so, it’s probably going to be okay.

• How to use Siri with CarPlay
• How to stop WhatsApp from sharing your number with Facebook
• How to use iOS 10’s new Bedtime feature
• Apple Talk 11: iPhone upgrade pressure

Tesla Central — P100D

While everybody might be anxiously waiting for the relatively affordable Tesla Model 3, Tesla’s not stopping work on their much more expensive Model S and Model X electric cars with the introduction of the P100D option. The new 100kWh battery pack makes the Model S now the fastest-accelerating production car ever, with a 0-60 time of a mind-numbing 2.5 seconds.

At the same time, it’s also the longest range production EV ever, with 315 miles on a charge. There’s just one catch: it starts at $134,500. Of course, it’s worth noting that Tesla is using the P100D battery as a testbed for some of the new advanced battery tech that will find its way into the Model 3, so it’s not bad that Tesla’s still tinkering on the high end.

• Tesla Model S P100D goes for maximum Ludicrous Mode: 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and 315 miles range
• Where’s the non-performance Tesla 100D and how much range will it have?
• Have a Tesla P90D? You can upgrade it to a P100D… for a price

VR Heads — Tripping the Rift

Choosing between the two big Desktop-class VR headsets is no small decision, for several reasons. Arguably the most important of those reasons is that we’re not really at the beginning point for “New VR” yet. Developers are still figuring out what works, and hardware manufacturers are still tweaking to service everyone. It’s an exciting time, which is what makes the choice so hard.

• HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift: Which is best?
• RevolVR is a huge next step in smartphone-based VR!
• Exploring multiplayer shooters and their limitations in VR

Windows Central — The Elite-ist

Windows 10 Redstone 2 is only beginning but what it packs for features is slowly starting to come into focus. Our exclusive report this week highlighted the return of OneClip – a cross platform copy, paste functionality – as one productivity-focused tool destined for Windows 10.

Our Jez Corden sat down with Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg to discuss the new One S, Beam, and more.

There were no new Fast Ring releases this week, but we did see a Release Preview for a new cumulative update appear.

Finally, the HP Elite x3 superphone with a Snapdragon 820, front-facing speakers, and every bit of technology jammed into is starting to hit store shelves. We did a quick unboxing and compared its fingerprint and iris scanners for performance.

• Mozo’s Surface Sleeve brings a stylish look while delivering some protection too
• Pokémon Go app PoGo-UWP adds Pokedex, line inventory and more with the latest update
• CBS All Access is now on the Xbox One and Xbox 360
• The best graphics card for under $200

The case for a Material Dark theme in Android

I love hex black and a dark UI!

You Nougat-lovers can’t deny,

That when an app installs in an itty, bitty space,

With a dark theme in your face,

You get sprung!

Google and Android are filled with white, white, white UIs. It wasn’t always that way, but it is now. The only real dark system UIs available right now are downloadable TouchWiz themes, and Google’s apps are whiter than my jean-365-days-a-year legs. Night modes have been toyed with in Developer Previews the last two years but have never amounted to much of anything. And really, even if they had stuck around, it wouldn’t’ve been the dark theme we wanted anyway.

A dark theme, a night mode, and a Material Dark app.

Let’s get some terminology straight first, because we keep interchanging some similar but distinct terms. A dark theme is a UI that is primarily a dark color rather than white. Android itself used a dark theme back in the Holo days. There are a lot of apps with dark themes out there, frequently calling them night modes, but they’re wrong. Night mode should be reserved for the blue light filter that’ll keep your screen from keeping you up while you surf YouTube in bed. Some manufacturers have included blue-light filters in the past, and third-party apps have offered it, too.

We shouldn’t be lobbying Google for this. We should be lobbying everyone.

Then we have what I’m affectionately calling Material Dark, a Material Design-compliant UI based on a dark gray or black background with strong pops of accent colors. It’s not enough to ask for an app to have a dark theme; it needs to be a well-designed and tested dark theme that fits current developer guidelines. Material Dark is what we should push for in Google’s apps and in every app that we use and care about.

We’ve begged for a device-wide dark theme, but that’s not what we really need. We don’t need a toggle that switches your whole system from light to dark, because there are apps that I’ll always want in a Material Dark UI, apps I’ll only want to be dark at night, and apps that work better in white. Fun as it was to have that night mode toggle in my Quick Settings on the developer preview, it just wasn’t going to work.

And we shouldn’t be lobbying Google for this. We should be lobbying everyone. Lobby Google to give us Material Dark Google Apps — please, please lobby Google for Material Dark Google Apps — but ask the developers of your favorite apps if they could add a dark theme. Samsung has a dark theme for most of its system apps, so ask Motorola and LG why your Moto Z and your V20 can’t have a dark dialer for when you’re calling your designated driver at closing time.

Lobbying for Material Dark for individual apps rather than begging for a magical device-wide dark theme because individual apps can be easily updated with a dark theme without a system or device upgrade like any Nougat night mode would’ve required. It can reach more people and improve the experience for more users without having them shell out money for a new phone.

Think of this: how often do you open the Settings app on your phone? How often do you open YouTube? On which one would a dark theme matter more to you day-to-day? So why is it we bitch more about Settings not having Material Dark than YouTube?

The white, bright Material Design theme on YouTube can take users out of the videos they’re trying to watch and strain their eyes, meaning they’re watching fewer videos and Google is losing views. Why doesn’t YouTube use Material Dark — like YouTube Music already does — when users will get far more use out of it?

Google Apps aren’t the only apps that need to go dark. Facebook needs Material Dark. ABC News needs Material Dark. Pokémon Go really needs Material Dark, if not Material Black for the amount of power it could save AMOLED users. It can potentially double the UI work for a developer, but it’s a feature that users actively seek out in their apps, and can help apps stand out from the pack.

But we have to ask for it. Politely, repeatedly, and in numbers. I’ve been asking for a Material Dark Google Play Music app since the day they announced the current white/orange color scheme. I love pumpkin seeds — I will rock the jack-o-lantern music player! What apps do you want to see go Material Dark? Sound off in the comments!

Android 7.0 Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus
• Join the Discussion

Russia’s search giant is making a self-driving shuttle bus

Internet search giants making self-driving cars appears to be a trend, and Russia’s Yandex wants in. It’s partnering with Daimler, truck maker Kamaz and government-backed researchers at NAMI on an autonomous shuttle bus that could carry up to 12 people and travel about 124 miles on a charge. Yandex is contributing its experiences with artificial intelligence, computer vision and voice recognition, and it’ll even be central to the interface — you’ll use a Yandex-linked mobile app to pinpoint your destination.

NAMI will start testing the self-driving bus on closed circuits in 2017, and it’s bound to be a while after that before you can see one (or something like it) cruising the streets. There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever get to ride this bus beyond Russian borders, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Yandex’s technology finds its way into more vehicles. If nothing else, this is further evidence that driverless transportation is quickly becoming a worldwide phenomenon.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Fortune

After Math: Only the essentials

It was a pretty kick-ass week in terms of interplanetary exploration — and not even just in NMS. Astronomers found a potentially habitable planet just 4.2 light years from us! This could be our first stop beyond Mars but it’s going to take a while to get there, so we’re going to have to travel light. That means bringing nothing but the most essential of supplies — like scouter drones, custom-designed hazmat suits, efficient solar power generators and 8K televisions. Numbers, because how else are you going to calculate the interstellar rocket’s payload fraction?

 Ben Heck’s Hackbot wars, part 3

Find out who will win in the final Hackbotz showdown between the Death-A-Nator, Ghandi-Bot and Mr. Pointy? Ben’s weapon of choice is an “intimidation knife” that’s attached with 3D printed parts, but how useful will that be? Then he reveals the code he used for the drone controller board on his Hackbot. We also discover what Felix has been up to, with a step-by-step guide to pairing a PlayStation 4 controller and an Intel Edison module via Bluetooth. (He, too, will reveal his secret Hackbotz weapon, by the way.) In this episode we also have a research update for a future build: Ben introduces a TI Launchpad that will be used in an upcoming project and demonstrates how the light sensor functions with the pnboard LCD display. Would you have developed a Hackbot differently? Or have you been making your own robots? Share your creations and ideas with The Ben Heck Show team over on the element14 Community.

Slow updates are hurting Android as an app platform, and Google Play

Everyone wants better support for the phones we’re buying, and not getting it is holding Android itself back.

Here’s a simple truth we all probably know in the back of our minds — you don’t need to get a new version of Android because not much will seem different. The home screen or app drawer may have a tweak or two, and there will be one feature we would like to have, but the apps we use are going to look and function the exact same. The things we do, like messaging or Facebook, won’t use any of the new features developers have available for a while, and apps that do include the latest cool developer feature will be few and far between for quite a while.

That sucks.

Yeah. That really sucks. But there’s nothing most of us can do about it since we’re not building phone operating systems or apps ourselves. And we can’t get mad at the developers who make the apps, because of another simple truth: phones not getting fast updates are hurting the Android platform.

Android only exists to run apps. Poor support for phones limits the people making them.

It’s not hurting us a bit. As mentioned, there’s not as much to look forward to as it sounds on paper, and you don’t have to have the latest version to get maintenance updates. In fact, unless you’re using a phone you bought from Google, the updates from the folks who built it usually bring more to the table than a whole new Android version. What Note 5 user doesn’t want to new interface from the Note 7? Compare that to the number of folks excited about Scoped Directory Access in Android 7.0. (Though Scoped Directory Access is pretty sweet and will make apps safer and run better.) We want things we can see. We want application-focused things like Svelte or Bundled Notifications. We’re getting neither.

All one has to do is look at the number of phones running the last version at the Android Developer Dashboard to see why. When less than 20 or 30 percent of your potential users would be able to benefit from anything new, it’s a much better idea to build your apps for the other 70-plus percent of the market. It will still work for phones on the newer version, and gives you time to make changes and be ready when the cycle repeats for the next big update. There is no rocket science needed on this. But feel free to rocket science the hell out of it if you can because rocket science is cool.

This is the real story of Android fragmentation. Phones with older versions aren’t the issue — it’s the phones with the newer version that are. Crazy. Building apps for different screen sizes and different processors was a lot easier than people made it out to be, and it didn’t even turn out to be the mess that was predicted. Working around all the different versions turned out to be simpler, too. Pick the one with the most users and ignore what’s new. Google has tools to make it easy to stay compatible with the older versions (which will come in handy six months later when it’s finally time to update) and phones with the latest software will still get the same experience as everyone else. And I’m on your side, developers. This is exactly what you should be doing. Work with your market, not against.

The fix is simple and impossible all at the same time. Phones that are going to get updated need to be updated faster. Phones need to be supported longer by the people who took your money. Google has to plan carefully to not exclude any phones unless they absolutely have to.

Google, as the torch-bearer of Android and maintainer, does some of this well. The update cycle has been stretched to one per calendar year, manufacturers and big names in the app space get early access to code changes and new APIs. The vanilla framework and system are regularly updated and patched. All these should make it easier to update the operating system on a phone. The department-of-making-phones, though, is a bit sketchy on the support side and sometimes the reasoning behind it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. They can do better, and they should be doing better. But they are doing something.

Fragmentation works the opposite way we think it should. The updated phones are the ones left out.

And the companies who make the phones we are buying in gigantic numbers aren’t sitting on their laurels all day every day, either. Samsung, LG, and HTC have shown that they can pump out an update fairly quickly while others like Huawei and Sony even show us the progress and let us join the fun through beta programs. But nothing is done consistently. Some models get some things, others get none, and the ones in the middle seem to be in perpetual limbo. Releasing a $90 phone running Lollipop and locking it to that version is fine as long as critical issues are addressed, but the most expensive models need supported longer and updated faster to change things. And for God’s sake please stop making so many different middle-of-the-road models so you have the resources to support the ones you do make. If it’s not on this list, stop making it and instead make one that will be on that list next year. Done. No charge for that market insight.

Nobody can force anyone to change things, nor should anyone be able to. Android is already the most closed open-source project since WebKit. Yeah, I know, being mobile-focused is the reasoning but I’m still allowed to not like it. Only the people making the phones and writing the software for the phones can change any of this, and even then only for their own models. The market research they tout so often to support things like thinner phones with small batteries or that only users outside of North America want dual-SIM models will have to show that what we really want is better support for what we’re buying.

Yes, only enthusiasts are worried about getting the latest update quickly, but everyone wants to have apps with the best features and a phone that doesn’t need to be replaced every 18 months to get them.

Android 7.0 Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus
• Join the Discussion

Tesla’s powerful new battery, and more in the week that was

Tesla makes the world’s best electric cars – but they’re not content to rest on their laurels. The company just launched a powerful new battery that makes the Model S the fastest production car you can actually buy. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicle startup nuTonomy has beat Uber to the punch by launching the world’s first fleet of self-driving taxis in Singapore. The MIT Climate CoLab awarded honors to a new elevated Caterpillar Train that soars over traffic jams. And in Europe, Paris is planning to go completely car-free for an entire day this September, and we spotted an awesome pedal-powered school bus on the streets of the Netherlands.

The Ring Garden, a finalist in this year’s Land Art Generator Initiative competition.

California is still suffering from a severe drought, but one design firm may have an answer: a massive solar-powered floating pipe that can desalinize 1.5 billion gallons of water a year. Another option is a gigantic sun-powered Ring Garden that blends water purification with sustainable agriculture. In other energy news, Costa Rica is on a roll – the nation has managed to power itself entirely with renewable electricity for 113 days and counting. And in Chile, the price of solar power has plummeted to half the cost of coal.

This week astronomers announced what could be the biggest story of the century: an earth-like planet is orbiting the star nearest to our sun, just over 4 light years away. In other science and tech news, Egyptian researchers have discovered a way to grow forests in the desert using sewage. Scientists at the University of Warsaw created a tiny robot caterpillar that’s able to push objects ten times its size. And Japan announced that it wants to make the 2020 Olympic medals from recycled smartphones.

Watch Snowden talk ‘Snowden’ with Oliver Stone next month

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s telepresence world tour has another stop: a conversation following an early screening of the upcoming Oliver Stone biopic, Snowden. The Oscar-winning director will also be a part of the fireside chat, but rather than beaming in from Moscow, according to Deadline he’ll be joining from New York. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between being wanted by the federal government and making a movie about someone wanted by the federal government.

“Snowden Live” will broadcast to 700 theaters in the US (find out if it’s in your city right here), one night only on September 14th. See the film two days early, catch a conversation between its director and exiled subject and have a cool story for your grandkids all in one fell swoop. What else do you have going on Wednesday nights anyhow?

Source: Deadline

MIT’s new 3D-printer makes objects that remember their shape

3D printing has done a lot for medical science. It’s helped us create better prosthetics, manufacture artificial vertebrae and even develop smaller internal cameras. Next, it could help us revolutionize medication delivery. MIT researchers are using a new 3D-printing process to create tiny structures that change shape at specific temperatures — opening the door for a new drug delivery system that only medicates patients if they have a fever.

The team hasn’t developed temperature sensitive pills quiet yet, but the technology is halfway there. By combining a new 3D-printing process called microstereolithography with a special polymer mix that hardens or softens based on variant thermal conditions, researchers have been able to create tiny structures that can “remember” specific shapes. These objects can be molded to a specific shape at one temperature, “locked” to that shape at another temperature and will return to their original form at yet another temperature. Printed objects can also be stretched and twisted up to three times their original length without breaking.

The new printing process is so high resolution, that it can create structures about as thin as a human hair. It’s a little complicated, but the possibilities are fairly broad. The team hopes to use it to create biomedical devices, shape-changing solar cells and aerospace components — but the team isn’t quite there yet. Still, progress is being made: the group has used the technology to create a tiny, intricately detailed replica of the Eiffel tower as well as a tool capable of grabbing and lifting small objects. It’s a start.

Source: MIT News

Laptop pioneer John Ellenby dies

The PC industry has lost one of its quieter but more influential leaders: John Ellenby, the CEO of Grid Systems, died earlier this month at the age of 75 of yet to be determined causes. His company (particularly late designer William Moggridge) is widely credited with making the first commercially successful clamshell laptop, the Compass. The 1982-era machine was thick, had a tiny screen and was wildly expensive for the time at $8,150. However, it was a hit among companies and governments — it was a relatively slick way of bringing computing (and even basic digital communication) with you at a time when the alternatives were barely-luggable desktops like the Kaypro or Osborne 1.

Ellenby himself was influential beyond that one computer. Before Grid, he also worked at Xerox’s groundbreaking Palo Alto Research Center. He took the Alto, the template for what would become Apple’s Lisa and Mac desktops, and developed a sequel (the Alto II) that was much more commercially viable. He also founded an early tablet company, Agilis, and helped get the ball rolling on both augmented reality and navigation through another firm, GeoVector.

You could argue that some of Ellenby’s creations were premature. Laptops didn’t really hit the mainstream until roughly a decade later through systems like Apple’s PowerBook and IBM’s ThinkPad, and it would be well over two decades before his other companies’ fields really swung into high gear. With that said, there’s no denying that he was forward thinking and had a knack for translating ambitious ideas to devices you could buy. He’ll be missed.

Source: New York Times