Technical Doctorz

“A new iOS update is now available. Please update from the iOS 12 beta.” If you’ve been running the latest version of Apple’s beta software for OS 12, you’ve likely been pestered by this notification a whole lot over the last 24 hours. Dozens of times? Potentially hundreds? Yesterday, it started showing up every time an iOS device was unlocked — or even if you just pulled down the notification tray a little bit. pic.twitter.com/eqr1V54km8 — Mark Gurman (@markgurman) August 31, 2018 Thankfully, just as we enter Labor Day weekend, Apple has shipped another iOS 12 update to restore sanity. If you open up your iPhone’s settings, iOS 12 public beta 10 (developer beta 12) is now available to download. Once you do, the obnoxious, constant alert — about an update that didn’t even exist — will go away. |￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣ | | A NEW iOS UPDATE | | IS NOW AVAILABLE. | | PLEASE UPDATE FROM | | THE iOS 12 BETA. | | ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿| (\__/) || (•ㅅ•) || / 　 づ — Mike Rundle (@flyosity) August 3

Microsoft is officially unveiling the name for its next major Windows 10 update today. Previously codenamed Redstone 5, the “ Windows 10 October 2018 Update ” will arrive at some point in October. It will include a number of new features for devices, like a new cloud clipboard that syncs across machines, a dark File Explorer, an updated snipping tool, improvements to Microsoft Edge, and performance information in the Xbox Game Bar. Microsoft’s naming follows the Windows 10 April 2018 Update that was released earlier this year. Microsoft is expected to conclude development of the October update by the end of September, and it should be available to Windows Insiders by early October followed by regular consumers. Microsoft is now focusing on its next Windows 10 update, codenamed 19H1. This update will likely arrive in April 2019, and the company has not yet revealed which major features will be included. Testing for 19H1 begun in late July , and it’s possible we might see the return o

Well, it was bound to happen. After several consecutive weeks of leaks spilled nearly every detail about its larger Pixel 3 XL counterpart, the first real-world photos of Google’s Pixel 3 have been published by 9to5Google . And just as we’d anticipated, the front of the phone looks just like a mini Pixel 2 XL; there’s no notch to be seen on this one. The photos also confirm stereo front-facing speakers, dual selfie cameras, and the same rear, all-glass design as the 3 XL (with a matte coating covering a good portion of it). Today’s leak reveals the 5.5-inch display will have a resolution of 2160x1080 and 2:1 aspect ratio. The battery capacity is said to be 2,915mAh. According to screenshots that came from the phone, the two front-facing cameras are each 8-megapixel sensors. One has an aperture of f/1.8, the other f/2.2; it’s believed that Google is taking this two-camera approach to allow for wide-angle shots — and maybe a more secure face authentication feature, but there’s still

It looks like Apple has some big changes in store for the Apple Watch. 9to5Mac seems to have caught an early video stream from Apple that revealed the design of the Apple Watch Series 4, and it seems to be the largest change to date. The Watch’s screen now appears to go nearly edge-to-edge, and the body of the watch seems to be thinner. The larger screen means there’s now room to show even more information, and there appears to be nine complications visible on the new watch face. It’s a ton to look at on a small screen, but the watch’s strength is in glanceable information. Apple has also tweaked how it denotes an LTE watch: rather than filling the digital crown with a red dot, it now just features a red ring, which is much subtler. 9to5 Mac also spotted what appears to be an additional microphone hole on the right side of the watch and pointed out that the button beneath the crown appears to be more flush with the body of the watch than before. And while the design seems to be sl

Garmin saved its reveal of the newest Vivosmart fitness tracker for IFA this year. For the Vivosmart 4, the company is adding a “pulse ox2 oximeter,” which measures the oxygen saturation in your blood. You may have tried an oximeter when a doctor or nurse clipped a little accessory to your finger. In Garmin’s case, the oximeter is trying to determine how well a person is sleeping. It could also figure out whether they stop breathing during sleep, meaning they have sleep apnea. That’s the biggest hardware addition to the tracker, although the company’s also updating its software to build out its sleep-monitoring system, so wearers can check in on their sleep quality once they’re awake. Sleep definitely seems like the focus of this launch. Of course, it measures the other typical things, like heart rate and activities. It should last up to seven days on a single charge, and it pairs with phones over Bluetooth. Wearers will be able to receive notifications and, with Android phones, re

Jaybird’s updating its X line of workout headphones today with the announcement of its new X4 Wireless Sport . They’re pretty similar to the X3 , although this time around, the X4 are very much water and sweatproof. The company says they’ve received an IPX7 waterproof rating, which means you can submerge them in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes without damage. You previously couldn’t submerge the headphones at all, but they were water resistant. Of course, you still wouldn’t want to take these swimming with you, and right now, Jaybird doesn’t sell any headphones that would work for that use case. Apart from that addition, there really aren’t any major changes to the product. Like its predecessor, it’ll last for up to eight hours of playtime. It’ll even cost the same as the X3 at $129.99. You can preorder the headphones now through Jaybird’s website , although they’ll go on sale at some point in September. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2Pl0fUn

ZTE can’t resist its notch envy. The company introduced its newest flagship phone — the Axon 9 Pro — at IFA in Berlin today, and, of course, it features a notch along with a bezel at the bottom of the display. It also features vertically aligned dual, rear-facing cameras, a la the iPhone X. The phone looks like a 2018 flagship. Here’s the spec rundown: Snapdragon 845 processor 6.21-inch AMOLED display with 18.7:9 aspect ratio 4,000mAh battery 12-megapixel and 20-megapixel camera sensors in back and 20-megapixel camera sensor in front 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage Android 8.1 Oreo OS USB-C connector This device is more of an update to the Axon 7 from 2016 as opposed to last year’s Axon M , which folded in half. It’s unclear if ZTE plans to return to the Axon M, or if that was just a random one-off experiment. This phone won’t be coming to the States, but it’ll cost €649 when it goes on sale in September in Europe. As an aside, ZTE also announced its plans for 5G devices a

Sennheiser entered the truly wireless earbud market today with the debut of its new Momentum earbuds . They’re Bluetooth-enabled, as you’d expect, and are touch sensitive so wearers can access Siri or Google Assistant directly with a tap. They ship with a charging case that’ll power them for at least 12 hours of listening, according to Sennheiser. The case appears to require a USB-C cable. On their own, they have a four-hour battery life. They’ll be released in mid-November for £299.99. That’s all we know about these buds. They’re clearly at the top of the market in pricing. Even Bose’s SoundSport Free and B&O Play’s E8 cost less, both of which are priced between $250 and $300. Only the Bragi Dash Pro veer into the $300 territory, and those include additional features like activity tracking and live translation. Hopefully Sennheiser adjusts its US pricing to bring it down to its competitors’ price range. Otherwise, these earbuds better be great. from The Verge - Teches

Google’s Titan Security Key is finally available to anyone who wants one. The two-factor token went live today in the Google store , with a full kit available for $50, shipping immediately. The kits include a USB key, a Bluetooth key, and various connectors. The key has been available to Google Cloud customers since July, when the project was first publicly announced . Built to the FIDO standard , the Titan keys work as a second factor for a number of services, including Facebook, Dropbox, and Github. But not surprisingly, they’re built particularly for Google account logins, particularly the Advanced Protection Program announced in October. Because the keys verify themselves with a complex handshake rather than a static code, they’re far more resistant to phishing attacks than a conventional confirmation code. The key was initially designed for internal Google use, and has been in active use within the company for more than eight months. According to Google, the production process

Samsung is announcing its first commercial 8K TV, the Q900R, at IFA 2018 this week. The QLED panel will be available in 65-inch, 75-inch, 82-inch, and 85-inch sizes, and is capable of peak brightness of 4,000 nits. It also supports the newer HDR10+ format backed by Samsung and Amazon. Given that there is basically zero content available to watch in 8K, Samsung is leaning on upscaling technology for now. The company claims that the Q900R’s “8K AI Upscaling” feature uses artificial intelligence and a dedicated processor to bring images up “to a level compatible with 8K regardless of the original source quality or format,” which sounds somewhat optimistic. The Q900R will go on sale in at least some markets at the end of September, though Samsung isn’t yet saying where or for how much. I would expect the price to involve a number of dollars that is higher than the number of horizontal pixels. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2LECjcy

Trump thinks he’s being censored President Donald Trump’s latest grievance is with Google, a company he thinks is censoring search results to favor left-wing media outlets. Over the course of the last two days and starting with Trump’s parroting of a Fox News segment about Google search result bias , the president has intensified his criticism of Silicon Valley — not just Google, but Facebook and Twitter as well. The ensuing news cycle has been befuddling to say the least, as reporters, White House staff and members of Congress scramble to make sense of Trump’s increasingly misleading and unfounded claims of persecution. Here’s the latest updates on Trump’s war against the tech platforms. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2LEuNhv

President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Google today, posting a native video of unknown origin to his Twitter account this afternoon claiming the search giant stopped promoting the State of the Union (SOTU) address on its homepage after he took office. It turns out the video he posted is not only misleading, but also contains what appears to be a fake screenshot of the Google homepage on the day in question. In a statement given to The Verge , a Google spokesperson clarifies that the company promoted neither former President Barack Obama nor Trump’s inaugural SOTU addresses in 2009 and 2017, respectively. That’s because they were not technically State of the Union addresses , but “addresses to a joint session” of Congress, a tradition set back in 1993 so that new presidents didn’t have to immediately deliver SOTU addresses after holding office for just a few weeks. Google resumed promoting Obama’s SOTU address in 2010 and continued to do so through 2016, as he held offic

Twitter tested a feature that suggests users to unfollow, as first spotted by TheNextWeb ’s Matt Navarra earlier today and confirmed by Slate . The test lasted for only a few days, Slate reports, and it has since concluded. “We know that people want a relevant Twitter timeline. One way to do this is by unfollowing people they don’t engage with regularly,” reads Twitter’s statement. “We ran an incredibly limited test to surface accounts that people were not engaging with to check if they’d like to unfollow them.” While seemingly innocuous at first glance, Twitter is currently embroiled alongside other social networks and technology companies in a controversy over perceived liberal bias. President Donald Trump and other right-leaning figures claim the platform unfairly persecutes conservative voices and news outlets through practices like shadow banning , verification removal and bans , and algorithmic de-ranking . (The claims have been wildly overstated, using thin evidence and ske

LG announced a new line of gaming monitors this week at IFA in Berlin. These UltraGear 34-inch monitors have IPS displays with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 3440 x 1440 resolution. The new UltraGear monitors are pretty standard for top-of-line gaming displays, as they sport specs similar to Alienware and Acer offerings. But these screens do mark LG’s latest update in the gaming monitor market, support both Nvidia and AMD GPU display tech, and offer an even wider resolution than previous models. There are two monitors being introduced in the new line. The 34GK950G and 34GK950F are pretty similar, except that the G model has Nvidia G-Sync and a slower refresh rate (120Hz when overclocked) than the F model with Radeon FreeSync 2 and a refresh rate of 144Hz. The G-Sync model also has LG’s Sphere Lighting system, meaning RBG fans might prefer it over the other. Both monitors have borderless bezels and a 1,900R curvature with anti-glare. You can tilt and swivel the monitor to adjust it to the o

On Monday, The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect found itself on the wrong side of Facebook’s moderation system. The group had attempted to share a new study on Holocaust awareness in America — but while the post went through fine on Twitter, it was abruptly blocked by Facebook. The Center wrote back demanding an explanation, but received nothing in response. After two days of silence from Facebook, the company publicly called out Facebook for the misstep. “You removed our post promoting the need for Holocaust Education for apparently violating community standards,” the Center wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning. “You haven’t given us a reason.” The image attached to the post depicts a group of nude, emaciated children, which seems to have triggered Facebook’s nudity policy, although the age and poor quality of the image obscures much of the scene. Facebook restored the post a few hours after the Frank Center’s public statement, and has apologized for the error. “As our Communit

The Sonos family of connected speakers is getting another boost today with the announcement of compatible outdoor, ceiling, and in-wall speakers to be built by Sonance. The so-called “architectural speakers” will be designed to work with the new Sonos Amp launching today. When paired with the Amp, each Sonance speaker will be able to take advantage of Sonos’ TruePlayTuning software to analyze a room’s acoustics and then adjust their woofers and tweeters for optimal sound. Sonos says it will sell and market the first fruits of the speaker collaboration in “early 2019.” Sonance is an audio company founded on the idea of delivering “unsurpassed performance combined with minimal visual intrusion,” according to the company’s website. In terms of products you can already buy, that vision translates to a collection of speakers, some disguised as rocks, and others with minimal bezels that disappear into ceilings and walls. Unfortunately, neither Sonos nor Sonance are previewing any compati

A year after it launched in the US , Facebook is taking its Watch video platform international. The company announced in a blog post this morning that the platform will be available globally, meaning partners can now reach an audience of billions of people across countries and languages. That’s a massive audience addition, and it gives Facebook access that’s on par with YouTube and Netflix. While those new audience numbers don’t necessarily mean more partners are going to jump on board Watch, it at least gives them a better reason to do so. It also means advertisers can reach those billions of users to profit off of ad breaks. Congrats to all the partners. Ad break partners can publish ads in English and other local languages. Watch is available on iOS and Android in the Facebook app. It’s also available through Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One, and Oculus TV. Facebook’s blog post says more than 50 million people in the US watch at least a minute’s w

Microsoft is introducing a new version of its popular Xbox Elite controller today. While many had been hoping for a second-generation controller with three-level Hair Trigger Locks and an adjustable lock design for the thumbsticks, Microsoft is introducing a robot white design of its existing Xbox Elite controller that matches the company’s Xbox One S console . The updated controller, previously codenamed Washburn, won’t include Bluetooth support for wireless connections to Windows 10 PCs, and it’s the same design and features as the original Xbox Elite controller that shipped back in 2015. Those features include four programmable paddles, four alternate joysticks, and an alternate omnidirectional pad. All of these swappable components can also be programmed to set presets for different games using a customization app. Rumors have suggested Microsoft cancelled its Xbox Elite V2 controller that leaked earlier this year . It appears the follow-up is at least delayed, as new stock

Microsoft is releasing a robot white version of its Xbox One X console. The color was first used on the Xbox One S , and the company moved to a black finish for the Xbox One X release last year. The new white console will be available exclusively for preorderat GameStop in the US, priced at $499.99. It will also include a copy of Fallout 76 and early access to the game’s beta, and will ship to retailers worldwide starting November 14th. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2MX2cJ8

Turtle Beach is launching a new version of its popular Elite Pro gaming headset today. The Elite Pro 2 has been developed alongside esports teams like OpTic Gaming, Splyce, and the Houston Outlaws, and it includes a new SuperAmp to balance out game sound on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The amp provides Windows Sonic surround sound on Xbox One, and DTS 7.1 surround sound on PS4. It’s designed to connect via Bluetooth to a mobile app for Android and iOS that will let gamers control game and chat mix, mic monitoring, and other equalizer settings. While the Elite Pro 2 is designed for Xbox One and PS4, it can also be used on a PC. The headset itself includes a new metal headband with suspended pads, and Turtle Beach is using its cooling memory foam ear cushions and glasses-friendly design for comfort. Gamers will also be able to remove the high-sensitivity microphone and swap magnetic deco plates to customize the Elite Pro 2 further. The Elite Pro 2 will be available in black or white, w

The newly announced Swift 7 — the new king for the thinnest laptop in the world — may have stolen the show at Acer’s IFA press conference, but we also finally got an update on the 15.6-inch update to the Swift 5 that was first shown off in May , including a price and release date. The 15.6-inch Swift 5 will be out in the US sometime in January 2019, starting at $1,099, although it’ll release in November in Europe for €1,099 and in China for ¥7,499 if you’d prefer not to wait. The new Swift 5 keeps things roughly the same as its 1920x1080 14-inch counterpart, but swaps out the screen for a larger 15.6-inch size. And at 2.2 pounds, Acer claims that it’s the lightest 15-inch laptop in the world. As for specs, Acer is offering Intel’s just announced i5 and i7 8th-gen Whiskey Lake processors , up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage, along with an integrated, Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint reader. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2MWXjjb

Acer is introducing a new version of its Swift 7 laptop at IFA in Berlin today. While Acer launched a new Swift 7 earlier this year at CES , this latest model is less than 10mm thick and includes an edge-to-edge display. The display is now 92 percent screen-to-body ratio, and overall the laptop weighs less than 2.2 pounds. Acer is shipping this new Swift 7 with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, but the company has not yet revealed other specifications, pricing, or a release date. We’ve reached out to Acer for full details, and we’ll update you accordingly. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2wpNjFN

Acer is introducing a new version of its Windows Mixed Reality headset at IFA in Berlin today. The Acer OJO 500 includes a more modular design with detachable parts. It’s designed for businesses like museums or attractions that might have customers using the headset multiple times per day, and both the lens and head strap can be fully removed and cleaned. Acer is shipping the OJO 500 with either a hard or soft head strap, and the soft version is machine washable. The mask on the headset can be flipped, so you don’t need to remove the headset fully to check your surroundings. Acer is also including a built-in interpupillary distance (IPD) wheel to adjust the distance between the display and people’s eyes. This should make VR apps and games in Windows Mixed Reality a little clearer and sharper. Acer is also improving its field of view with a wider 100-degree view thanks to two 2.89-inch LCD displays (2880 x 1440). While Samsung integrated its own headphones into its Mixed Reality h

President Donald Trump has made more veiled threats toward Google and other web platforms, after tweeting this morning that Google had “rigged” its search results to suppress positive news about him. Trump told reporters during an Oval Office press meeting that Google, Facebook, and Twitter were “treading on very, very troubled territory,” and that they had “better be careful, because you can’t do that to people.” Trump stopped short of describing any specific political consequences, but he asserted, “I think Google is really taking advantage of a lot of people, and I think that’s a very serious thing, and it’s a very serious charge.” Trump made his original remarks on Twitter early this morning, apparently based on a loosely reported PJ Media article claiming that Google overrepresented liberal outlets in Google News. He didn’t give any more factual details in this afternoon’s response to a reporter, which is printed below in full. President Trump: "I think that Google an

Although virtual reality may be experiencing slow adoption in the consumer market, one area where it seems to have truly untapped potential is in the classroom where virtual worlds could help students visualize and learn about history, science, and culture in an unprecedented fashion. To capitalize on VR’s increasingly instrumental role in visual education, Facebook-owned Oculus VR announced today that it’s distributing a number of its tethered, high-powered Rift headsets and standalone Go headsets to education institutes around the world, starting with Seattle, Taiwan, and Japan. Described as pilot programs under the company’s existing Oculus Education division, these initiatives will put VR headsets in libraries, museums, and schools to help train teachers and other participants on how to use VR in education, as well as help Oculus better understand the role of the technology in the classroom through feedback. In the past, Oculus has worked with the California State Library , cond

The main event for consumer electronics in Europe, IFA in Berlin marks the debut of many of the hottest gadgets and devices of the holiday shopping period. Companies from all across the world descend upon the German capital to show off their latest smart devices: from phones, laptops, and speakers to fridges, ovens, and washing machines. This year should see many of them adding support for Google Assistant, which has quickly emerged as the biggest and most formidable competitor to Amazon’s Alexa in the race to put a digital assistant on all home appliances and electronics. Stay tuned here for all the biggest and most important news from IFA 2018. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2LxnkRr