Technical Doctorz

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a cybersecurity law covering “smart” devices, making California the first state with such a law. The bill, SB-327 , was introduced last year and passed the state senate in late August. Starting on January 1st, 2020, any manufacturer of a device that connects “directly or indirectly” to the internet must equip it with “reasonable” security features, designed to prevent unauthorized access, modification, or information disclosure. If it can be accessed outside a local area network with a password, it needs to either come with a unique password for each device, or force users to set their own password the first time they connect. That means no more generic default credentials for a hacker to guess. The bill has been praised as a good first step by some and criticized by others for its vagueness. Cybersecurity expert Robert Graham has been one of its harshest critics. He’s argued that it gets security issues backwards by focusing on adding “go

There are more problems for camera maker Red’s first smartphone, the Hydrogen One. Company founder Jim Jannard posted today that the titanium version of the phone is delayed. The aluminum version still appears to be on track for an October release date. Jannard blames supply chain issues for the delay and the fact that the company’s outside manufacturers weren’t able to create enough devices to cover all the preorders. In the meantime, he writes that all titanium customers will receive an aluminum Hydrogen One at launch. Once the titanium is available, they’ll receive it, too, and can keep that first phone. This is nice, granted we have no idea how long it’ll take to receive that titanium phone. The device has been delayed multiple times now. It was initially supposed to ship this summer, which was then pushed to later in the summer , and is now supposed to be October for preorders and November more widely. We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the date. from The Verge - Te

Facebook this morning disclosed a widespread security flaw that could have allowed hackers or other malicious third parties to access an affected users account by gleaning their security token. The flaw affected as many as 50 million people, and Facebook says it’s forcibly making around 90 million users log back into their accounts in full today to be safe. It also says its fixed the issue and alerted law enforcement, indicating this may not have been an accidental engineering mistake, but a purposeful exploit discovered and potentially used by some third party organization or hacker. The company says its engineering team was made aware of the issue on September 25th, but Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of product management, says it’s not clear whether accounts were compromised or who might have been behind any malicious activity related to the security issue. The flaw could have let someone exploit the “View As” feature, which lets you view your own profile as it appears to

The Nokia 7 Plus is joining the small lineup of non-Google phones to get an update to Android 9 Pie. HMD Global chief product officer Juho Sarvikas made the announcement in a tweet today. Outside of Nokia, the update has only rolled out to Essential Phones, eight Motorola phones , and the OnePlus 6 , which runs a modified version of Android 9 Pie, as well as Google’s Pixel phones. Android 9 Pie brings a range of useful new features, like adaptive battery, tweaked navigation, and improved notifications that cut out the clutter. What’s notable is that the Nokia 7 Plus will be the first non-Pixel phone to get the Digital Wellbeing features, which shows a dashboard of your phone habits and tracks app time usage. The update is happening in a phased rollout, and it will soon expand beyond the first 10 percent install base. The Nokia 7 Plus is a budget $400 Android phone that’s not officially available in the US but mainly targeted toward Asia and India. However, the Nokia 6.1, which actu

California has filed charges against a group of individuals who are said to have stolen more than $1 million from Apple Stores throughout the state. Seventeen people were allegedly involved in the burglary ring: seven were arrested earlier this week, one is detained, and the remaining are still at large. The group’s strategy was simply to run into the stores wearing hoodies, grab as many display products as possible, and run out. Each robbery took only seconds to execute, and in some instances, the group was able to grab more than $20,000 in merchandise. ‪Were looking for these five suspects involved in a commercial burglary last night before 9pm at the Apple Store in South Coast Plaza. Suspects fled with merchandise with an estimated value of $29k. Suspects’ description: males, African American, early to mid 20s. Any info, call our Detective Bureau at 714-754-5637‬. *The brave man at the end of the video that is trying to detain a suspect is an off-duty officer from another d

A federal appeals court has ruled in Apple’s favor in a patent dispute with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to Reuters . The court ruled that Apple didn’t infringe on one of the university’s patents, overturning a prior ruling in the university’s favor that had fined Apple $234 million . Another $272 million was later added to that fine to account for Apple’s continued use of the patent, but that will presumably be thrown out now that the underlying judgment has been reversed. The patent suit started back in 2014 when the university’s licensing arm — the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) — filed a lawsuit saying that several iPhone and iPad processors used technology it had developed. The university initially won in 2015 when a jury ruled that the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and iPad mini 2 had infringed the patent. But today, a court said that no reasonable juror could have found infringement, according to Reuters . from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2NJQH

Spotify is emailing some users on family plans asking for their GPS locations in order to confirm that they live in the same location, reports Spiegel Online and Quartz . Subscribers that don’t confirm their home address could lose access to their plan, according to the email. The move is an apparent attempt by Spotify to crack down on groups of friends who save money on individual subscriptions by sharing discounted plans intended for families. The emails, which have been sent to a limited number of “Premium for Family” subscribers in at least the US and Germany, have been received with scorn by some who rightly point out that not all families live together . However, Spotify’s small print does say that the family plan is available for “you and up to five people who reside at your same address.” @Spotify Why do you need my GPS location to continue offering me a "Premium discount"? I pay for the family plan and it should not matter where my family lives. Will you canc

Yesterday I wrote about how differently Brian Acton and David Marcus saw the WhatsApp acquisition , and what it meant for Facebook’s future. Several others picked up on a different part of Marcus’ memo , though, and It’s worth noting as well. The section that caught so much attention is the very end: As a former lifelong entrepreneur and founder, there’s no other large company I’d work at, and no other leader I’d work for. I want to work on hard problems that positively impact the lives of billions of people around the world. And Facebook is truly the only company that’s singularly about people. Not about selling devices. Not about delivering goods with less friction. Not about entertaining you. Not about helping you find information. Just about people. It makes it hard sometimes because people don’t always behave in predictable ways (algorithms do), but it’s so worth it. Because connecting people is a noble mission, and the bad is far outweighed by the good. Ben Thompson says th

We’ve seen a lot of incredible cameras this week, but Zeiss has unveiled a surprise entry that’s easily among the most interesting: a full-frame, fixed-lens camera with Adobe Lightroom built in. The camera is in the vein of Sony’s RX1 and Leica’s Q — essentially really fancy point-and-shoots. You can’t change the lens from the attached 35mm f/2.0, but in exchange, you get a full-frame sensor in a relatively (but not entirely) small body. Zeiss’s ZX1 plays into the “fancy point-and-shoot” aspect even more. It has 512GB of built-in storage, so you don’t even need an SD card (it’s not even clear if the camera accepts SD cards), and its controls seem to be fairly minimal. From the photos we’ve seen, there are dials on the top to control ISO and shutter speed, and a manual aperture ring on the lens. There only appears to be one physical button on the back. Instead, the rest of the controls are seemingly set within the 4.3-inch touchscreen. That’s also where you’ll be able to edit yo

Microsoft plans to stop supporting the desktop version of Skype 7.0, or Skype Classic as it’s fondly called by dedicated users, on November 1st, while the mobile and tablet versions will be cut off on November 15th. The company announced the change on the Skype blog today , telling users that, “Although you may be able to use older versions for a little while, we encourage you to update today to avoid any interruption.” The Skype saga has been one of the more contentious for the Windows maker over the course of the last couple of years. Microsoft originally rolled out a big Skype redesign last year that included a lot of Snapchat-like elements. It was an attempt to transform its core messaging product into something that was perhaps more attractive to younger audiences and quite the opposite for, say, the older business-oriented and professional users that make up a majority of Skype’s user base. Microsoft has spent the past year tweaking Skype on mobile and desktop to find a happy

A leaked promotional video from the Pixel 3 has shown off the phone’s ability to quickly scan an email address from a business card without even having to take a photograph. The video, posted by MySmartPrice , also appears to confirm the return of Active Edge functionality and gesture controls. This business card scanning functionality is already available as part of Google Lens , where itqs able to create a new contact based on the information on a photograph of a business card. The difference here is that the Pixel 3 appears to be able to scan details using the native camera app without needing to take a photo first and then open your email app directly. At this point, the sheer quantity of Pixel 3 leaks means that it’s almost harder to list the things we don’t know than the things we do. We’ve seen the design of the phone, its specs, camera samples, charging stand , and even the contents of its retail package. Google will have its work cut out if it wants to deliver any surpr

Bumble and Match Group aren’t going to be friendly any time soon. Today, Bumble responded to Match Group’s lawsuit from earlier this year that claimed the dating app stole a trade secret from Tinder and ripped off two of its patents. Bumble says in a filing today that these claims are invalid and should be dismissed. The motion comes amid a long, contentious relationship between the companies, including an open letter ad in The New York Times published earlier this year in which Bumble called Match Group a “bully” and an aggressive countersuit. Bumble filed its $400 million countersuit against Match earlier this year alleging that the dating app conglomerate acted interested in purchasing Bumble to acquire trade secrets and that it purposely filed its lawsuit to make Bumble unattractive to other potential buyers. At the time, a Match Group spokesperson told Recode : This lawsuit is a petulant and meritless response to our patent and trade secret claims. Last week, Bumble claimed

China’s TENAA, the regulatory body that certifies phones before their release in the country, has revealed a new variant of the Oppo Find X , this one coming with 10GB of memory on board. GizmoChina was among the first to report this discovery, having been tipped off by a tweet highlighting the updated Find X entry. Depending on when it’s actually released, the 10GB Find X could be the first smartphone to have such a generous serving of RAM, though rumors have also surfaced of competition for that title from rival phone maker Vivo. In any case, we seem to be within striking distance of the first smartphone to have double-digit gigabytes of memory, so now is the time to start drafting up all those jokes about your new phone having more memory and storage — the Find X listed on TENAA comes with 256GB of space — than your old PC. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2IoygkA

On September 17th of last year, WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton quit the company to start a nonprofit foundation. Six months later, after several former Facebook executives had come forward to criticize the company, Acton tweeted “It is time. #deletefacebook.” Ever since, we’ve wondered what exactly led him to tweet. Now we know. In his first interview since leaving Facebook, Acton told Forbes ’ Parmy Olson that he felt betrayed by the company in two ways. One, Acton believes Facebook misled European Union regulators about its plans to commingle WhatsApp and Facebook data so as to improve its ad targeting capabilities. Two, Facebook began to “explore” advertising-based revenue models for WhatsApp without the founders’ consent. In both cases, Acton felt that Facebook had made him look like a liar. And so he quit, leaving behind $850 million in unvested stock. ”At the end of the day, I sold my company,” Acton told Forbes . “I am a sellout. I acknowledge that.” On Twitter, pundits m

LG just made the V40 ThinQ official in Korea (via Phandroid ). The announcement confirms a five-camera handset, with three cameras mounted on its rear and two on the front, just as we’ve seen previously in in the leaks . The announcement confirms that the device will have a slightly larger 6.4-inch screen than last year’s model, and will be available in red, blue and gray. A rear-mounted fingerprint scanner can also be seen in LG’s teaser trailer that matches earlier leaks. Although LG doesn’t show the V40’s front, previous leaks, that have now proven to be accurate, revealed an edge-to-edge notched display. Otherwise, the V40 looks a lot like its V30 predecessor with a couple of design touches from this year’s G7 . Reports suggest the handset will include a Snapdragon 845, a Quad DAC, and a dedicated button to activate Google Assistant. But we’ll have to wait until the phone’s official launch on October 3 for official confirmation. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2R2

Robert Mueller surfaced from the Russia investigation this afternoon to ask for help — tech support, specifically. The special counsel and former FBI director was spotted in the Georgetown Apple store today, working with a Genius bar employee to get help with a MacBook Pro. The photo was originally posted to Instagram and made its way onto Twitter thanks to Washington Examiner reporter Kelly Cohen . In the photo, you can see a pained, confused look on the special counsel’s face. What is he looking at? We tried calling the Apple store to find out, but were stymied by endless phone trees. An investigator who went on location on behalf of The Verge said there was no sighting of either Mueller or the employee seen helping him. We reached out to the person who appears to be the original photographer, but did not receive a response. text from a friend - looks like even robert mueller needs technology help pic.twitter.com/F4UG47kO9l — kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) September 26, 2018 W

YouTube will soon launch an app on Oculus’ mobile VR headset, the Oculus Go, bringing YouTube to Oculus’ entire mobile ecosystem. Oculus announced the news today at its Connect developer conference, along with other news about Oculus Go’s video offerings — although it didn’t provide a launch date beyond “coming soon.” This means there’s an official YouTube VR app for all Oculus mobile headsets, since Oculus came to the Samsung Gear VR over the summer. If you count the SteamVR app for Oculus Rift, you’ve got a YouTube app for all Oculus headsets. It also means Google is loosening its grip on what was once a key selling point for its Daydream mobile VR platform. That’s not the only news for Oculus Go video. It also introduced a casting feature that will let people easily stream their VR experiences to friends on mobile devices or TVs. And it’s announced a new lineup of events for its live Oculus Venues app , including live sporting events and improv comedy. With the launch of the mo

Oculus has announced its new headset, the Oculus Quest: a $399 standalone virtual reality headset that’s launching in the spring of 2019. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that “with Oculus Quest, we will complete our first generation of Oculus products.” The Oculus Quest is a consumer version of what was previously known as Project Santa Cruz. It uses motion controllers similar to Oculus Touch, and four wide-angle cameras provide positional tracking that lets people walk through virtual space. It’s supposed to support “rift-quality” experiences, with a starting catalog of over 50 titles. Developing... from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2Oe2ewZ

The summer’s Fox / Comcast / Disney drama came to a close last week when Comcast finally managed to outbid 21st Century Fox for a controlling stake in European TV and broadband provider Sky for $38.8 billion. And now, having lost that battle, Fox is ceding the remainder of its existing 39 percent ownership to Comcast in a $15 billion deal that would see Comcast gain full control of the UK telecom company, as reported by Variety . Fox had long been attempting to gain full control of Sky — Fox’s existing 39 percent stake as well as the intended remainder of the company was set to be included as part of the Disney deal — but ran into a competing bid from Comcast, which also tried to one-up the House of Mouse in buying Fox . In the end, it seems the two major corporations will split the prize: Disney managing to outbid Comcast for Fox , and Comcast taking Sky from Fox (and, therefore, Disney). Sky is important for both of the companies in what it represents — an existing distribution n

Amazon Alexa users across Europe were assistant-less for part of today. Users reported that Alexa went down in various countries, including Germany, Spain, and parts of the UK. The issues appear to have started around 8AM GMT, with the service coming online again around 2PM GMT, according to Twitter users. It’s unclear what caused the outage, although Engadget posits that it might because of a reported error at the Amazon Web Services facility in Ireland. (That issue is now marked as corrected online.) Finally Alexa is up after being down for a few hours. Do not expect such long outage with company like Amazon! — Kishan Gor (@ksg91) September 26, 2018 Luckily, my #alexa announces the time at hourly intervals. Otherwise, I'd never have known she's no longer down. I kinda think she should have announced she was back with a bit of groveling though. Thanks @AmazonUK & @AmazonechoUK for..waiiiit.. nvm: You were completely silent. pic.twitter.com/P8wdImNndH — Amber

Sony is finally enabling cross-play for Fortnite today. The PlayStation 4 maker had been blocking cross-play and progression between Fortnite on PS4 and Nintendo Switch / Xbox One in recent months. The move angered Fortnite fans who couldn’t access progress, skins, and purchases on and Xbox One or Nintendo Switch if they’d played on a PS4. Sony now says it is enabling cross-play for Fortnite fans. “We recognize that PS4 players have been eagerly awaiting an update, and we appreciate the community’s continued patience as we have navigated through this issue to find a solution,” says Sony’s PlayStation chief , John Kodera. “The first step will be an open beta beginning today for Fortnite that will allow for cross platform gameplay, progression and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems.” Sony has previously blocked cross-play between PS4 and Xbox One for Fortnite , Rocket League, and Minecraft , des

There are lots of barriers to automating agricultural work. The cost of robots is one and the difficulty of integrating them into supply chains is another. But a particularly big stumbling block is just how clumsy machine labor can be. That’s why new research from Cambridge University showing a robot that can peel a lettuce is a small but significant step forward. Harvesting lettuces is time-consuming work. The vegetables grow close to the ground, have to be cut from their roots by hand, and the outer layers peeled off before packaging. There are automated solutions that help speed up this process up (one machines drops lettuce heads into bags ; another cuts multiple heads at a time ) but they only take care of part of the harvest. It still requires nimble human hands to do some of the work. This new research from Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering shows that robots might take over soon though. In the video below, you can see a modified Sawyer bot picking the outer l