Technical Doctorz

The fight over who gets to have the most-subscribed channel on YouTube spilled into the real world months ago when Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg fans started campaigning to raise awareness of the Swedish star. The grassroots effort has, for the most part, been in good fun — but recently, people on social media have reported being hacked by someone who is urging them to subscribe to PewDiePie. Kjellberg has maintained his status as the top channel on YouTube for years now, but recently, his claim to the throne has been increasingly threatened by T-Series , a channel owned by an Indian music production company. T-Series’ growth rate in 2018 has been explosive: it currently has over 72 million subscribers, placing it behind Kjellberg by around 150,000 fans. Judging by T-Series’ subscriber trajectory, many onlookers estimate that the channel will eventually outgrow PewDiePie, but Kjellberg and his fans are putting up a fight. Kjellberg’s recent uploads often feature segments where he ask

Amazon’s Echo smart speakers already support a variety of music services, including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. And from December 17th , Apple Music will join this little cohort. Apple Music users will be able to ask Alexa to play favorite songs, artists, and albums, as well as any of the streaming service’s curated playlists and radio stations. Echo owners will simply need to enable the Apple Music skill in the Alexa app, link their account, and they’ll be good to go. Making Apple Music available on Echo devices might seem to run counter to Apple’s usual strategy of using services as a lure for hardware (and vice versa). But the company can apparently see the sense of making its streaming service available on the most popular home speaker platform out there. It also seems to be happier about appearing on Amazon’s platform recently. Earlier this month it struck a new deal with the e-commerce giant to sell iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products on its site. “Music

Officially, Google’s preferred description for Project Dragonfly is “exploratory.” “This is an exploratory project and no decision has been made about whether we could or would launch,” the company said today , in the wake of a significant new report on its plans for a censored search engine in China. ”Exploratory” is a word that conjures the earliest stages of development — of the conquistador, standing at the shore of a new land, surveying rough its shape and character. But according to Thursday’s report by The Intercept ’s ace Dragonfly chronicler Ryan Gallagher, Google’s explorations had already reached the final stages of development by the time word of the project leaked. And as Gallagher describes it, that was the result of a concerted effort by one of the project’s leaders designed to ensure that no word of the project leak — that the explorers would have already colonized the new land before anyone else had realized they had even set sail: Yonatan Zunger, then a 14-year

A prominent Google employee said today she had raised $100,000 in pledges for a strike fund, following more news about the company’s controversial plans for China. Earlier today, The Intercept published a new report about Google’s plans to build a censored search engine in China. The report detailed executives’ response to internal dissent about the project, and included concerns from engineers who said they felt the security and privacy process had been sidelined. In response, Liz Fong-Jones, a Google worker and employee advocate, said on Twitter that Google employees should consider how workers would respond if executives overrode recommendations from the safety and privacy team. “Google’s S&P teams must have our backs,” she wrote. I firmly suggest that my current fellow colleagues think about what they'd do if the red line were crossed and an executive overrode a S&P launch bit, or members of the S&P team indicated that they were coerced into marking it green

Earlier this afternoon, alt-right Jewish commentator Laura Loomer handcuffed herself to the front doors of Twitter’s New York headquarters, while wearing a Jewish star and carrying a bullhorn and a number of printed-out tweets. She says she’s demonstrating in protest of the alleged shadowbanning of conservatives on the social-media platform, and the “double standard” of allowing figures like anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to remain on the site. “Twitter is upholding sharia when they ban me for tweeting facts about sharia law,” Loomer shouted early on in a Periscope livestream that kicked off around 3:45 p.m. Thursday. “I’m here today to stand in solidarity with the millions of conservatives around the world who have been silenced.” Loomer was permanently banned from the platform earlier this month for hate speech against Minnesotan Democratic Representative-elect Ilhan Omar. In the offending tweets, she accused Omar of being “pro-sharia.” Around this same time

Back in August, it was revealed that Ikea was planning to release a $10 power outlet in October as part of the Trådfri smart home product line. It looks like the launch ran into some obstacles, as the plugs are now available to purchase in the US and UK a month late and without the Apple HomeKit support they were supposed to launch with, as reported by 9to5Mac . $10 is pretty affordable for a smart plug that can let you turn on and off household appliances like lamps and coffee makers from your phone or via a magnetic remote control that’s included in the $15 control outlet kit . If you’re not already set up in the Trådfri ecosystem, you’ll have to purchase the $30 Gateway , which lets you control the smart plug via the Trådfri app. The Gateway is also what lets you connect your other Trådfri smart devices like dimmers, lights, and motion sensors to Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. According to a Reddit post made by a member of the Trådfri team, there’s no timeline ye

Dell has released a customer update on its website acknowledging that it warded off a possible hack that happened earlier this month on November 9th. In the update, Dell says it noticed and took action to intervene in “unauthorized activity” on its network. The hackers tried to extract customer names, email addresses, and hashed passwords, although it’s not clear how successful the effort was. (Credit card information was not impacted.) The customer update says it found no proof that any information was compromised, but a separate press release by Dell on its website about the incident words it a little differently, saying, “Though it is possible some of this information was removed from Dell’s network, our investigations found no conclusive evidence that any was extracted.” After noticing the activity, Dell hired a digital forensics firm, involved the authorities, and took the precautionary measure of resetting all Dell.com customer passwords. It is also recommending that if your

Android 9 Pie is arriving to the HTC U11 Life, according to Ubergizmo . It will be the first HTC device to get the latest big operating system update since Pie launched in August . The HTC U11 was released in the summer of 2017 running Android Nougat out of the box, later receiving the Oreo update soon after it launched. The HTC U11 Life is beating out the company’s 2018 flagship device, the HTC U12+, in getting Pie. It makes sense that the international U11 Life would be the first of HTC’s models to receive the update, however, as it’s an Android One device. Android One devices are required to receive timely software updates. The US model sold by T-Mobile runs regular HTC Sense and likely isn’t receiving this update just yet. Now that Android 9 is out for the Life, it could mean that it may not be too long until other HTC devices receive the update in the future. HTC has said the U12+, U11, and U11+ will also receive Pie at some point. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2DQ

Microsoft-owned SwiftKey is getting web search built into its keyboard on Android. The company is hoping that users will find the feature makes looking up information faster within a conversation. To access the feature, simply open the toolbar on the keyboard through the + symbol and select the Search icon to type in any search terms. Given the Microsoft connection, it makes sense, but is still unfortunate that the search bar is powered by Bing, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to change this to Google search. Through the feature, you can access search results that appear in a browser tab overlay. You can then tap to screenshot, crop, and share with contacts. When you send a screenshot, it also comes with a small hyperlink to the webpage. The feature is available for users in 11 countries: the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Brazil, India, Italy, and Spain. The feature was available for testing through SwiftKey for Android beta, which is a public app any

It’s a month late, but the aqua version of Google’s Home Mini is now shipping in the US (via Android Police ). The funky-colored smart speaker was originally announced ahead of Google’s October 9th hardware event with a planned release date of October 29th. The Home Mini’s latest color is now available at the Google Store and Walmart for $49. When the standard Google Home was first announced, Google made a big deal about the fact that you could remove its speaker grille in order to change its color from the standard conservative gray. However, when the Home Mini arrived on the scene, these customization options were sacrificed at the altar of price and portability. In other words, whichever color of Google Home Mini you choose to buy, you’re going to be stuck with it — so choose carefully. The other colorful option, coral, also remains available. from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2raEyMT

T-Mobile is now a bank, apparently. The cell carrier is launching a new venture called T-Mobile Money , a checking account service for T-Mobile customers. To be clear: T-Mobile isn’t running its own bank. Rather, it’s a T-Mobile-operated face for a digital bank called BankMobile, which is a part of Customers Bank. It’s sort of like an MNVO, but instead of, say, a startup using existing cell service from a larger carrier to offer its own service, its’ T-Mobile using existing banking infrastructure. T-Mobile Money is still a real checking account, complete with FDIC insurance for balances up to $250,000, a Mastercard-powered debit card, and the ability to send paper checks directly from a smartphone app. You can also add a T-Mobile Money card to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay. To sweeten the deal, T-Mobile is offering up to 4 percent APY (annual percentage yield) on balances up to $3,000 in a T-Mobile Money checking account that deposits at least $200 monthly. (If you go over

Motorola’s midrange notched Motorola One and Motorola One Power phones are starting to get Android 9.0 Pie updates , according to Android Police . The Motorola One launched in Europe, Latin America, and Asia back in October, and it just went on sale in the United States earlier this month for $399. It features a 5.9-inch HD display with a distinctly iPhone X-style notch (although there’s no Face ID-esque unlocking), paired with a Snapdragon 625 processor. The One Power is a little bigger and more powerful, with a larger battery, 6.2-inch screen, and Snapdragon 636 chipset, but it’s exclusive to India. Motorola had actually promised the 9.0 Pie update at IFA when it announced the two devices, so this isn’t entirely unexpected, but it’s nice to see that the company has been relatively swift in making sure the phones are updated. Both phones are also part of Google’s Android One program, which promises at least two OS updates. So if all goes well, the devices should be getting an And

I had a great day in Washington, DC, taking meetings with Congressional staffers, tech platforms, and colleagues. I also had working Wi-Fi and a working newsletter provider. So thank you for your understanding these past two days, and please enjoy an early newsletter this time around. In August, as concerns about Google’s effort to build a censored search engine for China came to the fore, I wondered whether it wouldn’t cause a crisis of morale at the company . At the time, 1,400 employees had signed an internal petition demanding more information about the project. And just this week, a (smaller) group posted on Medium urging Google to abandon the project . ”Dragonfly would also enable censorship and government-directed disinformation, and destabilize the ground truth on which popular deliberation and dissent rely,” the employees write . “Given the Chinese government’s reported suppression of dissident voices, such controls would likely be used to silence marginalized people, and

The foldable phones are coming , and Chinese handset maker Oppo is the latest to join the fray. A product manager for the company confirmed to Dutch tech site Tweakers that Oppo would be bringing a foldable smartphone to Mobile World Congress next February. No details were offered on specs or even a release date, so it’s very possible this is just a prototype device and not ready for sale. But we do know Oppo is interested in this area. The company has patented a number of foldable phone designs over recent years, including a device that folds outwards twice to triple the size of its display. Oppo will join a number of phone makers who have decided foldable displays are the next big thing in mobile. Samsung has already shown off its first foldable with an Infinity Flex display (thought to go on sale in March 2019 for a staggering price ); Huawei is reportedly planning its own foldable phone launch before then; and both Lenovo and Xiaomi have teased their own prototypes. Import

Earlier this year, T-Mobile and Sprint announced that they would merge . If approved, their combination would shrink the number of major wireless carriers in the United States from four to three. Now, 14 different organizations have penned a letter to Democratic House leaders requesting a hearing on the proposed merger. The letter, which is signed by leaders of groups like the Open Markets Institute and Public Knowledge, was addressed to two of the most influential Democratic House lawmakers, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Once the new Congress kicks off in January, both lawmakers will be chairing committees with oversight jurisdiction on the potential merger deals. “Announcing hearings to examine the single largest pending wireless telecommunications merger, and one of the largest in the nation’s history, would be an excellent first step to implementing your vision for stronger antitrust enforcement, protecting consumers, promoting competition, and standing up

More than 400 Google employees have signed an open letter urging Google to cancel an in-development Chinese search app, on the grounds that it will enable censorship and human rights violations by the Chinese government. The letter was published yesterday with 11 signatories; as of this afternoon, it has 407, most of which are from software engineers. It follows an internal letter circulated earlier this year, which garnered 1,400 signatures. The letter opposes Project Dragonfly, a China-focused version of Google search that would reportedly block certain search terms and make it easy for the government to surveil users’ searches. Google has repeatedly declined comment on Dragonfly, saying that its work is “exploratory” and that it is “not close to launching a search product in China.” Dragonfly has drawn criticism from outside Google; among others, Vice President Mike Pence condemned it last month. It’s also garnered opposition internally, among employees who say Google executi

Customers are complaining that Amazon’s ads use a deceptive design that tricks them into buying sponsored products instead of items from the baby registries of their friends and family members, reports The Wall Street Journal . Many people noted that they had unwittingly purchased gifts from these ads and their friends and family received unwanted items. Inside the gift registries, Amazon appears to be including other new baby products like a Playtex Diaper Genie and Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies Snug & Dry diapers as sponsored ads. The ads are placed next to actual products requested by people, making them look as if they are a part of the wishlist, except for a small sponsored tag on top. The WSJ notes that these tricky ad designs have existed for at least over a year, but it’s just starting to get noticed. About 60 percent of sponsored ads are included in registries, even though parents do have the option to remove those sponsored items. Amazon did not clarify whether these ads w

V-Moda has come out with a new Lightning to 3.5mm cable that costs $101. This might seem like yet another expensive penalty for Apple’s decision to remove the audio jack from its iPhones, but the price is on par with other companies’ Lightning to 3.5mm cables, like Master & Dynamic’s for $69 and Shure’s for $100 . Belkin offers one at the low end for $35, but it lacks some of the technical advantages that V-Moda says it’s offering. Bundled within the 17.5-gram cable is a 24-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a headphone amp with 31mW of power, and a three-button control with a microphone for using Siri voice, navigating through music, making calls, and more. V-Moda says it will work with “most brands” of headphones with detachable 3.5mm ports, including models from Beats, Philips, Hyper X, Audio Technica, and more. The cable is 53 inches long (nearly 4.5 feet), and it comes with a one-year warranty. Beyond that window, V-Moda also has an “Immortal Life Program” with no expi