Apple Will Reportedly Release An iPhone Without Any Ports In 2021 (9to5mac.com) 91

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday December 05, 2019 @09:10PM from the cord-cutting dept.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says there will be four new OLED iPhone models in 2020, followed by a new iPhone without a Lightning port in 2021. 9to5Mac reports: In 2021, Kuo is predicting a followup to the iPhone SE 2 as well as a new iPhone model without Lightning connectivity. Kuo says that this would "provide the completely wireless experience," meaning there would be no ports at all rather than a switch to USB-C from Lightning. Kuo implies that Apple only plans to remove the Lightning port from the "highest-end model" at first, rather than from the entire iPhone lineup at once. Kuo says The 2021 followup to the iPhone SE 2, which Kuo refers to as the "iPhone SE 2 Plus," will reportedly feature an all-screen design without a Home button. Kuo predicts this device will have a screen size of either 5.5-inches or 6.1-inches. Interestingly, Kuo says the iPhone SE 2 Plus still won't include Face ID authentication. Instead, Apple is reportedly planning to integrate Touch ID into the power button on the side of the device. As for the 2020 OLED iPhones, here's what Kuo had to say: Kuo predicts that Apple will introduce 5.4-inch, two 6.1-inch, and a 6.7-inch OLED iPhone models in 2020. He says that all four of these iPhones will also feature 5G connectivity. The difference between all of these models, other than screen sizes, will be camera technology. According to Kuo, the 5.4-inch OLED iPhone will feature a dual-camera setup on the back. The lower-end 6.1-inch iPhone will feature a similar dual-camera system. The higher-end 6.1-inch model and the 6.7-inch model will include triple-lens camera setups as well as time-of-flight 3D sensing technology. In terms of design for the 2020 OLED iPhone, Kuo says the form factor will be "similar to the iPhone 4."

Microsoft Starts Talking Up Its Progressive Web App Plans (zdnet.com) 27

Posted by msmash on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @10:41AM from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

A year ago, Microsoft seemed to be pushing full steam-ahead with Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). Since then, the company's PWA momentum -- at least publicly -- seemed to have waned. However, this week, a couple of different teams at Microsoft have started talking about their PWA plans. From a report: Google has been the main champion of PWAs, which are basically web sites and/or apps that behave like native apps. But other vendors have jumped on the PWA bandwagon, as well, in recent years. Microsoft has been working to make PWA support part of its overall Windows 10 and Edge browser stories. Microsoft is turning its Outlook.com and Outlook on the Web applications into PWAs, as noted by Thurrott.com. Thurrott.com's Paul Thurrott noted that Outlook on the Web is displaying a PWA "Install" button in the Brave browser address bar. That same Install option is visible to some using the Canary version of the Chromium-based Edge browser, he reported on November 25. Outlook.com also now has an Install prompt available in the Brave address bar, he reported today, November 26, which means Outlook.com also is on its way to becoming a PWA.

Amazon's Ring Planned Neighborhood 'Watch Lists' Built On Facial Recognition (theintercept.com) 68

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @08:50PM from the unreleased-features dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: Ring, Amazon's crimefighting surveillance camera division, has crafted plans to use facial recognition software and its ever-expanding network of home security cameras to create AI-enabled neighborhood "watch lists," according to internal documents reviewed by The Intercept. The planning materials envision a seamless system whereby a Ring owner would be automatically alerted when an individual deemed "suspicious" was captured in their camera's frame, something described as a "suspicious activity prompt."

It's unclear who would have access to these neighborhood watch lists, if implemented, or how exactly they would be compiled, but the documents refer repeatedly to law enforcement, and Ring has forged partnerships with police departments throughout the U.S., raising the possibility that the lists could be used to aid local authorities. The documents indicate that the lists would be available in Ring's Neighbors app, through which Ring camera owners discuss potential porch and garage security threats with others nearby. [...] Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, expressed concern over Ring's willingness to plan the use of facial recognition watch lists, fearing that "giving police departments and consumers access to 'watch listing' capabilities on Ring devices encourages the creation of a digital redline in local neighborhoods, where cops in tandem with skeptical homeowners let machines create lists of undesirables unworthy of entrance into well-to-do areas." When reached for comment, Ring spokesperson Yassi Shahmiri said that "the features described are not in development or in use and Ring does not use facial recognition technology."

Amazon also told Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey earlier this month that facial recognition has been a "contemplated but unreleased feature" for Ring, but would only be added with "thoughtful design including privacy, security and user control."

Comment developer was unaware of sort locale settings (Score 1) 20

by blivit42 on Thursday October 17, 2019 @05:45PM (#59320348) Attached to: A Code Glitch May Have Caused Errors In More Than 100 Published Studies

If you read the cited manuscript, it looks like the developer was relying on the locale being set for numeric file name sorting, where "file-2" would be sorted before "file-10". I always set LC_ALL="POSIX", so that all my sorts sort strings the same order as strcmp() in C. This is, IMHO, the "one true sort order". If the developer had zero-padded his file name numbers so that numeric vs. ASCII sort didn't matter, than all would have been well. The developer could have probably also called some functions to change the sorting locale within the program so as to guaranteed numeric sorting. Evidently, neither of these things were done. I also do not understand how in Figure 2, the Linux sort order is reversed! No idea how that could happen. This was simply poor programming :-(

Comment cannot be the most interesting genome (Score 1) 14

by blivit42 on Friday April 21, 2017 @11:25AM (#54276529) Attached to: Dingo Wins The World's Most Interesting Genome Competition

If the genome hasn't been sequenced yet, then how can we know if its genome is or will be interesting or not?

Comment Re:What's with the banner across the page? (Score 1) 102

by blivit42 on Thursday March 23, 2017 @02:29PM (#54097143) Attached to: Some HTTPS Inspection Tools Actually Weaken Security

What grey bar? Just install the YesScript plugin and disable JavaScript for slashdot (and do so as well whenever you get to one of the subdomains for a story). About the only thing that doesn't work when you disable JavaScript on /. is the ability to enter your own tags for a story. Block javascript for /. and all the places where ads would have gone don't even show up. It also stops the damn auto-refresh where you lose your place on the page. You get nice clean formatting. I agree that browing /. with JavaScript enabled is a poor experience, though....

Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down (variety.com) 97

Posted by BeauHD on Friday March 17, 2017 @06:00PM from the outdated-rating-systems dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: Get ready to say goodbye to star ratings on Netflix: The company is getting ready to replace stars with Pandora-like thumbs ups and thumbs downs in the coming weeks. Previously-given star rating will still be used to personalize the profiles of Netflix users, but the stars are disappearing from the interface altogether. Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin told journalists on Thursday during a press briefing at the company's headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., that the company had tested the new thumbs up and down ratings with hundred of thousands of members in 2016. "We are addicted to the methodology of A/B testing," Yellin said. The result was that thumbs got 200% more ratings than the traditional star-rating feature. Netflix is also introducing a new percent-match feature that shows how good of a match any given show or movie is for an individual subscriber. For example, a show that should close to perfectly fit a user's taste may get a 98% match. Shows that have less than a 50% match won't display a match-rating, however.

Comment Infinite Improbability Drive (Score 1) 129

by blivit42 on Tuesday March 14, 2017 @11:58AM (#54037077) Attached to: The Quest To Crystallize Time - Previously Considered Impossible, Researchers Create Time Crystals

From TFA:

"... it would not be in its lowest energy state, and it would require a regular kick to pulse."

and

"The recipe was incredibly complex, but just three ingredients were essential: a force repeatedly disturbing the particles, a way to make the atoms interact with each other and an element of random disorder."

So, no perpetual motion machine. However, maybe if they used a nice hot cup of tea to generate brownian motion as the source of random disorder, perhaps this could be a step towards inventing an infinite improbability drive?

Studios Push for $50 Early Home Movie Rentals (variety.com) 248

Posted by msmash on Friday February 24, 2017 @05:20PM from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

As many as five major Hollywood studios have been working with cinema owners to shrink the traditional release window and allow consumers to rent movies on-demand in as little as 17 days after they hit theaters, reports Variety. From the article: Warner Bros. and Universal have been the most aggressive in pursuing an arrangement that would see certain movies receive a premium video-on-demand release within weeks of their theatrical premieres, but now other studios are joining the discussions. Twentieth Century Fox has also begun to talk early releases with theater owners, while Sony is having its own separate talks with exhibitors and is trying to devise its own plan. Paramount, which previously did a pilot program with AMC and a few other exhibitors to release "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse" and "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" on digital platforms early, has continued to seek a similar strategy. Though different studios are exploring different scenarios, the plan that has gathered the most steam would involve offering up movies for $50 a rental some 17 days after their theatrical opening. Those rentals would be available for 48 hours. The latest round of discussions began roughly 18 months ago.

Comment Re:What about the rest of the BS? (Score 1) 194

by blivit42 on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @05:11PM (#53821613) Attached to: Facebook Changes Feed To Promote Posts That Aren't Fake, Sensational, Or Spam

I thought it was related more to the 1998 Lancet paper that really kicked off the anti-vaccination movement. That paper has since been thoroughly debunked, and retracted due to fraud and ethics violations. A good synopsis of the affair can be found here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

Comment Re:Yes, CyanogenMod (Score 1) 215

by blivit42 on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @01:20PM (#53729293) Attached to: Do Android Users Still Use Custom Roms?

I use NetGuard, but if you want hosts file blocking, you can't use the one from the PlayStore, since that disables that feature. I tried using the open source playstore equivalent for app updates, but it was buggy on my phone and updates often failed. So, I gave up with that and just have the app itself check for updates and install them direct from the opensource project site. You will need to disable updates for NetGuard, specifically, in the PlayStore to prevent the PlayStore from automatically overwriting the full version with the less functional PlayStore version.

It has ads, but they are small banners at the bottom of the app settings page, so it's really not much of an annoyance, since I rarely need to customize my settings after I've set it up the first time. No ads anywhere else at any time. I really like the app, overall.

Comment Re:Solution seems obvious then (Score 1) 49

by blivit42 on Tuesday January 17, 2017 @06:16PM (#53685171) Attached to: Someone Is Trying to Sell Those Stolen Three-Screen Razer Laptops in China

For a Ginsu and Spiral Slicer, you bet! My family went to a flea market in the mid 80's, and there was a salesman giving a wonderful demonstration of a Gensu knife. It slices, it dices! Saws through a hammer, and still cuts cleanly through this tomato! Well, after a great demonstration like that, we bought a knife and spiral slicer.

Best damn kitchen and utility knife we ever had. That thing was awesome. Cut through all sorts of building materials for school projects, still worked great on watermelons, bread, etc.. The spiral slicer also made wonderful potato chips that we would fry in a Fry Daddy. These were indeed wonderful products!

Satellite Spots Massive Object Hidden Under the Frozen Wastes of Antarctica (thesun.co.uk) 296

Posted by BeauHD on Friday December 30, 2016 @06:00AM from the lurking-beneath-the-surface dept.

schwit1 quotes a report from The Sun: Scientists believe a massive object which could change our understanding of history is hidden beneath the Antarctic ice. The huge and mysterious "anomaly" is thought to be lurking beneath the frozen wastes of an area called Wilkes Land. It stretches for a distance of 151 miles across and has a maximum depth of about 848 meters. Some researchers believe it is the remains of a truly massive asteroid which was more than twice the size of the Chicxulub space rock which wiped out the dinosaurs. If this explanation is true, it could mean this killer asteroid caused the Permian-Triassic extinction event which killed 96 percent of Earth's sea creatures and up to 70 percent of the vertebrate organisms living on land.This "Wilkes Land gravity anomaly" was first uncovered in 2006, when NASA satellites spotted gravitational changes which indicated the presence of a huge object sitting in the middle of a 300 mile wide impact crater.

Electoral College Elects Donald Trump As President (nbcnews.com) 1069

Posted by BeauHD on Monday December 19, 2016 @08:05PM from the two-down-one-to-go dept.

mi writes: The drama is over, Donald J. Trump passed the 270 electoral votes necessary to become President. A few electors dissented, resulting in their prompt dismissal and replacement per their state's laws. Ironically, more dissenters turned on Clinton than on Trump... The sky may not be falling yet, but the Earth is already in peril.

Comment Re:I don't understand (Score 1) 100

by blivit42 on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @03:28PM (#53148787) Attached to: Rowhammer Attack Can Now Root Android Devices

TL;DR: They are smart and if your Android phone isn't getting the latest patches then you are vulnerable to total pwn4g3 from anything in the Google Play Store until Google figures out how to scan for apps that will perform this attack.

I thought I'd add a potentially interesting anecdote to this. The app is not available on the US Google Play Store, as the github readme said may be the case. I downloaded the app directly to my Motorola Droid 2 Turbo (last OS update July 1st, 2016) and installed it. I was surprised to see a warning message pop up "Installation blocked. This app contains code that attempts to bypass Android's security protections." Something in my phone is detecting the potentially malicious code, and I don't think it is the Play Store, since I didn't use the Play Store, and installed the app directly from my download directory.

Once installed, it looked like it tried to download 100 files (progress meter showed 0 out of 100). This hung, since I have the NetGuard firewall installed, set to block all wifi / mobile data access by default.

I canceled out of the download and tried to run the hammertime attack, but got an extremely long error message that took up the whole screen.

So, for at least this proof of concept attack app, it failed on several levels:

1) Something on my phone detected it as potentially malicious and asked me if I really wanted to install it (I have not installed any virus/malware scanners that I am aware of, so I don't know what this was).
2) It failed to download some files, potentially necessary for the attack, due to my firewall
3) It failed to work, maybe due to missing the files it couldn't download.

I'm sure that a more robust attack app could be developed, but, at least as far as the proof of concept app is concerned, I'm not overly worried -- for the moment.