Marriott International has announced a massive data breach that exposed over 5 million hotel guests' information. No, not that breach. It's a new one this time.
"At the end of February 2020, we identified that an unexpected amount of guest information may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property," the international hotel chain wrote on Tuesday. "We believe this activity started in mid-January 2020."
According to Marriott International, the breach exposed information such as customers' personal and contact details, loyalty account information, airline loyalty programs, and room preferences. This included people's names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and birthdays. Read more...
Zoom is so last week — which, in the time of coronavirus, might as well be last year.
The videoconference tool that's captured the nation's attention as it socially distances and shelters in place has won legions of converts for its easy-to-use interface and fun backgrounds. It also happens to be a privacy nightmare. Thankfully, there are other options that cybersecurity and privacy experts say will get the job done — without the baggage.
And yes, Zoom has a lot of baggage. Let's start with the fact that the company has misrepresented the security of its videoconferencing serviceThe Intercept reported today that, despite telling users that "Zoom is using an end to end encrypted connection," the company does not in fact end-to-end encrypt calls on its platform. Read more...
TL;DR: As of March 31, gamers can get their first month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $1 (normally $14.99).
Video games with online multiplayer modes have taken on a new importance during this time of social distancing due to the novel coronavirus outbreak: Even while you're stuck at home, you and your IRL pals can still hang out and bond over shared (virtual) experiences when you're all gaming together.
If your crew is Team Xbox or Windows 10, it doesn't get any better than the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan — you get all of the benefits of Xbox Gold Live (Microsoft's multiplayer service) and the Xbox Game Pass, which includes unlimited access to a regularly updated library of over 100 console and PC games plus exclusive member discounts. And get this: It just so happens that Microsoft is currently offering a deal where you can get your first month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (normally $14.99) for just $1. Read more...
If you're stuck in the house with the kids and don't know how to keep them entertained, Spotify has your back.
The music streaming service launched its standalone Spotify Kids app in the U.S., France, and Canada on Tuesday. This came after an extended beta period which saw the app slowly roll out in the UK and Australia. In case the name didn't make it clear, it's a special version of Spotify made for kids, specifically ages three and up.
We'll get the bad news out of the way first: You need a Spotify Premium Family subscription to access Spotify Kids. That's $15 per month, which will understandably be too much for some families. Read more...
It’s been almost exactly a month since I published my last Deep Space Nine report, where I showed how different AI software could upscale the show to something approaching HD quality. Despite the ongoing pandemic, I’ve kept the Cascade Lake testbed and RTX 2080 crunching busily away, testing various permutations. Some folks have contacted me to express interest in working together, and I’ve learned some interesting things along the way.
I haven’t been able to find my DVDs, so I bought Season 6 brand-new and started working with that source. I chose Season 6 because it has some of the best space-combat scenes, including the largest battle ever staged in the Star Trek universe in the episode “Sacrifice of Angels.” SoA was the obvious episode to work with and the Defiant image above is from an upscaled encode. Here’s the full shot.
I had hoped that the DVD source would offer a better upscaling alternative than using already-encoded MKVs. I still believe it does, but guys, I have to tell you — the baseline DS9 source sucks.
I watched this show when it was broadcast on cable, on a new 24-inch TV my parents had just bought. It’s one of my all-time favorite shows, and watching it on DVD looks nothing like watching it on TV did 25 years ago. Obviously the base resolution is low, but that’s not the problem. The video is noisy, it’s much darker than I remember, there’s a clearly visible 3:2 pulldown/telecine effect, and distant vessels are often heavily aliased (meaning they crawl with jagged lines). The credits are particularly bad as far as image quality. If the rest of the show looked as bad as the credits, I’d never want to watch it. I may upload a few videos just to show how rough they are.
Click to enlarge
This is what 3:2 pulldown looks like. You’re literally seeing half a frame of information, which is why every other line is blank. There are a number of these moments in any given episode, and while they don’t prevent anyone from enjoying the show, they can be annoying.
Nana Visitor’s reaction to the DVD source quality… or a very lucky pause on my part. You be the judge.
What I’ve Been Working On (and Learned)
Here’s the honest truth: You can get a pretty good looking video if you just rip the DVD without deinterlacing or detelecine via Handbrake (use the H.264 Production Max preset) and then upscale it. While the half-frame transitions are noticeable and annoying, upscaling this way actually cleans up some areas that are otherwise quite jagged and “crawly” at specific points in the show. If you want a one-and-done solution and you aren’t bothered by the occasional half-frame, it’s a great option and I recommend it. The result is 70-80 percent of what I think is likely possible, best-case. If you rip the DVD using Handbrake’s detelecine option, it will solve the half-frame flicker, but at the cost of introducing additional aliasing that wasn’t present before. In my opinion, the telecined upscaled DVD looks better, on the whole, than the detelecined Handbrake output post-upscale.
My long-term goal with this project is to create a guide using as much free software as is possible (Topaz VEAI is obviously a paid purchase). I’m working with a reader who has done some incredible color balance changes, and I’m excited about what that might mean for the project.
What I’ve done for the past month? About 600GB of renders at 3-8GB each. I’ve been examining color grading with DaVinci Resolve, rescaling in that same application, various AviSynth filters for antialiasing, detelecine, and deinterlacing using algorithms like QTGMC. The truth is, I could accelerate the process if I focused on smaller clips, but I prefer to upscale the entire episode. That way, I can check any trouble spot or problem area in one area of an encode against all the previous settings I’ve tested, to see how that particular area was handled.
Another thing I’ve learned? The best version of Deep Space Nine would be constructed clip by clip, using optimized video processing settings for each. I have no intention of slicing and dicing episodes up by hand, but if there was an episode you truly loved, you could achieve some truly impressive results that way.
I want to show you a short clip from “Sacrifice of Angels.” First, the DVD source and second, the upscaled output with QTGMC applied. QTGMC is a deinterlacing filter, not a detelecine filter, and it works by creating additional frames. The final output does not have the hypersmooth look of interpolated sports video, but I’ve had trouble matching audio to the clip. There’s a lot of hands-on learning involved in this kind of project because ultimately, each video benefits from a different set of filters. For best quality, change both videos to top available playback source.
This is the original DVD source. Note how the nacelles on the Miranda-class starship (the two ships in the opening frames) shimmer. This is telecined output, which means they look much better in this video than they do if I detelecine the source using Handbrake. There’s a lot of noise in certain frames and some visible compression artifacts in others.
This is the upscaled video after I applied QTGMC deinterlacing to it via a buggy and difficult-to-parse application named StaxRip. It’s been incredibly useful to me in certain respects, but if I’m being honest, I’m trying to find an alternative because this app is rather ornery and difficult to use. It also only seems to output H.265. Figuring out how to use applications like AviSynth (current user level: Bad) is part of the experience. One of our readers, Shortstick, has contacted me to show off some of his own color grading work on DS9, with impressive results:
We are looking into how to combine efforts and further improve the show.
Why I’m Doing This
If you watched Deep Space Nine on TV growing up as I did, I have news for you: You never actually saw the work that VFX designers put into those battle scenes. Watching “Sacrifice of Angels” in upscale on a much larger display, I was struck by how incredible the shots were. The space battle in Insurrection may have had more expensive special effects and a few more years of CGI advances, but it didn’t involve half as many ships or as many complex maneuvers.
Until I started working on this episode, I never thought about how space combat evolved from Star Trek: The Next Generation to DS9. On TNG, battle is almost stately, with large ships firing at each other from static positions. The exception to this is stern chases, where the Enterprise is pursued by an opponent.
DS9 changed all that. The decision to introduce the Defiant and to make it a small ship completely changed the rhythm and flow of space combat. The Defiant wasn’t made for stately, sweeping broadsides — it’s an antimatter-powered flying gun that can absorb significant amounts of damage while it blows your ass into next week. Above all, the Defiant is fast, and Jadzia Dax is one hell of a pilot.
The entire battle “language” of Star Trek changed dramatically between TNG and DS9, largely on the backs of the VFX artists who were tasked with doing the work. DS9 didn’t just add more ships; it showed those ships doing more things, with background battles often as dramatic as the foreground shots. True, some people disliked the look and preferred the idea of a more spread-out fleet engagement, but I’m not one of them. I’m watching a show in which aliens with no concept of time live inside a stable wormhole. I don’t need the starships to stay far away from each other to enjoy the battle scenes.
Speaking of wormholes…
Watching this episode in standard DVD quality is like looking at a da Vinci painting with 500 years of grime on it. You can recognize the mastery of the work, but there’s a lot of schmutz between you and it. Thanks to advances in AI processing, we’re finally seeing consumer tools that can wipe the grime away — and not just for DS9, but for any number of additional shows. The artists that worked on these episodes deserve to have their work seen in something approaching the way it could have looked.
I’m never going to be able to make these old DVDs look as good as what Paramount could do. Heck, I’m never going to improve them as much as a professional video editor could do. But Paramount has no plans to upgrade DS9 itself, and that means the only way to restore the TV show to some semblance of how it could look is with a lot of elbow grease, filter testing, and one exhausted RTX 2080. I think the work deserves to be done, even if Paramount disagrees.
Interested in helping? Give me an email or sound off below. Got ideas or tips for using AviSynth? Get in touch.
First, it was hand sanitizer. Then it was toilet paper. Now, it's webcams.
MacBook and Microsoft owners haven't thought twice about webcams since 2012. But folks who rely on their work computers or laptops are now finding themselves in the middle of a mass shift to working from home — with a home computer that can't get on Zoom calls. The panic buying of webcams from both single employees and whole companies caused "out of stock" notices on numerous websites, even on the less-than-1080p models.
Dell's stock of Logitech webcams is about to be the saving grace for the folks in this Reddit thread. Most are full price, but at this point, the option to add to cart is enough. In-stock options include the Logitech Brio, the brand's stellar 4K webcam with impeccable mic sound and compatibility with Windows Hello facial recognition. Read more...
We've been banging on about VPNs for years, and now the world has opened its eyes to how great these services are for boosting online security and bypassing geo-restrictions.
There are two reasons for this sudden realisation. The first is that more and more businesses are making the transition from a traditional office setting to a remote workforce. A VPN is absolutely essential for working remotely because it provides an organisaton with an encrypted connection for securely accessing internal company networks.
The second reason is all about entertainment, and the fact that VPNs can be used to watch shows on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and more of the most popular streaming sites. The need for online entertainment has grown recently, and more people are now turning towards VPNs to unlock blocked or restricted content. Read more...
If you're in the market for a new fitness tracker, especially since gyms have shutdown due to the coronavirus, Fitbit's new Charge 4 might be of interest.
Its design isn't revolutionary compared to its predecessor, the Charge 3. In fact, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you placed both of them right next to each other. It has a touchscreen display, inductive button for navigation (rather than a traditional button, this one dips into the side of the tracker and vibrates when triggered), and a sleek swim-proof case.
But the major improvements are under the hood.
For starters, Fitbit has finally added built-in GPS to its fitness trackers — a feature that was previously reserved for its pricier, more feature-packed smartwatches. Another new addition is its Spotify integration, which lets you control music right from the device. Read more...
Google is no longer selling its Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones in its online store.
Android Police noticed that the web pages that previously contained listings for the phones now redirect to the store's homepage, and a Google spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that the change was intentional. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are also no longer visible in the dropdown menu on top of the homepage or the carousel menu on the bottom.
If you dig a little deeper into Google Store, you will find a mention of the Pixel 3, but if you click it you will once again be redirected to the homepage.
The primary two phones in Google's store are now the company's Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL devices, which launched last October. Read more...
TL;DR: Amazon has dropped the price of its range of Kindles, saving you up to 29% on list price.
We're all looking for an escape, and nothing works quite like a good story. Fortunately, Amazon has put almost all of its Kindle e-readers on sale, with savings of up to 29% on list price.
Kindles are packed full of useful features that help you unwind, with a selection of millions of books, newspapers, and audiobooks on offer. Kindles come with a battery that lasts for weeks, a built-in adjustable front light so you can read at all hours, and a glare-free touchscreen display that reads like printed paper. Read more...
Samsung Display will stop producing liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in China and South Korea at the end of the year in order to concentrate on the new generation of "quantum dot" (QD) screens, Reuters reports. Any LCD orders made before the end of the year will still be fulfilled. Samsung made its plans for QD tech known last year, when it announced its $11 billion investment into a plant capable of manufacturing true QLED TV screens that self-illuminate. Traditionally, Samsung's quantum dot LCD tech puts LED backlights behind a filter (so the display doesn't match up to the likes of say, LG's OLED TVs), but research at the end of 2019 helped mitigate some development problems, such as burn-in. Samsung's forthcoming QD tech instead relies on indium phosphide instead of toxic cadmium, and has a lifetime of up to a million hours. The multi-billion dollar investment will take place over five years and will see Samsung convert one of its existing South Korean LCD lines into a facility to mass produce these screens. Falling demand for LCD products and a manufacturing supply glut means Samsung is obviously looking for new avenues, so for the company to essentially do away with a tried-and-tested technology and go all-in on another suggests that QD screens are very likely to feature in our viewing futures.
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One of the biggest challenges that a lot of families are facing at the moment is keeping everyone entertained. It's not easy, but there is a solution.
Fire for Kids Unlimited is an all-in-one subscription that gives kids access to literally thousands of books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, Audible books, and games on compatible Fire and Kindle devices. Everything is child-friendly, so you can sit back and relax.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Apple certainly won't have any sort of physical launch event for the rumored iPhone 9. But there's pretty good indication that the phone is coming — and soon.
9to5Mac has received a photo from a tipster at Best Buy, showing a case for a "new iPhone 4.7-inch, 2020," which fits the description of the rumored new phone, which will probably be called either iPhone 9 or iPhone SE 2. The case won't go up for sale until April 5, which is six days away, making it probable that the new iPhone will launch in that period.
Given that previous rumors pegged the iPhone 9's launch at late March, it's actually quite possible that Apple will announce the phone today, with availability starting next Sunday. Read more...
Now that you've watched all of Tiger King, it's time to switch gears to something more productive. You could exercise, read a book, learn a new skill, or strengthen your existing skills. For instance, take Excel. Could your Excel skills use some work? If you answered "yes," you'll want to take a look at the Premium A to Z Microsoft Excel Bundle.
Excel is one of the most important office programs on the planet, but most people don't bother going beyond the basics. You don't need us to tell you that though, do you? In reality, Excel is much more than just the spreadsheet software you learned in middle school, and this training can help you get to the bottom of it all. Read more...
TL;DR: Become a retouching pro with this Adobe Photoshop course for just $24.99, a 98% savings as of March 31.
All this downtime and nothing to do? Then perhaps its time you learn a brand new skill or strengthen one that's falling behind.
If you like taking photos, then you have probably ventured into the world of Photoshop once or twice. And if you have ever opened up the program without a proper understanding of how Photoshop works, then you know how overwhelming it can feel. With hundreds of tools to choose from, it can feel impossible to navigate even if you have some basic, self-taught understanding of the program. Read more...
Now, more than ever, a powerful online presence is vital. With stores closing their doors due to social distancing efforts and everything moving online, it's going to be even harder to stand out amongst the crowd. Sigh.
Using the right keywords can almost immediately boost your position in Google search rankings. Sure, Instagram influencers can help as well, but over 90 percent of online experiences start with a Google search. And 75 percent of users never scroll past the first page of results. So, it's definitely a good idea to focus on optimizing your site. Read more...
For those of us with the privilege to do so, working from home is no longer a fun perk offered by your company on the occasional Friday.
The truth is that we don't know how long we'll be operating out of a home office, so it may be time to start thinking long and hard about making your space more hospitable. Sure, using the ironing board as a desk was "cute" for a week, but how it will feel on your back a few more weeks from now?
That's why we've rounded up 14 fun products that will make your WFH setup more pleasant and conducive to actually working. Read more...
You've heard a lot about Zoom in recent weeks as people work out how to video chat with as many people as possible while social distancing. Plenty of folks are opting for its more "fun" competitor Houseparty instead, especially as Zoom's faced criticism over privacy concerns, from it corporate policies to new users' increased vulnerability to phishing attacks (not to mention careless Star Trek cast members).
Now Houseparty is under fire itself, as users have leveled accusations that the app has been hacked and used to gain access to their Netflix, Spotify, PayPal, and other online accounts, and urged others to delete the app. Read more...
The stars really are just people. Well, at least when it comes to videoconferencing screw-ups, that is.
With the world socially distancing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the former cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation decided to celebrate Marina Sirtis's March 29 birthday in a responsible manner — i.e., a Zoom videoconference party. There's just one problem: Jonathan Frakes tweeted LeVar Burton's Zoom recurring Meeting ID.
If that's a jumble of meaningless words to you, then, like many Americans, you're likely unfamiliar with the host of settings tweaks required to keep a Zoom meeting relatively private. If necessary precautions aren't taken, then Zoom meetings can be crashed by uninvited guests, or spammed with porn. Read more...
Your phone pings with another message in the family group text. It's grandma, sharing a block of text clearly copy and pasted from Facebook.
"Be careful!" she writes, alongside news that you could get a ticket for driving during stay-at-home orders in Los Angeles (you can't).
Misinformation about coronavirus is circling on social media. And the same demographic that is most at risk for the virus is also especially susceptible to fake news about the coronavirus.
"Your grandma is in the crosshairs," said Jeff Hancock, a Stanford University professor of communications who studies social media and truth. "It’s truly a perfect storm for older people right now." Read more...
It's true what they say. You never really know what you've got until it's gone. And when it comes to the world's newfound remote work contingency, most of us are mourning the loss of our second monitor, which sits untouched in our now-empty office. The free pastries in the office pantry are a close second, but who's counting.
Having a second screen is the most clear cut way to boost your productivity, and working without one can make you feel super slow. And since we'll be working from our homes for the foreseeable future, it's time to consider purchasing a replacement without breaking the bank. Our vote goes to the DUEX Pro Portable Dual 1080p Monitor. This genius laptop extender is currently on sale, giving you even less of an excuse to suffer through single screen work life. Read more...
We need all the indoor entertainment we can get right now.
Making the switch from a tiny 40-inch TV (or, worse, using your laptop as a TV) is the obvious first move, but if hours of TV every day for the next few months is going to be a thing, it's really okay to splurge on those accessories.
Dell is making it super easy: A slew of Vizio 4K TVs are on sale (including the P-Series Quantum X, which is constantly out of stock), and attached to your purchase are free Dell gift cards — anywhere from $25 to $250. Read more...
TL;DR:Udemy is having a flash sale through Monday, March 30, making many of its popular online classes as cheap as $10.99.
We're now on Week 3 of social distancing due to the coronavirus outbreak, which means things are starting to look pretty dire on the boredom front. If you've already depleted your Netflix queue,deep-cleaned your house twice over, nailed down your sourdough recipe, attempted a TikTok dance, *and* paid off your tent loan to Tom Nook, what else is there to do while you're stuck at home for the foreseeable future besides... I don't know, descend slowly into cabin fever-induced madness? Read more...
UK manufacturer Gtech revealed a prototype design for a medical ventilator, a vital piece of equipment in the battle against the novel coronavirus. Gtech, known for their vacuum cleaners, was asked to help mass produce ventilators by the UK government. Read more...
It's not looking great out there right now, but at least we've got..retail therapy? It's cold comfort, but honestly, it's the perfect time to treat yourself — you deserve it for surviving in this world today.
If you're a fellow tech lover, we've scrounged up a list of the best deals on laptops and tablets for your viewing (and buying) pleasure.
Here's what we found, and catch us again on Friday for more.
TL;DR: As of March 30, you can access hundreds of stories for kids for free on Audible.
"For as long as schools are closed, we're open." That's Audible's latest mantra that's sure to make a huge difference in households all over the world.
The audiobook behemoth recently announced that hundreds of their kid-friendly titles are available for 100% free with absolutely no catch. Seriously, you don't even have to register or log in. Just click the link and get to listening.
So the next time your little ones are going a bit stir-crazy but you don't have the time to sit and read to them, let Audible do the work. There are stories perfect for all ages, from Winnie-the-Pooh for your tiny toddler to The Mystery of Alice for your tween. Plus, there are a ton of options in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. Read more...
TL;DR: This Samsung VS90E cordless stick vacuum bundle comes with an extra removable battery and as of March 30 is on sale for $449.99 — a total savings of $280.
The importance of routine cleaning during this (figuratively) messy period can't be understated. It's therapeutic — both if you need spring cleaning for a sense of normalcy or if your home is just looking extra... lived in.
There's no better way to step up your isolation deep clean than with a new, splurge-worthy vacuum. You may have seen Samsung's Star Wars-themed robot vacuums, but did you know Samsung makes cordless stick vacuums, too? For $449 — a savings of $280 — you can try the Samsung VS90E for yourself. (For comparison, the version of this Samsung vacuum with the spin brush mop attachment is $699.99.) Read more...
Facebook has pledged $100 million to support the news industry during the coronavirus crisis, the company announced Monday.
The company will grant $25 million to local news funding through its Facebook Journalism Project, as well as $75 million in additional marketing spending, with the goal "to move money over to news organizations around the world." Of course, Facebook and Google’s dominance of the internet ad market is a major factor in why it's so difficult for local newspapers to survive in the first place.
"At a time when journalism is needed more than ever, ad revenues are declining due to the economic impact of the virus. Local journalists are being hit especially hard, even as people turn to them for critical information to keep their friends, families and communities safe," the company said in a blog post. Read more...
Turbo Systems, a three-year old, no-code mobile app startup, announced today it has brought on industry veteran Jen Grant to be CEO. Grant, who was previously vice president of marketing at Box and chief marketing officer at Elastic and Looker, brings more than 15 years of tech company experience to the young startup.
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Scientists around the world have been speculating on dark matter for decades, but we still don’t know what the mysterious substance is. It doesn’t look like that’s changing any time soon, either. A new study from University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of California Berkeley evaluated a popular dark matter hypothesis. The team found no evidence that so-called sterile neutrinos are the key to understanding dark matter.
Dark matter is a tricky and sometimes frustrating topic in the physics community. We know dark matter exists and that it makes up about 85 percent of the universe’s total mass. Without that unseen mass, galaxies would fly apart. However, dark matter doesn’t reflect, absorb, or transmit light. The only hints we’ve gotten about dark matter come from the way it interacts with regular matter.
In recent years, scientists have speculated that dark matter may be connected to the neutrino, a neutrally charged particle with very little mass. However, a neutrino withanymass conflicts with the standard model of particle physics. Researchers have put forward the idea of a “sterile neutrino” that could both explain neutrino mass and be the source of all that unseen dark matter.
The new analysis sought to find supporting evidence for the sterile neutrino in 20 years of historical data from the XMM-Newton space X-ray telescope. Based on our limited understanding of dark matter, this material collects in halos around galaxies. Rather than looking at far away objects, the team looked closer to home, attempting to confirm a 2014 observation that gave credibility to the sterile neutrino theory.
A successful detection would have included data points along the dotted red line, but the team found none.
That 2014 study described a 3.5 keV signal from nearby galaxies that could have come from decaying sterile neutrino dark matter. For the new study, the team exploited the fact that we live inside the halo of dark matter that surrounds the Milky Way. They analyzed data from the “darkest” parts of the Milky Way in search of that same 3.5 keV signal. They didn’t find it.
This study doesn’t necessarily mean sterile neutrinos don’t exist or that they aren’t a key source of dark matter. However, it does suggest that the scant experimental evidence for this theory doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. It’s back to the drawing board in our search for dark matter.
TL;DR: The Fire HD 8 Tablet is on sale for £44.99 on Currys PC World, saving you £35 on list price.
This is a difficult period for everyone, but there are devices out there that can make it that little bit easier. Tablets are top of this list, and you can now save on one of the best models on Currys PC World.
The Fire HD 8 Tablet is on sale for £44.99 on Currys PC World, saving you £35 on list price. This also comes with a free six-month Spotify Premium subscription for new Premium accounts, providing even more entertainment for when you need it most.
Apple still plans to launch new iPhones in the fall, in line with its typical yearly schedule, a new report from Bloomberg claims. This is despite the coronavirus outbreak which has slowed down manufacturing across the globe and forced Apple to temporarily shut down all its retail stores outside of China.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report says that the next iPhone — likely equipped with 5G and called iPhone 12 — is on schedule to launch in the fall, since mass production isn't starting until the summer.
This is partly in contrast with a recent report from Nikkei, which claimed that Apple is considering delaying the launch by "months," partly due to supply chain constraints, and partly due to the possibility of sales being slow. Nikkei's report did, however, note that it's still early and that Apple's plans may change before the launch. A recent Reuters report said Apple has postponed the production ramp-up for the new 5G phones, but also said that it's "possible" these phones might launch in the fall. Read more...
TL;DR: The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for £29.99 on Currys PC World, saving you 40% on list price.
The Fire TV Stick 4K generally goes on sale a few times a year, and we would normally recommend waiting for Prime Day or Black Friday for the best deals. Not this year, though.
The Fire TV Stick 4K is now on sale for just £29.99 on Currys PC World, and we don't think there has ever been a better time to invest in the little streaming stick. You can save 40% on list price and access more entertainment in this time of need. It's a double win.
The Fire TV Stick 4K delivers endless entertainment with 4K Ultra HD clarity, and supports HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision. Whether you want to watch that Netflix Original or check out the new Disney+ series, you can see it all in 4K picture quality with this media player. It's also built with an impressively fast processor, so you can stream your favourite content without worrying about buffering. Read more...
TL;DR: A three-month subscription to an Xbox Game Pass is on sale for £9.99 on CD Keys, saving you 58% on list price.
We're all being told to stay at home and isolate, which isn't a problem for a lot of gamers out there who have some experience in this.
Even the most experienced gamers will eventually run out of entertainment though, and this is when an Xbox Game Pass can really help. It's like Netflix for games, with new additions added every month, including new titles on release.
You can now sign up for three month of an Xbox Game Pass for just £9.99 on CD Keys. This is down by a massive 58% on list price, saving you over £10. A subscription provides access to a growing library of games, with over 100 options currently available. You can even download games directly to your console, keeping you entertained through this difficult time. Read more...
Air Doctor, the health tech startup that connects travellers with local doctors, has raised $7.8 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Kamet Ventures (the AXA-backed venture builder), and The Phoenix Insurance Company. Founded in 2016, Air Doctor aims to empower travellers who get sick when abroad and need non-emergency advice or treatment.
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Uber will provide free meals and free trips for NHS staff in a bid to lessen the pressure on those on the frontline of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the UK.
Uber is pledging 200,000 free trips worth up to £15 each to help NHS workers get to and from work. Staff can claim a maximum of 10 trips and 5 meals per week, per person.
Uber Eats will issue NHS staff with a £10 voucher that can be redeemed at restaurants and convenience shops across the UK.
Anyone with an NHS email address can claim the free rides and meals.
It's not every day we think about how gross our toilets are, but the coronavirus has brought out the inner germaphobe in all of us. So, naturally, we're sanitizing every single thing in our houses while we're self isolating.
But here's the thing: scrubbing the toilet bowl with your old school toilet brush might actually be flinging around even more bathroom germs. Think about it. You're not actually killing the germs and bacteria you scrub off in the first place. You're rinsing them off and sticking them back into a base to breed. Ew. So, rather than gagging every time you use the toilet, switch to this LUMI Self-Sanitizing Toilet Brush and Base and kill the germs in between cleanings. Read more...
Zoom's iOS app is no longer sending your private data to Facebook.
The videoconferencing software recently saw its usage spike as more and more people spend time at home due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, several concerns have been raised about its privacy practices, including the fact that its iOS app sends data such as the user's location and device details to Facebook — even if the user doesn't have a Facebook account.
Now, Motherboard reports that Zoom's iOS app was updated to stop sending data to Facebook, as the company found that some of the data sent was "unnecessary."
"We originally implemented the “Login with Facebook” feature using the Facebook SDK for iOS (Software Development Kit) in order to provide our users with another convenient way to access our platform. However, we were made aware (...) that the Facebook SDK was collecting device information unnecessary for us to provide our services," Zoom wrote in a blog post Friday. Read more...
Microsoft is pulling out of an investment in an Israeli facial recognition technology developer as part of a broader policy shift to halt any minority investments in facial recognition startups, the company announced late last week. The decision to withdraw its investment from AnyVision, an Israeli company developing facial recognition software, came as a result of an investigation into reports that AnyVision's technology was being used by the Israeli government to surveil residents in the West Bank.
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Let me make this incredibly clear *clears throat*:
Turn off your iPhone Screen Time notifications. Go ahead, do it. It's OK.
When every day of coronavirus social distancing feels like a Tuesday on repeat, the weekly iPhone Screen Time alert is one way to know it's actually Sunday. And friends, it's a brutal reality to wake up to when all you wanted to do was make pancakes and finish Tiger King.
Each Sunday morning, your iPhone lights up with a notification. No, it's not a kind-but-worried check-in text from an old friend or an Instagram alert that your mom reacted to your Story with a cartwheel emoji again. Read more...
