Thursday 30 April 2020

Quibi leaked users' emails to Google, Facebook, and Twitter

Quibi leaked users' emails to Google, Facebook, and Twitter

Mobile streaming service Quibi is less than a month old, but it's already shoving its sticky little fingers where they don't belong. 

A new report by Victory Medium researcher Zach Edwards has revealed Quibi leaked user's signup emails to multiple third-party advertisers, including Google, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. 

In order to create a Quibi account, new users were asked to provide an email address to which the company would send a confirmation link. However, unbeknownst to said users, clicking the link sent their email address to third-party advertisers and analytics companies in plain text. Read more...

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iPhone sales may be down, but business is booming for Apple Music and the App Store

iPhone sales may be down, but business is booming for Apple Music and the App Store

Consumers aren't rushing to buy as many iPhones, iPads, or other Apple products as before the pandemic, but the company's services seem to be doing just fine. 

During Thursday's earnings call, Apple disclosed that its services category, which includes the App Store and Apple TV+, hit an all-time revenue record of $13.3 billion for the second quarter.

The company saw strong performance within the App Store (for both downloads and search ads), Apple Music, video, and cloud services. App Store revenue also grew by double digits, as people continue to make in-app purchases and opt into subscriptions.  Read more...

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Reddit VP: 'Ya, we f*cked up.'

Reddit VP: 'Ya, we f*cked up.'

Reddit botched the rollout of a new feature that could have endangered some vulnerable users — and now it is eating crow.

On Wednesday, Reddit announced that it was initiating a limited rollout of a new group chat feature called "Start Chatting" that would allow subreddit members to speak directly with each other in chatrooms. It was originally positioned as a way for Redditors to connect with people during COVID-19 social distancing.

The problem? Not only was there no way for communities to opt out of the feature, but moderators also would not be able to, well, moderate them. In the over 1,500 comments to the original announcement, many mods quickly pointed out that this made the chat function ripe for abuse by trolls. Read more...

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Apple settles FaceTime class-action suit for $18 million

Apple settles FaceTime class-action suit for $18 million

Apple will hand over millions of dollars to settle with plaintiffs who claim it disabled FaceTime on iPhone 4 and 4s devices in 2014 to save money.

As AppleInsider reports, when Apple introduced FaceTime, audio and video was transmitted between devices through two different methods: audio was sent via a peer-to-peer connection, while video was sent through third-party servers run by Akamai Technologies. This divided method worked for Apple for two years until 2012, when it was found that the company’s peer-to-peer method for audio breached patents held by security software and technology company VirnetX. Read more...

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Visa and Kenya’s Safaricom partner on M-Pesa, payments and tech

Visa and Kenya’s Safaricom partner on M-Pesa, payments and techVisa just connected to Africa's most powerful mobile payments network. The global financial services company and Kenyan telecom Safaricom — operator of the M-Pesa mobile money product — announced a partnership today on payments and tech.




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Google under fire for squeezing travel startups hit by coronavirus refunds

Google under fire for squeezing travel startups hit by coronavirus refundsGoogle is facing anger from the German startup ecosystem for refusing to restructure ad payments linked to travel and transport bookings that were subsequently wiped out by the coronavirus crisis. TechCrunch has seen a letter addressed to Google that's co-signed by eight travel industry startups in which the tech giant is asked for flexibility in how it enforces payment terms around these earlier ad auctions. The eight startups represent €75M+ ($80M+) in ad revenues for Google in Q1 2020, per the letter.




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Save up to $150 on a new Shark vacuum with these Mother's Day promo codes

Save up to $150 on a new Shark vacuum with these Mother's Day promo codes

Slippers and scented body wash are so overplayed. This Mother's Day, give the mom or mom figure in your life the ultimate gift of one less thing to worry about.

Chances are her mind's been on spring cleaning lately: It's that time of year again, after all, and being stuck inside for weeks on end has made a lot of us realize just how grody our homes actually are (especially if you live with a pet — shedding season is no joke). With that in mind, a new robot vacuum that does the *literal* dirty work for her could be just your ticket to Favorite Child status.

SEE ALSO: Best robot vacuums for every budget Read more...

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Air quality continues to worsen — here's how to keep your air clean at home

Air quality continues to worsen — here's how to keep your air clean at home

TL;DR: Get a better night's sleep with a Dyson air purifier on sale for $50 off at Best Buy as of April 30.


The American Lung Association recently released their 2020 State of the Air report which revealed that the number of people breathing low-quality air has increased by nearly 9 million since last year. If you're in an extremely populated city like we are (New York received a F as their air quality grade), you may be affected without even realizing it. 

Besides taking small everyday steps to reduce your carbon footprint (like using biodegradable shopping bags and coffee pods), there isn't much you can do to control the overall air quality for public spaces. However, you can control your own private spaces. Your home can be completely changed just by placing an air purifier in a corner.  Read more...

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Early stage investor The Fund expands beyond NYC with new partners in LA and London

Early stage investor The Fund expands beyond NYC with new partners in LA and LondonThe Fund, an early-stage investment firm with a memorably straightforward name, is looking beyond New York City as it starts investing its second fund. Founders Jenny Fielding (who's also managing director at Techstars New York) and Scott Hartley (also co-founder and partner at Two Culture Capital) told me that in the past two years, they've already backed 52 New York City startups. "The seed funds in New York have all gone upstream," Fielding argued, making it harder for founders to get the smaller checks they need when they're getting started.




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Tired of Zoom calls? HTC offers businesses virtual reality meetings.

Tired of Zoom calls? HTC offers businesses virtual reality meetings.

Hundreds of millions of people are taking online meetings from home due to the coronavirus lockdowns. And now they can do it in virtual reality. 

On Thursday, HTC announced its Vive Sync platform for business meetings in virtual reality is now in open beta. The platform has been in development since 2018, but now it's open to businesses of all sizes, for free. 

The experience of using Vive Sync should be familiar to anyone who has used VR apps before. First, you create your Vive Sync avatar, starting with a selfie and then customizing it further. Features like hairstyles, facial features, body types, and clothing options are customizable, and more customization options will come later, HTC says.  Read more...

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Motorola Edge+ review: A solid return to form with a questionable gimmick

Motorola Edge+ review: A solid return to form with a questionable gimmick
Motorola Edge+
$999
The Good
Beautiful 90Hz display • Long battery life • Smooth performance • Headphone jack • Capable 108-megapixel camera
The Bad
Thick and heavy • Verizon exclusive • Gimmicky edge software
The Bottom Line
As Motorola’s first flagship phone in a while, the Edge+ offers powerful specs and impressive multi-day battery life, but its gimmicky active edges don’t justify the high cost.
⚡ Mashable Score 4.0
😎 Cool Factor 4.0
📘Learning Curve 4.0
💪Performance 4.5
💵Bang for the Buck 4.0

It's fair to say that Motorola has had an interesting trajectory over the years. The smartphone brand has managed to build up a portfolio of iconic phones throughout its history, from the DynaTAC in the early 80's to the Razr and Droid in the 2000s. Read more...

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Toshiba Clarifies Which of Its Consumer HDDs Use Shingled Magnetic Recording

After news broke that the major hard drive companies have all been shipping SMR drives into various consumer products, some of the manufacturers involved have been clarifying which of their own HDDs are actually SMR drives instead of CMR. Toshiba is the latest company to release this information, though there are limits to its report that make it potentially less useful than we’d like.

seagate-smr-vs-conventional-hard-drive-writing

Seagate has also deployed shingled magnetic recording to boost areal density of its drive platters, though the technology isn’t a great fit for consumer products.

As a reminder: SMR stands for Shingled Magnetic Recording and refers to the placement of tracks on the HDD platter itself. With conventional recording, a gap is left in-between each track, allowing the track to be individually read and written. With SMR, the tracks are layered directly next to each other, rather like shingles. This means that writing data to the drive requires reading and writing multiple tracks at once.

Data and graph by Anandtech.

The impact on read speeds is small-to-nil, but the write speed impact for using SMR can be significant. There’s not a ton of data on how this hits consumer use-cases because, up until now, reviewers haven’t been treating SMR drives as if they were likely to wind up being used for primary hard drives. I’d be surprised if we don’t start seeing more reviews on this in short order.

In any event, here’s what Toshiba has to say. The P300 6TB HDWD260UZSVA and P300 4TB HDWD240UZSVA are both SMR desktop HDDs that Toshiba only ships to bulk OEMs — which means any laptop you buy with a 4TB or a 6TB Toshiba HDD has to be checked to see if it uses one of these two models. Retail P300 drives top out at 3TB.

Now, unlike the desktop family, multiple bulk and retail L200 laptop drives also use SMR, including:

HDWL120UZSVA (2TB, bulk)
HDWL120EZSTA (2TB, retail)
HDWL120XZSTA (2TB, retail)

The 1TB drives at 7mm thick are also impacted (HDWL110UZSVA, HDWL110EZSTA, and HDWL110XZSTA). The first is a bulk drive, the second two are retail products.

Unfortunately, because Toshiba is selling these drives in bulk, it may be difficult to make certain you aren’t buying one. ExtremeTech does not recommend using an SMR drive in a consumer system as primary storage unless you are specifically aware of its likely performance characteristics and do not mind them. The dramatically lower write performance that SMR offers in some instances is of less concern for personal backup drives or similar applications, but hard drives are already poor solutions for storage speed compared with SSDs, and SMR drives are lower than CMR (conventional magnetic recording) in several additional aspects.

We are glad Toshiba came forward with this information, but we can only recommend buying a system with a Toshiba HDD if you either know exactly what you’ll be getting into or can confirm you aren’t buying an SMR drive.

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Chiplets Do Not ‘Reinstate’ Moore’s Law

Ever since chiplets became a topic of discussion in the semiconductor industry, there’s been something of a fight over how to talk about them. It’s not unusual to see articles claiming that chiplets represent some kind of new advance that will allow us to return to an era of idealized scaling and higher performance generation.

There are two problems with this framing. First, while it’s not exactly wrong, it’s too simplistic and obscures some important details in the relationship between chiplets and Moore’s Law. Second, casting chiplets strictly in terms of Moore’s Law ignores some of the most exciting ideas for how we should use them in the future.

Chiplets Reverse a Long-Standing Trend Out of Necessity

The history of computing is the history of function integration. The very name integrated circuit recalls the long history of improving computer performance by building circuit components closer together. FPUs, CPU caches, memory controllers, GPUs, PCIe lanes, and I/O controllers are just some of the once-separate components that are now commonly integrated on-die.

Chiplets fundamentally reverse this trend by breaking once-monolithic chips into separate functional blocks based on how amenable these blocks are to further scaling. In AMD’s case, I/O functions and the chip’s DRAM channels are built on a 14nm die from GF (using 12nm design rules), while the actual chiplets containing the CPU cores and the L3 cache were scaled down on TSMC’s new node.

Prior to 7nm, we didn’t need chiplets because it was still more valuable to keep the entire chip unified than to break it into pieces and deal with the higher latency and power costs.

AMD-Epyc-Chiplet

Epyc’s I/O die, as shown at AMD’s New Horizon event.

Do chiplets improve scaling by virtue of focusing that effort where it’s needed most? Yes.

Is it an extra step that we didn’t previously need to take? Yes.

Chiplets are both a demonstration of how good engineers are at finding new ways to improve performance and a demonstration of how continuing to improve performance requires compromising in ways that didn’t used to be necessary. Even if they allow companies to accelerate density improvements, they’re still only applying those improvements to part of what has typically been considered a CPU.

Also, keep in mind that endlessly increasing transistor density is of limited effectiveness without corresponding decreases in power consumption. Higher transistor densities also inevitably mean a greater chance of a performance-limiting hot spot on the die.

Chiplets: Beyond Moore’s Law

The most interesting feature of chiplets, in my own opinion, has nothing to do with their ability to drive future density scaling. I’m very curious to see if we see firms deploying chiplets made from different types of semiconductors within the same CPU. The integration of different materials, like III-V semiconductors, could allow for chiplet-to-chiplet communication to be handled via optical interconnects in future designs, or allow a conventional chiplet with a set of standard CPU cores to be paired with, say, a spintronics-based chip built on gallium nitride.

We don’t use silicon because it’s the highest-performing transistor material. We use silicon because it’s affordable, easy to work with, and doesn’t have any enormous flaws that limit its usefulness in any particular application. Probably the best feature of chiplets is the way they could allow a company like Intel or AMD to take a smaller risk on adopting a new material for silicon engineering without betting the entire farm in the process.

Imagine a scenario where Intel or AMD wanted to introduce a chiplet-based CPU with four ultra-high-performance cores built with something like InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide), and 16 cores based on improved-but-conventional silicon. If the InGaAs project fails, the work done on the rest of the chip isn’t wasted and neither company is stuck starting from scratch on an entire CPU design.

The idea of optimizing chiplet design for different types of materials and use-cases within the same SoC is a logical extension of the trend towards specialization that created chiplets themselves. Intel has even discussed using III-V semiconductors like InGaAs before, though not since ~2015, as far as I know.

The most exciting thing about chiplets, in my opinion, isn’t that they offer a way to keep packing transistors. It’s that they may give companies more latitude to experiment with new materials and engineering processes that will accelerate performance or improve power efficiency without requiring them to deploy these technologies across an entire SoC simultaneously. Chiplets are just one example of how companies are rethinking the traditional method of building products with an eye towards improving performance through something other than smaller manufacturing nodes. The idea of getting rid of PC motherboards or of using wafer-scale processing to build super-high-performance processors are both different applications of the same concept: Radically changing our preconceived notions on what a system looks like in ways that aren’t directly tied to Moore’s Law.

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Watch everything on Amazon Prime Video for free

Watch everything on Amazon Prime Video for free

TL;DR: New members can watch everything on Amazon Prime Video for free with a 30-day trial.


If you've always fancied trying Amazon Prime, this might be the best time to sign up. The delivery benefits are great, but it's the video and music services that are most in need right now.

Amazon Prime Video offers thousands of popular movies and TV shows, award-winning Amazon Originals, and much more. We're all in need of more entertainment options at the moment, so all of this extra content should be useful.

You could sign up to Amazon Prime for £7.99 per month, or you could try a 30-day free trial. Your subscription will automatically renew for the full price at the end of the 30 days, but you can cancel at anytime. There is no obligation to pay anything. Read more...

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The Morning After: Facebook.com is about to show off a new look

The Morning After: Facebook.com is about to show off a new lookEngadget's daily tech news bulletin.




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Zoom says it doesn't really, actually, truly have 300 million daily users

Zoom says it doesn't really, actually, truly have 300 million daily users

Videoconferencing app Zoom has experienced a surge in popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the company itself quantified that surge as rising from 10 million to 300 million daily active users from December 2019 to April 2020. 

These numbers were quoted by numerous media outlets (Mashable included), but, as noticed by The Verge, the company has since changed the wording in the blog post from "daily users" to "daily meeting participants."

"We are humbled and proud to help over 300 million daily meeting participants stay connected during this pandemic. In a blog post on April 22, we unintentionally referred to these participants as “users” and “people.” When we realized this error, we adjusted the wording to “participants.” This was a genuine oversight on our part," the company told the outlet in a statement.  Read more...

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This security software instantly blocks the latest online threats

This security software instantly blocks the latest online threats

TL;DR: A one-year subscription to Bitdefender Top Security 2020 is on sale for £34.99, saving you 50% on list price.


Online security has always been important, but it has taken on even greater significance in recent weeks. 

We're all relying on computer systems, mobile devices, and the internet to work, chat, shop, and receive important information. This makes us more vulnerable to viruses, ransomware, malware, and other nasty things lurking on the net, especially as scammers are looking to take advantage of this uncertain situation.

What we're saying is that you should be looking to bolster your security setup. There are plenty of services on offer that can protect you against online threats, and Bitdefender is one of the best. It uses advanced artificial intelligence to anticipate, detect, and instantly block threats from anywhere in the world. Read more...

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Get $600 worth of bespoke design assets for just $39 with this deal

Get $600 worth of bespoke design assets for just $39 with this deal

TL;DR: Streamline your productivity with this bundle of design assets for $39, a 93% savings as of April 30.


Whether you're hoping to expand your brand while stuck at home, launch a new business, or just keep yours afloat, great design can make a major difference. But depending on the size of the project and expertise of the artist, graphic design services can cost up to $850 on average nationwide. So, um, not exactly a low-cost endeavor. Creating the designs yourself ain't a walk in the park, either, unless you have the right stuff in your toolbox.

With this Design From Home: Creative Market Bundle, you can streamline your productivity and save yourself time, money, and sanity. The bundle consists of 25 design assets that are handpicked specifically from Creative Market for your new work-from-home lifestyle — including nine premium fonts, three scene creators/mockups, three PowerPoint presentations, five Instagram grid templates to spice up your social feed, four procreate brushes, and one animated texture. They're all compatible with top design and presentation programs, like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Microsoft Powerpoint, Google Slides, Affinity Designer, and more. Read more...

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Save $35 on this fancy immersion blender set from Wolfgang Puck

Save $35 on this fancy immersion blender set from Wolfgang Puck

TL;DR: Whip up a delicious creation with Wolfgang Puck's 7-in-1 Immersion Blender for $64.99, a 34% savings as of April 30.


There are two personality types while social distancing: those who love to cook and those who cook to live. While some folks are living for all the Pinterest-worthy recipes they've been whipping up, others are searching for ways to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen as possible. For those in the latter category, we've got just the thing: this Wolfgang Puck 7-in-1 Immersion Blender.

Gone are the days of energy-sucking slicing, dicing, chopping, blending, whisking, shredding, and mashing. This fancy blender from master chef Wolfgang Puck can handle all seven of those tasks in one, thanks to its 400-watt motor, built-in functions, and adjustable speed dial with two-speed pulse control. Better yet, it can do it all in just minutes, saving you lots of time and energy. Read more...

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Drone controlled solely with gestures is a step towards seamless human-robot interaction

Drone controlled solely with gestures is a step towards seamless human-robot interaction

MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) has developed a drone controlled via hand gestures and arm muscle signals. The drone's algorithm detects muscle activity through wearable sensors attached to the pilot.  Read more...

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Microsoft Office for iPad tests multi-window support

Microsoft Office for iPad tests multi-window supportMicrosoft will soon make it easier to juggle multiple Word documents and PowerPoint presentations for iOS users. The tech giant has given Office Insiders the ability to open multiple Word and PowerPoint windows side-by-side on an iPad.




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Wednesday 29 April 2020

6 of the best digital radios for every listener

6 of the best digital radios for every listener

Radio is alive and well, despite what you may have been led to believe. The likes of Amazon Music and Spotify were supposed to bring about a changing of the guard but radio has stubbornly refused to go anywhere, and that's a good thing.

Millions of people still tune in to their favourite shows every week, despite all of the podcasts and on-demand music on offer. This is due in part to the growing popularity of DAB (digital audio broadcasting) radio, which allows for less interference, more stations, and a stronger signal. Sounds pretty good, right?

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IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR VOICE CONTROL

Roberts Revival iStream 3

The Roberts Revival iStream 3 utilises Alexa to become a smart music system.

  • Battery recharging: Yes
  • Bluetooth: Yes
  • Works with Alexa: Yes
£199.99 from Amazon
Fef6a97f 6a98 4169 80fd fcf4ce88669b
IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR MATERIALS

VQ Monty

The VQ Monty is designed and engineered with premium materials, including real wood.

  • Battery recharging: No
  • Bluetooth: Yes
  • Works with Alexa: No
£99.99 from Amazon
De13b233 f992 4584 ae39 eff6413f60df
IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR STYLE

Roberts Revival Uno

This retro radio is tough to beat when it comes to style.

  • Battery recharging: No
  • Bluetooth: No
  • Works with Alexa: No
£159.99 from Amazon
E46ed609 53b9 4d2c 9d2e 1bb82e896a80
IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR SMALL SPACES

Pure Evoke H2

This compact and stylish radio fits comfortably anywhere in your home.

  • Battery recharging: Yes (not included)
  • Bluetooth: Yes
  • Works with Alexa: No
£99.99 from Amazon
74ffb137 3666 4143 9954 3670b4c59550
IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR TIGHT BUDGETS

Roberts Radio Play10

This compact radio is full of useful features but won't break the bank.

  • Battery recharging: No
  • Bluetooth: No
  • Works with Alexa: No
£39.99 from Amazon
1e314914 3f70 4e05 ac6f ecdd91fd76b8
IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR DISPLAY

Sharp DR-450
  • Battery recharging: No
  • Bluetooth: Yes
  • Works with Alexa: No
£69.99 from Amazon


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'Bon voyage': Elon Musk tells Twitter followers to get lost following meltdown

'Bon voyage': Elon Musk tells Twitter followers to get lost following meltdown

Elon Musk is having a rough 24 hours, and if his Twitter followers don't like it, then they can just get bent. 

The Tesla CEO made waves late last night for a bizarre rant about "freedom," only to completely melt down during a Wednesday Tesla earnings call when asked about Bay Area shelter-in-place orders. 

Musk's appetite for self-righteousness apparently wasn't sated, however, and following the call he hopped on Twitter to tell his 33.4 million followers that if they didn't like his misrepresentation of facts then they should get lost. 

Notably, Musk claimed incorrectly (among other things) that Bay Area officials are "forcibly imprisoning people in their homes." To be clear, they are not.  Read more...

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Facebook sees a spike in monthly active users in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak

Facebook sees a spike in monthly active users in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak

It probably comes as a shock to no one that people are using Facebook and its additional social media platforms more than ever while under lockdown.

During Wednesday's earnings call, the company announced it's seen a huge spike in its monthly active users with a 10 percent year over year increase.

On the call, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that for the first time ever more than three billion people have been using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger each month.

This includes 2.6 billion people using Facebook alone and more than 2.3 billion people using at least one of its services each day. Read more...

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TikTok surpasses 2 billion global downloads

TikTok surpasses 2 billion global downloads

Quarantine + addictive dance videos = app domination.

TikTok has surpassed 2 billion downloads, mobile app analytics company Sensor Tower reported Wednesday. (April 29). The 315 million installs it gained in Q1 of 2020 alone also reportedly give it the title of "most downloads for any app ever in a quarter."

Mashable has reached out to TikTok to confirm Sensor Tower's data, and will update this story if and when we hear back.

Sensor Tower is attributing the burst in downloads at least in part to the global pandemic. While it notes that TikTok has been consistently on the rise, Sensor Tower views the spike in downloads over the last two months as a consequence of people being confined to their homes and, frankly, bored.  Read more...

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Elon Musk calls stay-at-home order ‘fascist’ during Tesla earnings call

Elon Musk calls stay-at-home order ‘fascist’ during Tesla earnings call

Elon Musk had even more to say about social distancing measures after he rage-tweeted on the topic Wednesday morning.

Tesla's first quarter earnings call Wednesday afternoon started with prepared marks from CEO Elon Musk that noticeably and awkwardly avoided mentioning coronavirus or anything about the pandemic. 

But as the call progressed, Musk's true feelings about shelter-in-place requirements, like those in the Bay Area that are keeping his Fremont, California car plant shut down until at least June, surfaced. He could barely contain himself as he used profanity to describe his thoughts on shelter-in-place efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.  Read more...

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NASA reveals its Mars helicopter name with ingenious hype video

NASA reveals its Mars helicopter name with ingenious hype video

Coming in at four pounds and four feet long, NASA's Mars helicopter is ready for takeoff later this year — but first, it needed a name.

The autonomous, solar-powered craft is scheduled to make it onto Mars by early next year after it catches a flight on the belly of the new Mars rover, Perseverance, this July or AugustLike the rover, the helicopter, which has two rotors that spin 2,400 revolutions per minute, was named as part of a student essay contest. The winning name was announced Wednesday: Ingenuity. 

High-school student Vaneeza Rupani from Alabama picked the name. Her suggestion was selected from 28,000 essays submitted to NASA. Read more...

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This smart ear cleaner lets you see inside your ear as you clean it — Future Blink

This smart ear cleaner lets you see inside your ear as you clean it — Future Blink

Bebird uses an app-connected otoscope allowing you to see what and where you’re cleaning. Read more...

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This modular air purifier is a work of art — Future Blink

This modular air purifier is a work of art — Future Blink

The GUILIN Lampscape Air Purifier makes purifying your air a fun art project. Read more...

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Elon Musk's latest twitter spree reveals his anti-lockdown stance

Elon Musk's latest twitter spree reveals his anti-lockdown stance

Musk is taking a firm stance against government-mandated lockdowns.  Read more...

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Apple finally fixes the most annoying thing about Group FaceTime calls

Apple finally fixes the most annoying thing about Group FaceTime calls

Hallelujah, FaceTime sanity is coming.

Apple released the beta version of iOS 13.5 to registered developers Wednesday, and it reportedly comes with some very timely coronavirus-era features. 

People whose social lives revolve around FaceTime might want to listen up. 

If you've used Group FaceTime recently, you've probably noticed the windows that show your friends' faces swell and shrink, depending on who's talking. It kind of mimics the effect of speech bubbles, but with literal talking heads. I happen to like the feature, but others (including my partner and many Mashable colleagues), find it extremely annoying.  Read more...

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Cruise can't test its self-driving cars. So it's delivering food instead.

Cruise can't test its self-driving cars. So it's delivering food instead.

Cruise vehicles, the self-driving electric Chevy Bolts usually spotted around San Francisco neighborhoods, are back on the road after a brief pause during the coronavirus outbreak. And now that the fleet is considered an essential service, it's driving with even more of a purpose.

The General Motors-backed autonomous car company repurposed a portion of its testing fleet in mid-April to deliver food throughout San Francisco. This shift, however, didn't require much of a change to how Cruise was operating before social distancing. Prior to the outbreak, the company's electric vehicles — equipped with sensors and self-driving tech — were being tested on city streets for an upcoming robotaxi serviceRead more...

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Elon Musk tweets 'FREE AMERICA NOW' as lockdowns halt Tesla production



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Hackers hit Chegg for the third time since 2018

Hackers hit Chegg for the third time since 2018Chegg has confirmed its third data breach in the past three years. The education tech giant, which last year was acquired by Thinkful for $80 million, said hackers stole 700 current and former employee records, including their names and Social Security numbers. Chegg said it enlisted an outside forensic firm — without naming the firm — and notified law enforcement of the breach.




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Some Galaxy S20 Ultra Owners Claim Camera Glass Spontaneously Shatters

Image credit: Samsung Community Forums

Samsung made a big deal of the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s camera at the announcement earlier this year, but reviews have been tepid. The camera setup on this $1,400 phone might not live up to expectations, but perhaps Samsung will address that with software updates. One thing updates can’t fix is shattered glass, and an increasing number of S20 Ultra owners say their camera modules have cracked for no apparent reason

The Galaxy S20 Ultra has a humongous camera module on the back with a 108MP primary sensor, 12MP ultra-wide, 48MP 4x telephoto, and a time-of-flight 3D sensor. Like other phones, the camera sensors are under a piece of scratch-resistant glass. However, even the latest versions of high-end Gorilla Glass can crack under the right conditions. 

Numerous S20 Ultra owners have taken to Samsung’s forums and Reddit to complain about mysterious damage to their camera glass. Most of the images they’ve shared show small “punctures” directly over the camera lenses. Other users complain of hairline cracks that appear seemingly out of nowhere. All the victims of this damage swear up and down they didn’t drop their phones, and many claim the damage happened spontaneously while the device was in a pocket or bag.

Even though Samsung’s S20 sales are reportedly not meeting expectations, they’re still selling a lot of phones compared with any other OEM. There will inevitably be some people with defects or accidental damage making noise on the internet. Admittedly, the shattered glass on these phones looks very unusual. I don’t think I’ve seen a phone break in this way before. 

The S20 Ultra’s giant camera assembly (far right), courtesy of iFixit.

Hardened glass does get weaker as panel size increases, but manufacturers compensate for that in screens by bonding the glass to the OLED or LCD panel underneath. It’s possible that the S20 Ultra’s oversized camera module is just too big, making it easier to damage the glass simply by carrying the phone around. 

Damage to the glass makes the cameras behind them essentially useless, so most have reached out to Samsung for help. Naturally, Samsung support has given these customers the cold shoulder. The company’s warranty doesn’t cover cosmetic damage, so the only option is to pay to have the camera glass replaced. Samsung’s official repair centers have quoted customers $400 for a fix, or $100 for those with Samsung Premium Care subscriptions. At that price, it’s likely Samsung will replace the entire camera module rather than just the glass. The company has thus far refused to admit there’s a problem with the phone, and forum moderators have removed many of the complaints. It’ll take a much more widespread pattern before Samsung changes its tune.

Top image credit: Samsung community forums

Now read:



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Fairphone teams up with /e/OS on a box-fresh 'deGoogled' handset

Fairphone teams up with /e/OS on a box-fresh 'deGoogled' handsetThe makers of the world's most ethical smartphone, the Fairphone 3, have teamed up for a version of the device with even less big tech on board. "The deGoogled Fairphone 3 is most likely the first privacy conscious and sustainable phone," runs the blurb on /e/OS' website. When the Fairphone 3 launched last September it came with Android 9 preloaded.




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Ahem: Nintendo Switch Lite bundles are up for grabs at GameStop

Ahem: Nintendo Switch Lite bundles are up for grabs at GameStop

We have good news and bad news. The bad news is that the Nintendo Switch console is still sold out literally everywhere. (For that, you can thank a combination of social distancing boredom, hardware shortages, and the recent release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which turned out to be a ginormous hit.) A Nintendo representative told The Hollywood Reporter in late March that "more systems are on the way," but no word yet on when exactly that might be.

SEE ALSO: Best beginner-friendly video games for your coronavirus lockdown

As for the good news: GameStop just got Nintendo Switch Lite bundles in stock. A lot of them. Better yet, none of them are preorders — meaning there won't be a long delay between the time you complete your purchase and the time your order ships out. Read more...

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Get 4 months of Apple Music for free when you buy Apple TV

Get 4 months of Apple Music for free when you buy Apple TV

TL;DR: As of April 29, new users can enjoy four months of Apple Music for absolutely free when they purchase Apple TV from Best Buy for $199.99.


Do you need a break from all the heavy news we've been surrounded by lately? It's good to stay up-to-date with the latest information but it's also nice to get a bit of a distraction from the real world sometimes. 

SEE ALSO: 7 ways to help quell coronavirus-related anxiety

So, now's the time to finally catch up on all those shows you've been meaning to watch. You know, the ones you've been promising your friends that you'll get to. But instead of streaming on your laptop and dealing with annoying WiFi issues, watch any of your favorite streaming services right on your big screen with Apple TV.  Read more...

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4 DIY kits to help make STEM fun

4 DIY kits to help make STEM fun

Whether you're looking for a new hobby to challenge your brain or love coming up with new inventions, these DIY electronics are a great way to build something cool while learning about STEM. Read more...

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Doing some spring cleaning? You need one of these.

Doing some spring cleaning? You need one of these.

TL;DR: Rug Doctor deep cleaners are up to $60 off at Best Buy as of April 29.


The fact that we're spending most of spring indoors is a great reason to pay extra attention to spring cleaning. If your home is messy it's going to be less comfortable to live in.

A good place to start cleaning is your floors — they're probably dirtier than you realize. Go all out and get a deep cleaner to really suck up all the dirt and debris hiding out, embedded in your floors.

Right now, Best Buy has a couple Rug Doctor models on sale for up to $60 off to help you tackle your spring cleaning.

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Gaming bundles are finally back in stock

Gaming bundles are finally back in stock

TL;DR: Stocks of consoles and games are back on Currys PC World, and the PlayStation 4 Pro and FIFA 20 bundle is available for £349.


This challenging situation has resulted in a lot of new gamers, and that's a good thing, Gaming can be a really rewarding escape for many people, and that sort of experience is pretty valuable right now.

It's not all good though, because the influx of new gamers has hit stocks hard. It has been difficult to get hold of anything, with no choice but to wait for stocks to return. 

Well, wait no more, because gaming stocks have finally returned to Currys PC World. You can now pick up consoles, games, bundles, and accessories. You might need to be quick though, because demand is likely to be high. Read more...

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