We take apart Intel's Ghost Canyon NUC -

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2020-01-09 08:11:22Z
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Panasonic’s VR glasses support HDR and look pretty steampunk - The Verge

The problem with VR headsets is that they still all look like VR headsets — glorified ski goggles that shut you off from the world. I’m not going to say Panasonic has solved the matter altogether with its own VR glasses at CES this year, but the project does represent something of an improvement. Basically, they’re regular-ish glasses with a dash of steampunk aviator style.

The glasses — and they are glasses, rather than a headset — also offer technical improvements over other solutions in the market. The micro OLED panels, co-developed by Panasonic and Kopin, are extremely high resolution with almost no hint of the “screen-door effect” that plagues most VR hardware. They’re also the first VR glasses to support HDR, which was particularly impressive during a CG demo of the interior of a Japanese temple, with light realistically bouncing off golden decorations.

Panasonic has made use of its own audio technology in the headset, with Technics drivers in the earbuds providing rich, dynamic sound. The company says it also used optical designs from the Lumix camera division and similar signal processing technologies as found in its TVs and Blu-ray players.

The prototype unit I tried had some clear limitations. The micro OLED panels were smaller than they could have been, resulting in a squarer image with a lower viewing angle than traditional VR headsets. The glasses were also a little front-heavy and slid down my nose whenever I tilted forward; this wasn’t helped by the cables running directly out of the eyepieces to a gaming PC. A non-functioning mockup of the envisaged final product, which I also got to wear, solved these problems by being significantly lighter and running a single USB-C cable through the end of one of the glasses’ arms.

Panasonic is unlikely to ever sell these glasses as a consumer product. Instead, it’s pointing to commercial applications that are likely to spring up alongside the rollout of 5G networks, such as virtual travel and VR sports. Japanese companies are talking about this sort of thing a lot this year, given the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the fact that 5G services are yet to launch in the country.

But my main takeaway from the demo was that hey, turns out it’s possible to make VR glasses that are both better quality and with a better form factor. It might not make for a practical consumer product just yet, but it’s an intriguing look at a step that could make VR technology more appealing to a mainstream audience.

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2020-01-09 08:00:00Z
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Samsung Galaxy S11/Galaxy S20 official cases listed by UK retailer - Android Authority

Ice Universe

Now that we know the official launch date for the Samsung Galaxy S11 A.K.A the Galaxy S20 series, more details are emerging about the phones almost on a daily basis. The latest information comes from UK online retailer MobileFun. The outlet claims to have a list of all the official case options for the Galaxy S11/S20 trio of smartphones.

The three Samsung Galaxy S series models listed by MobileFun include: Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

While most official cases for the upcoming Galaxy flagships seem similar to those of the Galaxy S10 series, there are a few notable exceptions.

Looks like Samsung is making a new addition to its accessories lineup with cases made from Kvadrat. It is a tightly woven textile like the one found on Google’s fabric cases for the Pixel phones. According to MobileFun, only the Galaxy S20 Ultra will get the Kvadrat case option. It will be made available in three colors —green, red, and gray.

Another noteworthy addition is that of new sky blue color cases. A sky blue render of the upcoming Galaxy Buds Plus was also leaked a few days back. This suggests that Samsung could introduce sky blue as a new colorway for its 2020 flagships.

Other color options for cases include: black, white, gray, pink, red, navy blue, and silver. You can view the full list of official Samsung Galaxy S11/Galaxy S20 cases here.

Pricing of the cases is also in line with last year’s offerings. They range from £17.99 to £59.99 (~$22 to $77) for different models and colors.

Sadly, no images have been made available for any of the cases. Guess we’ll only know more when Samsung announces the phones in February or if more leaks happen before that. We’ll bet our money on the latter.

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2020-01-09 06:24:26Z
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Samsung keeps the removable battery alive with new XCover Pro smartphone - The Verge

Samsung’s new Galaxy XCover Pro is a rugged smartphone that features a removable battery, a feature that’s almost unheard of in a modern phone. So, if you’re prepared enough, you can easily swap out the phone’s 4,050mAh battery with a fully charged spare when its power runs dry. The device was technically launched last week in Finland, but Samsung did it so quietly that at least one report had it pegged as an unannounced handset.

Away from its removable battery, the real focus of the handset is its rugged design that’s meant to be able to survive being used out in the elements. WinFuture.de reports that it’s got an IP68 dust and water-resistance rating, can survive falls of up to 1.5 meters (roughly 4.9 feet), and that its touchscreen works even when wet or when you’re wearing gloves. Additionally, a press release on Samsung’s Swedish website says that the phone comes with a barcode scanner and has two programmable buttons.

Otherwise, the Galaxy XCover Pro’s specs wouldn’t look out of place on a standard midrange device, with a 6.3-inch 1080p LCD display, Exynos 9611 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It’s got dual rear cameras, including a main 25-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle, while on the front there’s a single 13-megapixel selfie camera contained within the display’s hole-punch cutout. Unfortunately, it seems to ship with Android Pie, rather than the more up-to-date Android 10.

Samsung’s Galaxy XCover Pro will be available starting at the end of the month across parts of Europe, including Finland and Sweden, for €499 (about $554). No US release has been announced yet.

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2020-01-08 16:39:15Z
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Sonos’ Google lawsuit says what every smaller tech company was thinking: working with big tech sucks - The Verge

It’s the first “official” day of CES, when glitzy keynotes are replaced with grungy, sweaty crowds shuffling from booth to booth set up on the hideous carpets of the Las Vegas show floor. I love it.

I intentionally kept my calendar as open as possible so I could go experience the full spectrum of what’s on tap here this year. I saw everything from the neon-lit horde in Samsung City (what we call its massive booth) to the locker-room-smelling funk of “Eureka Park,” where the tiniest of businesses rent the tiniest of kiosks, all crammed together by the thousands.

Employees from every part of that spectrum are out tonight and I feel very confident in saying that many of them are raising a toast in thanks to a company that isn’t here: Sonos.

As often happens at CES, the biggest news of CES didn’t happen at CES and yet was nevertheless custom designed for maximum impact at CES: Sonos has sued Google for allegedly stealing smart speaker tech.

The New York Times story that broke the news contains many eye-popping details if you’ve followed the saga of getting the Google Assistant working on Sonos speakers. It was a process that took seemingly forever, and despite asking many, many times why it took so long, nobody could give a satisfactory answer for why.

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I asked Google for comment on the Sonos suit and got the same one as before, however this time with a new line, emphasized below:

Over the years, we have had numerous ongoing conversations with Sonos about both companies’ IP rights and we are disappointed that Sonos brought these lawsuits instead of continuing negotiations in good faith. Google’s technology was developed independently by Google — it was not copied from Sonos. We dispute these claims and will defend them vigorously.

That new line is Google explicitly saying it didn’t copy Sonos’ technology, but it doesn’t address Sonos’ claims that it told Google it was infringing Sonos’ patents four times since 2016. And not copying something on purpose doesn’t mean you haven’t infringed the patents, especially if the patent owner keeps telling you there’s a problem.

Nilay Patel has pointed out that Sonos has already won a case against Denon with at least two of these patents. So I wouldn’t expect either Google or Sonos to stand down quickly on this lawsuit. I am very far from qualified to talk about the merits of the lawsuit itself, but I think the reason the news hit so hard is that it tonally feels right.

Likely because it could affect the proceedings, Sonos executives weren’t directly quoted in the NYT outside of a prepared statement from CEO Patrick Spence. They seem to have spoken bluntly with Jack Nicas and Daisuke Wakabayashi about what’s been going on, however. This paragraph in particular rings true to me:

Like many companies under the thumb of Big Tech, Sonos groused privately for years. But over the past several months, Patrick Spence, Sonos’s chief executive, decided he couldn’t take it anymore.

This (in addition to some off-the-record comments from another company’s executive from that were relayed to me) is why I am quite confident that a lot of people are thanking Sonos for forcefully saying (forcefully suing?) what they’ve all been thinking for a long time.

This all relates to the theme I wrote about earlier this week: that CES is seen to not matter because only smaller companies bother trying to make a splash here anymore. Over the course of years, more and more types of gadgets have become vassals of an ecosystem run by a bigger company.

This trend has only accelerated with the rise of digital assistants. Where before the gadgets that were beholden to big platforms tended to be phone accessories, everything is now supposed to work with Alexa, the Google Assistant, and Siri.

So CES is, in some ways, a convention where tens of thousands of people from thousands of companies meet to show off how they intend to survive in a world ruled by the big tech companies. No wonder it’s less relevant than ever.

Will this open a floodgate of other companies coming out and saying publicly what they’ve felt privately, that they’re increasingly spending their time thinking about Amazon and Google instead of their customers?

In some places, smaller tech companies already are. They’re just speaking in places with stronger regulatory protections to curb Big Tech, places like the European Union. Spotify’s lawsuit against Apple’s App Store “tax” comes to mind.

Here in the US, the step before going public is likely all of those people talking to each other about it, probably over drinks in Las Vegas. Sonos perfectly timed its announcement so that it would be the talk of the show, one hour before the doors opened. Usually at CES, the awkward thing you say when you don’t know what to say is “How is the show for you? Seen anything good?” Yesterday, it was “Did you see the news about Sonos? Whoa.”

The other thing that rings true in the NYT story is the detail that Google told Sonos it would pull Google Assistant support if Sonos enabled simultaneous wake words. That’s the feature which lets speakers listen for both “Alexa” and “Okay Google” at the same time. Google really comes off looking like a bully.

Amazon doesn’t come out of this story cleanly, either. Apparently Amazon also threatened to pull support at one point, and according to the NYT, the only reason Sonos didn’t also sue Amazon was that it can’t afford to take both companies on at once.

It all could put a radically different spin on Amazon’s motivations for forming an alliance to get companies to make their assistants to interoperate. An alliance Google hasn’t joined, by the way, and neither have Apple or Samsung.

In an interview with Chris Welch of The Verge last night, Amazon hardware boss Dave Limp said that “we would never ask any company for exclusivity.” But he dodged a bit when asked if Echoes hurt Sonos’ chances in the market, saying:

As long as they and others continue to differentiate, customers will find them. It’s not about at any given time, a price point or a set of features. It’s about how do you define your brand and what your brand stands for and how it’s differentiated. And I’m very optimistic that Sonos can navigate that path.

Chris’ full interview with Dave Limp will be up on The Verge later this morning, keep an eye out for it.

Four years ago I wrote a piece warning that the move to digital assistants would mean that a lot more of what we see “online” (if that term even applies to talking to a smart speaker) would be determined by backroom deals. It turns out I wasn’t pessimistic enough: those same deals are also determining what kind of gadgets get made and what they’re allowed to do in the first place.

It’s no wonder so many of the people here at CES feel like they need a drink.

---

CES News

└ Listen to The Vergecast’s first CES 2020 episode

We’ll do a couple of Vergecast chat shows this week -- this was the first and only one we did live. Always love doing a podcast in front of a live audience. Thank you to all who came!

Also: I know I promised category roundup and they’re coming, but have decided to leave them to our reporters who are best suited to each one. In the meantime, here’s what happened yesterday.

└ I tasted Impossible Pork at CES 2020

Well, not me. Liz Lopatto and Becca Farsace did. Apparently it’s pretty accurate but really salty. Don’t miss the video.

└ Inside Intel’s Ghost Canyon NUC, the incredibly small modular desktop PC

Intel is taking two different ideas it’s been working on for awhile and crammed them together to make something genuinely interesting. The idea is to make your CPU and motherboard as easily replaceable as any other part. Intel has some other manufacturers on board with the idea, too.

└ Razer’s first desktop gaming PC is the stunning modular Tomahawk

...like Razer, for example.

└ The best part of the OnePlus Concept One isn’t the disappearing camera

Add another concept to the pile I wrote about yesterday. Really happy with how this video turned out.

└ Delta will add a ‘binge button’ to its inflight entertainment screens

Everyone, including me, is assuming that dozens of people trying to pair Bluetooth headphones to their seatback entertainment systems will be a disaster. But what if it just sort of turns out to not be that bad? It’s not like Bluetooth pairing is a wonderful experience anyway.

Delta recently started retrofitting its planes with new wireless seatback screens, which frees up more room underneath each seat. These new screens will also allow passengers to use Bluetooth headphones during their flights. ... The screens will also be able to mirror your smartphone, and Delta says other new features will be added at a quicker pace than in the past.

└ The Google Assistant will be able to read articles out loud in 42 languagesandwill finally let you schedule actions for later

Phone accessories are still a thing

└ Insta360’s One R shape-shifts between a 360 and an action camera

Becca Farsace has been using this completely modular and completely endearing camera system for a little while. You can swap out camera modules, adjust the screen to face the direction you want, and take it underwater to boot.

Pretty much every modular gadget in recent memory has been a bust. For whatever reason, I feel like this one makes enough sense that it could have a shot. It’s really quite clever. Becca has full impressions of what it’s like to use.

└ Razer made another Switch-like mobile gamepad, but this one works with Android and iOS

Gamepads you attach to your phone have until recently felt like weird curiosities. They still are in some ways, but with Apple Arcade, Microsoft xCloud, PlayStation Remote Play, and Google Stadia maybe that could change.

└ PopSockets made its own wireless charging pad so you don’t have to take the PopSocket off your phone

I know know if this will get me to become a PopSocket person, but I do know that the wireless charging hassles was blocking me from becoming one before today. Really good idea and glad to see the designs aren’t boring.

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2020-01-08 12:00:00Z
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Major TikTok Security Flaws Found - The New York Times

TEL AVIV — TikTok, the smartphone app beloved by teenagers and used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, had serious vulnerabilities that would have allowed hackers to manipulate user data and reveal personal information, according to research published Wednesday by Check Point, a cybersecurity company in Israel.

The weaknesses would have allowed attackers to send TikTok users messages that carried malicious links. Once users clicked on the links, attackers would have been able to take control of their accounts, including uploading videos or gaining access to private videos. A separate flaw allowed Check Point researchers to retrieve personal information from TikTok user accounts through the company’s website.

“The vulnerabilities we found were all core to TikTok’s systems,” said Oded Vanunu, Check Point’s head of product vulnerability research.

TikTok learned about the conclusions of Check Point’s research on Nov. 20 and said it had fixed all of the vulnerabilities by Dec. 15.

The app, whose parent company is based in Beijing, has been called “the last sunny corner on the internet.” It allows users to post short, creative videos, which can easily be shared on various apps.

It has also become a target of lawmakers and regulators who are suspicious of Chinese technology. Several branches of the United States military have barred personnel from having the app on government-issued smartphones. The vulnerabilities discovered by Check Point are likely to compound those concerns.

TikTok has exploded in popularity over the past two years, becoming a rare Chinese internet success story in the West. It has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times, according to the data firm Sensor Tower. Near the end of 2019, the research firm said TikTok appeared to be on its way to more downloads for the year than better-known apps from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snap.

But new apps like TikTok offer opportunities for hackers looking to target services that haven’t been tested through years of security research and real-world attacks. And many of its users are young and perhaps not mindful of security updates.

“TikTok is committed to protecting user data,” said Luke Deshotels, the head of TikTok’s security team.

“Like many organizations, we encourage responsible security researchers to privately disclose zero day vulnerabilities to us,” he added. “Before public disclosure, Check Point agreed that all reported issues were patched in the latest version of our app. We hope that this successful resolution will encourage future collaboration with security researchers.”

Mr. Deshotels said there was no indication in customer records that a breach or an attack had occurred.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is one of the world’s most valuable tech start-ups. But TikTok’s popularity and its roots in China, where no large corporation can thrive outside the good graces of the government, have prompted intense scrutiny of the app’s content policies and data practices.

American lawmakers have expressed concern that TikTok censors material that the Chinese government does not like and allows Beijing to collect user data. TikTok has denied both accusations. The company also says that although ByteDance’s headquarters are in Beijing, regional managers for TikTok have significant autonomy over operations.

Check Point’s intelligence unit examined how easy it would be to hack into TikTok user accounts. It found that various functions of the app, including sending video files, had security issues.

“I would expect these types of vulnerabilities in a company like TikTok, which is probably more focused on tremendous growth, and on building new features for their users, rather than security,” said Christoph Hebeisen, the head of research at Lookout, another cybersecurity company.

One vulnerability allowed attackers to use a link in TikTok’s messaging system to send users messages that appeared to come from TikTok. The Check Point researchers tested the weakness by sending themselves links with malware that let them take control of accounts, uploading content, deleting videos and making private videos public.

The researchers also found that TikTok’s site was vulnerable to a type of attack that injects malicious code into trusted websites. Check Point researchers were able to retrieve users’ personal information, including names and birth dates.

Check Point sent a summary of its findings to the Department of Homeland Security in the United States.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel that reviews investment deals on national security grounds, is also looking into ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly, a lip-syncing app that the company later merged into TikTok. That deal set the stage for TikTok’s rapid rise in the United States and Europe.

There are also concerns about the company’s data privacy practices. In February, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against TikTok, saying it illegally collected personal information from minors. The complaint claimed that Musical.ly had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires websites and online companies to direct children under 13 to get parental consent before the companies collect personal information.

TikTok agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle the complaint and said it would abide by COPPA. TikTok is still being investigated by the British Information Commissioner’s Office to determine if it violated European privacy laws that offer special protections to minors and their data.

Ronen Bergman reported from Tel Aviv, Sheera Frenkel from San Francisco, and Raymond Zhong from Hong Kong.

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2020-01-08 09:00:00Z
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AMD discusses the world's first 7nm mobile CPU -

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2020-01-08 07:39:00Z
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