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Google's Chrome has been the market leader in web browsers, especially the desktop versions, for a long time, and for a very good reason. Frequent updates and Google's track record of bringing new features while not forgetting to keep it speedy and secure has been the winning formula.

Now the search giant is readying a new update that will bring an updated look to the browser. The early version, called the Canary, has revealed that Google is moving towards a UI look with rounded edges.

This look, that resembles earlier Firefox builds from few years back, also features a darker tone for tab bar. There's also a new + button on Windows and Linux on the left side of the tab bar.

Unfortunately at this point we don't know when exactly this new UI look is going to hit the stable version. If you'd like to move to it already you can install the Chrome Canary v68 and change the options from chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md to "refresh."

Apple has today issued a worldwide battery replacement program, or a recall, for one of its MacBook Pro models. The computer in question is the 13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar.

According to the company some of the laptops have a component that has been deemed prone to failure. The component is only said to be found in some more specific versions but cannot be entirely isolated so the recall is issued to all 13-inch MacBook Pro models without Touch Bar that have been produces between October 2016 and October 2017.

While Apple denies that there is any risk of safety involved, one should definitely return the device to be repaired. The repair is largely as simple as switching the battery, but other issues with the laptop might have to be fixed before the replacement.

You can check whether your MacBook Pro is indeed part of the replacement program by visit Apple's official site. In order to check the status you'll need the serial number which can be found from the Apple menu item "About This Mac."

Google's mobile operating system is the most popular around the world, but it is not without faults, far from it. Many of you are familiar with the Android's fragmentation problem, also known as "where are the damn updates?!", but there are some other key issue too.

One of them is something that is perhaps not discussed enough, the messaging mess. For iPhone users both SMS and instant messages are as simple as 1, 2, 3 – you use iMessage and that's it.

On Android over the years you've been through dozens of applications that designed for different purposes by different teams for different kinds of people. Finally Google has decided to call it quits and just go with what Apple has determined to be the best practice.

The best practice, of course, is the way of the iMessage – and don't get me wrong there are no perfect solutions as will become evident. When using iMessage you'll send messages and pictures over the internet for blue dot contacts (with iOS device) and over the cellular network for green dot contacts (non-iOS users).

The same will apply to Google's new messaging app that is called Chat, according to a scoop by The Verge. Chat will be released somewhere between 6 and 12 months from now, and will be replacing Google's current messaging apps on all Android devices.

For many years, the Autumn release of new iOS operating system update has also meant that at least one of the iPhone models will be cut off from receiving the latest OS version, officially killing the product's support.

As the inevitable iOS 12 update is approaching, the next in line to be retired would be iPhone 5S, released back in 2013.

However, it seems that there's going to be a change to the familiar pattern and none of the iPhone models would be cut off this time around. At least if believe this Reddit discussion where a redditor had found out that latest WebKit tests specifically state that iPhone 5S running on iOS 12 is part of the test suite.

If true, the change would make iPhone 5S the most updated iPhone model ever. It has gone through five major iOS updates and if iOS 12 really comes to it, it would be the phone's sixth major iOS version.

iPhone 5S was released in September, 2013. If the iOS 12 really supports iPhone 5S, the model's lifespan would be more than half a decade.

Perhaps nothing is a bigger focus point for technology giants these days than artificial intelligence. Companies try to integrate smart, and often learning, systems to almost all facets of modern technology.

Google has been at the forefront of this AI revolution for years, and one of the more important achievements is the Google Assistant. Google Assistant is of course an ever-learning voice assistant just like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, or Samsung's Bixby.

You can talk to Google Assistant nowadays via Google Home devices but more importantly on hundreds of millions of Android phones. The company has been looking to integrate Assistant more seamlessly with smartphones, but traditionally you'd have to first wait for the features to be applied to their own Pixel line of smartphones.

However, according to CNET, the second largest Korean manufacturer, LG, is about to release the first ever phone, dubbed LG G7 ThinQ, to feature a Google Assistant button. Then again, Google's last year's Pixel 2 phones have a squeeze sensing feature that opens up the Assistant.

Netflix revealed their quarterly results this week, and even most of the more positive analysts didn't guess how well the three month period has gone for the streaming giant. Adding around 7.4 million new subscribers it was a whole million ahead of Wall Street estimates.

This means that Netflix's global user base has grown to around 125 million even when the company has in the recent past increased some of its pricing. However, Netflix is definitely not without competition these days, and Jeff Bezos wants to makes this clear.

Following the Netflix reports, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos unexpectedly revealed some stats about Prime memberships. Previously the company has stayed quiet about the subscriber counts but Bezos decided to share with investors that Prime subscribers have surpassed 100 million.

One doesn't know if the sudden urge to reveal membership details came because of Netflix's recent announcements but it does put Amazon's prowess into perspective. Obviously Prime membership offers much more than the Grand Tour toting video streaming service, which is continuing to invest in original content.

While Amazon isn't all in on the video streaming quite like Netflix and its $8 billion investment in programming, it definitely has potential to make Netflix's future seem a bit more uncomfortable.

Russia has banned popular messaging app Telegram and tries to block it as well as it can. This week, Russia blocked tens of thousands of IP addresses in order to block its citizens' access to Telegram - and failed.

At first, Russia's communication authority Roskomnadzor blocked tens of thousands of IP addresses that belong to Amazon's cloud services. Later, Roskomnadzor blocked yet another bunch of IP addresses, thus time those that are used by Google's cloud services.

The result?

Now Russians cannot access to thousands of unrelated web services, online games and more. Even some Russian banks are on the block list.

And yes, Roskomnadzor own website was hosted on one of the blocked IP addresses, too, so it wont work either..

Things that @roscomnadzor successfully blocked:
✔Their own website
✔and their monitoring devices (Ревизор)
✔Google Cloud
✔Amazon AWS
✔Payment processors
✔Retail store chain
✔Gett ridesharing app
✔National social network OK

What @roscomnadzor didn't block:
❌Telegram

— Manual (@CatVsHumanity) 18. huhtikuuta 2018

Samsung has released a weird, weird little phone. Company's latest smartphone doesn't have any form of Internet connectivity at all.

The phone, Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro simply cannot be connected to the Net. It has decent 2600mAh battery, 1.5GB RAM and 16GB internal storage and decent 8Mpix camera (and 2Mpix front camera).

Oddity is aimed at Samsung's home market, Korea. Company targets elderly people with the product, trying to make the phone easier to grasp than most smart phones. Samsung also suggests that the phone could be perfect for students who want to avoid interruptions through social media and instant messaging.

Phone retails for appx €150 / $185, which seems bit steep for a phone without any form of online capabilities. But there's a unique option there, too: Samsung promises to give full refund to those who purchase a more expensive Samsung phone after the school year in Korea ends.

In the arena of television and media, cable companies and Netflix are rivalries of the most epic proportion, or so you'd think.

For many of the Netflix generation there aren't much to gain from old-fashioned cable television while cable companies want to protect their TV profits with expensive subscriptions.

Comcast, Spectrum (formerly known as Time Warner), and others are bending over backwards trying to keep their customers. Bundling TV with internet, and even home phone, is the go-to strategy of aforementioned companies.

Now, they've seemed to have accepted defeat and joined Netflix's side, or are at least flirting with the idea. Comcast, the largest of them all, has entered in a partnership with Netflix and is offering the streaming service in a new bundled service package.

Of course cable companies offer internet in addition to TV, and with that internet many choose to watch Netflix. In fact, on the X1 platform nearly half of the users use Netflix actively.

Netflix on the other hand is getting access to millions and millions of potential new customers with not much work on their side, so it seems like a good deal for both of them.

The companies have already been in a partnership via Comcast's X1 platform but now they are ready to expand. Comcast's statements says they are going to offer "new and innovative Xfinity packages, including a Netflix subscription."

In recent years, as physical music media has largely disappeared from use and from stores, there's been one exception that has seemed to cement itself with a surprisingly strong foothold.

While CDs have been crushed by streaming services, people still find use for old vinyl records. Perhaps it is the fact that they are the most tactile, physical media and the opposite of where the mainstream is now.

Austria based company Rebeat Innovation is trying to hit this niche with a new product it has collected $4.8 million in investments for. The technology, dubbed High Definition Vinyl, is said to be a better version of the age old method of listening to music.

The HD vinyl is said to provide a richer, more authentic sounds with higher peak volumes compared to traditional vinyl records, Pitchfork reports. It is unclear how the higher volume is managed but the company says the technology increases the amplitude up to 30 percent.

Most of the largest car manufacturers of the world are developing both autonomous vehicles as well as full electric cars. Both of these are of course the wheelhouse of Tesla, lead by the generation's revolutionary numero uno.

Tesla has been an important player in both respects for years but only after the release of Model 3 (pictured) has it really become a truly dangerous to some of the biggest – and oldest – companies in the world.

However, an affordable electric car has been problematic, to say the least. Tesla is struggling with the production, and ramping it up seems to where it needs to be is posing troubles even Elon Musk didn't expect.

Perhaps Tesla is better at doing higher end cars, and should stick to them?

Well, according to Reuters, as soon as next year Tesla is going to start producing yet another model, and it's not the super car Roadster. The report says that Tesla is looking to start production of a new Model Y before the end of 2019.

Model Y is slated to be Tesla's fifth car model, after Roadster, Model S, Model X, and Model 3. It's a crossover, quite like the Model X, that has some functionality of a SUV but in a more compact body, likely based on Model 3.

Google is planning to do a fairly meaningful user interface revamp to its beloved email service, Gmail, according to a leak by Android Authority. The renovation will include new features that have been used in Google's 2015 launched email service Inbox.

Among these updates Google will introduce smart answers and mute to Gmail, but perhaps more importantly user interface will get a refresh. Nothing major will change, as you might imagine, after all the companies don't want to fix what's not broken and thus no radical changes are usually expected.

Google will move Gmail's interface more towards its Material Design design philosophy most likely familiar from Android. This means turning some buttons into round bubbles and changing some colors, fonts and other minor elements.

Function-wise Gmail will retain everything you've gotten used to, and the bulk of options should be in their own usual places.

Leak doesn't have information when this update would be released but it might be as soon as Google I/O next month. Learn more about the leaked update at Android Authority.

Google is in talks with Nokia to buy their air-to-ground LTE technology, Bloomberg reports. According to the information acquired by Bloomberg, Google's parent company Alphabet wants to expand its current ISP service to new markets.

Nokia has developed a technology called A2G (air-to-ground) which uses mobile broadband connections to connect airplanes to ground cell towers. This means that you don't have to bounce the connections off of satellites. It improves upon both speed and latency of the connection on planes that traditionally use satellites for internet connectivity.

Google has been looking into bringing fast internet connections to flights. Currently the market leader is Gogo Inflight Internet operated by Chicago-based Gogo.

The search giant has been looking for ways to connect people of the world in myriad of ways. One of these is of course Google Fiber, which has been expanding slowly but surely, but also cross-ISP service Profect Fi as well as more experimental connectivity advancements in Project Loon with high-altitude balloons.

AfterDawn's own official Android app has been updated. The new version, v1.10, is now available.

After the initial launch of our own app, we've focused on fixing bugs that have crashed the app in certain cases. Thus, the new version is mostly a quick bugfix to known problems.

The app's stability rate has been bit over 99 percent, but we obviously aim to make the app as stable as possible.

Furthermore, the new version also improves both, search and "news by tag" listings, making them "infinite". Being infinite means that once you reach the bottom of the news list, the app will load more (older) content for the results, allowing you to search through our entire news database of 19 years.

The app is free, doesn't require any specific persmissions and includes all of our news ever released - ever since 1999.

Get it now:

Google only really sells one type of TV product at this moment, albeit in a couple variations. That is of course the immensely popular Chromecast streaming dongle we all know and love.

However, other manufacturers already offer perhaps a more Google-y TV experience than Chromecast already. That is due to the fact that Google has offered its Android TV platform for manufacturers since its inception alongside a now discontinued Nexus Player.

However, Google has been rumored to be releasing a new Android TV product, and that is exactly what we've got for you today. The US regulatory body for communications, FCC, has revealed a product by the name of 4K ATV Stick, manufactured by a Chinese company called Shenzhen SEI Robotics.

Now, it could be just another Android TV device from a no-name Chinese company, but we believe, as do the hawkeyed Ausdroid, that this is in fact the upcoming Google device.

There's a few hints in the pictures provided by the FCC. First and foremost you can't miss the huge Google logo on the front, but perhaps even more importantly the device is fitted with the Google Assistant out of the box.