AfterDawn: Tech news

Latest news

AfterDawn: News

Microsoft is separating search and Cortana in Windows 10

Written by Matti Robinson @ 17 Jan 2019 1:11

Microsoft is separating search and Cortana in Windows 10 Microsoft has revealed some upcoming features of Windows 10 on their official Windows blog. The update log is for Windows Insider test build but will soon be available to the greater public as well.

The features it showcases on the blog post are for Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18317, and are expected to hit the final Windows 10 update later this spring.

The largest change is separating Cortana from the search box. Microsoft is taking Cortana entirely out of the Windows 10 search box found next to the Start menu.

Windows 10 search will from now on be solely used for text search and a separate Cortana function next to the search bar can be used for voice search.

Other updates include improvements to Start menu stability (works now as a separate executable), drag and drop function to fonts tool and of course loads of smaller improvements and bug fixes.




AfterDawn: News

Leak reveals new, dark secrets about Android Q

Written by Matti Robinson @ 17 Jan 2019 11:37

Leak reveals new, dark secrets about Android Q The most recent version of Google's mobile operating systems, Android Pie, is still very much in the minority on Android devices, but we've already gotten past it and are getting leaks about the next version.

For those of us that have a Pixel or a phone from a manufacturer that truly respects Android updates, there are some exciting news.

New information about the upcoming Android Q reveals a few highly anticipated features. XDA-Developers reveals that the developer version of Android Q includes system-wide dark mode.

The feature has previously been rumored but this seems to all but confirm it's going to be on Android Q. Of course, Google could still axe the feature as Android Q is months away.

Dark mode turns the entire OS into a darker themed, and in OLED devices more battery friendly, Android phone. While you already can change the theme to a dark version, the new version will improve the support across the OS.

Some updates revealed by the developer version have to do with security. According to XDA, Google is making also system-wide changes to privacy.

One of these changes is to allow "only while the app is in use" permissions.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

App sales goes up thanks to Netflix and Battle Royale games

Written by Matti Robinson @ 17 Jan 2019 11:14

App sales goes up thanks to Netflix and Battle Royale games Smartphone sales might have peaked already but app usage is likely going up for a few years still.

Research firm App Annie has released the most recent figures about app sales and downloads, and there are some interesting trends as well as predictable results.

China has become the dominating force in app markets as it became in smartphone sales. Nearly half of all app downloads are done by the Chinese, even though Google Play isn't available.

Chinese were responsible for 40% of money spent on apps. Worldwide people used just over $100 billion on a total of 194 billion app downloads.

Among video streaming YouTube took the first spot globally by time spent, but only seventh by revenue. Netflix, as expected, made the most money of any app.

While Netflix definitely made its fair share of money, worldwide people spent 74% of their app money in games. A lion's share was shared by global Battle Royale hits PUBG Mobile and Fortnite.

The trend is still clearly up, even if smartphone sales is slowing down, and app sales is up 75% since 2016 worldwide.




AfterDawn: News

Mastercard fights automatic charges at conclusion of free trials

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jan 2019 8:15

Mastercard fights automatic charges at conclusion of free trials Mastercard has changed rules for merchants that offer free trials to consumers in order to prevent consumers from being charged for services they don't want.

A lot of merchants offer free trials for subscription services so that potential customers can test them out before paying for them. However, at the end of such trials, merchants can often begin charging subscription fees automatically, which can be a surprise to some consumers.

To fight this common occurrence, Mastercard has changed rules for merchants that offer time-limited free trials to consumers. Merchants will be required to gain cardholder approval at the conclusion of the trial before they start billing.

Either by e-mail or SMS, merchants must send the cardholder the transaction amount, payment date, merchant name along with explicit instructions on how to cancel a trial. Each subsequent payment must also result in a receipt being issued by email or text message with clear instructions on how to cancel the service if the consumer so desires.

In addition, all charges that appear on the cardholder's statement must now include the merchant website URL or the phone number of the store where the cardholder made the purchase.




AfterDawn: News

Massive data breach: 773 million accounts, with passwords, leaked from LinkedIn, Adobe, more - Test if your account is safe

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 17 Jan 2019 4:16

Massive data breach: 773 million accounts, with passwords, leaked from LinkedIn, Adobe, more - Test if your account is safe Troy Hunt has set up up a searchable database that contains a whopping 773 million breached login details. The data has been put together by combining various high profile data breaches from the past years, including the data breaches to LinkedIn and Adobe

The database that he calls "Collection #1" includes email addresses and passwords totalling 2,692,818,238 rows. Yes, you got that one right, more than two and a half billion details. When all the duplicates removed, it still leaves more than one billion login details (email address and password combination) to the database. And there are more than 700 million unique email addresses there, so some email addresses were breached in more than one data leak, with different password.

Mr. Hunt, who works as a regional director for Microsoft got the data from popular anonymous file sharing service MEGA and its origins, according to him, point to a popular hacker forum where the set of files is distributed openly among the hackers. Dataset in question is 87 gigabytes in size and has more than 12'000 files in it. He details the project in his own blog.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Apple: iPhone battery replacements went from 1-2 million a quarter to 11 million

Written by Matti Robinson @ 16 Jan 2019 12:24

Apple: iPhone battery replacements went from 1-2 million a quarter to 11 million After the so called Batterygate, Apple started offering cheaper battery replacements for iPhone. Now report says over 10 million iPhone batteries have been replaced.

Batterygate was a controversy over Apple throttling the performance of iPhones after the battery started wearing out. Complaints in the social media pushed Apple to renew their software policy as well as offer a cheaper replacement option.

Battery replacement prices for iPhones up until iPhone 6 were dropped from $79 to $29. Combined with better knowledge of the deterioration of battery capacity and performance, even Apple was surprised how many people replaced their iPhone batteries.

According to Tim Cook, this even had an effect on the bottom line last quarter, although it probably wasn't the most significant contributor. Some people might have just replaced the battery instead buying a brand new iPhone.

Now, according to Daring Fireball, Apple has revealed in a meeting that they replaced 11 million iPhones under the $29 program. Usually Apple replaces batteries for around 1-2 million devices in a quarter.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Apple looked into Samsung as the provider of iPhone's 5G

Written by Matti Robinson @ 16 Jan 2019 9:13

Apple looked into Samsung as the provider of iPhone's 5G Apple is considering a couple different manufacturers for 5G chips, among which Samsung is an option.

The information was revealed from the court documents from patent dispute between Apple and chipmaker Qualcomm, reports Reuters.

Testimony by Apple VP of Procurement Tony Blevins discloses that Apple has been in talks with Samsung and Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek about 5G modems for an upcoming iPhone.

Currently Apple is receiving modems from Intel for their most recent iPhones after patent disputes have turned trade relationships with former partner Qualcomm sour.

Apple has stated that it doesn't want to rely on a single component provider, and as Qualcomm is not an option for upcoming iPhones they've been looking into both Samsung and MediaTek as options for Intel's chips.

Rumors late last year claimed that Apple has pushed 5G adoption back, and thus wouldn't be bringing the new wireless technology to iPhones this year.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Netflix raised prices in the U.S. for all tiers

Written by Matti Robinson @ 15 Jan 2019 12:18

Netflix raised prices in the U.S. for all tiers Netflix is a fairly affordable way to watch TV, but it was even cheaper a few years back.

Actually, the streaming giant has been steadily increasing the prices in the U.S. and abroad. Now another price hike has been implemented, which means a dollar or two more for every subscription, the number of which total 58 million in the United States.

Previously Netflix's Basic plan was sold for $7.99 a month, but after the most recent price hike it goes to $8.99. The second tier, Standard, is now $12.99 compared to $10.99 earlier, and the elite tier, Premium, also goes up two bucks to $15.99 from $13.99.

A 13 to 18 percent rise across the board is fairly significant, and in fact its the largest of four price hikes in streaming service's history.

Netflix's increasing Originals production, including shows and movies of all stripes, has put pressure on prices. One can assume that the spiral will continue, and further price hikes are in the future for other regions.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Qualcomm refused to sell Apple iPhone modems

Written by Matti Robinson @ 15 Jan 2019 11:42

Qualcomm refused to sell Apple iPhone modems Ever since iPhone, and perhaps even before, Apple has been fairly disputatious in the court rooms when it comes to patents.

For years we witnessed the fight between Samsung and Apple, and now Cupertino's own tech giant is challenging an American chipmaker Qualcomm to patent disputes.

The disputes have unearthed some new information about their trade relationship, and how toxic it was already last year, reported by CNET.

Apple boss Jeff Williams has testified that Apple tried to buy modems for iPhone XS and XR from both Intel and Qualcomm, but the latter refused to sell them the component.

When one of the options was off the table, Apple had to rely on Intel. Furthermore Apple's VP of Procurement, Tony Blevins, assured that Apple doesn't want to be in a situation where it has to rely on a single component provider.

Williams' testimony revealed that Apple pays Qualcomm $7.50 per device for royalties, which they consider unreasonable.

Up until iPhone 7 Qualcomm was the only provider of modems for Apple's iPhone. With iPhone 7 Apple had both Qualcomm and Intel chips and now Apple is using solely Intel modems.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

HBO reveals the first teaser for final season of Game of Thrones

Written by Matti Robinson @ 15 Jan 2019 11:16

HBO reveals the first teaser for final season of Game of Thrones We know you've been hooked on Game of Thrones since the beginning nearly eight years ago. And now you are waiting for the ultimate climax both exhilarated and woeful.

The last hurrah will begin on April 14, but HBO has decided that it's the time for the first proper footage of the upcoming season to be shared.

The first trailer for Game of Thrones season eight was shared on YouTube on Sunday, and without further ado, here's the minute and a half teaser called Crypts of Winterfell.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

iPhone Storage Almost Full? Here's how to free up some space

Written by Matti Robinson @ 14 Jan 2019 8:08

iPhone Storage Almost Full? Here's how to free up some space If you happen to own a 16 GB, or even a 32 GB, version of any iPhone or iPad, you are probably familiar with the Storage Almost Full notification. This might happen even as you are taking an all important photo, and it's something even Google has made fun of in its unlimited cloud storage ads.

So here are some ways you can make some room for new content on your iPhones and iPads.

Messages, media, and messaging apps


Apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, the two most popular ones around the globe, are used to share pictures and videos. This might over time fill your device's storage as they are saved for further use. However, you often don't need these files and there's a way to get rid of them.

You should head to Photos app and delete all unused pictures that are stored by apps. While you are at it, you might want to go through camera roll too, you might have tons of failed photos and dozens of same shot, both of which you probably never will use.

Even after deleting the bad ones storing photos in the cloud is a good way to free up space from your device.

The aforementioned Google Photos cloud service works also on iOS and offers unlimited storage for photos.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Google backed in 'right to be forgotten' limits

Written by James Delahunty @ 10 Jan 2019 7:00

Google backed in 'right to be forgotten' limits Google has been backed by an adviser to the European Union's top court on where the Search provider would have to remove search results under the 'right to be forgotten.'

The 'right to be forgotten' is the right of Europeans to petition Search engines to remove search results under certain circumstances. For example, if inaccurate information was published about a citizen that was damaging, then that citizen can petition search providers to remove it from its results.

Google has been skeptical of the entire concept from the start and ended up in a dispute with French regulators in 2016. The data regulator CNIL fined Google €100,000 because it did not remove information across national boundaries. Google appealed the fine, initiating an examination.

The Search giant warned that if it were forced to remove results globally, it could help less democratic regimes to enforce censorship.

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, acting as an adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) backed Google and advised that Google should not have to remove information from search results globally because of the right to be forgotten. Szpunar finds that the right to be forgotten should not affect search results outside of the European Union.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Tim Cook: Apple Watch and wearables bigger than iPod ever was

Written by Matti Robinson @ 09 Jan 2019 10:06

Tim Cook: Apple Watch and wearables bigger than iPod ever was Apple CEO Tim Cook has been blamed for not bringing in new hardware innovation that would reinvent Apple, like Steve Jobs did.

Obviously it's hard to follow Steve Jobs as a CEO, and the products he brought us, like the iPhone and the iPod. However, Tim Cook has defended himself and his record with hardware innovation on CNBC.

In an interview with Jim Cramer, Tim Cook pulled revenue data to support his point. According to figures Apple no longer shares, products like Apple Watch and AirPods are huge successes.

In terms of revenue wearables have already surpassed the golden days of iPod. According to Cook, Apple Watch and AirPods generate now 50 percent more revenue than iPod at its peak.

So far wearables has produced revenue which is 4 to 6 times the revenue of iPod after the same amount of time after launch.

He claims to make no future predictions but you can hear a definite tone which points to declining iPod sales and increasing importance of wearables.

One could argue that as iPod gave a boost to the company, like Cook acknowledges it in the interview, so must wearables do for the company now.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Samsung follows Apple with declining profits of its own

Written by Matti Robinson @ 08 Jan 2019 12:10

Samsung follows Apple with declining profits of its own Apple had to issue a rare warning about its forthcoming quarterly results due to weak sales of iPhones. It seems like tech giants are in same difficult waters as Samsung reports similar concerns.

According to Apple, the problems were originating from China where economic growth had softened which in turn affected iPhone's sales figures. The culprit might loosely be the same, ie. China, although Samsung's problem wasn't smartphone sales.

However, the Korean conglomerate expects a dramatic decline from previous year in both revenue and operating profit, Bloomberg reports.

Samsung expects late 2018 quarter to produce a revenue of 59 trillion won, down 11% from previous year. Even worse, operating income declined nearly 30 percent year-over-year to 10.8 trillion.

One major reason for Samsung's slowdown is reduced demand for memory chips. This is likely to some extent due to the troublesome trade relations between China and the United States.

Even though smartphone sales isn't the reason for such a dramatic decline for the company's bottom line, Samsung is losing ground to Chinese competitors, who are managing to produce competitive products at lower price points.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

These keyboard shortcuts every Windows 10 user should know

Written by Matti Robinson @ 07 Jan 2019 4:25

These keyboard shortcuts every Windows 10 user should know Most Windows users know at least a few common keyboard shortcuts that save some time and effort when opening up apps or performing tasks.

However, there are dozens of such shortcuts that can aid Windows 10 users and improve the efficiency, especially when you have to work on said platform.

We've gathered some of the more important shortcuts here that have helped us be more productive but you might not be aware of. Without further ado.

Windows + A: Open/close Notification Center

Windows + I: Open Windows Settings

Windows + D: Reveal/unreveal desktop

Windows + X: Open context menu (right mouse button) of Start Menu

Windows + R: Open Run dialog

Windows + L: Lock device

Windows + P: Choose screen projection (for external displays)

Windows + Pause: Open System information

Windows + number: Open application from the task bar (number from the left)

Windows + arrow: Snap windows to left or right edge, or minimize/maximize it

Windows + Tab: Open Task View (includes all windows and desktops)

Windows + Ctrl + D: Create a new virtual desktop

Windows + Ctrl + F4: Close active virtual desktop

Read more...



  Newer entries Older entries  

News archive