IFYBRIAN

Some newer laptops recently arrived  at the hands of consumers with Amazon Alexa integration onboard, but now anyone is free to enjoy the same experience on a regular Windows PC. Amazon revealed that its Alexa app is now available as a download on all Windows 10 PCs running the April 2018 Update, allowing for the conveniences of yet another digital assistant. Similar to what is already available with Microsoft’s Cortana, the new Alexa Windows 10 app allows anyone to tap into the power of the virtual assistant to check calendars, play music, and fetch other important information. Anyone running the app can also use their PC to control certain Alexa smart home compatible products including lamps, fans, speakers, and lights. No other extra hardware is required and the download process involves a simple visit to the Microsoft Store on Windows. “No matter where you are, with Alexa for your PC you can always talk to Alexa. Across the street or across the country, Alexa on your PC means A...

Google's Project Treble was created to help fight Android's dirty f-word (fragmentation), by making the update process easier and faster for OEMs. Separating vendor-specific code like SoC drivers out from Android itself was meant to help when it came to OS updates and the work required to push them out. Now Google is working on increasing just how modular Android can be with something called APEX. Details for APEX were published by well-known Rootless (Pixel) Launcher developer AmirZ on Reddit after he compiled together a bit of research on the subject. APEX was first spotted last year by Lawnchair developer Till as its own repository at AOSP (the Android Open Source Project). At a technical level, APEX has been compared to Magisk, which works by mounting folders into the system partition at boot, rather than modifying the system partition directly (which is detectable). APEX appears to extend that same functionality over into core Android packages, separating out things like t...

Following walkouts at Google offices around the world a week ago, CEO Sundar Pichai announced a series of changes to sexual harassment policy at the company today. A blog post provides a flyover of the policy changes, the details of which are in an internal Google announcement only viewable to employees (if anyone wants to share it with us completely anonymously, feel free). Those walking out demanded a series of five changes at Google, and it appears they're getting at least one of them, and arguably the one that was seen as most controversial. That change comes in an end to the requirement that internal sexual harassment claims be forced into arbitration (i.e., employees were not allowed to sue their workplace harassers). While Google maintains that the company's arbitration system was never meant to shield harassers from the public eye, arbitration can by its nature have that effect. The proceedings are closed-door, and confidentiality is often encouraged in such situations ...

If you’re using the Chrome browser, Google will begin to warn you if a website is trying to bill you without being upfront about the terms. The feature will begin to arrive in December with the launch of Chrome 71, with Google flagging you when a website has unclear mobile billing practices. This means that if you’re shopping on a reputable retailer, like Amazon.com  or your favorite department store, from your Chrome browser on your smartphone or tablet, you likely won’t get any annoying flags. However, if you’re visiting a site that tries to bill your phone number for a subscription disguised as a one-off fee, Google will alert you in its efforts to help make ecommerce clearer and safer for all consumers. Google claims that the new feature is designed to deter websites merely asking for phone numbers from web visitors to their page, and later tacking on a charge — without the user’s knowledge or consent — to the mobile carrier associated with the phone number in a practice known ...

In the name of transparency, Google has released another Android security report (officially, the Android Ecosystem Security Transparency Report) that details many aspects of exactly how secure different parts of the Android ecosystem are, and how often they're being exploited in the real world. The goal is of course to show that Android is very secure purely based on the numbers Google collects — and it has no qualms about showing off its data, because it looks really good. We hear a lot about Android vulnerabilities that affect "millions" or "billions" of devices, but Google hits us with the hard numbers that show the reality of the situation: very few phones have so-called PHAs (potentially harmful applications) installed, and even fewer are actively exploited by those PHAs. In the first year of the report, 2014, the number of Android phones with PHAs sat at 1%, but that number has declined significantly — now in 2018, just 0.08%  of Android phones installing...

Social trading platform eToro has finally begun rolling out its cryptocurrency wallet to Android and iOS users. The wallet, which promises an intuitive customer interface and enhanced security, is now available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. At launch, the app will support only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin; however, eToro plans to add support for more cryptocurrencies in the near future. There is a little catch though: to ensure a smooth customer experience, eToro is releasing the wallet only to select users and countries. So if you can’t find the app on Google Play or the App Store, you might have to wait a little longer. “We believe that crypto and the blockchain technology that underpins it will have a huge impact on global finance,” said Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro. “Blockchain has the potential to revolutionise finance and we believe that we will see the greatest transfer of wealth ever onto the blockchain.” “We believe that in the future all assets will be to...

Samsung is finally making good on its promise to debut a foldable phone. Well, sort of. At the Samsung Developer Conference today, Samsung’s Justin Denison got on stage to announce the Infinity Flex display. This flexible OLED technology will launch in 2019 as part of a still unnamed phone. Denison had the phone on stage, but we only got to see if for a precious few seconds. Almost every phone today uses a glass cover on top of the display. While glass can crack if you drop your phone, it’s very difficult to scratch, and its rigidity adds strength to the device frame. Glass doesn’t bend, though. Samsung created a new composite polymer to replace the glass on top of the Infinity Flex display. We didn’t get any specifics, but Denison says it’s “both flexible and tough.” OLED panels are fabricated on flexible substrates, so it’s been possible to make a foldable display for years as long as you only wanted to fold it a few times. More than that and the adhesive that holds the display layer...

One of the differences between the iPhone XS and XR is the latter’s lack of support for 3D Touch, the feature that lets you press slightly harder on your phone’s screen to access certain shortcuts or “peek” at links. However, with iOS 12.1.1, 9to5Mac reports that Haptic Touch will offer one of those 3D Touch features — expanding your notifications — to iPhone XR owners. Haptic Touch was a feature introduced with the iPhone XR that lets you get some of the same functionality as 3D Touch without having the specialized hardware. For now, it’s largely limited to launching the camera or flashlight on the lock screen or adjusting Control Center settings. To access it, long-press on your phone’s screen, and a bit of haptic feedback will confirm your selection. It takes slightly longer than a hard press, but its existence seems to underscore just how useless 3D Touch has become. Apple previously told The Verge that it planned to expand Haptic Touch’s capabilities, and letting users expand noti...

Now that Apple’s full fall hardware lineup is officially available, the company has announced a slew of updates for its video creation and productivity apps. First, a new iMovie update will let users connect an external display to an iPad or iPhone, which allows screen mirroring or creating a full-screen preview of what you’re editing. (Full-screen previews require an iPhone 7 or newer, sixth-generation iPad or newer, or a 2017 iPad Pro or newer.) In addition, there’s also support for uncompressed 4K video output on the third-generation 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. For iMovie on desktop, there’s now a new export option called “Prepare for Facebook.” This will export a Facebook-compatible video file that you can then manually upload to Facebook without issue. Clips, Apple’s app for making videos using an iPhone or iPad, has added six new Selfie Scenes — 360-degree backgrounds — as well as filters, stickers, and 17 additional soundtracks that will automatically match the leng...

Smartphones have all looked similar for the last decade, but we may be on the verge of another major shift. At the Android Developer Summit today, the company announced native platform support for a class of devices it calls “foldables.” As you can probably guess, that means devices with foldable displays. Google also confirms that news of a Samsung foldable is coming soon. We’ve seen demos of foldable phones at trade shows for years, but none of them have been real products. The hardware has been a barrier, of course. While OLEDs are flexible, they don’t necessarily take kindly to being folded several thousand times. We’re nearing the point that a foldable display could physically work, but the software needs to catch up. Look at the recent FlexPai announcement (pictured, top) — it’s a flexible phone/tablet you can (allegedly) purchase, but the Android software shown at the demo was an incredible mess. It was completely custom, and apps don’t know how to operate on a device with a fol...

A recent incident reminded me of the importance of backing up one's phone regularly. Soon after carrying my recycling out to the curbside, I realized I had misplaced my 6-month-old iPhone. Cue brief panic, followed by deep concern that I'd somehow tossed my device into that transparent bag I'd left outside for the world to see. That led me to yelling "Hey, Siri" a few times around my apartment until the familiar chime sounded, revealing my trusty phone was hiding on a stepladder underneath a coat. Phew. I have no idea how or why I managed to leave my phone there, but had I not found it, the situation could have been much worse: It had been months since I'd backed up my data. I was lucky to escape what could have been a potential disaster caused by my absent-minded tendencies. Save Main Drive Space I bought my current laptop a little over a year ago and actually had some trouble managing backups at first. My partner and I use the same computer for backing up ou...

Microsoft on Thursday introduced its new Xbox Adaptive Controller, designed specifically for gamers with disabilities. The new hardware can be used for game play with an Xbox One console or Windows 10 PC, and it offers Bluetooth plug-and-play compatibility. It supports Xbox Wireless Controller features such as button remapping, and it connects to external buttons, switches, joysticks and mounts. Microsoft developed the Xbox Adaptive Controller to enable gamers with physical disabilities to customize their respective setups. Microsoft partnered with several high-profile global organizations dedicated to providing accessibility to those with physical disabilities: The AbleGamers Charity, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Craig Hospital, SpecialEffect, and Warfighter Engaged. Microsoft developers also worked directly with gamers who have limited mobility. The Xbox Adaptive Controller will be available later this year for about US$100. Serious Control Panel The inspiration for the Xbox Adapti...

If you’re over Snapchat because of the countless redesigns and re-redesigns but Instagram’s filters don’t tickle your fancy, there’s a Korean app called Snow that takes all of the beloved features and combines them into a super cute camera app. Snow has been around for a while, but the latest update gives it even more features, including its own take on Apple’s adorable Animoji, real-time beauty effects, and a new mirror mode. The new AR emoji feature lets you overlay your face with animated characters, including a puppy dog and an old man. Once selected, the camera detects your face, masks it with the sticker, and mimics your expressions. The major difference between this and Animoji is that you can still (kind of) see your body. While the feature is cool, it doesn’t work quite as well or as smoothly as the iPhone X’s Animoji. When I blinked, the app registered that as me winking instead, and there was a lag between when I opened my mouth and when the app followed the motion. The othe...

Apple is being sued for its App Store logo by a  Chinese clothing brand called Kon  that has a similar logo, reports  Phone Radar . Kon,  according to China’s Wikipedia equivalent Baidu Baike , is a clothing brand founded in 2009 based on the Sex Pistols’  Anarchy In The UK . The triangle is supposed to be skeleton bones that symbolize power over death.  Apple  changed its App Store logo back in August from a paintbrush, pencil, and a ruler, to three sticks with rounded ends that overlap each other to form a triangle. Kon’s logo looks similar, but the ends are sharp rectangles.  The Chinese clothing brand says it owns the trademark to its logo and Apple’s new App Store logo used on iPhones and macOS is a violation of Chinese copyright law. Kon is demanding Apple publicly apologize and pay damages. The Beijing People’s Court has accepted the case, according to  Phone Radar .  However, since Chinese courts don’t upload every c...

Growing business needs for digital transformation, cloud services, big-data crunching, and IT security will keep demand for tech professionals high in the coming year. In fact, the number of computer and information technology jobs is growing faster than the average for any other occupation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The across-the-board need for IT skills is making it difficult for many companies to find enough staff with up-to-date capabilities, another study found. Recent surveys by Robert Half Technology, an IT professional staffing firm, found a majority of businesses believe they're lacking in a number of key technology skills. Among the IT skills most in demand are data science and analysis, hacking and security, content creation and content marketing, programming and design, and social media marketing, according to the surveys. Developers, Security Pros in High Demand The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook predict...

Apple has made its second notable investment this week, the latest into the facial recognition technology company, Finisar. The $390 million investment announced Wednesday comes from Apple's $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund, created to finance the work of domestic manufacturers and create jobs in the U.S. Apple announced the creation of the fund in May and plowed $200 million into Corning Inc., the maker of the Gorilla Glass that is used in Apple's touchscreens. The Finisar investment will help the company boost production of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, which Apple uses for Face ID, Animoji and Portrait mode selfies with the iPhone X TrueDepth camera and the proximity-sensing capabilities of AirPods. Finisar will open a manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, about an hour north of Dallas, creating more than 500 jobs. Finisar runs a plant in Allen, just outside of Dallas. On Monday, Apple revealed that it had acquired Shazam. That company makes the...

Three new mobile app from Google let users create  on-the-fly photo and video effects with the help of advanced hardware and computer vision algorithms. Google describes its Storyboard, Selfissimo!, and Scrubbies apps as the first in a series of "appsperiments" to help guide future imaging innovations. Available for Android devices only, Storyboard (pictured, left) automatically transforms mobile videos into stylized comic layouts. Meanwhile, Selfissimo! (pictured, middle) lets both Android and iOS users capture multiple black-and-white selfies whenever they strike poses during photo sessions. The iOS-based Scrubbies (pictured, far right) allows users to create and save video loops by "scratching" video playbacks much in the same way a DJ scratches a vinyl record. All three Google apps are just the latest indicators of how advanced technologies are making it easier for ordinary users to manipulate photo and video content in a variety of ways. While Google says...

Apple has a very expensive last minute  Christmas present for you. The just released iMac Pro is the company's "most powerful Mac ever" -- and the most expensive, starting at [$4,999]. Having been unveiled in June at Apple's developer conference, the iMac Pro is squarely aimed at Apple-using creative professionals who until now have had to make do with the aging and comparatively cheap [$2,999] Mac Pro or the even cheaper consumer version of the [$1,799] 5K iMac. John Ternus, Apple's vice president of hardware engineering said: "[The] iMac Pro combines the incredible design of the iMac with the most powerful workstation architecture we've ever built. [The] iMac is the most popular desktop for our pro users due to its amazing display and elegant design, so we completely re-engineered it to deliver performance far beyond what anyone thought possible in an all-in-one." The iMac Pro is essentially the 27in 5K iMac with the processor, graphics chi...

HIGHLIGHTS The iPhone 8 was the top trending mobile phone in India It was also the top trending consumer tech product across the globe Nokia showed up twice on both India and global lists Google has released its Year in Search 2017 report, showing the top search queries across categories throughout the year across the globe as well as in India. The most important categories for Gadgets 360 are of course the top trending mobile phone and consumer tech of the year, which are available for India and the globe, respectively. In both places, the iPhone 8 was the top trending product of 2017. The lists are based on search terms that had a high spike in traffic in 2017 as compared to 2016. Let's get started with Google's Year in Search, Top Trending Mobile Phones in India 2017 list. As we mentioned, the iPhone 8 topped that list, with Xiaomi's top-selling Redmi Note 4 next up. The 'Jio mobile' was third, probably referring to the Jio Phone feature phone launch...