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Facebook doesn't exactly have a pristine reputation, but on a certain level it's surprising nonetheless when a new scandal concerning the social media giant breaks out - after all, just how many more surprises can it manage? The answer, it turns out, is many. A new report put out by campaign group Privacy International found that 20 out of 34 popular Android apps send data to Facebook without asking for permission. This echoes the findings of a previous report on health and dating apps.
While 5G has massive potential, the only major effect it has achieved so far in the US is confusing the general public. That's due in large part to ill-advised marketing strategies and questionable 5G "launches" by the four major wireless carriers. In the latest addition to this frustrating saga, we're finally seeing speed tests of AT&T's fledgling 5G network, and the results are far from impressive.
Android 9 Pie is now rolling out to the Nokia 5.1 Plus, while Nokia 8 Sirocco users continue to wait
A little over three months since its official announcement, the Nokia 5.1 Plus is now receiving a stable update to Android 9 Pie. Meanwhile, one of its older siblings, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is a month late for its Pie update, frustrating some users.
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Samsung has been steadily building up the tool library for its Good Lock 2018 customization app since it arrived in June of this year. From replacing your navigation buttons with adorable little animal emoji to split-screen multitasking that improves Android's native implementation, Good Lock offers an impressive array of customization apps for Samsung users. Now, an app called Nice Catch has joined the Good Lock library, offering a vigilant digital watchman of your apps and what they're up to when you're not looking - but unfortunately committing an embarrassing security gaffe itself in the process.
The holiday sales season isn't over yet - Boxing Day deals are the last big hurrah before a promo dry spell. Among the most intriguing deals of the day (for Americans) is an offer that reduces Google's regularly $150 Home Hub to $20 if bought in tandem with select Nest devices at retailers including B&H, Best Buy, and Walmart. There's no doubt that Google will continue to push its smart devices in the new year with lots more deals to come, but at an $80 discount, this current promotion is certainly compelling.
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- We've had several weeks now to get familiar with the One UI beta, so there hasn't been much in the way of big surprises from this final, public release. But if you haven't been following Samsung's work on its new software, the company just updated its support docs with a detailed breakdown of the changes and new functionality users can look forward to from this update.
Galaxy S9 and S9+ users weren't expecting an Android 9 Pie update until January, but it seems Samsung is kicking things off early. So far, reports of the update are coming in from S9 and S9+ owners (both those with Oreo and those in the Pie beta program) in European countries including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Live Albums, announced in early October of this year, offers Google Photos users an easy way to create albums that automatically add new photos of specific people and pets. Shortly after it was announced, however, it became clear that, for many users, the 10,000 photo limit on private albums was far too low. Thankfully for those users, Google has now raised the private album limit to match the shared album limit at 20,000 images.
OnePlus has been liberal with the hype for its upcoming 5G phone so far, but we've yet to see any substantial leaks. That is, until well-known teenage tipster Ishan Agarwal took to Twitter today to reveal a picture of CEO Pete Lau sitting in at the presentation of a new device - possibly the new 5G device or the 4G successor to the OnePlus 6T.
Long after its iOS debut in 2016, ROME: Total War is now available on Android for users in North America, Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia. The turn-based strategy game lets players try their hand at a conquest of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East as one of 19 factions including Egypt, Gaul, and Britannia.
Android TV's streaming options just got a little bit broader. The CW and CW Seed streaming apps are now available on the platform, offering up free access to shows like Riverdale, Supergirl, Whose Line Is At Anyway? and Pushing Daisies - as long as you don't mind commercial breaks.
Not content to simply absorb all of Snapchat's features, Facebook-owned Instagram is now making a play for the music recommendation/performance demographic and aiming to become a hotspot for Live Q&As. The platform has introduced a feature into Stories (the ephemeral feed at the top of the app) that lets users request, receive, and jam out to song suggestions, as well as a new, more official format for Live Q&A sessions.
With slider phone nostalgia running high, Lenovo's decision to come out with a mid-range slider last month in China, the Z5 Pro, certainly seems like a smart one. Sure, it's not the keyboard slider of yore, but it does serve an important purpose: sliding the phone out reveals the selfie cameras, leaving the display unblemished by a notch. Now, Lenovo has doubled down on the concept and announced a high-end slider called the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT. Unfortunately for those in the US, even if you manage to snag one of these devices, the lack of LTE band support makes it all but unusable.
First released in 2011, IFTTT is still going strong nearly eight years later thanks to its impressive library of compatible devices and platforms - and as the smart home industry grows it seems this free automation platform will continue to expand along with it. Most of the 17 new channels that have recently opened up are smart home-related, allowing users to manage products like smart lights, blinds, and even water heater controllers.
Google's censored Chinese search engine Project Dragonfly is reportedly dead after internal conflict
When news first broke in August about Google's plans for a censored Chinese search engine, there was immediate backlash both internally and externally. As details regarding Project Dragonfly continued to leak over the ensuing months, that pushback only grew more vehement, with executives fielding questions on the subject from US senators and Google employees launching a petition decrying the project. Now, according to The Intercept, Dragonfly is effectively dead after a massive internal rift formed between the project and the company's privacy team.
Everyone knows the December holiday season is generally the worst time to travel, but most of us do it anyway. Those of you anticipating the frustrations of air travel this time of year might be pleased to know, however, that Google is rolling out a few features for Google Assistant, Flights, and Search to make the journey a bit more bearable. Among the most useful new features: Google's flight delay predictions (revealed early this year) have now come to Assistant, meaning you can ask "Hey Google, is my flight on time?" and the AI will use historic flight status data and machine learning to make a prediction even before the airline your traveling with confirms the delay.
Whether you know it as Material theme or Material Design 2, Google continues to roll out its refreshed Material aesthetic across all of its various properties. The latest to gain the new look is the Google search app itself, which is rolling out a new bottom bar look that swaps out a search button for a shortcut to 'Collections,' where users can find saved content like images, bookmarks, and Maps lists. Additionally, the minimalist new look is coming to the search app's settings. If all that's not enough search-related news, one tipster has also given us a first look at the UI for 'Your contributions,' a search feature that's not live yet.
Little by little, Aukey keeps offering better deals on its 60W USB-C Power Delivery (PD) charger. Just ahead of Black Friday, the company was offering the charger for $37 with a coupon code on Amazon, now interested buyers can get it for ( off regular price) along with a few other charger deals from the brand.
Aukey's PD charger features one USB-C port that can deliver a powerful 60W PD charge with support for up to 20V/31 (PDO) and 21V/3A (PPS) - useful for laptops, the Nintendo Switch and other large devices, but safe for your phone, too. The accessory also has two USB-A ports, which max at 5V/2.4A.Check out the other holiday Aukey deals below:AUKEY PA-Y15 USB-C Wall Charger with 18W Power Delivery $12 ($8 off) with code: XMASAUK1AUKEY PA-Y8 USB-C Wall Charger with 27W Power Delivery $15 ($7 off) with code: XMASAUK6AUKEY PA-Y10 Dual-Port USB-C Charger w/ 46W Power Delivery 3.0 $24 ($11 off) with code: XMASAUK3AUKEY PA-Y11 Amp Wall Charger w/ 30W Power Delivery & 18W Quick Charge 3.0 $26 ($17 off) with code: XMASAUK4All deals are valid until December 10th, so you have a little while to make any purchase decisions.
This March reports broke that Facebook had been gathering call, SMS, and MMS metadata from Android app users for years with questionable levels of consent. Ars Technica suggested that Facebook was exploiting a loophole in Android to harvest call and SMS data without requesting the permission from users. Facebook responded that it was only collecting metadata through Facebook Lite and Messenger, both of which ask users for that permission during setup. The platform's integrity, however, has now been brought into question once more with revelations from internal emails released by the UK Parliament that show employees explicitly discussing how they might avoid any Android permissions request when accessing SMS and call history.
When the December security patches arrived yesterday excluding the 2016 Pixels once again, original Pixel owners no doubt wondered if they would have to wait until the end of the month to nab their update like they did in November. Thankfully, that's not the case this month as the factory images and OTAs have arrived just one day late for the first-generation Pixels.
After teasing a navigation-optimized Google Assistant for Maps at I/O 2018, Google is now rolling out the feature to Android users. The new version of Google Assistant in Maps is smaller, less distracting, and executes more commands in the background.