Latest news

Samsung has unveiled the first UFS (Universal Flash Storage) memory cards this week, the evolution of microSD.

The company is offering 32, 64, 128, or 256 GB capacity models and the performance is incredible compared to even the high-end current microSD cards. UFS cards offer sequential read speeds of up to 530 MB/s, multiples faster than microSD.

Samsung says you can transfer a 5GB, 1080p movie in about 10 seconds compared to 50 seconds for the average UHS-1 microSD card. Write speeds are up to 170 MB/s, as well, about seven times faster than the average card aimed at consumers.

For now, it is unclear what devices will support removable UFS cards and what the price will be for such a powerful chip.

Just a few days after releasing the developer betas of their two new operating systems, Apple has launched open betas for iOS 10 and macOS Sierra for testing.

To sign up, you have to join the Apple Beta Software Program, but keep in mind with all betas that there are bound to be plenty of bugs and app inconsistencies so it is not advised to download the installs to your primary device.

You can read a bit more about the new OS here and here.

Pokemon Go, the biggest mobile release of 2016, has had to delay its international rollout following server issues for gamers playing in the U.S.

Niantic, the company the built Pokemon Go with Nintendo, says they are aware of the issues and are quickly working on a fix. Niantic CEO John Hanke says the rollout is "paused until we're comfortable," and that "We thought the game would be popular, but it obviously struck a nerve," which might be the understatement of the week following millions of downloads and tens of millions of playing hours.

As of writing, the server issues are almost completely solved and gamers can continue to enjoy catching Pokemon in real life.

Amazon-owned Audible has launched a new service, 'Channels,' premium podcasts for $4.95 per month or free if you are an existing, paying Audible member.

The exclusive selection will include comedic performances, audio recreations of long-form written articles, and ad-free original podcasts.

At launch, there will be very few pods available, but Audible says there about 40 shows in production.

The company took a small shot at Apple, the market leader, and its offerings of thousands of podcasts. "I've heard customers refer to podcasting as a flea market, where you'll find some treasures, and it's surrounded by a lot of junk," said Eric Nuzum, senior vice president for original content development at Audible. "You have to be in the mood to sort through the junk to find the treasure, and people don't want to do that all the time."

Apple has settled with patent troll Network-1 Technologies for $25 million, ending a suit over alleged patent infringement.

The "'227 Patent entitled 'Document Stream Operating System' relates to methods that enable unified search, indexing, displaying and archiving of documents in a computer system," says Network-1.

Initially originated at Yale University in 1996, the patent's creator sued Apple in 2008 and eventually won a $625 million judgment in 2010. Following an appeal, the ruling was overturned and the Supreme Court denied review, thus ending the initial suit.

After the loss, the patent was sold to patent troll Network-1, who sued Apple again in 2014 (as well as other companies, including Microsoft). That case has now been settled for $25 million and Apple has also received licenses to numerous other Network-1 patents.

Nintendo executive Shinya Takahashi has suggested that the company is looking into creating a peripheral for smartphones that will make it easier for mobile gamers to play Nintendo action games.

The company has looked into third-party options but "may develop something new by ourselves," says Takahashi.

Takahashi made the statement after he was asked about famous titles (Mario, Zelda, etc) and when they might come to iOS and Android. The executive said those types of games would be difficult with virtual controls.

It will be interesting to see what the next step for Nintendo is.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook and other tech companies have formed a coalition to fight the EU's "Cookie Law," asking for more refined laws and a better balance between data collection and privacy.

"We believe that simplifying and streamlining regulation will benefit consumers by ensuring they are provided with a simple, consistent, and meaningful set of rules designed to protect their personal data," said the group. "At the same time, it will encourage innovation across the digital value chain and drive new growth and social opportunities. This is critical at a time when digital companies are striving to launch new innovative services and working to build a 5G Europe."

The group includes some heavy hitters including Apple, Amazon, BT, Blackberry, Dropbox, eBay, Facebook, Fastnet, Foursquare, Google, Huawei, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix, Orange, Paypal, T-Mobile, TalkTalk, Telefonica, Three, and Vodafone.

Despite being blocked in the country since 2009, Twitter estimates that over 10 million people actively use the service in China.

The source claims that the number is what Twitter uses internally and that it is an estimate because even the company can't be entirely sure due to the Chinese user's use of a VPN that could show them as located basically anywhere.

Of course, 10 million in China is a tiny fraction of active Internet users in the nation, and a fraction of Twitter's overall users (700 million and 300 million, respectively) but it is interesting to see the lengths people will go to to be connected to world news and get around China's state-imposed censorship.

VideoLan has built a universal Window platform (UWP) app for their popular VLC media player, meaning it will eventually work across Windows 10 devices, Hololens and Xbox One.

The new app is in beta but already appears to have some cool features. As with desktop versions, the app will support nearly every type of file format, will offer a media library for managing content within the app itself, subtitle support, sync controls (for those poorly dubbed files you definitely have) and picture-in-picture mode to allow you to browse your content without closing your current video.

Over time, DVD/Blu-ray playback and TV tuning will also be made available, but VideoLan says the current UWP APIs do not allow such features as of yet.

Get the app here: Microsoft Store

BlackBerry has confirmed this week that it will discontinue sales of its BB10-powered BlackBerry Classic smartphone.

The phone was first launched in 2014 and includes a built-in QWERTY keypad in addition to its standard touchscreen. The company says the Classic has "long surpassed the average lifespan for a smartphone" in today's market, hence the discontinue, but it is also easy to infer that the phone was just not selling.

Moving forward, there are reports that BlackBerry is working on new Android-based phones to compliment last year's BlackBerry Priv, although it is unclear how well that phone sold.

Publicly, the company has offered support for BlackBerry 10 and BB10-powered devices moving forward, but it is hard to imagine for how much longer.

According to the WSJ, the upcoming iPhone 7 will finally up the storage for their base model, from a tiny 16GB to a more reasonable 32GB.

Apple has long offered multiple tiers, starting with 16GB and going as high as 128GB, but with the improvement of cameras over time and the size of apps growing (especially games), 16GB was just too small.

The publication also reports that Apple could offer a 256GB version although the price tag on that will likely cause you to take out a loan just to afford it.

Apple's latest is not expected to be a huge step up from last year's iPhone 6S, but this model will be thinner and more water-resistant, lose the 3.5mm headphone jack and offer twin camera lenses.

Arstechnica had a very interesting article today on a wireless router that should be familiar to many Afterdawn readers; the Linksys WRT54GL.

The router was released in 2005 and remains up for sale, bringing in millions in revenue for the company despite certainly having outlived its usefulness (from a tech standpoint). The router uses the 802.11g Wi-Fi standard (since elapsed by 802.11n and 802.11ac, it can only use the 2.4GHz frequency band, and it has max speeds of just 54Mbps, far lower than the new 1Gbps standard.

"To be honest, it somewhat baffles my mind," said Linksys Global Product Manager Vince La Duca. But will they stop selling it? No way. "We'll keep building it because people keep buying it," La Duca added.

Having sold over 30 million units since launch, why does the WRT54GL remain so popular? The answer may lie in its support for popular open source firmware like DD-WRT. Linksys has always allowed users to quickly and easily unlock their devices to run Linux-based open-source software that offers more advanced capabilities that some more locked-down routers nowadays don't even offer. Of course, the router does have great name recognition (nearly 4000 positive reviews on Amazon) and a cheap price tag ($43 on Amazon), which certainly helps with the popularity. The report also says small businesses use the routers as a cheap way to offer public Wi-Fi hotspots.

On Monday, OnePlus began rolling out their OxygenOS 3.2 operating system update for the OnePlus 3 but issues have forced the company to stop the rollout.

Here was the company's post on Monday before the rollout began:

I want to thank all of you who have provided feedback. Your input has been absolutely valuable in ensuring that we produce a high-quality update. Thank you for your patience and as always, we look forward to hearing your feedback on this one.

This will be an incremental rollout. We should reach 100% coverage in the next 48 hours or so.

Here are some of the highlights of this update:
Enabled sRGB mode in developer options.
Improved RAM management.
Improved GPS performance.
Enhanced audio playback quality.
Updated custom icon packs.
Fixed some issues with notifications.
Improved camera quality/functionality.
Fixed some issues in Gallery.
Implemented latest Google security patches.
Fixed bugs in Clock/Music apps.
So let us know what you think. Enjoy!

In April LG released their latest flagship smartphone, the G5, to big hype and a large marketing campaign. According to one report, however, the phone is a flop.

The Korea Times says LG has made some serious changes to the executives in its mobile division, in part admitting that the latest flagship did not meet internal company projections nor expectations. Reportedly, the company even said that its "latest flagship G5 smartphone failed to generate sales," leading to the turnover.

Many believe the G5, despite its nice specs, was just downright confusing given its modular design, but the biggest problem is probably the fact that many have now invested years in the Apple, Nexus or Samsung ecosystems, with little reason to change.

The report concluded that LG will likely ship around 2.2 million G5 phones this quarter, well below their expectations for three million.

A second hacker has pled guilty to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for his role in the "Fappening" celebrity nude picture leaks.

Edward Majerczyk will face up to five years in jail for using phishing schemes to trick celebrities into giving up their email and iCloud credentials. From there, the man would search for any photos or videos, which included nude photographs of over 100 celebrities.

"This defendant not only hacked into e-mail accounts -- he hacked into his victims' private lives, causing embarrassment and lasting harm," said FBI assistant director Deirdre Fike in a press statement. "As most of us use devices containing private information, cases like this remind us to protect our data."

Another man, Ryan Collins, pled guilty to the same crime three months ago and will likely see prison time of 18 months. Neither of the convicted has been accused of leaking the photos, and the leaker remains "at large."