Zachary Lutz
Articles by Zachary Lutz
Refresh Roundup: week of October 7th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Mobile Miscellany: week of October 7th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a sneak peek of HTC Sense 5.5, along with an exclusive HTC One in Vivid Blue to Carphone Warehouse and the beta release of Nokia Glance Background for Lumia smartphones. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of October 7th, 2013.
Refresh Roundup: week of September 30th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Mobile Miscellany: week of September 30th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a peek at Motorola's upcoming cheaper version of the Moto X, glimpses of the Lumia 929 for Verizon in white and two new smartphones to MetroPCS. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of September 30th, 2013.
Rogers snubs the BlackBerry Z30, leaves Canadian sales to Bell and Telus
If current sales of the BlackBerry Z10 are any indication, it'd take a leap of faith to believe that the BlackBerry Z30 will fare much better. Now, Rogers is telling The Globe and Mail that it won't carry the 5-inch Z30 at all, which the Canadian carrier says is due to its limited shelf space and the need to "pick what we think are the biggest winners." The news is certainly a blow to BlackBerry, but it also forces consumers to choose between switching to Bell or Telus -- which will carry the Z30 -- or to compromise at Rogers with a BlackBerry Z10 or Q10. It's also quite a reversal from earlier this year, when Rogers celebrated the Z10's arrival as the most successful BlackBerry launch in the carrier's history. Now, it seems that Rogers' decision could be part of an unsettling trend, as T-Mobile USA recently chose to remove all BlackBerry smartphones from store shelves and instead sell them only through its online outlet. Naturally, determined Rogers subscribers may opt to purchase an unlocked Z30, which FCC reports suggest will offer LTE support over both the AWS and 2,600MHz bands. Consider it a very expensive 'Plan B.'
Yahoo announces security exploit bounty with payments up to $15,000
Earlier this week, Yahoo was accused of using change in its sofa cushions as compensation for reports of security exploits, but now the whole ordeal has generated enough buzz to bring about change for the internet pioneer. As it turns out, these small prizes (along with rewards such as t-shirts) were paid for out of pocket by Ramses Martinez, the director of Yahoo's security team, who took a moment today to explain the company's new -- and far more lucrative -- bounty program. Moving forward, Yahoo will reward security researchers with payments that range between $150 and $15,000 for issues that it deems "new, unique and / or high-risk." The company is still in the early stages of hammering out a new policy, but promises that payments will be determined "by a clear system based on a set of defined elements that capture the severity of the issue." Yes, these amounts still pale in comparison to the massive sums that Microsoft recently offered, but researchers now have reasonable incentive to inform Yahoo of the exploits, rather than sell them on the black market. According to Martinez, Yahoo's revised policy will be available by the end of the month, and as a nice gesture, its new reward structure will retroactively apply to all bugs submitted from July 1st onward.
Target's Brightspot mobile service launches Sunday, starts at $35 per month
Ever tenacious retailer Target is once again nipping at Walmart's heels. Following the introduction of its Target Ticket video-on-demand service -- a direct competitor to Vudu -- the big box chain is now looking to get into the prepaid phone business with a service known as Brightspot. The MVNO is set to launch on October 6th, which will use T-Mobile's network and serve as Target's answer to Straight Talk. Brightspot will offer two service tiers, one for $35 that includes unlimited talk and text, in addition to a $50 plan that piles on unlimited data with 1GB of high-speed use. While Target's offering is a bit less tempting than Walmart's (which offers 2.5GB of high-speed usage for $45), the bullseye retailer will reward loyal subscribers with a $25 Target gift card for each six months of paid Brightspot service. Consider it one more excuse to kick your costly monthly phone plan to the curb.
Pantech Vega LTE-A gains fingerprint-based mobile payments
Want to find a nifty use for the fingerprint sensor on the Pantech Vega LTE-A? Well, thanks to the hard work of two South Korean companies, it's picking up the ability to pay for goods by authenticating with your fingerprint. This news comes from Danal, a mobile payment provider, which tapped the fingerprint technologies of Crucialtec to create the BarTong app. While the concept of fingerprint-based payments isn't entirely new, it's claimed to be an industry first for the mobile phone. The BarTong app is currently exclusive to South Korea, but its creator is looking to expand the payment service into the US and China. Naturally, Danal may want to hold off until fingerprint readers become more widespread in smartphones, but we certainly won't fault the company for being ambitious.
Apple iPhone 5s and 5c now at Virgin Mobile for $100 below retail
You knew this day would come, Virgin Mobile fans, and now the highly sought after iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c are available for purchase at Virgin Mobile. Better yet, you're in for a rather nice discount, as Sprint's prepaid subsidiary is selling each of the phones outright for $100 less than you'd pay elsewhere. This puts the 16GB iPhone 5s at $550 and the 16GB iPhone 5c at $450. Each of these phones should be available for purchase either online or in a retail setting, but if you want to score an iPhone with larger storage (either 32GB or 64GB), you'll need to direct your browser to Virgin's website. With its surprisingly low pricing, perhaps Virgin Mobile is retraining its brain as well.
Google Docs gets a subtle facelift, shifts the focus to content
You can't say that the Google Drive crew isn't looking out for you. Following the transition of QuickOffice for Android and iOS into a freebie, the team is now blessing Google Docs with a slightly more attractive interface. First and foremost, you'll now find a familiar, colorful product icon in the upper left part of the web app, which links back to Drive. This refinement applies to Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Apps Script, and it could very well help users of another office suite feel more at home. Additionally, the headers within each of the editors are now more compressed, which Google hopes will allow users to focus more easily on their content. Naturally, these aren't the most dramatic visual changes, but then again, do you really want a card-based UI for your document editor?
Refresh Roundup: week of September 23rd, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Mobile Miscellany: week of September 23rd, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a new LTE phone to Boost Mobile, hints of consolidation between Sprint and T-Mobile, and lastly, hints of what we might see at Nokia's upcoming 'innovation reinvented' event. These stories and more await. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of September 23rd, 2013.
The FTC wants your thoughts on proposed patent troll investigation
Here's a question. Forced to decide, would you rather have a patent troll breathing down your neck, or cuddle up with an entity just as ghoulish that's living under a bridge? The FTC wants your thoughts on the matter, even if its description isn't quite so... colorful. The agency is putting out a call for public commentary on its proposed investigation of patent assertion entities, which have come under federal scrutiny as of late. Key to the proposal, the FTC would request information from 25 patent trolls to learn non-public information such as their corporate structure, patent holdings, means of acquiring patents, the cost of enforcing them and the earnings that the trolls generate. Accordingly, the agency hopes to "develop a better understanding of how they impact innovation and competition." For comparison sake, the FTC also proposes an information request from approximately 15 companies in the wireless communication sector, which would include manufacturers and other licensing entities. You're more than welcome to answer the bridge question in the comments, but if you want to contact the FTC directly, you'll find everything you need after the break. [Image credit: Tristan Schmurr / Flickr]
Twitter focuses on photos in embedded tweets
Some say that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but regardless of how you do the math, it's fair to say that a good photo can say a lot more than 140 characters. With that in mind, Twitter is giving greater emphasis to photos within tweets by placing them front and center in the post, with the actual tweet serving as a simple caption below. Looking at it now, the decision seems an obvious one, but all photos were previously smaller and subservient to the short text. The visual redesign applies to both landscape and portrait photos, so regardless of how you frame your image, you can now let your shooting skills do the talking for you.
Google+ introduces better RAW-to-JPEG conversion for over 70 cameras
If you've been paying much attention to Google+, you already know that the social network is doing its damnedest to become the go-to destination for photographers. Accordingly, it's attracted a number of RAW format enthusiasts -- thanks to the ability to store full-size photos -- and to make their lives a little better, Google+ is introducing a new RAW-to-JPEG conversion method that offers noticeably better results. Over 70 cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony are supported as of today, and Google says that it'll add additional models over time. Since Google+ automatically converts RAW photos to JPEG for viewing purposes (while retaining the original), the new conversion method should be readily apparent. You can view the complete list of supported cameras after the break, and as for the improved quality of conversions, go ahead and have a look for yourself. Hopefully your eyes agree with Google's claim.
AppleCare+ to cover international iPhone replacements, starting September 27th
A welcome bit of news for globe trotters, as Apple is widening the safety net of AppleCare+ to include hardware repair or replacement while abroad. According to a leaked support document obtained by Sonny Dickinson, replacement coverage for the iPhone will become effective on September 27th. Separately, customers may also initiate repairs of the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple display and Apple TV while traveling. This move follows a recent expansion of AppleCare+ within western Europe, and easily beats Apple's previous requirement that customers initiate repairs in the same country where AppleCare+ was first purchased. As an important caveat, Apple isn't guaranteeing that model-specific replacement hardware will be available in all countries, but this is a step in the right direction.
Majority of medical apps won't be FDA regulated
App catalogs are flush with titles that allow users to play doctor, but according to the FDA, most of them are harmless and don't warrant regulatory oversight. Instead, the agency has announced that it'll take a more reactive, risk-based approach and will only require approval for mobile apps that "present a greater risk to patients if they do not work as intended." Specifically, the FDA will scrutinize apps that perform the functions of regulated medical devices -- such as an ECG monitor -- along with those that are used as accessories to regulated medical equipment. As a telling statistic, only 100 mobile apps have received FDA clearance within the past decade, so imagine what would happen to the agency's workload if it tried to exercise control over the Apple App Store and Google Play Store combined.
Archos GamePad 2 outed with quad-core CPU, higher-res display
Even in the age of the NVIDIA Shield, dedicated Android gaming handsets are still a bit of a rarity, which is all more of a reason to take a gander at the leaked GamePad 2 from Archos. The device first reared its head at the FCC, and thanks to an online retailer -- which has since scrubbed all references to the product -- we're now treated to a press shot and a smattering of technical specs for the successor to the original GamePad. This time around, it's purported to sport a slightly more dense 1,280 x 800, 7-inch IPS display, along with a 1.6GHz quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. In addition to the previously available 8GB model, a new 16GB version is said to be in the works, and in both cases, the GamePad 2 will retain a microSD expansion slot. There's no word yet on pricing or availability, but you can bet that we'll hear more from Archos soon enough.
CyanogenMod 10.1.3 arrives with remote find and wipe capabilities
Good news is now at hand for CyanogenMod fans who like a bit of stability in their lives, because the general release builds of CyanogenMod 10.1.3 are now hitting server mirrors. As a nice bonus, support for CM Account is baked into this release (previously available only in the 10.2 nightlies), which allows users to locate and remotely wipe their missing devices -- a feature that's awfully similar to Android Device Manager. If all goes according to plans, CyanogenMod 10.1.3 will be the last of the Android 4.2-based builds, as the team is now investing the bulk of its work on CyanogenMod 10.2, which is based on Android 4.3. Once you have the latest version, perhaps you'll consider pairing it with the impressive Focal camera app.
Refresh Roundup: week of September 16th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!