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UN calls for investigation into alleged Saudi hacking of Jeff Bezos

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The team added that this was evidence of the problems with the unregulated sale and use of spyware for surveillance purposes. These tools should be governed by “the most rigorous control” to prevent abuse, and that there should be a “moratorium” on selling and transferring the technology.

Saudi Arabia has called the WhatsApp hack claim “absurd” and has previously rejected assertions that it has campaigns to hack, intimidate and assassinate critics. It insisted that Khashoggi’s murder was a “rogue operation” despite a CIA investigation implicating the Crown Prince’s involvement.

The UN can’t force a US investigation into the case. However, this does increase pressure on authorities to look into the allegations and treat this as more than just a typical data breach. It also puts Saudi Arabia under closer scrutiny. While the UN isn’t definitively blaming Saudi Arabia, it is acknowledging that the kingdom has a mounting reputation for using digital ‘warfare’ in a bid to silence opposing views.

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Motorola will begin taking foldable Razr pre-orders on January 26th

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We asked the company about availability in other regions, and we’re waiting to hear back. But if you’re in the US, you’ll be able to pre-order a unit through Verizon, Walmart and Motorola’s website on the 26th. The phone will start shipping to pre-order customers and will be available through those sales channels on February 6th. The company said in a statement:

“We are excited to share that, in North America, the Motorola razr will be available for presale on January 26th exclusively at Verizon, Walmart and motorola.com; and in stores starting on February 6th. Dates for other markets will be announced locally.”

Motorola’s new Razr phone has a foldable display, which allows it to be a modern smartphone with a full-sized screen while staying true to the Razr’s flip form factor. It doesn’t have the latest and greatest flagship components — Motorola admits it’s a “design-first” device — and will set you back $1,500. The phone definitely has a unique look you can’t get elsewhere, though. For now, that is. Samsung is rumored to be working on a clamshell-type foldable phone of its own.

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The Morning After: Sonos ‘legacy’ plan makes smart homes look silly

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Calling all Photoshop experts.Is this the back of the Xbox Series X?

Now we’ve seen the next Xbox from the front, everyone is wondering what’s hiding on the other side. Pictures posted to gaming forum NeoGAF appear to show an Xbox Series X development kit in the wild, complete with a back plate lacking the Xbox One’s HDMI-passthrough setup. We’ll see if this alleged prototype holds up when the real hardware ships later this year, but for now all we have are rumors and speculation.

It will reportedly launch in March.Bloomberg: Apple will start making a smaller, cheaper iPhone in February

Apple might launch a new low-cost iPhone very, very soon. According to Bloomberg, the tech giant’s suppliers will start assembling a more affordable iPhone model, the first since the iPhone SE, as soon as February. Apple will reportedly unveil the cheaper-than-an-iPhone 11 device in March. Sources expect it to look like the iPhone 8, with a 4.7-inch screen and a current generation A13 chip, like 2019’s iPhones. Expect a return of the home button, and no Face ID.

Netflix and HBO Max will give more people access to deep-cut Ghibli classics.Studio Ghibli has embraced streaming, and the world is better for it

After years of resistance, Studio Ghibli is bringing its works to streaming services. In the US, it will launch in HBO’s Max service, while Netflix will stream the Japanese animations everywhere else, except Japan. Nick Summers explains why this is good news for all.

One app creates a printable envelope to put your phone in.Google’s experimental apps shame you into taming phone addiction

Activity Bubbles, Screen Stopwatch and Envelope are all part of the latest push from Google to get you to put your phone down (after you finish reading this, of course). The first two add on-screen reminders of how much time you’ve spent staring at a screen, while Envelope creates some physical separation. Do the apps go too far? Do they not go far enough? I can’t stay off my phone for long enough to check.

Up to five times as much as the usual price set by Uber.Uber experiment lets California drivers set their own fares

Uber is testing another new feature in what is presumably a bid to help mitigate the restrictions of Assembly Bill 5, which requires the company to treat its drivers as employees, not independent contractors. Some drivers in California will now have the ability to set their own fares.

Starting Tuesday morning, drivers operating around airports in Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Sacramento can take part in a bidding system that allows them to increase fares in 10 percent increments, up to a maximum of five times the usual Uber price. When a ride is requested, Uber will match the rider with the driver with the lowest price. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the new feature says that Uber is trialling it in smaller cities in a bid to limit potential damage to its business. What if other rideshare options are cheaper?

Two years ago…Apple reportedly dropped iCloud encryption plans amid FBI pressure

Apple may encrypt your iOS device’s locally stored data, but it doesn’t fully encrypt iCloud backups. According to Reuters sources, Apple dropped end-to-end encryption plans for iCloud, fearing another FBI confrontation. (This was following the debate over unlocking Syed Farook’s iPhone after the San Bernardino shooting.) One former Apple worker said the company might have ditched the plan over concerns customers could be locked out of their data more often.

That doesn’t mean your iCloud backup is open to all — anything in your Keychain, including passwords, as well as health data and payment information are all end-to-end encrypted.

But wait, there’s more…

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Dark mode is coming to WhatsApp for Android

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Thanks to WABetaInfo, we know that WhatsApp users who belong to the app’s Google Play Beta Program are starting to see the new Dark Theme inside version 2.20.13. Although the Program isn’t currently accepting new signups, users can download the APK separately to enable the Dark Theme option. Once installed, it’s a simple case of navigating to WhatsApp Settings and then Chats to switch it on.

There are currently four options in the Display setting. The Light theme uses the typical black text on a white background, while the Dark theme allows you to manually switch that around. System default mimics the system-wide theme set on Android Q phones and switches between light and dark depending on the time of day. The final option — Set by Battery Saver — can change the theme depending on your battery settings.

WhatsApp has been the holdout of Facebook’s three big standalone apps when it comes to dark mode. Messenger was the first to enable it back in early 2019, with Instagram following suit in October. Although the Dark Theme is currently limited to beta versions of the Android app, it probably won’t be too long until it makes it to a public release — and presumably iOS 13 as well.

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Facebook’s new robot AI can get around efficiently without using a map

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The trick was to implement a new training method that scaled well and stayed in sync no matter what the workload. Previous projects tend to struggle without massive computational power. Facebook taught a virtual agent to handle point-to-point navigation for the equivalent of 80 years of human experience — that’s about 2.5 billion steps. The result is an algorithm that, in indoor environments, is smart enough to choose the right fork in the path and quickly recognize errors when it does head in the wrong direction. It’s learning to understand the “structural regularities” of buildings, Facebook speculated.

The technology is still very young. It has yet to handle outdoors or complex situations, and it doesn’t handle long-distance navigation well if it has to lose sensors. Facebook is sharing its work in hopes of further advances, though. If that happens, it could not only help robots move gracefully from room to room, but help with augmented reality glasses and other systems that help you navigate unfamiliar spaces.

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Is this the back of the Xbox Series X?

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Behold the derrière of the Xbox Series X. Images of an alleged prototype have surfaced on Twitter and the gaming forum Neogaf, hinting at the various ports that will be available on Microsoft’s next console. Thurrott‘s Brad Sams believes they are authentic and not the work of a 3D-printing whizz kid. We can’t confirm their legitimacy, but they’re an improvement over the fake render AMD used during its CES presentation (oh, what a fun day that was…) A large panel reads “prototype – not for sale,” so it’s also possible the design and exact arrangement will change before release.

The alleged images show an optical audio port, two USB-A ports, ethernet, power and a single HDMI port. (The Xbox One family, for comparison, had a second HDMI port for pass-through shenanigans.) There’s also a long, rectangular slot which Sams explains is for diagnostic reporting and likely won’t feature on the final console. We’re months away from the Xbox Series X release, so the retail version could look completely different. The general shape, though, is identical to what Microsoft showed during The Game Awards last year. Provided these images are legitimate, we would be surprised if the company made anything more than slight alterations.



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Amazon Pharmacy may expand to the UK, Canada and Australia

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If you’ll recall, the company purchased online pharmacy PillPack in 2018, a year after reports came out that it was looking to enter the healthcare industry. PillPack is a medicine delivery service catering to customers who need to take multiple daily medications. A few months after the acquisition was announced, the tech giant changed PillPack’s branding to “PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy.”

Of course, a trademark application doesn’t mean that Amazon’s medicine delivery services will arrive in those countries soon. The company’s plans may still be in the very early stages, and besides, applying for a trademark doesn’t automatically make Pharmacy’s expansion a sure thing. CNBC noted, though, that the applications give us a glimpse of what the service has in store for its customers in the future: they suggest that Amazon Pharmacy could eventually start selling surgical and dental instruments, as well as medical and veterinary preparations.

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Bloomberg: Apple will start making a smaller, cheaper iPhone in February

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Kuo and Bloomberg previously reported that the upcoming affordable model will look like the iPhone 8 and will have a 4.7-inch screen. It will also reportedly be powered by Apple’s A13 chip, which also powers the iPhone 11. A separate Bloomberg report says the company recently asked its partners to increase their A-series processor output due to “higher-than-anticipated” demand for the iPhone 11. It could also be because a low-cost model will start mass production soon.

In addition to mentioning the device’s possible size and processor, Bloomberg also said that the device will have Touch ID built into the home button and won’t feature Apple’s Face ID. It’s not yet clear if it will be known as the iPhone SE 2, but any low-cost device could help boost Apple’s presence in developing nations where affordable Android devices are more common.

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Cruise’s self-driving electric shuttle is made for ride-sharing

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Cruise still isn’t ready to say when its autonomous vehicle will be available, but now it’s shown off the Origin, a GM-built electric shuttle van that doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals. Instead it’s fully self-driving, intended to be a shareable, modular vehicle that can handle being on the road all the time.

It’s basically a minibus, with three seats at each end that face each other and split sliding doors that open up like a subway car. Cruise hasn’t revealed details like the battery capacity or cost, but claims that “the average San Franciscan household driving themselves or using ridesharing” will see savings of $5,000 per year thanks to the vehicle.

According to execs, more information on manufacturing for this “production” vehicle will be coming soon. Also, because of its modular design, they think it will be better suited for use as a robotaxi than regular passenger cars, and that its sensors will have “superhuman” ability to spot pedestrians and navigate in bad weather.

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Verizon promo gives gigabit Fios customers free Google Stadia bundles

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The bundle does give you a Chromecast Ultra and Stadia controller to keep, but you’re getting the same three-month trial of Stadia Pro that any Premiere Edition buyer gets. You’ll have to keep subscribing at $10 per month if you want Pro features beyond that, or else resign yourself to using the free 1080p tier when it’s ready. You also have to use the promo code for Stadia within 60 days of receiving it, so you can’t sit on the deal until there are enough games to make you happy.

This does stack on top of the Disney+ one-year deal, mind you, and you can always cancel before the Stadia Pro trial is over. Think of it as a way to flex your internet connection’s muscle and wind up with a couple of goodies when all is said and done.

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