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The Morning After: Nike’s accessible AJI

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Drones will drop the orders in yards and driveways.Alphabet’s Wing starts drone deliveries to US homes

During a pilot program in Christiansburg, Virginia, drones will drop off packages from FedEx, Walgreens and local retailer Sugar Magnolia, which include over-the-counter medication, snacks and gifts. Alphabet says it’s the first commercial drone delivery service to homes in the country.

Make sure you didn’t miss anything.Here’s everything Google announced at the Pixel 4 event

Despite all of the leaks ahead of Google’s Pixel 4 hardware event, the company still had plenty to share. Of course, we got our first official look at the Pixelbook Go and Pixel 4/4XL, but we also got to see the new Nest Mini, Nest WiFi and Pixel Buds. And Google had plenty of new features — like ultrasound sensing and an improved Recorder app — to wow the crowd.

FlyEase makes it easy to get sneakers off and on without changing their looks.Nike puts an accessibility twist on its iconic Air Jordan 1

At a glance, the AJI High FlyEase appears to be just like any other Air Jordan 1, but its new technology is going to be a welcome change for the accessibility community. The adaptive system is made up of a zipper mechanism that ties around the heel, a Velcro strap for the ankle area, an adjustable tongue and laces that don’t need to be tied. Together, all these FlyEase features can create a way for simple, one-handed entry, into the shoes.

Just can’t trust it.The Samsung Galaxy Fold, reviewed again: Hard to love, even harder to hate

Yeah, we’re back here again. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is one of those devices that inspires adoration and annoyance at the same time. Its foldable design means you can carry around a tablet in your pocket and get plenty of work done along the way. The Fold’s power and flexibility are nothing short of intoxicating, but it leaves much to be desired.

Closed, it’s chunky and clumsy, and Chris Velazco has serious concerns about how well its main screen will hold up over time — our review unit’s display developed dead and stuck pixels out of the blue, and there are other units with more pronounced blemishes. The Galaxy Fold offers a glimpse at the future of smartphones and gives Samsung a potent foundation to build on, but almost no one should consider buying one right now.

Sudo make me a sandwich.One of Linux’s most important commands had a glaring security flaw

If you’ve used the command line in Linux or a Unix-based platform like macOS, you’re probably familiar with the “sudo” command, which lets you run tasks with different (usually elevated) permissions than you’d otherwise have. It’s powerful, but it was apparently too powerful until now. Developers have fixed a sudo flaw that lets you claim root-level access even if the configuration explicitly forbids it.

Linux users can update to a newer sudo package (1.8.28 or later) to fix the flaw. You might not be immediately vulnerable as any attacker will need to have command line control over your system before they can even consider exploiting the flaw — at that point, you probably have larger problems.

The free trial is almost up — time to make a decision.A month on, Apple Arcade is too cheap to quit

Apple’s $5 monthly subscription gaming package is here, and several Engadget editors are already hooked. Whether that’s due to a particular game they can’t shake, or because it can keep their kids away from microtransaction-heavy minigames, there’s apparently something for everyone. We’ll see how long that lasts.

We hope you like TVs.Engadget’s Guide to Home Entertainment

It might seem impossible to navigate this rapidly changing industry, which is why we’ve put together a week of home entertainment stories. We’ve covered what to look for from your next TV or soundbar, what to play on your favorite console, and how on earth you’re supposed to know what streaming services and hardware to opt for. We’ve also got stories on the upcoming Disney+ service, and a guide to home projectors.

It’s time for an upgrade.US military will no longer use floppy disks to coordinate nuke launches

The US strategic command has announced that it has replaced old floppy drives with a “highly-secure solid state digital storage solution,” Lt. Col. Jason Rossi told c4isrnet.com. The storage is used in an ancient system called the Strategic Automated Command and Control System, or SACCS. It’s used by US nuclear forces to send emergency action messages from command centers to field forces, and is said to be unhackable precisely because it was created long before the internet existed.

But wait, there’s more…

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Holiday shopping can be a chore. Let us help!

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There’s a scant 68 days until Christmas is once again upon us, and 65 until Hanukkah begins. There are likely plenty of people left on your shopping list, including those few who are always impossible to buy for (looking at you, Dad) so we want to lend you a helping hand: If you find yourself stymied by gadget- or tech-related questions as you start shopping, give us a shout! Email ask@engadget.com to get answers on everything from “What is the easiest home assistant to set up for my parents?” to “What will the teenager on my list actually appreciate?” Just don’t ask us to wrap anything for you.

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HTC’s Exodus 1s can run a full Bitcoin node for under $250

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At least that’s the idea. While it’s not as intensive as mining Bitcoin, running a full node still requires a lot of computing power. In fact, HTC recommends only using the feature while the phone is connected to WiFi and plugged into its power adapter. The company also plans to roll out full node support to the original Exodus 1, as well.

The 1s can also store the entire Bitcoin ledger. To take advantage of this aspect of the phone, you’ll need a microSD card with at least 400GB of storage (sold separately). At the moment, the ledger takes up approximately 260GB, and it’s currently growing at a rate of 60GB per year. You need the entire ledger to verify and relay transactions without a third-party.

HTC Exodus 1S

Like its predecessor, the 1s supports HTC’s Zion wallet. The software allows the 1s to store, send and receive a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Steller, as well as Etherum-based ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens.

Besides its crypto-related capabilities, not much stands out about the Exodus 1s from a hardware perspective. Internally, the phone features a Snapdragon 435 processor, a chip that’s now more than three years old. Complementing the processor is 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in internal storage. The display measures in at 5.7 inches and features an 18:9 aspect ratio with 720p resolution. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a (shudders) MicroUSB port for charging and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. For taking pictures, the 1s includes a single main 13-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will ship with Android Oreo 8.1, software that is about two years old now.

In Europe, the Exodus 1s will cost €219 (approximately $244). The company also plans to sell the device in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with more countries to come at a later date. Naturally, you can also pay for the phone using cryptocurrency, with HTC accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Binance or Bitcoin Cash.

As a daily driver, the Exodus 1s won’t make sense for most people, even for die-hard crypto-enthusiasts. But it might find some runway as a secondary phone for those that want to dip their toes in the ecosystem. It’s just hard to imagine how that’s enough to move the needle for HTC.

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Remedy fixes ‘Control’ on the Epic Store so it will work offline

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The update that added a photomode to Remedy’s moody shooter Control also added some new headaches for PC players who purchased it from the Epic Games Store. Although the team says that changes made were intended to validate “future expansions,” their actual impact removed Steam controller support and forced players to stay online.

Overnight the company has released another update (v1.04.01) fixing the issue, which it says is not the fault of Epic, allowing players to both enjoy the new camera feature and get ready for DLC that will arrive in December.



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Kik Messenger will keep running under a different owner

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The messaging app’s new owner says it’ll concentrate on making it faster and less buggy, as well as on getting rid of spambots. It has to ditch a few features to be able to accomplish that and will be discontinuing the video chat toggle and the third-party bots platform for now. It doesn’t sound like MediaLab intends to change the way Kik works, though, since it praises how the app can “[forge connections] through common interest.”

Kik Interactive announced that it was giving up on its messaging service in September in order to downsize and be able to afford its court battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The agency sued the company in June over its 2017 digital token sale, which raised $100 million and which SEC sees as an illegal, unregistered securities offering.

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Facebook’s news tab could launch by the end of the month

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While Mark Zuckerberg gives speeches about not wanting Facebook to be the arbiter of truth, the Wall Street Journal reports his company is setting up deals to launch its dedicated tab for news. In a post earlier this year, the CEO said “It’s important to me that we help people get trustworthy news and find solutions that help journalists around the world do their important work.”

That will apparently take the form of a new section featuring human-curated Top News headlines (along with algorithmically-sorted subsections from “trusted publishers” that include those from WSJ parent News Corp, Buzzfeed News, the Washington Post and others. Its sources indicate that licensing fees could range from hundreds of thousands per year to millions for larger outlets.

Facebook’s recent troubles and a lack of trust in the company has stung its Libra cryptocurrency efforts, but paying publishers should help it fill out a news section that will compete with Apple’s news package and Google’s recently-readjusted news page.

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Verizon adds 5G coverage to three basketball and hockey arenas

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The network plans to have 5G coverage in 10 arenas by the end of the 2019-2020 season.

These building-by-building expansions are necessary in part due to the limited reach of current 5G tech. As we’ve discovered first-hand, Verizon’s ultra-wideband 5G doesn’t reach far indoors — the company can’t just place cell sites outside. If it’s going to help you share the big game at gigabit speeds, indoor sites are the only options.

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Netflix’s ‘Cowboy Bebop’ production pauses after John Cho is injured on-set

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The wait for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop will be a little longer than expected, as Deadline reports production is shut down for seven to nine months. Unfortunately the pause is due to an unspecified injury suffered by lead actor John Cho on the show’s set in New Zealand that will require surgery and rehabilitation.

According to the report, the show was a few episodes into its 10-episode order when the incident occurred, and now things will wait until next year to resume filming. In a statement, a Netflix spokesperson said “Our thoughts are with John and he has our complete support as he recuperates from this injury.”

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US lawmakers criticize Apple over Chinese app censorship

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“Cases like these raise real concern about whether Apple and other large US corporate entities will bow to growing Chinese demands rather than lose access to more than a billion Chinese consumers,” the letter states. Apple faced pressure to remove the app after China’s government said it allowed “rioters in Hong Kong to go on violent acts.” HKMap’s developers, however, said there hasn’t been any evidence to suggest their app had been used to target police and undermine public safety.

The letter goes on to criticize Apple for its other app removals. Citing data from an organization called GreatFire, it says, “Apple has censored at least 2,200 apps in China, which include Virtual Private Network apps used to circumvent China’s Great Firewall, and apps made by and for oppressed ethnic minorities, including the Uyghur and Tibetan communities.” The letter was signed by seven lawmakers, including Ron Wyden (D-OR), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

In a separate letter to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, five of the same lawmakers criticize the publisher for suspending Hearthstone player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung after he expressed solidarity with protestors in Hong Kong. Since first issuing the suspension, Blizzard has partly walked back on the decision. It gave Wai Chung his prize money and reduced his ban. The move, however, has done little to placate the company’s western fans.

“Because your company is such a pillar of the gaming industry, your disappointing decision could have a chilling effect on gamers who seek to use their platform to promote human rights and basic freedoms,” the letter says. In both the case of Apple and Activision-Blizzard, lawmakers urge the companies to “reverse course.”

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Nike puts an accessibility twist on its iconic Air Jordan 1

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This adaptive system is made up of a zipper mechanism that ties around the heel, a Velcro strap for the ankle area, an adjustable tongue and laces that don’t need to be tied. Together, all these FlyEase features can create a way for simple, one-handed entry, the shoes. It’s a complete reimagined version of the Air Jordan 1, in essence, and yet Nike managed to make the AJI High FlyEase look and feel like its traditional model. The company says that, while it was important to bring FlyEase to the Air Jordan 1, it was equally key to stay true to the sneaker’s renowned design.

Nike

At a glance, the AJI High FlyEase appears to be just like any other Air Jordan 1, but its new technology is going to be a welcomed change for the accessibility community. Nike also recently introduced its FitAdapt self-lacing sneakers, the Adapt BB and Adapt Huarache. And although these aren’t being marketed as adaptive products, their auto-lacing technology can definitely benefit people with special needs and limited motor skills. Perhaps in the future we’ll see an Air Jordan 1 with power laces? That would be quite something, indeed.

For now, Nike’s launching the AJI High FlyEase on November 1st. You can buy a pair on Nike’s site or its SNKRS app.

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