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The Morning After: Nintendo Switch Lite hands-on

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Cute, but comes with compromises.Nintendo Switch Lite hands-on

According to Devindra Hardawar, “The Switch Lite leans more into being a mobile console, which makes it ideal for anyone who plans to play more on the go.” That also means living without detachable Joy-Cons, HD Rumble or any way to play games on a TV.

Water towers can fly.SpaceX’s Starhopper successfully completes its 150m hover test

The test vehicle SpaceX is using to prepare for its Starship spacecraft just made its longest and highest untethered flight yet. It rose to about 500 feet above the ground in Texas before slowly coming back to Earth — check out the clip and you’ll be impressed.

Clear your calendar.Microsoft asks you to Save the Date for a Surface event on October 2nd

Last year on October 2nd, Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2, Surface Studio 2 and the Surface Headphones. Now it has another event planned for the same date in 2019, and we don’t know what to expect. Maybe a more drastically reworked Surface Pro? A rumored dual-screen device? We’ll keep an ear out for any rumors leading up to the big event.

The Chicken Wars continue.Popeyes pushes its mobile app as a way to find the sold-out chicken sandwich

The Popeyes chicken sandwich is gone (as represented above by @FWMJ). Just two weeks after going on sale nationwide, the company announced it’s sold out. For anyone who wants to try one when the viral menu item returns, the company is (of course) suggesting you install its mobile app and wait for a push notification. On the other hand, KFC’s one-day trial of Beyond Chicken meatless nuggets and wings sold out in just a few hours.

What you might be giving away in an ancestry test.How secure is DNA testing?

You’ve seen the ads for DNA services. And you’ve seen the headlines about deeper implications, like medical research, investigating cold cases, adoptees locating their parents. So where does your data go when you mail a swab off for DNA testing? Chris Ip will try to explain who has access and what you can do about it.

It’s not a niche device anymore.Fairphone 3: The ‘ethical’ smartphone you might actually buy

For $500, you’re not only buying a good-looking phone; the sales pitch is that you’re making a decision to support better resources and labor practices when it comes to smartphone manufacturing. The components used in its construction were bought from mines that try not to hire children or abuse its workers. The factories where they were made pay better than others, and offer opportunities for training, advancement and a better life.

The price is a little steep, but second-hand….What we’re buying: Concept2 Model D with PM5 rowing machine

This month, Senior Editor Dan Cooper waxes lyrical about his not-quite-new Concept2 rowing machine. According to him, they’re well built, reliable and popular with elite athletes, which means they’re totally out of his price range (think: $945 new). A Facebook Marketplace bargain, however, got him rowing. This is his story.

But wait, there’s more…

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Telegram hasn’t given up on its ‘Gram’ cryptocurrency

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The currency — which has been rumored for a while — will operate with a decentralized structure similar to Bitcoin. The coins will apparently be stored in a Gram digital wallet, which Telegram plans to offer to its 200 million global users.

However, the cryptocurrency has largely been born of 2018’s $1.7 billion investment round in the company. In legal documents seen by the Times, Telegram has promised investors it would deliver Grams by October 31st or return their money, so the company is up against a tight deadline.

The very nature of Telegram will add a layer of complexity to the process, too. The platform allows users to send encrypted messages between phones, which has made it unpopular with some governments. The company has always operated with a level of opacity, and given its plans to operate Gram like Bitcoin — which could make it easier to avoid regulations — it’s likely to come under some pretty intense scrutiny if it does hit its launch deadline.

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Google to shut down its job application service in 2020

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Google didn’t say just how successful Hire is, but perhaps the fact that it’s not closing its doors right away means it has a dedicated userbase. The service won’t be shutting down until September 1st, 2020, and the company will allow users to continue using it at no additional cost if their contract expires before that date. Further, Google will no longer charge users for standard usage after their next bill. The tech giant promises to keep the service running smoothly until its last day, but it will no longer roll out any new features over the next year.

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Researchers found another way to potentially clone Model S key fobs

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Apparently, the vulnerability allows hackers to break the 80-bit encryption by cracking two 40-bit keys instead. The new attack has a shorter range than the first, and it takes a bit longer than a couple of seconds, but it’s still doable. Model S owners don’t have to worry about bad actors using the flaw to break into their cars, though — all they have to do is upgrade their fobs. Tesla has already fixed the issue, and unlike last year, it doesn’t require new hardware. The automaker has started rolling out an over-the-air software update for existing key fobs. In fact, it already implemented the change for all newly manufactured Model S vehicles last month, so new owners don’t even have to upgrade.

Wouters was impressed by the way Tesla handled the problem, but he warns that plenty of other cars’ key fobs are vulnerable to similar encryption-cracking techniques. Especially since most automakers get their key fobs from third-party manufacturers, and some of them aren’t capable of pushing over-the-air updates like Tesla is.

As for Tesla, the automaker seems to be confident that its vehicles are secure enough. A spokesperson pointed out in a statement to Wired that the company introduced a PIN to Drive feature last year that gave owners a way to prevent anybody from driving their vehicles if they can’t key in the right PIN.

The spokesperson said:

“While nothing can prevent against all vehicle thefts, Tesla has deployed several security enhancements, such as PIN to Drive, that makes them much less likely to occur. We’ve begun to release an over-the-air software update (part of 2019.32) that addresses this researcher’s findings and allows certain Model S owners to update their key fobs inside their car in less than two minutes. We believe that neither of these options would be possible for any other automaker to release to existing owners, given our unique ability to roll out over-the-air updates that improve the functionality and security of our cars and key fobs.”

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Canon’s EOS 90D DSLR and mirrorless EOS M6 Mark II pack 32.5-megapixels

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Photographers interested in mid-range models have a couple of new options now, since Canon has officially announced the EOS 90D DSLR and mirrorless EOS M6 Mark II. The announcement confirms specs that leaked last week, with both cameras sharing quite a bit of their hardware capability.

  • 32.5 Megapixel CMOS(APS-C) Sensor
  • DIGIC 8 Image Processor
  • 4K UHD up 30p and 1080p FHD up 120p video recording with no crop
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF in Live View with 5,481 manually selectable AF positions
  • Electronic shutter with a minimum of up to 1/16000th
  • Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Technology

The EOS 90D improves on its predecessor, the 80D that was introduced in 2017, with its new sensor that bumps resolution up from 24.2-megapixels to 32.5, full-width 4K video recording, a newer image processor inside and up to 10fps burst shooting with autofocus, compared to 7fps on the 80D. There’s also a new autofocus joystick and a few other button tweaks, but the frame is largely the same as before.

The 90D will go on sale in mid-September for $1,199 if you want just the camera body, while adding an 18-55mm kit lens takes the price to $1,349, or you can swap in an 18-135mm lens at a price for $1,599.

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Apple is already beta testing iOS 13.1

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Most notably, the 13.1 beta restores Automations within Shortcuts (think of it as Apple’s take on IFTTT). Maps, meanwhile, has regained an option to share your ETA with friends. You’ll also see little additions like a new AirPods volume indicator, fresh HomeKit icons and the option of mapping a right mouse button to 3D Touch functions.

It’s not certain why Apple is releasing a 13.1 beta so soon, although it could have a lot on its plate beyond the usual September event, including the TV+ launch, Apple Arcade and new iPads. It may want to ensure that the necessary software for all this is in tip-top shape as soon as possible instead of waiting until after the iOS 13.0 launch to start testing.

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Eight people face federal charges for running illegal streaming sites

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Defendants listed in the indictment include Kristopher Lee Dallmann, 36, Douglas M. Courson, 59; Felipe Garcia, 37; Jared Edward Jaurequi aka “Jared Edwards”, 38; Peter H. Huber, 61; Yoany Vaillant, aka “Yoany Vaillant Fajardo”, 38 and Luis Angel Villarino, 40. The individuals, all who were involved in Jetflicks, are all charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. The 36-year old Darryl Julius Polo also faces charges. Polo, who was a part of the team that ran Jetflicks, left the company to start iStreamitAll, a service that offered movies.

If you’re not familiar with iStreamitAll and Jetflicks, it’s probably for a good reason. Both services remained under the radar as many questioned their legality. First established in 2009, Jetflicks, which is headquartered in Las Vegas, emerged as a paid video-on-demand service for mobile devices. Cordcutters shelled out $10 a month (or $20 quarterly) to stream cable TV shows on a variety of different devices, including smart phones, tablets, game consoles and digital media players.

But unlike legitimate streaming operations like Netflix or Hulu, Jetflicks and ISIA didn’t acquire the licenses for the programs it distributed to subscribers. Instead, the DOJ alleges that Jetflix and ISIA relied on advanced computer scripts to obtain content from torrent websites around the world, such as The Pirate Bay and Torrentz. Prosecutors said that Jetflicks at one point claimed to have over 183,000 TV episodes, while ISIA claimed to have over 115,800 TV episodes and 10,500 movies. After a crackdown on private channels due to piracy concerns, Roku dumped both ISIA and Jetflicks from its platform.

Numerous complaints filed by Jetflicks customers to the Better Business Bureau describe the service being down and calls and emails to the company remaining unanswered. Today’s indictment very likely means that the days are numbered for both services. While the website for ISIA is still up at the time of publication, the Jetflicks website appears to be have been taken offline.

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Harvard student deported based on friends’ social media posts

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Ajjawi added that an officer asked him to unlock his laptop and phone for searches, and left with them for five hours before raising questions about the teen’s social media friends. He’s retaining a lawyer in hopes of reversing the visa decision.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be completely unique. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told TechCrunch that Arab and Muslim students have been subject to a “different level” of scrutiny with device searches in recent years, including situations where others’ content got a student in trouble. One student visa holder was rejected because of an image someone else posted in a WhatsApp group chat, for example.

The concern, as you might imagine, is that US customs officials are using these broad interpretations of social network connections as pretenses for kicking out visitors who don’t have any genuine red flags in their backgrounds. And when the system is set up to favor customs officials with few if any protections for travelers, there’s only so much visa holders can do if agents abuse their powers.

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KFC’s plant-based ‘chicken’ sold out in five hours

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KFC plans to study the results of the test to decide what happens next, which could include a larger test or a full-fledged rollout. Although it didn’t say what criteria would be involved, it’s not necessarily a matter of looking at the lineups — KFC likely wants signs that people liked Beyond Fried Chicken enough to come back, not just that they were willing to give it a try. The rush to track down Popeye’s coveted sandwich might have helped KFC’s chances by putting people in the mood for chicken, even if it’s the simulated kind.

Yes, this is an opportunity for KFC and Beyond to toot their collective horn. If it does lead to an expanded rollout, though, it could represent more evidence that plant-based meat replacements have broad appeal outside of burgers. They’re still far from ubiquitous at this stage, but they could soon be common enough that it’s really just a question of whose meat-free meal you’re eating.

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LG, Panasonic and Vizio fight motion smoothing with ‘filmmaker mode’

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Today the UHD Alliance — an industry group of various companies involved in getting 4K video to you — banded together and announced something that couldn’t come too soon: filmmaker mode. According to its backers, which include manufacturers like LG, Vizio and Panasonic, the feature will make sure movies and TV shows are seen as intended.

That means automatically disabling motion smoothing technology (Tom Cruise will be very happy), as well as ensuring the correct color, aspect ratio and framerate. Until now, figuring out the settings has been something everyone needs to do one their own — we have some suggestions for you — with out of the box defaults that can absolutely destroy the viewing experience.

As described in the press release, Filmmaker Mode is activated either automatically through metadata in a disc or stream, or via a single button press on the remote, to make it as easy as possible for 4K TV owners to use. Vizio said in a statement that the feature will come to its 2020 televisions. The name and settings will be consistent no matter which brand of TV you’re buying.

Rian Johnson spoke at the event, while other directors including JJ Abrams, Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler and Martin Scorsese offered support in pre-recorded comments. “The thing that sets Filmmaker Mode apart is it will be a pure, clean expression of what the movie was meant to look like when it was made,” said Johnson. Ryan Coogler said that “By allowing the artists in the tent to help consult and give feedback to the electronics companies on Filmmaker Mode, we can collectively help make the consumer’s experience even more like it is in the cinema.”

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