Author: Danielle

Facebook is to pay a $5bn fine in order to settle privacy concerns, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced.

The social network must also establish an independent privacy committee that Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will not have control over.

The FTC ruled that certain Facebook policies violated rules against deceptive practices.

In particular, the FTC took issue with Facebook’s facial recognition tool.

The social network also fell foul of the regulator by not revealing that phone numbers collected for two-factor authentication would be used for advertising.

The consumer protection agency the FTC began investigating Facebook in March 2018 following reports that Cambridge Analytica had accessed the data of tens of millions of its users.

‘Responsibility’

FTC representatives from all US political parties voted the settlement deal through, despite concerns from Democrats that the fine was not big enough and that the settlement did not go far enough.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Zuckerberg said that the firm would be making structural changes to how its products were built and how the company is run.

Privacy practices would now be headed by a new chief privacy officer for products.

“We have a responsibility to protect people’s privacy,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote.

He added that Facebook was reviewing technical systems to document possible privacy risks, and going forward, whenever the social network built a new product or that used data, or a feature changed how it used data, possible privacy risks would need to be documented and mitigated.

These new practices would go far beyond what is currently required of tech firms under US law, he stressed.

“We expect it will take hundreds of engineers and more than a thousand people across our company to do this important work. And we expect it will take longer to build new products following this process going forward,” he said.

“As we build our privacy-focused vision for the future of social networking that I outlined earlier this year, it’s critical we get this right.”

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The Awair Glow C is a successor of sorts to the Awair Glow, a small air-quality monitor that also acts as a smart plug to automate “dumb” appliances in response to changes in air quality. That said, the new features on offer—the ability for users to customize the colors of its LED to transform it into a nightlight—seem minor in comparison to what remains the device’s core function: Not just monitoring, but improving the quality of the air within your home.

The Awair Glow C looks nearly identical to the older Awair Glow, with a couple of cosmetic changes: The earlier model’s touch-sensitive wood-grain pad and light strip have been replaced with a square LED light that does double duty as an air status indicator and a nightlight. Also, a removable plastic cover has been added to the three-prong AC outlet built into the front, adding a level of child safety.

Like its predecessor, the Glow C uses a color-coded system to rate your overall air quality, as well as the individual factors that influence it: green is good, yellow is fair, and red is poor. You can get an at-a-glance status of your overall air quality from the device’s LED. But pairing it with the Awair app on your smart device provides much deeper insights.

Awair

When you connect the Glow C to the app, you’re prompted to choose from several monitoring preferences: “General” emphasizes comfort; “Allergy” tracks irritants, such as dust and chemicals; “Sleep” optimizes for nighttime rest; “Baby” ensures temperature and humidity are kept at an ideal level in your child’s nursery; and “Productivity” promises to “help you stay at the top of your game,” although it doesn’t explicitly say how it accomplishes that mission.

The app’s main screen displays an overall numerical air-quality score that corresponds to the good-fair-poor color code (and the device’s LED). Beneath that is a breakdown of the factors that influence air quality: temperature, humidity, and chemicals (i.e. volatile organic compounds, or VOCs). Awair products have always been very accurate in my testing, and the Glow C is no different—its temperature and humidity readings were consistently close to those of my indoor thermometer and hygrometer.

The Awair app also tracks fluctuations in your air-quality scores and contributing factors over time. These are displayed on a simple line graph on a separate tab, but you’ll need to run the Glow C for a week or so before you get any meaningful data. A separate Tips tab provides recommendations for improving your air quality—turning on your AC to lower the indoor humidity, for example.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Smarten you your dumb appliances

If that’s all the Glow C did, it would be a solid air-quality monitor, but not all that different from a host of similar products. What continues to set Awair’s device apart is its ability to automate an assortment of conventional appliances, including fans, heaters, and humidifiers. You need only plug the appliance into the front of the Glow C, select that type of device in the app, and choose whether you want the appliance powered up based on air-quality changes, a schedule, or motion.

As we’re in the height of summer, I initially connected the Glow C to a fan and set it to turn on any time someone entered the room. Later, I plugged in a Honeywell air purifier and set it to be triggered if the chemicals level reached a level of 350ppb (parts per billion). Finally, I used the Glow C with a dehumidifier to keep indoor humidity around 50 percent. In each of these cases, I could see the respective levels drop soon after the appliance was activated.

Google is cracking down on Chrome extensions that request access to more data than they actually need, and will soon start purging offenders from the Chrome Web Store.

In May, Google announced that it would be encouraging developers to think twice about asking for unnecessary information, it’s now tightening the rules and making it an explicit requirement that apps “only request access to the least amount of data”.

Google is also telling more developers to publish privacy policies. Until now, that was only necessary for extensions that access personal or sensitive user data, but now that’s been extended to any plugin that asks for user-provided content or access to communications.

Developers will need to publish an explanation of why their need each piece of data they’re requesting, how they use it, whether it’s shared, and with whom. If it’s transmitted in any way, it’ll need to be secured with modern cryptography first.

The clock is ticking

The new updates are part of Project Strobe – a security project that involves giving users more control over their Google accounts, letting them choose exactly what data each app can access, and finally laying Google+ to rest.

Both changes go into force on October 15, so developers have until then to get their extensions and policies in shape. If they drag their feet, they can expect their work to be pulled from the Chrome Web Store.

Google came under fire recently, when it was discovered that several extensions in the Chrome Web Store were harvesting and selling data without permission, so it might have pushed out this update sooner than originally planned as a form of damage limitation. More transparency is always welcome though, and it’ll be interesting to see if any more changes come out of Project Strobe before mid-October.

Via 9to5Google

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Just a few weeks ago, Vodafone came along to shake up the SIM only deals market, dropping a range of unlimited data offers that were compatible with both 4G and 5G.  And now, we’ve bagged an exclusive offer on these impressive SIMOs just for you, dear readers of TechRadar.

There are three SIM plans up for grabs from Vodafone – Unlimited Lite, Unlimited and Unlimited Max. And thanks to a TechRadar exclusive deal with Carphone Warehouse, you can get any one of these SIMOs and £25 in cashback.

All of these plans can be used with both 4G and 5G compatible devices. Also, Vodafone has said these plans enjoy consistency of experience in congested areas due to 5G at no additional cost over 4G.

It’s worth noting however that the two more affordable plans receive restrictions in speed. So with Vodafone’s Unlimited Lite  you get minimum speeds of 2Mb and 10Mb with its regular Unlimited plan – it’s worth noting that Three, the other big purporter of unlimited data SIMs doesn’t throttle speeds in the same way. Go with the Unlimited Max tariff and you get absolutely no restrictions – the best way to enjoy 5G.

You can see all of these exclusive Vodafone SIM only deals down below, complete with that £25 cashback.

These exclusive SIM only deals in full:

Why buy from Carphone Warehouse?

Everyone knows the name ‘Carphone Warehouse‘ but what is it that makes the retailer really standout?

Providing ‘text to switch’ features – allowing you to easily change over your number when you switch contracts – as well as phone trade-ins to save money with your old handset, Carphone is working to make your purchase as easy as possible.

Combine that with Carphone’s next day delivery guarantee and click and collect options from 850 stores and the high-street retailer is looking like a strong option – discover its latest prices and offers with our Carphone Warehouse deals guide.

What other SIM only deals are available?

For the absolute cheapest price on unlimited data, Three is the way to go. You can currently pay just £11 for the first six months and then £22 for the rest of your contract, making it incredibly affordable. However, you don’t get that exclusive voucher.

Or for the cheapest price across the entire SIM only market, for the first three months. After that the cost jumps up to £7.50, still an excellent price.

Like the idea of fast 4G speeds? EE is the way to go. At £22 a month for 25GB of data, EE doesn’t have to cost a load to get a decent chunk of data.

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Have the specifications of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox Scarlett games console just been leaked in benchmark results for an AMD Flute chip?

The benchmark results were spotted by a a Twitter user, and while we’re not sure what the purpose of the chip is, we know that Microsoft is working with AMD to produce a custom SoC that combines a processor and graphics card for the next Xbox – in the same way Sony is working with AMD on its custom Gonzalo SoC for the PlayStation 5.

If these benchmark results are real, and the AMD Flute SoC is indeed going to power the Xbox Scarlett console, then it gives us an idea of the console’s specifications and potential power level – something Microsoft has been rather cagey about so far.

[UserBenchmark] AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000004-15_32/12/18_13F9 https://t.co/bmE1sP3uLfPlatform : AMD Flute.Socket : BL5.8C16T : Base 1.6Ghz/Boost 3.2Ghz.13F9 = Navi 10LITE (?). pic.twitter.com/cwwpicuNSjJuly 22, 2019

AMD Flute specifications

According to the benchmark results, the AMD Flute SoC will come with eight Zen 2 cores, 16 threads and SMT capability.

Interestingly, the base clock speed of the Flute SoC is just 1.6GHz, which is pretty low these days, with a maximum boost of 3.2GHz.

This suggests that the Flute SoC will be a low-power part for use in compact systems – such as a games console, and is similar to AMD’s Jaguar SoC which powered the Xbox One.

While on paper the Flute SoC’s processor doesn’t sound too impressive – especially when compared to modern desktop PCs’ CPUs – it looks like the Flute CPU will be at least two times faster than previous-generation Jaguar SoCs, and will be a big upgrade over the dated 28nm Jaguar SoCs found in the original Xbox One and PS4.

The Flute SoC is also expected to be 7nm, which will also bring power benefits.

As a system-on-a-chip, the AMD Flute looks like it comes with a graphics processing unit (GPU) as well, though clues about the graphics capabilities are harder to find. Apparently, it will be based on ‘NAVI 10LITE’ – which has been mentioned before when unreleased AMD Navi GPUs showed up in a Linux driver.

It’s possible that this is a ‘Lite’ version of the Navi 10 GPU, which will have reduced or limited specs compared to the full version, including lower CU (compute unit) counts. Having a lower CU count means the GPU will be less power-hungry, again suggesting that the AMD Flute SoC, if it does exist, is designed for a device where power efficiency is important – such as a games console.

Finally, the benchmark results also suggest the engineering sample uses 16GB of memory – though the type of memory is not mentioned. It could mean that the Flute SoC shares 16GB of GDDR6 memory between the CPU and GPU, in a similar way to how the Xbox One X shares GDDR5 memory.

So, does this mean we have a better idea of what the Xbox Scarlett’s specs will be? Well, there’s some compelling evidence, but remember that this is from a leaked benchmark, and we’re not sure if the AMD Flute SoC is going to be used in Xbox Scarlett – if the SoC even exits.

It’s also worth noting that this AMD Flute is apparently an engineering sample, which means this may not be its final specifications – and that could change if (and it’s a very big if) it ends up in the Xbox Scarlett when the console launches late 2020.

What we know so far about Xbox Scarlett

So, what do we know so far about Xbox Scarlett? When it comes to specifications, not a lot.

What we do know is that Xbox Scarlett will use a custom-designed processor from AMD that makes use of Zen 2 and Navi architecture – which seems supported with the AMD Flute benchmark leak. 

According to Microsoft, this will make Xbox Project Scarlett 4 times more powerful than the Xbox One X and capable of 8K resolutions running at 120Hz frame rates. That’s incredibly ambitious, and something we’re not sure the AMD Flute chip will be capable of just yet – although hardware improvements and software efficiencies could help here.

An SSD will come as standard, as with the PS5, which will give it the option of using its storage system as virtual RAM, as well as lifting load time performance. That’ll let developers stream in far more detailed worlds around a player. In terms of ‘standard’ RAM, the console will pack in a meaty GDDR6.

Via Wccftech

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Are you a lucky owner of one of LG’s 2019 ThinQ AI televisions? Then you’ll get a welcome surprise in the coming days. The South Korean tech giant is rolling out Apple AirPlay 2 and Homekit support for its latest and greatest sets.

Coming to the newest LG OLED TVs, NanoCell TVs and UHD TVs with ThinQ AI capabilities in the coming days and weeks, the firmware update will let TV owners stream content from their iPhone, iPad or Mac straight to their TV sets using AirPlay 2.

Homekit support will allow owners of the TVs to integrate them into their Apple-powered smart home device line-up too. They’ll be able to control basic functions such as power, volume and source controls from the Home app, with the TVs also compatible with “scene” functions that let the TV’s features be trigged in conjunction with other smart home devices.

Dolby content

The main draw here likely will be that AirPlay 2 support. Apple’s soon-to-transform iTunes store has a growing library of Dolby Vision content, which is supported by many of LGs most recent TVs. 

Aside from the Netflix app, access to Dolby Vision content can otherwise be quite limited, with 4K Blu-ray players and discs being one of the few other ways to take advantage of the format.

LG’s firmware update will be a welcome one, but it’s not quite as seamless an integration as that of Samsung, which has this year acquired a built-in iTunes app for its smart interface, letting viewers buy shows and movies from iTunes directly from their TVs.

• Best TV 2019: which television should you buy for big-screen action?

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Another piece of evidence has emerged showing that Samsung seemingly has a new Windows 10 laptop in the pipeline, and apparently it will be part of the Galaxy Book range.

Earlier this week, we reported on a device called the Galaxy Space which was revealed in a leaked Geekbench result, and now that same notebook has been spotted getting its Bluetooth certification – except it’s now referred to as the Samsung Galaxy Book S. So perhaps the ‘S’ stands for Space in the naming scheme.

At any rate, Windows Latest spotted the Bluetooth declaration details which show that the laptop will support Bluetooth 5.0, and has the model number ‘SM-W767’.

So that’s another minor piece of hardware info, although details about this device remain sketchy, with the aforementioned Geekbench leak only showing that the laptop runs Windows 10 and has 8GB of system memory, with an 8-core processor that has a base clock speed of 2.84GHz.

Snapdragon chip

So it seems most likely that this is a Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered 2-in-1 notebook, and we assume it will suitably differentiate itself from Samsung’s Galaxy Book 2 – and maybe it’ll give us a bit more pep on the performance front (although the spilled Geekbench result doesn’t appear to indicate that’s the case).

Of course, being an official Bluetooth certification, this is a much stronger indication that Samsung does indeed have such a laptop in the wings, and maybe we’ll see the Galaxy Book S soon enough.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this puts paid to the other line of speculation that this Samsung device might not have been a laptop, as there was some talk about the possibility of it being a Windows Mixed Reality headset – although we doubted that from the very start.

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