Continuing the confusion on its new Privacy Policy, WhatsApp has announced a reversal of its stance, saying that it won’t limit functionality for users who don’t accept the new terms, at least for now.
WhatsApp’s new Privacy Policy, which has drawn a lot of criticism from users across the world for sharing data with its parent company Facebook, finally went into effect on May 15, 2021.
Earlier this month, before the policy came into force, the popular messaging app backtracked on its threat to ban users that don’t accept the new terms, instead threatening them with reduced functionality. It now appears that the company has backtracked on the limited functionality threat as well.
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“Given recent discussions with various authorities and privacy experts, we want to make clear that we currently have no plans to limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works for those who have not yet accepted the update,” the company said in its latest statement.
Topsy turvy
While the privacy policy was originally supposed to go live earlier this year in February, WhatsApp decided to delay the update till May after facing backlash from its users.
Unfortunately however, the mixed messaging from the company regarding the implications of not agreeing to the new terms, continues even after the new terms have come into effect.
Many countries including Germany and Turkey have gone up in arms against WhatsApp’s new policy, whilst the company is also currently engaged in a tussle with the Indian government who contend that the app’s new privacy policy contravenes the country’s laws.
WhatsApp now suggests that these engagements are behind its change in stance of of limiting the functionality of users not-agreeing to its new policy.
However, while the company has said that it’ll continue to prompt users about the new terms, its position to not limit their service isn’t permanent and might change in the future.
The latest version of Microsoft’s Edge internet browser comes with a few not-so-welcome and equally annoying bugs and annoyances, users have complained.
As reported by BleepingComputer, many users reported Edge 91 serving a popup upon launch asking if they want to “use the recommended browser setting”.
However even if they close the popup or choose not to update the settings, the window would appear again upon restart.
The publication managed to recreate the problem on its own device and suggests that the problem may be in the default search engine setting:
“In BleepingComputer’s test, this only happened to us when Bing was not configured as the default search engine,” it says, before adding that it’s not 100% certain this was the only reason.
Broken startup page
Edge users are also saying the browser doesn’t accept the configurations for the startup page and often opens a New Tab page instead – which BleepingComputer also managed to recreate in order to confirm the issue.
According to Windows Latest, it can be solved by manually switching the “Manage search engine” Group Policy from “Enabled” to “Not Configured” or “Disabled.”
Other bugs include missing the + symbol to open a new tab, or not being able to use the third mouse button (the wheel) to open items in the Favorites folder.
Microsoft has not yet addressed these issues, so we don’t know how long it’ll be untl a fix is released.
The software giant can’t seem to catch a break with its browser(s) lately. It currently has two browsers – the Chromium-based Edge, and the legacy Internet Explorer. The latter, which is mostly used by organizations that need something to run their legacy apps on, is retiring on June 15, 2022.
Ever since Google’s Android operating system debuted back in 2010, it’s allowed other vendors to create their own take on it, from smartphones to tablets.
Amazon has done precisely that with FireOS, curating a look that makes it known that you’re in Amazon’s world.
It even appeared in the much-maligned Amazon Fire Phone back in 2014, which only lasted for a year before it was cancelled.
However, the similarities between FireOS and Android are too many to count, but there are some use cases that could make you wonder if a Fire device could work in your household.
Differences with Android
FireOS first appeared in 2012 with the Kindle Fire tablet, as a means to rival Apple’s iPad mini. Since then it split into different versions, appearing on devices such as the Fire TV, the Echo Show and Fire tablets. However, Amazon has made sure to keep the user interface and the color scheme to match its branding, with orange abound when you access the settings app, or browse the apps installed on your Fire tablet.
Instead of Google’s Play Store, you access the Amazon App Store instead. This features a wide variety of apps, but it’s also accessible from Amazon’s own website. This way, if you see an app you like there, you only have to purchase it and it will download directly to your Amazon Fire device. It’s a much easier way for Amazon to manage what apps are available for the Fire line.
But the more you delve deeper into FireOS, the more you may find familiarity, especially if you have an Android phone. You can avoid Amazon’s gatekeeping and use alternative third-party apps instead, enabling features such as mouse support and even the ability to run games and movies that aren’t present on Amazon’s store.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Analysis: Here comes a new Challenger
As FireOS runs on a version of Android, it also means that it’s open to a wide variety of games. For example, the Xbox GamePass app can be used on a Fire tablet, and with some rejigging, a Fire TV stick. Essentially you will be able to play Halo 2 on your TV, with a controller of your choice paired to the device. It’s an incredibly appealing aspect, especially for those who don’t have an Xbox. You can just launch the app and carry on with your game of choice.
However, with Amazon’s own gaming streaming service, called Luna, in testing, it could help transform FireOS into a much more appealing gaming device to enable even more access to games that only require a controller and an internet connection.
Prime Day Incoming
As Amazon Prime Day is rumored to be landing around the end of June, it also means that it’s a great opportunity to look into a new Amazon device, especially if you want something to just play games on.
With restrictions slowly lifting and more opportunities available to meet with people, travelling will come back into force again. This only means that having a Fire HD tablet just for watching your favorite James Bond films could be the perfect use for one.
The Aura Air air purifier takes a decidedly different approach to scrubbing your home air of airborne pollutants and odors. Unlike competing products that typically sit on the floor, the Aura Air mounts to your wall. And rather than filter air by pulling it through one side of a square or rectangular filter and exhausting out the other, the Aura Air sucks air through a circular filter and exhausts it in all directions.
It sounds like a great idea, and the Aura Air does have several strong features. The problem is that it trades air pollution for noise pollution: It’s extremely loud, even at its quietest setting.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best air purifiers, where you’ll find reviews of the competition’s offerings, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.
A fan at the back of the Aura Air draws air through an intake at the front, where a polymer mesh pre-filter traps large airborne particles such as dust and pollen. The air then passes through a round filter—Aura calls it the Ray Filter—which consists of three layers: a HEPA filter, an activated carbon filter to absorb odors, and a cotton fabric filter impregnated with copper oxide to destroy bacteria and neutralize viruses, fungus, and mold.
Aura Air
This exploded view of the Aura Air shows its washable pre-filter and disposable, three-layer Ray Filter.
Aura says an ultraviolet-C (UVC) LED inside the Aura Air kills bacteria, viruses, and parasites that get trapped in the Ray Filter filter, and the FDA concurs that UVC light is effective for this purpose, although this document reports that as of February 1, 2021, “there is limited published data about the wavelength, dose, and duration of UVC radiation required to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus;” that’s the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. Finally, bipolar ionization technology creates positively and negatively charged oxygen ions that can remove airborne pollutants. Where ionizer-based air purifiers can produce high levels of ozone, Aura says its device produces very low levels of that harmful molecule.
I asked the company to provide CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) numbers for tobacco, cooking, and fireplace smoke; for dust; and for pollen, but a representative provided only a single “estimated” CADR of 203, with the qualifications that “this is still being tested” and that the unit’s “max air flow is 350m3 per hour.”
The Aura Air app
Michael Brown / IDG
The Aura Air app has its quirks, but it does a very good job of informing you of the air quality inside and around your home.
A collection of sensors inside the Aura Air monitor the quality of air in the room in which it’s installed, and the air purifier uses this information to determine how hard it needs to work. Once you connect the device to your Wi-Fi network, this information is also reported to the Aura Air app on your mobile device (the app is available for Android and iOS). The app is generally well designed, apart from the fact that it presents virtually no useful information on its homepage. It displays a thumbnail image of the air filter with the remaining lifespan of the Ray Filter beneath that. You must drill down into the app to get any more useful information.
Michael Brown / IDG
The Aura Air app has an odd way of presenting weather forecasts. This screenshot was taken on a Thursday afternoon, so why does the forecast start on Tuesday? And is that the Tuesday past or the Tuesday to come?
Tapping on the thumbnail displays a circular chart that reports indoor and outdoor air quality indexes (AQIs). Indoor AQI is based on the levels of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), PM2.5 (particulate matter in the 2.5 micron range), PM10 (particulate matter in the 10 micron range), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The outdoor AQI is based on the EPA’s national air quality standards and reports on the same pollutants as the indoor AQI, plus the levels of nitrogen oxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Both indexes scale from 0 (excellent) to 500 (hazardous). The app provides helpful descriptions of these pollutants, including their impact on human health.
Michael Brown / IDG
Swiping left in the app brings up banal health-maintenance recommendations in six categories (general, allergies, heart, grass, dust, and graminales—that last one being order of flowering grasses).
In the “general” category, for example, the app suggests “refraining from exposure to heavy traffic, smoke, busy roads, polluting factories would be best for your long-term health.” The “heart” recommendation, meanwhile, duplicates this advice, adding only that you should “ensure personal medication is readily available and seek medical advice, if necessary.” Clicking on “allergens” delivered a terse “No info,” “grass” displayed a five-element line graph labeled “very high,” “dust” showed a similar graph labeled “very low,” and “germinales” simply said “off season.”
Another swipe left brings up much more useful information from the Aura Air’s own sensors: Precise levels of the airborne pollutants that comprise the indoor and outdoor AQI indexes. You can tap on any of these outdoor stats to get a precise reading, but doing this with the indoor stats displays the reading for just a second or two before switching back to VOC levels. I suspect this is a bug in the app, but it’s not a particularly annoying one.
Michael Brown / IDG
The Aura Air lends a whole new meaning to the term “wall wart” (and there’s a big one at the end of the power cord, too).
A final swipe left brings up a very simple and oddly organized weekly weather forecast. Looking at it on a Thursday afternoon, the forecast started with Tuesday’s weather and ended with Monday’s (only the forecast high and low temperatures are reported).
The Aura Air can operate in four modes: silent, low, high, and auto. I used the auto setting for most of this review, which automatically changes operating modes according to the registered indoor AQI. Because the device is so loud, I also enabled night mode. Set the times you typically go to bed and wake up and the Aura Air will turn off its LED indicator and run as quietly as it’s able—which is not all that quiet.
I used the Audiobel app on my iPhone 12 to measure the ambient noise level. I used my 350-square-foot master bedroom as the test space (the Aura Air is rated for a maximum room size of 600 square feet). Audiobel reported ambient noise level four feet from the wall where device would operate to be 39dB.
Michael Brown / IDG
The Aura Air’s Ray Filter looks just like the one you’ll find under the hood of your car.
With the air purifier in auto mode and reporting air quality as “good” (specifically, an AQI of 100 on its 500-point scale, with lower numbers being better), noise levels increased to 48dB. It got even louder when I manually set it on high: 53dB. I unplugged the appliance and waited until the next day to bring a Coway Airmega 250 air purifier into the room, placing it on the floor at the same location (we’ll have a review of Coway’s new product soon).
Michael Brown / IDG
The app will send you an alert when its polymer-mesh pre-filter should be washed and when its disposable Ray Filter should be replaced (every six months at a cost of $79).
The Airmega doesn’t have an app, but it does have onboard sensors that measure air quality and control its fan speed accordingly. When I measured the Airmega 250’s noise level while operating in its auto mode, the meter registered just 39.3dB—almost no change from the ambient level. I needed to put my hand over its vent to confirm that it was still running. When I reported my noise level readings to Aura, a company representative responded that they were “completely normal and meet all sound regulations/standards.”
Bottom line
The Aura Air is an effective air purifier with proven technology for destroying bacteria and viruses that might be present in your home’s air. On the downside, it can be exceedingly loud as it goes about that task. And while it boasts an attractive industrial design on its own, it’s just about impossible to blend into your home’s décor; plus, there’s the issue of the dangling power cord to deal with (it’s worth noting that most of the photos on Aura’s website show no cord at all).
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Viofo’s A139 3CH three-channel, three-camera dash cam system is a first in our experience. We’ve tested three-channel products before, but the interior camera has always been integrated into the same body as the front camera. Viofo’s is separate, as is the rear camera.
The upside to this discrete interior camera approach is versatility in locating each camera. The downside, though easily surmountable, is that you have more cables to hide.
Design and features
The A139’s three cameras are also notable for their high resolution. The 140-degree FOV front camera is 1440p, while the 170-degree cabin (interior) and rear cameras are both 1080p. All manage 30 fps while recording simultaneously, which means there’s a fair amount of processing power under the hood. High-quality Sony STARVIS IMX335 sensors are used by all three cameras.
Viofo
Viofo’s A139 main (forward) camera body. There’s no display. Instead, the camera relies on a Wi-Fi-connected phone app for displaying live views and changing settings.
The main (forward) camera body uses a sticky mount. The camera attaches/detaches from said mount by sliding to the left or right. There’s no adjustment once mounted (place carefully!), and there’s no display. Instead of the latter, the A139 relies on a Wi-Fi-connected phone app for displaying live views and changing settings. Feedback is provided by status lights, voice, and other audio clues.
IDG
The Viofo Phone app for the A139. The front live view and settings pages are shown.
On the back of the main camera are power, record on/off, emergency record (save), the microphone on/off, and Wi-Fi buttons. You must connect to the phone to change the numerous other settings, and you can’t record while doing so. Small matter–you shouldn’t be driving while using your phone anyway.
There’s quite a bit in the box to support three cameras, as you can see below.
Viofo
As you can see, the A139 packs a lot of stuff into the box, and there’s a lot of cabling to hide. If you have a powered mirror, grab an adapter to power the main camera. That will cut down on the clutter.
As I mentioned, the most problematic aspect of the A139 is the cabling. The cables are thin, and they snap into place using mini COAX connectors. How much of an issue they’ll be depends on where you place them.
With most cars, you’ll want to hide the main camera behind the rearview mirror (use an adapter to power the A139 if the mirror is powered), and the interior camera somewhere high up on the windshield so it covers as much of the back seat as possible. Viofo thoughtfully includes a spudger/crevasse tool for tucking the cables away behind molding.
Viofo
As you can see, there’s no display on the Viofo A139. It instead relies on voice and other audio feedback to let you know what’s going on.
The notable feature of the interior camera is the infrared array–six lights surrounding the lens. Otherwise, as you can see in the two upcoming images, it’s a dead ringer for the rear camera.
Viofo
The interior camera for the Viofo A139 features six infrared lights to enhance low-light captures.
The A139’s camera is nothing special, though it does take some of the best video we’ve seen for a unit peering out your back window.
Viofo
The rear camera for the Viofo A139 is physically identical to the interior camera, with the exception that it has no infrared lights surrounding the lens.
Other features include integrated GPS (embedded in the video and watermarked on the video), a parking mode, and a polarizing filter. The latter increased reflectivity somewhat, though it did tamp down glare from the sun.
Performance
As you can see below, the A139’s daytime captures are excellent, offering a very wide, 140-degree field of view without much fisheye distortion.
IDG
Front day captures are excellent, though the the 170-degree lens captures quite a bit of the dashboard in my small sports car.
Viofo includes a polarizing filter, but during everyday use (as shown below) it increased the intensity of the dashboard reflections quite a bit.
IDG
The polarizing filter is supposed to cut down on glare, but increased reflectivity from the interior dramatically. And yes, I hadn’t set the readout to MPH. Divide by 1.6.
The A139’s low-light captures (shown below) aren’t half-bad. Note that it was impossible to keep the windshield completely clean with the San Francisco marine layer hitting the car off and on. Note the exceptional color depth. And that’s without WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) enabled. It was not nearly as light out as the image below would make it seem.
IDG
Front night captures were excellent. This capture doesn’t show it, but the camera handles headlight flare very well.
Rear captures are as good as the front captures, albeit with a touch less detail (1080p versus 1440p). Note that the band running horizontally across the image below is a defrosting heater wire, not an issue with the camera. Place yours better.
IDG
The rear camera during the day. The dark line running horizontally across the middle is a heater wire, not a defect in the camera.
You can really appreciate the wide angle of the rear camera lens when you see the night shot below. Again, moisture is responsible for some of the halos.
IDG
This rear night capture is also quite good. Most of the halos are caused by moisture on the window. And yes, I was parked.
In the first daytime interior shot below, notice that the view is so wide, you can see the main camera and buildings overhead. There was no room higher on my small, steep windshield or I’d have placed the camera higher. If I’d used the phone to check the view, I would have aimed the camera lower. One of the foibles of life without a display on the camera itself.
IDG
This day capture by the interior camera shows lots of detail, and lots of ceiling. Most users will mount the camera higher and aim it lower.
At left in the interior night capture below, the sloppy cable run that fell out of the molding in my car presents a teachable moment. I was in a hurry, okay?
IDG
Interior night captures show a lot of detail. And the wide field of view will capture just about all of the cabin that’s not hidden.
In summary, there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to video quality with the A139. Thanks to the wide fields of view, the system covers nearly all your car’s surroundings and interior, and the results are nicely detailed and colorful.
Conclusion
The Viofo A139 3CH is an easy Editor’s Choice. It takes fantastic video. With the exception of the Nextbase modular cameras with their telephoto rear cameras, the A139 is my new favorite. The discrete design lets you mount the cameras at their best possible vantage points, especially helpful for ride-givers who want to keep an eye on what’s going on in the backseat. If you want to track everything in and around your car, the A139 3CH has you covered.
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Scammers are using consumer loathing towards spam email to – send more spam email. As reported by BleepingComputer, a new scam campaign aims to verify if the email the scammers have in their database is valid and active. If they get the needed confirmation, they’ll bombard it with various spam emails.
The campaign is simple in design – the victim will get a basic email with this call to action in it:
“Please confirm your Subscribe (sic) or Unsubscribe. Confirm Subscribe me! Unsubscribe me! Thank you!”
The scammers are betting most victims would press the unsub button. However, whichever option they choose, the same thing will happen. Should they indeed choose to unsub, they’ll trigger the email client to send a new email to multiple addresses, all under the scammers’ control.
Spam scam
The email’s only contents are “Please unsubscribe me from your newsletter,” tricking the victim into believing their efforts are legitimate. In reality, the only thing they’d be doing is confirming to the scammers that the email address is active and in use.
A few days after sending this confirmation, the victim’s inbox will get flooded with spam emails.
BleepingComputer confirmed the authenticity of the campaign by “unsubscribing” using a freshly created email address. “After sending unsubscribe/subscribe responses from the new account, in only a few days our new account became bombarded with spam emails”, the publication wrote.
It was also said that these campaigns aren’t necessarily limited to spam emails – nothing prevents the scammers from deploying phishing or social engineering against the target email, which are usually more dangerous and often more difficult to spot and stop.
Security experts are warning all consumers never to click any links they receive in an email, unless they are absolutely certain of the authenticity of the sender and the legitimacy of the link. No legitimate business will ever send an empty email with just “Subscribe or Unsubscribe” options, and without further explanation.
