Though Apple and Google codeveloped a fairly sophisticated COVID-19 exposure-tracing system based on Bluetooth signals shared by Android phones and iPhones, the organization behind the Bluetooth standard believes there’s more to be done, specifically for wearables. Today, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced that it’s working with over 130 member companies to extend the…
Samsung has confirmed exactly which of its devices will be receiving “three generations” of Android updates, after announcing the initiative at its Note 20 launch event earlier this month. As expected, the list includes flagship phones going back to last year’s Galaxy…
Apple fires back at Epic: ‘We won’t make an exception’
August 18, 2020
Apple has responded to Epic Games’ latest salvo in the ongoing dispute between the two companies. Epic had said that Apple is threatening to revoke its access to iOS and Mac developer tools by removing it from the Apple Developer Program unless it cuts a rule-violating…
Huawei license expires, threatens to cut off Android updates for currently supported phones
August 18, 2020
It’s been well over a year since a US ban forced Google to cut off Huawei, but an ongoing and renewed license has allowed the two companies to work together and continue supporting phones already in the hands of consumers with Android updates. Now, though, that license is in jeopardy.
reports that, as of this past Thursday, the general license that allowed Google to work with Huawei on…
One element of Google’s latest design language is having your profile image appear in the top-right corner of every application to emphasize how you’re logged in. This Google Account switcher is now getting tweaked to launch a fullscreen interface.
You can still swipe up…
Chrome for Android will now label ‘fast pages’ and may eventually rank them higher in search
August 18, 2020
Chrome for Android will begin adding “fast page” labels to the context menus of pages it considers high-quality, Google announced Monday. The company says the labels will be based on signals from its Core Web Vitals metrics, which keep track of user experience, including…
Machine learning groups form Consortium for Python Data API Standards to reduce fragmentation
August 18, 2020
Deep learning framework Apache MXNet and Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) today launched the Consortium for Python Data API Standards, a group that wants to make it easier for machine learning practitioners and data scientists no matter which framework, library, or tool from the Python ecosystem it came from. ONNX is a group initially formed by Facebook and Microsoft in 2017 to power…
The Genki Covert Dock is like buying shipping insurance. Sure, you can find ways to save a little money, but those come with risks. And at a certain point in life, you learn that it’s always worth it to buy the insurance. Likewise, it’s probably worth it to pony up the…
Browsers including Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome have begun providing protections against cross-site tracking methods employing cookies and IP addresses. It’s an encouraging development, but there’s a fear it will push trackers to adopt more opaque, “stateless”…
Epic went after Apple, and now the tech giant is striking back. Epic Games revealed on Twitter that Apple is revoking Epic’s permissions to develop tools for iOS and Mac on August 28.
Not only does this prohibit updates to Fortnite on iOS, but it could impact every game that uses Epic’s Unreal Engine game creation tools. Epic has filed a motion to stop this retaliation from Apple, which you…
