Month: February 2019

https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/26/energizer-p18k-pop-big-battery-hands-on-thick-phone/

Energizer has teased a huge array of smartphones for a while. The company that makes the devices, Avenir Telecom, has used that branding to showcase dummy phone models at MWC with stupidly-high capacity batteries several times but I never got to see one of them working. That is, until this chunky azure thing showed up. The P18K Pop (as it’s known) is probably thicker than any battery pack you currently own. It’s basically an 18,000mAH battery with a smartphone stuck on it.

After staring incredulously at a dummy, I heard that Energizer had a working model — it expects to launch it in June. In fact, I used the working sample briefly thinking it was another dummy model for a a hot minute.

But, ahead of the other specs, I’m mostly here to pretty much cheerlead a phone that’s bound to have an incredible battery life, which is not only my major issue with smartphones I own (or have owned) but is going to get even worse when phones are toting tablet-sized displays, double screens or 4K OLED.

The P18K Pop is 18mm thick. In comparison, my iPhone X is 7.7mm deep — making it almost three iPhones thick — at its thinnest point. I really like the deep blue turquoise color on the phone, but when I picked it up I chuckled. Your fingers have to wrap around the entire edge to handle it. It’s so thick. You could definitely hurt someone with it (please don’t).

Otherwise, the major takeaway from the detailed spec sheet is that Energizer is promising fast-charge assistance through USB-C — though they couldn’t offer an "85% charge in 30 minutes" claim like, say, Huawei. According to a spokesperson, you can expect a fully charged P18K Pop in a mere 8 hours. I translate that to mean you could charge the whole thing overnight. Sadly, there’s no wireless charging feature where you could share some of those milliamp hours with a buddy.

The phone that’s attached to that giant power cell isn’t going to blow you away, but there are a few nice touches, like a pop-up selfie camera (thus the Pop suffix), a triple 12-megapixel camera that includes a depth sensor, 12 MP and a seemingly unchanged Android 9.0 OS. (It also has an FM radio built-in. Fun!) It felt a little rough around the (fat) edges, and watching Arun Maini play around with the phone, it didn’t look as smooth as flagship devices. But that is not why I’m talking about an Energizer phone. I just want that battery. Or half that battery. Please. Surely, it’s possible.

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

February 26, 2019 at 06:39AM

https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2019/02/25/23-emotions-people-feel-but-cant-explain/

[Sources: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows | Via GG]

The post 23 Emotions People Feel, But Can’t Explain appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

via [Geeks Are Sexy] Technology News https://ift.tt/23BIq6h

February 25, 2019 at 05:08PM

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/197853/xbox-games-on-windows-10

via Blue’s News https://ift.tt/28L6I6h

February 25, 2019 at 06:49PM

https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/25/visa-planeta-tap-to-pay-mass-transit/

Tap-to-pay is incredibly convenient for mass transit, but it’s also incredibly inconsistent. There’s no guarantee you’ll find it in every big city, let alone smaller burgs that can’t justify revamping their turnstiles. Visa wants to fix that — it’s partnering with Planeta Informatica on a new Secure Access Module that brings tap-to-pay to existing public transportation systems. Your bus or subway network wouldn’t have to throw everything out to let you pay with your contactless card, smartphone or watch.

The two companies are working with Ingenico to implement the module in Rio de Janeiro’s Metro Rio in late April. There’s no guarantee you’ll see it spread to your city, but technology like this may be more a question of "when" than "if." Tap-based riding is more convenient, of course, but it also cuts out the overhead that comes with tickets. An upgrade to your commute could actually save companies money in the long run, especially if it leads to more riders.

Source: Business Wire

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

February 25, 2019 at 11:15AM

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1464029

Tips for committing suicide are appearing in children’s cartoons on YouTube and the YouTube Kids app.

The sinister content was first flagged by doctors on the pediatrician-run parenting blog pedimom.com and later reported by the Washington Post. An anonymous “physician mother” initially spotted the content while watching cartoons with her son on YouTube Kids as a distraction while he had a nosebleed. Four minutes and forty-five seconds into a video, the cartoon cut away to a clip of a man walking onto the screen and simulating cutting his wrist. “Remember, kids, sideways for attention, longways for results,” he says and then walks off screen. The video then quickly flips back to the cartoon.

“I am disturbed, I am saddened, I am disgusted,” the physician wrote. “But I am also relieved that I was there to see this video with my own eyes, so that I could take the appropriate actions to protect my family.” Those actions included deleting the YouTube Kids app and forever banning it from the house.

That particular video was later taken down from YouTube Kids after the doctor reported it to YouTube. However, parents have since discovered that several other cartoons contain information about how to commit suicide, including the same spliced-in video clip. In a subsequent blog post, pediatrician Free Hess, who runs pedimom, reported another cartoon—this time on YouTube—with the clip spliced in at four minutes and forty-four seconds. That cartoon was also later taken down, but Hess captured a recording of it beforehand, which you can view on the blog.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for YouTube told Ars:

We work to make the videos in YouTube Kids family-friendly and take feedback very seriously. We appreciate people drawing problematic content to our attention, and make it possible for anyone to flag a video. Flagged videos are manually reviewed 24/7 and any videos that don’t belong in the app are removed. We’ve also been investing in new controls for parents including the ability to hand pick videos and channels in the app. We are making constant improvements to our systems and recognize there’s more work to do.

Nadine Kaslow, a past president of the American Psychological Association and professor at Emory University School of Medicine, told the Post that simply taking down the videos isn’t enough. “For children who have been exposed, they’ve been exposed. There needs to be messaging—this is why it’s not okay.” Vulnerable children, perhaps too young to understand suicide, may develop nightmares or try harming themselves out of curiosity, she warned.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 24, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, more youths survive suicide attempts than die. Each year, emergency departments nationwide treat self-inflicted injuries in 157,000 youth between the ages of 10 and 24. Sixteen percent of high-school students reported seriously considering suicide in a nationwide survey.

Suicide tips stashed in otherwise benign cartoons are just the latest ghastly twist in

the corruption of kids’ content on YouTube and YouTube Kids

. For years, the video-sharing company has struggled with a whack-a-mole-style effort to keep a potpourri of disturbing and potentially scarring content out of videos targeting children. Videos have been found with adult content ranging from foul-language to depictions of mass shootings, alcohol use, fetishes, human trafficking stories, and sexual situations. Many contain—and attract clicks with—popular cartoon characters, such as Elsa from the 2013 animated Disney film

Frozen.

This chilling phenomenon has been referred to as

Elsagate

. Though YouTube has deleted channels and removed videos, Hess points out that it’s still easy to find a plethora of 

“horrifying” content aimed at children

 on YouTube Kids.

Last week, YouTube lost several advertisers, including Fortnite maker Epic Games, Disney, and Nestle, over a “wormhole into a soft-core pedophilia ring.”

If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or in distress, please call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline number: 1-800-273-TALK (8255), which will put you in touch with a local crisis center. 

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

February 25, 2019 at 12:03PM

https://gizmodo.com/how-to-completely-google-ify-your-iphone-1832789295

Maybe you’ve got yourself some Apple hardware, but you prefer Google’s apps and services, or maybe you just find Google a less scary Big Brother in your iPhone than Apple (though both companies should inspire concerns about privacy)—to what extent can you live the Google life on your iPhone? We’ll talk you through the…

Read more…

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com

February 25, 2019 at 09:09AM

https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/24/android-nintendo-switch-mod/

Ever since the Nintendo Switch launched, there’s been a lingering question: can it run Android? It’s a reasonably powerful ARM-based tablet, after all. Two years later, the answer is finally "yes…" sort of. Developers Billy Laws and Max Keller have managed to get an early version of Android Q running on the Switch. Bluetooth, WiFi and even the Joy-Cons are working — theoretically, this could be one of the better Android gaming devices available.

There are gotchas. GPU support is a work in progress — you wouldn’t want to play PUBG Mobile on the Switch right now, assuming it would even run. It’s also unclear how well the SD card slot, USB-C docking and other features work. This is a start, though, and those willing to throw caution (and warranties) to the wind could soon repurpose the Switch for everything from playing mobile games to everyday tasks like checking email.

Via: Wololo.net

Source: Max Keller (Twitter 1), (2)

via Engadget http://www.engadget.com

February 24, 2019 at 06:33PM