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Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review: hold the remote

Amazon’s latest streaming player supports all the important formats and costs just $50 Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CT9QyT

How Congress could rein in Google and Facebook

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Lawmakers are getting ready to take on data privacy, but the details of the bill are still up for grabs Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2P4kFFL

Google wants to improve your smart home with iRobot’s room maps

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Google and iRobot have announced they’re working together to improve smart home technology using mapping data collected by iRobot’s robot vacuums. The two companies say the aim is to make smart homes “more thoughtful” by leveraging the unique dataset collected by iRobot: maps of customers’ homes. iRobot’s latest Roomba, the i7+, creates maps using a combination of odometry data (measuring how far the robovac’s wheels move) and low-res camera imagery. The resulting maps can be used to create custom cleaning schedules or to let users ask their Roomba to vacuum specific rooms. An integration with Google Assistant lets customers give verbal commands like, “OK Google, tell Roomba to clean the kitchen.” Google and iRobot say this data will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CSMJVa

Poco F1 will receive updates to both Android P and Android Q, Jai Mani confirms

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The Poco F1 has been praised for the set of features it offers for the price it retails for. It packs flagship-grade hardware for prices that are much, much lower than the OnePlus 6 or the new OnePlus 6T. The phone relies on a customised version of MIUI called Poco launcher which keeps getting updated with the latest security patch as well as to MIUI 10. Now, a tweet by Jai Mani confirms that the Poco F1 will also receive update for Android 9.0 Pie as well as Android Q in the future. The Tweet was in a response to a user’s query posed to Mani, asking for at least two version upgrades. Mani went ahead and put it on record. A 2-year update cycle is the same as what Android One devices promise and those that release this year will receive the update to Android P and Android Q as well. The Poco F1 has shaped up to be quite the contender for a high-end smartphone under a budget. It’s the most affordable Snapdragon 845-powered phone that is coupled with up ...

Microsoft test shows 83 of new PCs sold in select Asian countries, including India have malware-infected pirated software

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Microsoft has conducted a PC purchasing probe and examined a total of 166 new PCs from nine Asian markets, including India, Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam, and has found that four in five, which is approximately 83 percent, brand new PCs in these targeted countries are loaded with pirated software which makes these machines a fertile ground for Cybercriminals to exploit. The PC samples selected were purchased from retailers that offered computers at much lower prices, bundled with free software to lure customers. In several cases, these retailers also sold pirated software at their stores. “Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their techniques to evade security measures, and embedding their malware into pirated software is one of their tactics as it allows them to compromise large numbers of PCs and access vast amount of stolen credentials with ease. When vendors sell pirated software containing malware in their PCs, they are not only fueling the spread of malware in the region b...

MacBook Air vs. iPad Pro is a choice between the past and the future

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At yesterday’s Apple event, I saw a company returning to its finest form. Apple paid overdue attention to its stalwart MacBook Air and Mac mini, introduced a much leaner and more powerful iPad Pro, and fixed the design disaster that was the Apple Pencil’s charging. You don’t have to be an expert analyst to forecast bumper holiday sales for the Cupertino team. In crafting its most compelling iPad and MacBook Air to date, Apple also created a major headache for people like me. I’m a member of that classic Intel ultrabook demographic whose computing needs are light, but constant. You won’t catch me doing 3D modeling or 4K video production on my laptop, but I do a litany of small tasks online, in a word processor, or in Adobe’s Lightroom.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Q5gK7T

Spotify is giving family account owners a free Google Home Mini

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If you’re the account owner on a Spotify Premium Family plan in the US, you can get a free Google Home Mini from the streaming service through the end of the year, Spotify announced today. Spotify has partnered with Google to give out the voice assistant to account owners on its family plan who sign up through the link here . On the surface, it may seem like a nice holiday giveaway for Family plan users (and it is in some respects). But with the growth of Amazon Music largely on the back of the Echo and the rise of smart speakers, which may be in 50 percent of US homes before the end of the year , it’s also a strategic move for Spotify. YouTube Music and Google Play Music are still far from serious competition for Spotify, but Amazon’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qkxmxj