Apple granted patent for AirPods-style wireless charging case for Apple Watch ⌚

Apple has today been granted a patent for an Apple Watch charging carrying case which works like the AirPods case – providing somewhere to store the Watch when not in use, while simultaneously recharging it. The design is significantly different to that offered with the original $10k+ Apple Watch Edition.

While a charging case for a device typically worn all day might sound less useful than the AirPods case, it makes more sense when you read the details … In addition to the Watch itself, the patent describes the case having room for additional bands, some of which might be powered.

"Some embodiments of the disclosure pertain to a case that can securely hold and store a portable electronic device, such as a wrist-worn or other wearable electronic device, along with one or more bands that can be used with the device. Embodiments of the case can include circuitry that can charge the stored electronic device and some embodiments can further include circuitry that can charge the one or more bands stored in the case if those bands have electronic components, such as circuitry, sensors and/or batteries, that also require power."

So whether it’s a band designed simply to extend the battery-life of the Watch itself (something we’ve seen in both Apple patents and third-party product ideas), or a powered strap with additional sensors and gadgets, the case would recharge those too.

Additionally, a charging case might be more convenient than the puck when travelling, allowing an overnight charge without yet another thing to plug in overnight.

Apple becomes the first trillion dollars US-listed company

Apple becomes the first trillion dollars US-listed company

The company founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak was worth $3bn when Jobs returned to revitalize Apple in 1996.

During the day, the share price of the iPhone maker jumped by 2.8% to $207.05, passing the $1tn (£762bn) mark in New York trading.

Its stock has soared 9% since Tuesday when Apple's third-quarter earnings exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

The company, which was started in a garage in Palo Alto by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, has transformed the way people communicate with its ubiquitous iPhone.

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007 it kicked off a smartphone revolution, leaving the giants of the mobile phone industry Nokia and Blackberry struggling for survival.

Alphabet, the parent of Google, scrambled to provide its Android software to power mobile phones, making sure Apple didn't steal a huge march on rivals.

That helped Samsung to become the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer, while China's Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone seller this week.

Apple has turned to the courts to protect its advantage and won multi-million dollar payouts from Samsung for allegedly copying some of its technology.

Mr. Jobs, who returned to revitalize the company in 1996 when Apple was worth $3bn, died in 2011.

Before the release of the iPhone, Apple was reporting revenue of less than $20bn and profits of less than $2bn from the sale of its Mac personal computers in 2006.

Last year, sales had risen to $229bn and profits to $48.4bn, making it the most profitable public-listed US company.

Apple, which has seen its stock surge more than 50,000% since its stock market listing in 1980, has struggled to produce a product that replicates the success of the iPhone.

While Apple is the first company to hit the trillion dollar mark, it is likely to be followed by Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. Amazon is currently worth $875bn, Alphabet is valued at $850bn and Microsoft $823bn.

Video call up to four friends on WhatsApp

WhatsApp claims that group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and designed to work reliably around the world in different network conditions. — WhatsApp

Call the squad: WhatsApp users can now make group voice and video calls with up to four people at a time.

“Over the last couple years, people have enjoyed making voice and video calls on WhatsApp. In fact, our users spend over two billion minutes on calls per day,” WhatsApp posted on its blog.

With that in mind, the messaging company under Facebook has rolled out group calls for voice and video for both iOS and Android users.

The feature works a little like setting up a chat group – first, start a one-on-one voice or video call, then tap the new “add participant” button on the top right corner to add more contacts to the call.

WhatsApp claims that group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and designed to work reliably around the world in different network conditions.

This suggests that video quality may be reduced to accommodate slower network speeds, or possibly downgraded to voice calls even.

The announcement did not elaborate if a future update will allow more people to be added in a group call. 

Facebook unveils tools to tell users when to stop scrolling

Facebook unveils tools to tell users when to stop scrolling

Facebook Inc, during all its years of expansion, has been focused on one thing above all else: getting people to spend more time in its social network. 

Now, as tech giants face increasing criticism over the addictive nature of their products, the company is releasing features that do the opposite. Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing app, will add controls to help people measure how much time they’re spending on the sites so they can dial it back if they want to. Users can also mute notifications on the apps for a certain period of time or sign up to get an alert when they’ve been scrolling for too long. 

“It’s not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time,” Facebook said in a blog post-Wednesday. “It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people – and we take that responsibility seriously.” 

Most companies haven’t focused on that issue until recently, following concerns from mental-health experts and industry critics about the Internet and device addiction, and the way technology is designed to keep users coming back for more. In June, for example, Apple Inc introduced “Screen Time”, an activity report that will show how much time users are spending on individual apps and how often they pick up their iPhones. Google announced similar controls in May. 

 “We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring,” the company said. 

As part of this push, Facebook said it convened a summit with online safety experts, researchers and teens in March to talk about technology and how it’s influencing well-being. It plans to tweak its products to further address concerns like a lack of kindness online. 

Meanwhile, the company is grappling with its impact on society in other ways. It disclosed on Tuesday that it identified an ongoing effort to use its platforms to influence the US midterm election, via a network of false-identity accounts and pages. The company says it doesn’t yet know who is behind the coordinated campaign, which follows a similar effort, linked to Russia, ahead of the 2016 US presidential campaign. — Bloomberg

Facebook, Instagram to introduce time-management tools

Facebook, Instagram to introduce time-management tools

Do you worry that you, or your children, spend too much time on social media? Facebook and Instagram on Aug 1 said they want to help you take control.

In a statement, the social media giants – which are both owned by Facebook – announced: "new tools to help people manage their time" spent on the platforms.

Among the tools are a way to limit notifications and a dashboard that allows users to keep track of how much time they have spent on the platforms.

"We want the time people spend on Instagram and Facebook to be intentional, positive and inspiring," the statement said.

"Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them," it added.

Facebook said it was introducing a daily reminder, whereby users are alerted when they reach the time limit they set for themselves to spend on the app.

It is also introducing an option to deactivate notifications on smartphones.

Facebook has in recent months introduced a string of changes to its content, including a major plan earlier this year to update its newsfeed to emphasize posts from friends and family.

That shift had prompted fears it could drive away advertisers if people spent less time on the social network.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had announced the changes in 2017, as his firm sought to respond to accusations that it encouraged addiction to its platform.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg said: "In 2018, we're focused on making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society."

Since the measures were introduced, viral videos have seen a significant drop in reach.

The plan, in turn, saw a 5% drop in time spent on Facebook in the last quarter of 2017. — AFP Relaxnews

Google intending to dispatch its internet searcher in China, bowing to restriction

As indicated by a report at the beginning of today from The Intercept, Google is intending to re-dispatch its web index in China. Returning into the world's most crowded nation, in any case, accompanies a genuine condition: Google will conform to requests from Chinese authorities to blue pencil themes it considers unfortunate.

Task "Dragonfly" has supposedly been underway since spring 2017, and grabbed steam in the wake of a gathering between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and an anonymous Chinese authority toward the end of last year, the report says. It includes the improvement of a Google scan application for Android that is as of now been appealed to the Chinese government and could get endorsement when "the following six to nine months."

There are evidently two inward model applications, codenamed "Maotai" and "Longfei." They will "naturally distinguish and channel sites hindered by the Great Firewall," and as occurs with pilfered content in the west, a disclaimer will be appealed to clients that "a few outcomes may have been evacuated because of statutory necessities."

Maybe considerably more worryingly, the archives seen by The Intercept say that the application will likewise boycott some touchy inquiries altogether so that "no outcomes will appear." The report takes note of that the boycott will apply to all parts of hunt inside the application — from pictures to spell check and proposed looks.

The source that probably gave these records to The Intercept evidently dreaded the point of reference set by Google on the off chance that it dispatches in China, bowing to its strict oversight rules.

"I'm against extensive organizations and governments teaming up in the abuse of their kin, and feel like straightforwardness around what's being done is in people in general intrigue," the source disclosed to The Intercept. They said that they fear "what is done in China will turn into a layout for some different countries."

The Intercept likewise talked with Patrick Poon, a Hong Kong-based scientist with Amnesty International, about the move in strategy, who said it will set a "horrible point of reference." "This has intense ramifications not only for China but rather for every one of us, for flexibility of data and web opportunity," Poon said.

This huge change in Google's way to deal with China comes after right around a time of not working its web crawler there by any stretch of the imagination. Google's work area internet searcher is prohibited by the "Incomparable Firewall", and a large portion of Google's non-seek administrations —, for example, Gmail and Google Drive — have been restricted in China for their whole presence.

WhatsApp starts charging business users

 

WhatsApp is launching new pay-to-use tools for businesses to communicate with their customers.

The move will allow its owner, Facebook, to make money from WhatsApp, which has lacked a revenue stream since dropping subscription fees. Companies will be able to provide information and services, such as delivery dates or boarding passes, to customers via the platform.

In return, the businesses will pay a fee for a confirmed delivery.

The messages are set to cost between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (0.3p to 7p) a message depending on the country the user is based in. They can be automated or provided by human customer assistants.

The price means they will often be more expensive to use than more basic SMS-based texts. In addition, firms can respond to questions and comments for free if they do so quickly, but if they take more than 24 hours to reply, they will face a charge.

Like other messages sent via the platform, correspondence sent via the WhatsApp Business API will be encrypted, meaning the tech firm will not be able to read the contents itself. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that companies would be allowed to store copies of the messages elsewhere in a decrypted state.

Transport company Uber, the online store Wish and travel service Booking.com are among the first companies to adopt the new facilities.

Facebook paid $19bn to buy WhatsApp in 2014 and there has long been speculation about how Facebook intended to make money from it.

The move comes three months after WhatsApp's former boss Jan Koum announced he was quitting the service he had co-founded.

Google to provide 10m Nigerian with free wifi

Google to provide 10m Nigerian with free wifi

Google Nigeria intends to achieve in excess of 10 million Nigerians with free Internet access in five urban communities in Nigeria.

As indicated by the organization, the Wi-Fi will be accessible in 200 Google Stations crosswise over five urban communities in the nation which incorporates Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Abuja by 2019.

This was made known on Thursday at the second Google for Nigeria occasion in Lagos.

Talking at the revealing of the Google Stations, the Google Nigeria Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, said the activity would deliver moderateness and access to information and in addition broadband entrance.

She said the free Wi-Fi was taken off an organization with an Internet Service Provider with broad fiber arrange, 21st Century, including that the organization was available to associations with different ISPs and telcos.

"One of the difficulties we found was access to information. Broadband entrance is low and is not solid and there are challenges with reasonableness simply permit numerous Nigerians advantage from the advanced economy. We are extremely eager to have the capacity to dispatch as a team with accomplices," she said.

She included, "We are beginning in Lagos with four locales and duty is to extend to 200 destinations crosswise over five urban communities in Nigeria by 2019. There are openings that are accessible once individuals get on the web and can devour data.

Remarking on the activity, the Vice President, Products Management at Google, Anjali Joshi, said the activity would be scaled to different nations in Africa.

Points of interest soon.

YouTube for Android’s dark theme is beginning to widely roll out

YouTube for Android’s dark theme is beginning to widely roll out

Last March, YouTube officially announced a dark theme was coming to the Android and iOS app after first debuting on the revamped web version. It first rolled out to the iOS client and is now finally beginning to appear for Android users.

The feature began rolling out last night with users seeing the “Dark theme” automatically applied along with a pop-up at the bottom of the screen noting the new feature. There’s an option to turn it off, as well as dismiss the prompt.

It can manually be invoked by heading into Settings and then General. Just underneath Digital Wellbeing’s “Remind me to take a break” feature, there is a new “Dark theme” toggle.

Like on the web and iOS, the theme is more of a dark gray rather than a straight black color. The app’s background, settings, search pages, and anything else that was previously white adopts the dark theme. The compact, minimized video player and all tabs also get this same treatment.

Channels still retain their colorful app bars, while the biggest impact of the dark theme is on the video page — where the video player is black before it fully loads. The initial loading experience is now less visually jarring.

The feature is still rolling out, but given the reports, it seems ready for prime time rather than being just an A/B test.

Hands-on: Motiv’s smart Ring is a subtle, all-day fitness tracker that now supports Android

Hands-on: Motiv’s smart Ring is a subtle, all-day fitness tracker that now supports Android

The proliferation of good wrist-based fitness trackers in just a few short years is technologically impressive. The pedometer of old is dead and its place is a gadget that tracks your sleep, heart rate, and integrates with an app for “smart” features, like notifications.

I think the commoditization of this technology is fueling another new form factor, with your next fitness tracker possibly taking the shape of something even smaller and resting on your finger. Enter the Motiv Ring and its new Android compatibility.

Clever hardware

Available in slate gray or rose gold, the outer titanium shell of the ring is a smooth surface save for a plastic window that features an occasionally flashing light. Located at the 2 o’clock position, it blinks in various colors while charging and syncing.

The interior bottom of the ring features a heart rate sensor that flashes a standard green light into your finger. It is flanked by two gold-colored metal strips that are used for charging. Battery life is rated at three days, which is understandable for the size but breaks with the weekly charge required by most other trackers today.

A top-up is done with the USB Magnetic Charging Dock. Plugging into a standard USB-A port, the ring magnetically connects at the other end. A red light notes that charging is in progress with the process taking 90 minutes.

Motiv includes two of these identical dongles in the box as well as an accessory that can be added to your keychain in order to store the adapter on the go. I found this to be rather clever given that the compactness of the dongle makes it hard to store anywhere else.

Appearance-wise, that’s all there is to the Motiv Ring. Internally, there is a patented flexible circuit board and battery that wraps around your finger in a truly “forgot about it way.” The entire package is also waterproof rated to 165 feet (5 ATM).

The syncing process to your phone is automatic and happens occasionally in the background, but Motiv added an interesting way to manually invoke it. To sync, users simply twist the ring while it’s on a finger. Unfortunately, I’ve found myself inadvertently activating this process when nervously twisting the ring and thus flashing the blue indicator light.

Experience

The physical, tangible experience of using the Motiv Ring for the past week is very much just a log of what it was like for me to wear a ring for the first time in my young life. There’s really not much else to it.

The Motiv Ring near reaches the platonic ideal of how technology at the end of the day should fade away and not be apparent. In how modern fitness trackers are just slightly large bracelets, Motiv’s gadget is simply a standard ring that’s about the thickness of a nickel (2.5 mm), while weighing less than a penny.

Ordering a Motiv Ring starts with a sizing kit sent out to you. It includes seven plastic models ranging from size 6 to 12 that users are advised to wear for at least 24 hours to account for temperature changes that cause your finger to shrink and expand throughout the day.

I did not expect the experience of wearing a ring to be such a minor disruption. On my index finger, I did not like how it would bang against the back of a phone. It would also bump against the sides of a phone when in a two-handed typing position.

Meanwhile, it’s a social faux pas to wear on your ringer finger, while the other finger — middle — that Motiv recommends wearing it on is too large for the ring size I choose based on my forefinger.

The solution I settled upon was wearing the Motiv on my ring finger when in private, and on my index in all other circumstances. I actually don’t mind constantly switching between fingers and even hands gave how slipping it on/off is easier than a strap. But besides that, I could type on a laptop with my normal speed and accuracy.

Fitness features & accuracy

The Motiv Ring can capture steps, distance, and activity types, as well as active minutes and intensity. Measurements are up to par with a Fitbit and consistent day-to-day throughout repetitive activities, which is the real measure of a fitness tracker in my book.

The heart rate sensor measures your resting pulse, with Motiv noting that finger-based measurements are more accurate given less hair and tattoos compared to your wrist. The Motiv also captured my “sleep duration” with accuracy similar to that of a Fitbit.

That simply titled measurement just records what time you sleep/wake up and nothing more. This should be fine for most people, but those who’ve switched from a Fitbit or Garmin will lose detailed breakdowns between deep, light, and REM sleep. Motiv argues that it is focussed on giving simple feedback on “activities you can control, rather than the metrics you can’t,” like sleep stages. 

Android app lacking polish

Today’s news is that the Motiv Ring is now available on Android and syncs with Google Fit. The Android app has been in beta testing since earlier this year and a quite straightforward experience. It is compatible at launch with the Pixel and Pixel 2, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8, S9, Note 5, and Note 8 variants.

The “Day” tab notes your current progress with sleep, last heart rate, and steps listed at the top. A ring of Activity Minutes is below, followed by miles and calories burned. The app also takes advantage of cards at the bottom to note how long your slept, resting HR, and physical activity throughout the day.

Tapping on any opens a weekly view while swiping to the left of the Home tab will allow you to go back to a previous day. It’s a straightforward way to show a lot of information, but the design does not feel native to me, as evidenced by several menus. It gets the job done, but is somewhat blocky with some touch targets being quite large, especially the bottom bar, while others like the Settings menu being impossibly tiny.

Impressive hardware w/ software that could improve

Motiv absolutely delivers on the hardware front. The company successfully infused an existing form factor with technology in a way that feels natural. The Motiv Ring delivers accurate fitness information in a package that new users might be more willing to put on.

Meanwhile, the Android experience could definitely be improved and fortunately, software is updatable. A more native app would do well to improve the experience, while firmware updates to the ring will helpfully add more advanced features one day.

The sell becomes somewhat harder for users of existing fitness trackers given how even the cheap, basic offerings from Fitbit, Garmin, and others have become quite advanced with more detailed information and further analysis of health trends. I see switchers from those who have never been comfortable with the wrist form factor, but otherwise, it’s something I wouldn’t immediately recommend at $199. It would be more bearable if the price dropped by a quarter, while I think the real steal for this smart ring is at $100.

Google Assistant rolling out scheduling Custom Routines by time/day

Google Assistant rolling out scheduling Custom Routines by time/day

At I/O 2018, Google announced a number of new features for Home smart speakers including six new voices, Continued Conversation, and Multiple Actions. Custom Routines were also introduced to replace Shortcuts and today the feature is gaining the ability to schedule the macros to trigger at set times.

With the ability to schedule, users no longer have to manually invoke a set of strung together commands with a phrase. Under “When…” in the “New routine” interface, there is a new “Set a time and day” option below “Add commands.”

You are presented with the ability to first “Choose a time for this routine” and then “Choose what days it should repeat.” Afterward, users are asked to “Choose which speaker will start it.” There is also a toggle to “Get notified on your phone when it starts” with an Assistant notification.

This functionality was announced ahead of time along with the slate of other Google Home and Assistant announcements at I/O in May. Features like the six new voices and Multiple Actions rolled out immediately, while Continued Conversations launched in June.

This is an important step for people with heavy home automation Routines, like waking up in the morning or other consistent activities. Scheduling is rolling out now through Assistant settings in Android and iOS, though Google interestingly noted at I/O the ability to set via the Google Clock app.

Google Voice for Android picks up bottom bar navigation

Google Voice for Android picks up bottom bar navigation

Google Voice came back into the spotlight earlier this year, and since then Google has been updating the app periodically. This week, the company has quietly rolled out a new bottom bar navigation interface for the app for some users.

In a Play Store update, Google Voice has picked up the typical bug fixes we see in most updates, but also this new navigation method. As seen in the screenshots below, the buttons themselves have the same functionality. There’s a tab for messages, calls, and voicemail, only now with labels on the tabs rather than icons only.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Google has been transitioning many of its apps to this interface over the past few months, including its own dialer app.

Aside from this bottom bar navigation, not much seems to have changed with the Voice app. New conversations are still created with the floating action button, and the search option and hamburger menu remain in place.

This change should be live for everyone with Google Voice version 2018.28.203709381 for Android. We’ll be doing a full teardown to look for anything else new in a coming APK Insight as well.

Google Play Store testing card-based search interface w/ thumbnails

Google Play Store testing card-based search interface w/ thumbnails

Google is constantly testing out new tweaks to its interface in various applications, and today a new Play Store search UI is rolling out to some users.

Seemingly rolling out to a handful of users, myself included, over the past 24 hours or so, this new search UI adopts a card-based look. Results are split up into their own large cards, showing the app’s icon, ratings, developer information, and even how many times it’s been downloaded. In addition to all of that, the card even shows screenshot thumbnails from the app listing directly in search.

This new interface shows a ton of extra information compared to what was previously available, which is nice, but it does have some downsides. The biggest issue here for me personally is the extra space that information takes up.

A typical search now only shows 3-4 results before you have to scroll, where the previous UI could show 6-7. The overflow menu which acted as an install shortcut has also been removed. Now, users need to tap through to the full listing to install an app.

As usual with these limited rollouts, Google may or may not decide to roll it out on a wider basis.

Google updates Wear OS w/ faster Google Pay, new appointment design, bug fixes

Google updates Wear OS w/ faster Google Pay, new appointment design, bug fixes

Despite getting a new name earlier this year, Google’s Wear OS platform often feels neglected. Today, though, Google is releasing a new update to the Wear OS companion app which improves on a few notable areas of the platform.

Available now through the Google Play Store, the latest Wear OS companion app update lists a few new changes for Wear OS as a whole. This is one of the first times we’ve seen Google using this update method which was introduced last year.

Firstly, it mentions an update to Google Pay that should make launching the app itself much faster. Coming off of a review of the Ticwatch Pro with Google Pay, I can definitely attest to the need for faster launching of Pay. It’s been dreadfully slow, so this change is certainly welcome.

Further, this update also mentions adding a new “glanceable design” for events and appointments. It’s unclear exactly what this changes, but Wear OS already shows full-screen reminders when appointments are coming up. Presumably, this update just redesigns that UI, perhaps to make it a bit clearer.

Finally, Google also mentions that this update fixes a bug regarding incorrect time zones. We’ve not heard anything specific about this particular bug, but it must be a large enough issue for Google to call it out in the changelog.

This update is rolling out now on Google Play for all users, so simply update the app on your phone to apply the changes.

WHAT’S NEW

·         Pay faster with quick starting Google Pay

·         Get a more glanceable design for events & appointments

·         Get the time zone sync bug fix