In the process of writing about Samsung’s 2019 TVs, sizes and prices, CNET’s David Katzmaier also explains the difference between Samsung’s QLED TVs and the OLED technology from other makers. It’s an important distinction. The key is the ever so geeky Quantum Dots. (Image credit: Samsung.)
NASA Confirms Mars Rover Opportunity is Dead
NASA confirmed Wednesday that the Mars Rover Opportunity is officially dead. It had been on the Red Planet for a record-breaking 15 years and helped establish the presence of water there. Space.com reflected on the historic craft which, along with its twin, Spirit, launched the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission in summer 2003. Opportunity landed on the planet’s surface in January 2004, a few weeks after Spirit.
Opportunity roamed the Martian surface for nearly a decade and a half, covering more than a marathon’s worth of ground and finding conclusive evidence that the Red Planet hosted large bodies of liquid water in the ancient past. The golf-cart-size rover and its twin, Spirit, also helped bring Mars down to Earth, in the minds of scientists and laypeople alike.
DoBox Portable Wireless Dock for Apple Devices: $299
We have a deal on the DoBox, a portable wireless dock for Apple devices. This device allows you to connect your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to an internet cable, printers, flash drives, hard drives, keyboards, TVs, projectors, monitors, speakers, and much more and use them all wirelessly via DoBox’s built-in Wi-Fi. And, you can use it a portable battery, too. Check out the promo video below for a look at this device. You can get the DoBox for $299 through our deal.
Former Director of FBI, CIA Foiled a Phone Scammer
William H. Webster, a former director of both the FBI and CIA, foiled a phone scammer who threatened him and his wife.
Over a number of weeks, Thomas, calling himself David Morgan, made a series of calls to the Websters, and they soon turned threatening: he described their house, and he said that if they didn’t hand over $6,000, he’d shoot them in the head or burn their house down, boasting that the FBI and CIA would never find him.
Can you imagine the look on that guy’s face when he learned who he threatened?
Apple as a Publisher, Sony's New Watch Strap – TMO Daily Observations 2019-02-13
Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to talk about Apple possibly becoming «Netflix for news» and Sony’s new watch strap.
Remember Bandersnatch? Netflix Saved Your Choices
Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch is a choose-your-own-adventure game that went viral. As it turns out, Netflix saved the choices you made.
He found that Netflix is tracking the decisions its users make (which makes sense considering how the film works), and that it is keeping those decisions long after a user has finished the film. It is also stores aggregated forms of the users choice to “help [Netflix] determine how to improve this model of storytelling in the context of a show or movie.»
This doesn’t seem like a huge issue to me. This is standard analytics the platform keeps.
Former Apple Vice President Charged with Insider Trading by SEC
Former Apple Vice President of Corporate Law, Gene Levoff, was charged with insider trading by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday. He was put on leave by Apple in July 2018, and his employment was terminated in September 2018. CNBC reported on the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey.
Gene Levoff, senior director of corporate law and corporate secretary until September, «traded on material nonpublic information about Apple’s earnings three times during 2015 and 2016,» according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. «Levoff also had a previous history of insider trading, having traded on Apple’s material nonpublic information at least three additional times in 2011 and 2012. For the trading in 2015 and 2016, Levoff profited and avoided losses of approximately $382,000,» the complaint says.
Comparing Android Security Versus iOS Security
Keiran Dennie tweeted an interesting chart that compares the security of various smartphone operating systems.
Wondering about Android and Apple phone security? Here’s an objective chart to help you decide.
It’s a well known fact of Android that people have to rely on their carrier to push out security updates. This can take weeks, months, and sometimes they don’t get released at all.
A Sony Smart Watch Strap That Costs as Much as an Apple Watch
Sony’s latest bid in the smart watch space is the wena range. It includes a smart wrist strap that works with mechanical watches and smart modules too. Smart straps have not been hugely successful thus far, with payments being a potential saving grace for the technology. However, the price of this particular model could be a hurdle. As a review in Wired noted, the strap alone costs as a much as an Apple Watch Series 4.
The wena wrist pro strap costs £399, which, bafflingly, is the same price as an Apple Watch Series 4 (and way more than a £279 Series 3). The bundles with the watch modules cost from £499 to £849 though Matt Oakley, who handles Sony Europe’s new business development, says that he expects that the majority of sales will be strap only.
Facebook Lets You Search for Photos of Your Female Friends
Matthew Hughes writes about how Facebook lets you search for photos of your female friends, but not your male friends. Not that you should creep on guys either, though.
Facebook lets you search for photos of your female friends, but refuses to play dice if you want to look up pictures of your male friends. The bizarre find was discovered this weekend by notorious Belgian white-hat hacker Inti De Ceukelaire.
Every time I ask myself, «Can Facebook get any more toxic?» The answer is YES. It’s as if Mark Zuckerberg is competing to be the Worst Person in America.
