FCC Tests Eero Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Routers WIth BTLE, Zigbee

The FCC has been testing Eero’s Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers. Not much is known about these devices, including a launch date, but it appears that these products will have Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee to enable smart home automation connectivity.

Although the underside diagram for Gateway and Extender is shaped somewhat like the second-generation Beacon design, we don’t see any plugs shown—so it seems unlikely that they will be wall-wart designs like the Beacon’s or like Eero competitor Plume. We expect the new generation of devices will likely be desktop-style designs, with external power supplies.

Gaming Company Razer Leaked 100,000 Users’ Data

In August, security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko found a server owned by Razer that exposed the data of over 100,000 users. It took the company over three weeks to get around to fixing the issue.

The cluster contained records of customer orders and included information such as item purchased, customer email, customer (physical) address, phone number, and so forth—basically, everything you’d expect to see from a credit card transaction, although not the credit card numbers themselves. The Elasticseach cluster was not only exposed to the public, it was indexed by public search engines.

Life in Clouds Around Venus? Scientists Now Think it's Possible

Could there be life… around Venus?! That’s a question being asked by some UK scientists, who found evidence of phosphine, a gas associated with life, around the planet’s atmosphere, BBC News reported.

On Earth, phosphine is associated with life, with microbes living in the guts of animals like penguins, or in oxygen-poor environments such as swamps. For sure, you can make it industrially, but there are no factories on Venus; and there are certainly no penguins. So why is this gas there, 50km up from the planet’s surface? Prof Jane Greaves, from Cardiff University, UK and colleagues are asking just this question.
They’ve published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy detailing their observations of phosphine at Venus, as well as the investigations they’ve made to try to show this molecule could have a natural, non-biological origin. But for the moment, they’re stumped… Given everything we know about Venus and the conditions that exist there, no-one has yet been able to describe an abiotic pathway to phosphine, not in the quantities that have been detected. This means a life source deserves consideration.

What Does NVIDIA Buying Arm Mean For Apple?

NVIDIA’s purchase of Arm throws about a lot of interesting questions. One is what, if anything, does it mean for Apple. Gizomodo took a look.

Nvidia, however, is the least controversial processor company that could buy Arm. While it also licenses Arm technology, Nvidia’s main schtick is GPUs. There’s a reason you don’t really hear about Nvidia with regard to smartphones. In fact, the only real outside hardware using its mobile chipset Tegra is the Nintendo Switch and the Magic Leap headset, which let’s be real, doesn’t really count as a win. That said, should the deal go through, Nvidia buying Arm could mean a lot of major improvements to the Tegra chipset and could theoretically, be a good thing for Nintendo down the line.

The Journey Towards Apple Making a Carbon Neutral iPhone

GQ has taken a look at Apple’s green revolution in a new feature. It poses the question – will there be a carbon neutral iPhone?

When Cook unveils the iPhone 12 to an empty arena in Cupertino, California, in the next few weeks, it is therefore sure to be its most eco-friendly smartphone ever. If history is a guide, this will largely go unmentioned compared to the usual cocktail of redesigned hardware, customer satisfaction scores and perhaps “one more thing” to send the tech press into a tizz. Make no mistake, for a company that sold a reported $142 billion worth of iPhones last year, this is the work that we ought to be scrutinising most carefully right now… [Lisa Jackson] says that it wasn’t only the scale of the task that drew her to the job, but also the belief that Apple didn’t merely want to tick boxes. “During my interviews no one said, ‘What do we have to do to get in front of all these environmental rules and regulations?’” she recalls. “They said, ‘What can we do to lead the world to a better place?’ And that was really impressive to me. I didn’t run across that practically ever.’”

Network Speed Dissection, Cool Stuff Found, and More — Mac Geek Gab 833

Having a solid connection to your network is only part of it. The other part? Speed! Dissecting the differences between these two — and teaching you how to do the same — are your two favorite geeks: John F. Braun and Dave Hamilton. Of course, that’s just one of the many things covered in this week’s episode. Lots more tips, questions answered, and Cool Stuff Found shared. Press play and learn those five new things, alright?

2-in-1 Motorized Slider and Monopod for Smartphones and Cameras: $429.99

We have a deal on the MOZA Slypod, a 2-in-1 motorized slider and monopod for iPhones and other smartphones, as well as cameras. Built with a carbon fiber body, it’s designed to be ultra-light and easy to carry. You can also program precise camera movements by adjusting camera travel distance, speed acceleration via the MOZA Master App. It runs up to 2 hours on its own battery, and can be charged by a power bank for continuous shooting. The image includes the monopod attached to an included table tripod.

China Would Rather TikTok Be Shut Down Than Sold

A report on Friday says that China would rather TikTok be shut down instead of being sold to a U.S. company.

However, Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak in the face of pressure from Washington, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to it that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or in any other markets.

Here’s what I think this means. China is all about the AI, and based on reports its algorithms seem to be more advanced than even invasive Facebook. China doesn’t want the U.S. to know just how more advanced it’s algorithms are. Read: China export ban of such technology.

What Next for the TikTok Sale?

U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that he will not extend the deadline for the sale of TikTok. So what comes next? Reuters took a look.

If the deadline is not extended, then transactions with TikTok would be banned, although exactly which ones has not been specified. Reuters has reported the executive order could make advertising on the platform illegal and TikTok has been preparing advertisers for such an outcome. The U.S. is likely to ban TikTok from being downloaded from app stores, Reuters has also reported. However, it is unclear whether there are transactions that can be prohibited that will prevent existing users who have already downloaded TikTok from using it.

Apple Card May Expand Beyond U.S. in 2020

Apple Card may be moving beyond the U.S. Macrumors has information indicating the expansion could happen as early as this year.

A source claiming to be close to an unnamed Australian banking corporation involved in supporting ‌‌Apple Card‌‌ in Australia tells MacRumors that ‌Apple Card‌ will be launching in multiple new regions as soon as the end of this year. The tip speculated that the Australian release may coincide with the release of iOS 14.1 or iOS 14.2, but cautioned that it might not be ready until an iOS 14.3 release in early 2021. In addition, Apple has recently advertised for several new Apple Card Product Manager roles that involve travel and “working with external partners such as payment networks, bank issuers and other players.” In the U.S., Goldman Sachs is ‌Apple Card‌’s only bank issuer. The job description may suggest that Apple is setting about negotiation with other issuers within the U.S., or more likely, issuers to support ‌Apple Card‌ in other regions around the world.