Android 7.1 Brings Night Light, Seamless Updates, Fingerprint Gestures, and Daydream VR

If you watched the “Made by Google” event yesterday—or read our roundup —you’d be forgiven if you missed that there was a brand new version of Android. Google itself hardly seemed to notice . Here’s what we know about it. Read more…

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Android 7.1 Brings Night Light, Seamless Updates, Fingerprint Gestures, and Daydream VR

Roku makes it easy to launch a streaming TV channel

Roku just showed off its latest players upgraded with features like 4K and HDR, and now it’s working on getting more stuff for owners to watch. That will come via its new Roku Direct Publisher tool , which lets the people who have videos make a channel for the box, without having to do any coding. Of course, you will need somewhere to host the content for your streaming channel, but if you already have that then getting content in front of Roku’s 10 million or so active accounts (those that have actively streamed in the last 30 days) is as easy as writing this blog post. To show off what it’s capable of, a number of new partners are delivering channels built with the tool, including names like Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Cracked. Also, using the Direct Publisher setup also means content is included in Roku’s universal search , which it recently announced covers over 100 channels. While other set-top box entries like the Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast and Android TV get a lot of attention, the company points out survey results earlier this year from Comscore showing it has a 49 percent share of the market. All of that means being in front of more eyeballs, which can mean more money, especially with access to Roku’s ad sales platform. Channels built this way don’t support subscription or video on-demand fees (yet), so if you’re looking to profit immediately that’s the option available. Of course, as a viewer, this just means that the next time you turn on your (relatively modern) Roku box / TV / stick you can expect to see even more options. If the channels are easy to make, update and discover, then there are even more reasons to push content on the platform (if you ever choose to watch something other than just Netflix).

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Roku makes it easy to launch a streaming TV channel

Hacking Group Hits Buzzfeed: ‘We Have Your Database’ 

OurMine , the hacking group that has previously taken credit for hacking into the social media accounts for Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey , has apparently gained access to BuzzFeed’s systems and published on its website. Read more…

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Hacking Group Hits Buzzfeed: ‘We Have Your Database’ 

Amazon’s new Prime Reading gives Prime members all they can read

 Amazon launched another benefit for Prime members today: Prime Reading, which lets users read from a section of over a thousand Kindle books, digital magazines, short stories, comics and more for free as part of their subscription. It’s essentially a version of Kindle Unlimited with a pared down catalog (Unlimited boasts over one million books, magazines and audiobooks) but without… Read More

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Amazon’s new Prime Reading gives Prime members all they can read

Encryption App Signal Wins Fight Against FBI Subpoena and Gag Order

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Dot: Signal, widely considered the gold standard of encrypted messaging apps, was put to the test earlier this year when a FBI subpoena and gag order that demanded a wide range of information on two users resulted in a federal grand jury investigation in Virginia. The makers of Signal, Open Whisper Systems, profoundly disappointed law enforcement. The app collects as little data as possible and therefore was unable to hand anything useful over to agents. “That’s not because Signal chose not to provide logs of information, ” ACLU lawyer Brett Kaufman told the Associated Press. “It’s just that it couldn’t.” “The Signal service was designed to minimize the data we retain, ” Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Open Whisper Systems, told the New York Times. The subpoena came with a yearlong gag order that was successfully challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union. Signal’s creators challenged the gag order as unconstitutional, “because it is not narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest.” The challenge was successful. In addition to being popularly considered the best consumer encrypted messaging app available, Signal’s technology is used by Facebook for Secret Conversations, WhatsApp for encrypted messages, and Google’s Allo. Confronted with the subpoena, Marlinspike went to the ACLU for legal counsel. The ACLU responded with a letter saying that even though Signal did not have data the FBI sought, it still strenuously objected (PDF) to the fact the FBI wanted so much information. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Encryption App Signal Wins Fight Against FBI Subpoena and Gag Order

Outage Knocks Out All Major Phone Providers On the East Coast

Every major phone carrier experience outages on United States’ east coast this morning at around 11am local time. The outage lasted for about 45 minutes. DownDetector, which monitors outages of services, confirmed AT&T, Verizon, Charter Spectrum, Comcast, Sprint, Time Warner Cable, US Cellular, and Vonage among others were affected. From a DailyDot report: T-Mobile CEO John Legare tweeted about the incident, pointing to issues with Level 3, a major internet backbone. Other tech firms quickly pointed to a Level 3 outage as well. No specific information has been released on potential causes of the outage or consequences that may result from it. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Outage Knocks Out All Major Phone Providers On the East Coast

Hands-on with the Google Pixel and Pixel XL

 Google has two new smartphones, the Pixel and Pixel XL, and these are the first that Google says it has designed on its own in terms of both hardware and software: It shows. These are great looking devices that also feel excellent when held, with industrial design that clearly inherits some of its sensibilities from Google’s work with the Pixel Chromebook, and recalls last year’s… Read More

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Hands-on with the Google Pixel and Pixel XL

Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL phones start at $649 and $769, pre-orders begin today

Google’s Rick Osterloh announces the Pixel phones at Google’s hardware event. Ron Amadeo SAN FRANCISCO—We’re live from Google’s 10/4 event where the company has finally taken the wraps off its flagship phones for 2016. Just as the rumors predicted , the Nexus line is taking a backseat to the new “Pixel” phones and will no longer be the company’s flagship phone brand. Google has announced two high-end devices: the 5-inch Pixel and the 5.5-inch Pixel XL. Pre-orders for the Pixel phones start today, and pricing starts at $649 for the Pixel and $769 for the Pixel XL—much higher than the Nexus phones and more in line with what Apple and Samsung charge for their premium devices. Jumping from 32GB to 128GB of storage adds $100 to the cost of each device, and Google’s device protection plans cost an additional $99. If you don’t want to pay the full unlocked price up front, Google’s financing will give you the phones starting at $27.04 a month for the Pixel and $32.04 a month for the Pixel XL. The two devices are basically big and small versions of the same design. They have aluminum bodies with a large glass panel on the rear. The panel covers about a third of the back and surrounds the camera and fingerprint reader. The phones will be available in three colors: “quite black,” “very silver,” and a limited-edition “really blue.”  Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Google’s Pixel and Pixel XL phones start at $649 and $769, pre-orders begin today

Google’s New 4K Chromecast Ultra Is Way Fast

Google has sold more than 30 million Chromecasts for the simple reason that it’s a super easy, super cheap way to get the stuff you’re watching on your computer on to your TV. Now it’s getting an upgrade for the TVs of tomorrow. Read more…

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Google’s New 4K Chromecast Ultra Is Way Fast