After two developer previews, Android 8.1 Oreo is ready for the masses. Google announced that the new OS is rolling out now and is posting system images for the Pixel 2 and 2 XL , the Pixel 1 and 1 XL, the Pixel C tablet, and the Nexus 6P and 5X. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code drop should be happening now, too. Android 8.1 Oreo is a minor maintenance release after the major update of Android 8.0 . The biggest feature in 8.1 is a new ” Neural Networks API ” (NNAPI), which is designed for running machine learning operations on mobile devices. Phones with specialized machine learning hardware can hardware accelerate this API, while older devices can use a CPU fallback mode. The API provides a base layer higher-level machine-learning framework to plug into, like Google’s TensorFlow Lite. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Original post:
Android 8.1 Oreo goes final, rolling out now to Pixel and Nexus devices
Android Lollipop has been around as a developer preview for months , but the real version—complete with all its new Material Design tricks—is due to hit with the Nexus 9 on November 3rd. We’re getting our first extended looks at the final version on our Nexus 6 and 9 review units, so here’s a few GIFs to hold you over until it shows up on your phone. Read more… 
The long-awaited ( and long-rumored ) Nexus 6, the 6-inch (technically 5.96) monster phablet, is finally, officially here . The Nexus 6, like its predecessors before it, will be the first device in the world to ship with Android’s new operating system, Lollipop. It’s the purest vision of what an Android phone should be. Apparently Android phones should be huge. Read more… 
Apple apparently has the power to decrypt iPhone storage in response to law-enforcement requests, though they won’t say how. Google can remotely “reset the password” for a phone for cops, too: Last year, leaked training materials prepared by the Sacramento sheriff’s office included a form that would require Apple to “assist law enforcement agents” with “bypassing the cell phone user’s passcode so that the agents may search the iPhone.” Google takes a more privacy-protective approach: it “resets the password and further provides the reset password to law enforcement,” the materials say, which has the side effect of notifying the user that his or her cell phone has been compromised. Ginger Colbrun, ATF’s public affairs chief, told CNET that “ATF cannot discuss specifics of ongoing investigations or litigation. ATF follows federal law and DOJ/department-wide policy on access to all communication devices.” …The ATF’s Maynard said in an affidavit for the Kentucky case that Apple “has the capabilities to bypass the security software” and “download the contents of the phone to an external memory device.” Chang, the Apple legal specialist, told him that “once the Apple analyst bypasses the passcode, the data will be downloaded onto a USB external drive” and delivered to the ATF. It’s not clear whether that means Apple has created a backdoor for police — which has been the topic of speculation in the past — whether the company has custom hardware that’s faster at decryption, or whether it simply is more skilled at using the same procedures available to the government. Apple declined to discuss its law enforcement policies when contacted this week by CNET. It’s not clear to me from the above whether Google “resetting the password” for Android devices merely bypasses the lock-screen or actually decrypts the mass storage on the phone if it has been encrypted. I also wonder if the “decryption” Apple undertakes relies on people habitually using short passwords for their phones — the alternative being a lot of screen-typing in order to place a call. Apple deluged by police demands to decrypt iPhones [Declan McCullagh/CNet] ( via /. )