HIGHLIGHTS Apple acknowledged the ‘feature’ last week The feature was rolled out last year without announcement Lawsuits claim Apple should have been more forthcoming Apple defrauded iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance, according to eight lawsuits filed in various federal courts in the week since the company opened up about the year-old software change. The tweak may have led iPhone owners to misguided attempts to resolve issues over the last year, the lawsuits contend. All the lawsuits – filed in US District Courts in California, New York, and Illinois – seek class-action to represent potentially millions of iPhone owners…
Author: Loknath Das
IF YOU are one of the almost 100,000 Australian homes and businesses reaching the 18-month NBN cut-off date, you might yourself without internet in January. Currently there are 95,590 homes and businesses in “NBN ready” areas that haven’t moved over to the national broadband network, which means they will be disconnected from their internet and landlines next month. A total of 173 suburbs need to choose a NBN provider and a plan before the year and a half grace period comes to a close. RELATED ITEMS The big problem with the iPhone X Panasonic Lumix G9 put to the test…
Illustration by Sam Woolley/GMG Some call them “dunks.” Others speak of the humble “own.” They are also known to many as righteous “trolls” (although this word is fraught with internet revisionism). However you say it, 2017—a truly awful year, certain only to be bested by every year to come—was a great year for bad people being told just how terrible they are online. As the only appropriate good riddance to 2017, I’ve rounded put the best Twitter owns of the year, broken into completely arbitrary categories. Don’t see your favorite own? Literally do not @ me. THE INSTANT CLASSIC OWN In…
For those who support net neutrality, 2017 has been a tough year. Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a massive repeal of net neutrality laws, a repeal the commission approved in a 3-2 vote on December 14. It was a long road to this point. Before the repeal, the internet was regulated as a public utility under the Title II provision, meaning that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were legally bound to keep the internet open and give all internet traffic equal priority. Title II regulation came about in 2015, during Barack Obama’s presidency and with a Democratic majority at the FCC. At…
HIGHLIGHTS Update a part of our efforts to increase transparency: Tiwtter Similar notification will be available for withheld accounts as well Users would now know if Twitter withholds a tweet due to legal reasons To help the public better understand the scope and scale of government censorship from around the world, Twitter has updated its transparency tool to tell its users the legal compulsions behind blocking of some tweets and accounts on its platform. “We are updating our in-product messaging when we withhold content to clarify why the content was withheld and where,” Jeremy Kessel, Global Legal Policy Director at Twitter wrote in a…
HIGHLIGHTS Digmine malware said to only affect Messenger’s desktop, Web versions Digmine was first observed in South Korea It has since spread to Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries A new cryptocurrency-mining bot, named “Digmine”, that was first observed in South Korea, is spreading fast through Facebook Messenger across the world, Tokyo-headquartered cyber-security major Trend Micro has warned. After South Korea, it has since spread in Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Philippines, Thailand, and Venezuela. It is likely to reach other countries soon, given the way it propagates. Facebook Messenger works across different platforms but Digmine only affects the Messenger’s desktop or Web browser (Chrome) version. If…
WhatsApp support for these platforms was supposed to end in June, but was deferred to December 31 HIGHLIGHTS WhatsApp won’t work on BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8.0 come year-end There appear to be no extensions of previous announcements WhatsApp will stop working on Nokia S40 on December 31, 2018 WhatsApp’s farewell note for 2017 is not good news for some smartphone users. WhatsApp will stop working on devices running BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older from December 31, 2017. The WhatsApp blog post with end-of-life dates clearly mentions that users of BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8.0 and older operating…
HIGHLIGHTS The Steam Winter Sale 2017 sees deep discounts on games like GTA V It ends at 11pm IST on January 4, 2018 Every game on sale will have the same discount through its duration The Steam Winter Sale 2017 is now live. As usual, there are deep discounts on a host of games. Like recent sales, there’s a single discounted price for each game through the duration of the sale. This time, the Steam Winter Sale 2017 ends on January 4, 2018 at 11pm IST. Here’s what you should check out. Best Steam Winter Sale 2017 deals GTA V – the…
HIGHLIGHTS Strategy game Civilization VI is now on iPad It released on PC last year There are no plans for an Android or iPhone release Civilization VI is now available on the App Store. The 2016 PC strategy game is playable on the iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, or any iPad Pro running iOS 11. Civilization VI iOS price is Rs. 2,300 in India and $29.99 in the US. This however, will be bumped up to Rs. 4,600 in India and $60 in the US after 11:59pm PST on January 4 (1:29pm IST on January 5). Civilization VI iPad download size is around 3.1GB.…
HIGHLIGHTS PUBG’s second Xbox One patch is now out Initial impressions suggest a smoother experience Another patch is on the way early next year PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) for the Xbox One and Xbox One X has got its second patch. The PUBG Xbox One patch download size is 4.36GB. Fixes include weapon recoil reduction, UI modifications, and what’s being referred to as ‘continued performance optimisations’. Initial impressions suggest that the new PUBG Xbox One patch has resulted in a smoother experience and slightly better visual fidelity. “The team will continue to evaluate areas for improvement, whether its client and server optimisations or…