Category: Technology

Google’s merger of Meet and Duo may be confusing, but it should deliver some useful upgrades in the bargain. The company has added a live sharing beta feature that lets users of the revamped Meet share Spotify and YouTube streams during chats. You can play games like One Mobile and kahoot, too. The functionality will sound familiar if you’ve tried SharePlay, but you can’t use Spotify or YouTube with Apple’s media feature.

The Meet upgrades include scheduled recurring meetings, virtual backgrounds and in-meeting chats. As with the Meet features coming to Duo, live sharing has been rolling out over recent weeks. The rebranding of Duo as Meet will take place throughout August for mobile devices, and is coming later for everyone else.

Google has pitched the Meet-and-Duo union as an adaptation to the modern realities of video calls. Live sharing clearly reflects this. I’s an acknowledgment that many people use video chats as social spaces, particularly when remote hangouts are more common than they were before the pandemic.

With iOS 16, Apple is bringing even more privacy-focused features to your iPhone. We’ve already discussed Lockdown Mode, which protects your data when you suspect you may be targeted by a sophisticated cyber attack. Not exactly a universal use case — but another new feature, Safety Check, can benefit anyone with an iPhone. It lets you quickly review who has access to the data on your device — including your location, shared notes, and Home access — and revoke those permissions immediately.

Previously, you’d have to manually locate things like shared calendars and notes and remove people from them one at a time. All of the other security settings used to be located in different places, too. With Safety Check, iOS 16 does the legwork for you, and reduces the risk of someone having access to your information without your permission.

Why you should use iOS 16’s Safety Check feature

Safety Check is a hub for your iPhone’s security. You should routinely check it to ensure unauthorized devices or people don’t have access to your data and activity. It lets you review which apps have access to your iPhone’s sensors and your personal data, and allows you to verify that unused apps aren’t accessing this information without your knowledge.

When browsing this section, you can easily remove people from shared access. If you forget others can see some of your notes or calendar entries, you may be letting them see more of your data than you intended. Additionally, people with access to your Home app can control smart devices in your house such as lights, doors, and smart speakers. This could lead to unwanted situations, such as your ex being able to see your shopping lists or planned trips, or mess with the smart devices in your house.

Safety Check can also stop you from spamming people accidentally. When you share notes with others, they get notified every time you make an edit. If you used Notes to collaborate on your vacation planning, the shared note stops being useful after the trip is complete. If someone accidentally opens this note and changes something by mistake, everyone gets an annoying notification.

How to use Safety Check in iOS 16

Because Safety Check is an iOS 16 feature, for now you’ll need to install the iOS 16 beta to check it out. If you’re comfortable taking on the risks of beta software, follow our instructions here to download and install the latest iOS 16 beta to your iPhone.

To use Safety Check, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Safety Check on your iPhone. You can go to Manage Sharing & Access to get started.

Tap Continue on the next page, and your iPhone will show you a list of people you’ve shared notes or calendars with. You can select those you want to remove, then go to the Information tab on the same page.

On the Information Sharing page, you’ll be able to see how many people have access to shared calendars, notes, or your Home app. Select one of these and tap ReviewSharing. Select the entries again on the next page and tap stopsharing. You’ll have to tap this button again to confirm it.

On the next page, you’ll be able to see which apps have access to your data and sensors on your iPhone. It’s best to go to the Information tab, select each category, and tap Stop App Access.

The final page will ask you to review your account security. Verify that all the devices listed on this page are yours and that you’re using them. If you’ve sold or given away any of the devices listed on this page, select and remove them. Do the same thing if any of the devices belongs to someone else.

Your iPhone will next ask you to check if your trusted phone number and emergency contacts are up to date. Only retain those of the people you trust, and remove the rest. You’ll also be asked if you want to update your Apple ID password and your iPhone’s passcode.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to make sure not one have access to any of your data, you can tap Emergency Reset. This option immediately resets access for all of these settings at once. It’s a drastic move, but could be essential depending on the circumstance.

Once finished, you can be sure that your iPhone’s information cannot be accessed without your authorization. If you keep using the Safety Check feature once every few months (if not more often), you can rest easier knowing your data is secure.

destiny 2 cheat site Aimjunkies has claimed it made the game more popular, hitting back at accusations from Bungie that it has caused “grievous harm” to the title.

In April, destiny 2 developer Bungie had a lawsuit against Aimjunkies dismissed from court.

Bungie alleged that AimJunkies was infringing in the developer’s copyright and trademark, as well as breach of contract, “tortious interference,” and “unjust enrichment,” however a judge dismissed the copyright claims as Bungie was unable to actually prove AimJunkies had copied any work .

However, other elements of the lawsuit remained intact with the studio resubmitting the copyright infringement portion of its case a few weeks later, claiming AimJunkies “reverse-engineered and copied the software code for destiny 2” in order to make its cheat software.

According to torrentfreakAimJunkies is preparing to defend itself, submitting legal documents to companies like Valve, PayPal, and Google in a bid to get information that it hopes will prove that its cheats did not cause damage to Bungie.

In an accompanying press release, AimJunkies wrote: “Bungie claims that we caused grievous harm to their game when in fact some of their most popular months of player counts and sales were during the time Aimjunkies offered their software products. We believe and intend to gather actionable proof of that and disprove another one of their wild assertions.”

“Do not believe everything you read in their filings, they continued before saying they believed Bungie think “the more shit you throw at the wall, the greater the possibility of something sticking with the court, no matter how ridiculous or absurd it is in the real world.”

AimJunkies is also requesting Destiny 2’s monthly player count and sales from Valve/Steam which “could help to disprove Bungie’s argument that cheaters hurt the company”

Says Bungie is “impotent” against cheaters, “even with the vast resources and technologies at their disposal” pic.twitter.com/HH4ZMjtcTC

— Destiny Bulletin (@DestinyBulletn) August 10, 2022

“Understand cheating is not illegal and the game companies want to make it illegal because they cannot govern their own players. They are looking to the courts to do what Bungie are powerless to do on their own, even with the vast resources and technologies at their disposal. They would rather suffer death by a thousand cuts then admit this is not the way to fix the problem.”

They went on to say that they’ve “offered to work with Bungie to acquire multiple solutions to their problem.” They go on to say that firstly, they want to “implement our features in a version of their game for distribution, but their pride and bullying mentality prohibits them from thinking out the box. If they did that, would there be a market for our software?

In other news, it’s been reported that three individuals who created and sold cheats for Genshin Impact will serve jail time after developer HoYoverse took legal action against the trio.

Samsung’s 2022 Galaxy Watch lineup consists of two models: the Galaxy Watch 5 and the Watch 5 Pro. The Watch 5 Pro is a new addition to the series featuring a more durable design that can take on rugged terrains easily. But the Galaxy Watch 5 also features a strengthened screen and a bigger battery. If you are in the market for one of the best Android smartwatches, do you take home the Galaxy Watch 5 or Watch 5 Pro? Is the extra protection worth the cost? Let’s find out.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Specs

Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Watch 5 Pro: Durability and design

Design is an area where the Watch 5 differs from its Pro sibling. At first glance, the latter might look like a beefier version of the regular model, but there are a lot of other differences.

The Galaxy Watch 5 is available in 40mm and 44m sizes, while the Pro model only comes in a 45mm casing. The Watch 5’s design looks very similar to the Watch 4, but Samsung has tweaked the curvature to ensure more contact with your wrist. It continues to use an aluminum casing, with Samsung using a Sapphire Crystal Glass for the display, which is seemingly 1.6x times stronger than last year’s model. The more durable build makes the Watch 5 Pro heavier and thicker: 46.5g and 10.5mm vs. the Watch 5’s 28.7g and 9.8mm thickness.

The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro further builds on its more affordable sibling with a sturdier titanium casing. It also features a protruding bezel that helps protect the display from dings and scratches, though in our Galaxy Watch 5 hands-on, we were not a big fan of it. Samsung claims the Sapphire Crystal Glass sitting on top of the 1.36-inch circular display is 2x tougher than the Watch 4. Unlike the regular model, the Watch 5 Pro uses a D-Buckle Sport Band that can easily handle rugged terrains while offering a clean fit. The entire Watch 5 lineup uses 20mm watch bands, so you can swap bands if the in-box band ends up too loose or too tight on your wrist.

The beefier design of the Watch 5 Pro means it is not suitable for smaller wrists. Heck, for some with narrow wrists, even the 40mm Watch 5 might feel too big, as the in-box band with its sculpted ends can keep it from rotating enough for a proper fit. You can alleviate that by swapping to a high-quality 20mm watch strap with flat ends. If you are not a fan of big and bulky watches, opt for the regular Galaxy Watch 5.

Both smartwatches are IP68 + 5ATM certified, so you can wear them while swimming. Compared to the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, the Watch 5 lineup misses out on a rotating bezel—instead, they use a digital bezel. In addition, there are two physical keys located on the right side for navigation purposes.

Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Watch 5 Pro: Chipset and sensors

Despite their outer shell differences, the Galaxy Watch 5 and its Pro sibling pack the same internals. Both smartwatches use Samsung’s 5nm Exynos W920 chip running at 1.18GHz—the same SoC does duty inside the Galaxy Watch 4. This is paired with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. So, in terms of performance, the Pro and non-Pro watches should perform the same.

This goes for the health sensors, too: they match across the entire Galaxy Watch 5 series. This includes an accelerometer, barometer, gyro sensor, geomagnetic sensor, and light sensor. Samsung’s BioActive Sensor—which can measure your heart rate, electrical heart signal, and body mass composition—is also present. The temperature sensor is a new addition that relies on infrared to take more accurate measurements.

Samsung even claims that the sensors on the Galaxy Watch 5 will take your measurements with greater accuracy. That’s because they now have direct contact with your wrist over a larger surface area, which should again help those with thin or narrow wrists.

Irrespective of which watch you buy, it can measure your heart rate and body composition, track your workouts, sleep cycle, and more. All the recorded data is synced to Samsung Health, where you can further analyze it. The only difference is that the “find your way back” hiking guidance feature is restricted to the Watch 5 Pro, presumably due to its better battery life.

Both watches run on One UI Watch 4.5 based on Wear OS 3.5. There’s no difference between them regarding software experience, with Samsung supporting them for up to four years after launch.

Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Watch 5 Pro: Battery life and charging

If you want a smartwatch with the best possible battery life, go for the Watch 5 Pro. Samsung uses a 15% bigger battery on each Galaxy Watch 5 model. The company claims that’s good enough for the Watch 5 to last for 50 hours on a single charge. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, with its massive 590mAh cell, is in another league altogether. It has a 60% bigger battery than the Galaxy Watch 4, allowing it to last up to 80 hours between charges.

We’re still putting both models through their peace to see exactly how well they live up to Samsung’s claims, but in the earliest testing, even the smaller Watch 5 definitely seems to be lasting more than 24 hours. Hopefully, the Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro will finally get back to the multi-day battery life last enjoyed on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active series back in 2019.

Apart from bigger batteries, the Galaxy Watch 5 lineup also supports faster charging speeds courtesy of a new USB-C charger. The company claims you can top off the cell to 45% in 30 minutes or get eight hours of sleep tracking after eight minutes of charge. For the Watch 5 Pro, a full charge should take slightly longer due to its large 590mAh battery.

Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Watch 5 Pro: Price

True to its name, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also carries a ‘pro’ price tag. It starts from $450, with the LTE version costing another $50. This makes it substantially more expensive than the Galaxy Watch 5, which starts from $280. The 44mm variant costs $310—a $39 premium over the smaller size.

The Galaxy Watch 5 is slightly more expensive than last year’s Watch 4. And that’s understandable given the Sapphire Crystal Glass and longer battery life. But it is hard to justify the Watch 5 Pro’s $170 premium over the Watch 5 for the same reasons. The good thing is the sturdy construction and beefy battery life mean the wearable will easily last you a few years.

Both smartwatches are currently on preorder, with retail availability scheduled to start on August 26. You can trade in your existing smartwatch or take advantage of Samsung’s preorder offers to get an even sweeter deal: at least a $75 trade-in on any smartwatch in any condition. If you own a Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic, it’ll cut the watch’s price in half.

Galaxy Watch 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Which should you buy?

For an additional $170 that you pay for the Watch 5 Pro over the regular model, you get a more durable build quality, a slightly bigger screen, and significantly longer battery life. Unless these improvements are really that important, buying the regular Watch 5 makes more sense. Thanks to a bigger battery, it should last at least a day and a half on a single charge, possibly even two. And when in a hurry, the faster charging times can help top off the cell to ensure the watch lasts for a few more hours with ease.

The Watch 5 Pro is on the bulkier side and that may not look good on everyone’s wrists. Unlike the regular Watch 5, which is available in more funky and bright colors, the Pro model comes in two boring shades — black and gray — that may not be to everyone’s tastes.

While the Watch 5 Pro’s longer battery life is tempting, that should not be the sole reason to spring for it. If you frequently go for hikes and trail walks where you rely on your smartwatch to track your workouts, then the Pro model is an ideal choice. Its rugged build will come in handy in such scenarios, as you can rest assured knowing it can withstand such environments with ease. And that battery life means it can go multiple days between charges.

Preorder the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5

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Preorder the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

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The Moto Razr 2022 looks more modern without the chin, but that actually served an important purpose on the Razr 5G (beyond nostalgia). A spring-loaded mechanism within the chin kept the foldable display taut to try and minimize the crease. The 2022 model takes a different approach.

The teardown video from WekiHome offers a great visual demonstration of how the two different mechanisms work. It starts at the 9 minute mark, you can see the display of the old Razr 5G move up and down slightly as the phone is opened and closed.

The new Moto Razr 2022 keeps the display fixed at both ends and instead folds the middle in a teardrop shape (with a 3.3mm diameter). There are thin metal strips in the middle, which help to reduce the stress on the display. As you can see below, the creased area on the new model is significantly smaller.

A few other interesting things to note. Everything is stacked in multiple layers interconnected by ribbon cables, this takes real skill to take apart and put back together again. Also, that colorful gloss you see on the PCBs is the conformal coating that repels any water that might have entered the phone.

A closer look at the Moto Razr 2022 hinge mechanism • The two battery cells

As is typical with foldables, the battery is split into two cells – a small 712mAh/2.8Wh one in the top half and a larger 2,788mAh/10.9Wh one in the bottom half. Motorola didn’t use vapor chambers to cool the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, relying instead of a copper block, several copper sheets and thermal paste to do the job.

Yesterday Motorola only announced details for launch in China, but insiders and analysts claim that the Moto Razr 2022 is destined for a global rollout (like its predecessors).

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