Category: Articles

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Please Don’t Do This – Conspiracy Nut Tears Out NFC Antenna on Samsung Phone

nfc radio antenna samsung batteryWe’re all a little on edge about what our phones can do, how they store our information, and how other people might be able to access things like our location. It’s easy to get a little freaked out by technology you don’t understand.

Case in point, Nick Browne posted this video on Facebook, as he was concerned about something strange attached to the battery of his Samsung phone. (Language in video might be a bit NSFW)


Remember, every time you shoot video in portrait, God kills an orphan girl’s kitten…

That is a strange looking antenna to be found on a battery, but what Nick has torn off here is his NFC antenna. That’s the radio you can use for things like “tap and share” or “tap and pay”. It’s kind of odd that Samsung builds it into the battery, but it likely discourages folks from buying third party batteries that don’t include the antenna as it’ll disable the NFC function on their phones.

And let’s be honest here, while Nick seems to have some issues with race relations, if someone really wants to hack your phone, and steal your photos, they certainly don’t need to install an antenna on your battery to do it.

It does look a little strange, but we can learn from Nick here not to freak out and start tearing pieces off of our gadgets if they’re things we don’t understand. Thankfully for Nick, to restore NFC on his Samsung, all he needs to do is buy a new battery, and NOT tear off the label again…

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Apple Responds to Taylor Swift, Will Pay Artists During Free Music Streaming Promotion

taylor swiftIn a Tumblr post over the weekend, Taylor Swift voiced her disapproval of Apple’s streaming music promotion. It’s a great deal for consumers, as they will receive three free months of Apple Music, Cupertino’s competitor to services like Google Play All Access and Spotify. However, the tech giant initially refused to pay out royalties to artists on the streams played during that free promo.

Apple wanted to make their new service popular on the backs of musicians, with a service which will likely cut into album sales, and for the privilege of “Apple Music Exposure” and lower album sales, they weren’t going to pay musicians a dime.

In response to this policy Swift wrote:

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

Thankfully she’s high enough profile, that this blog post made a lot of noise. This morning Apple Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddie Cue posted this on Twitter:

It was the right play on Apple’s part as they’re way late to the streaming music game, and we’ve seen how other newcomers like Tidal have fared when hit with bad press. As they’re currently sitting on a war chest of over a hundred billion dollars, there never should have been any debate as to whether they would pay artists the pittance they receive for streams. Happily they’re on the correct track now.

I can honestly say I never thought I would ever side with Taylor Swift on a technology debate, but I’m sure many artists today are happy for her involvement.

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UPDATED! LG Offering Free Spare Battery and 32GB Memory Card for G4 Owners

***Update!***
LG is extending this promotion! You’ll be able to land a spare battery and a MicroSD card until June 30th! Pretty great incentive to shopping their newest flagship phone. If you were on the fence, you can check out our mega collection of G4 videos, or you can jump straight to shopping the LG G4 online.

lg g4 free battery memory card promotionLG seems to be sticking it to Samsung in two areas where the Galaxy S6 can’t compete: swapping the battery and expanding the storage.

For a limited time, people who have purchased the G4, or folks who will be buying the G4, can receive a free spare battery, a battery cradle, and a 32GB Sandisk MicroSD card for free. The promotion runs through July 6, and most outlets should be carrying the G4 in early June.

Carrier pricing for the G4 hasn’t been revealed yet, though T-Mobile’s contest values it at $600, well under the price of the 32GB Galaxy S6. As the G4 already has better battery life, will doubling that run time and storage for free tempt you over Samsung’s 64GB Galaxy S6 at almost $800? Drop us a comment below!

LG Promotion Page
LG G4 Full Review

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Skype For Web BETA Available For All

skype for web betaIt’s been one of my most long lived frustrations with Skype. Sure I have apps that run on phones, tablets, and PC’s, but sometimes I just want to check a message from a browser. It never made much sense to me that when I would get an email alerting me to a voicemail, I couldn’t just check that voicemail from the browser I just got the email in.

Better late than never, Skype is now delivering their Skype for Web BETA plugin for everyone. Installing a little piece of software in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari will now give you a pretty complete Skype experience.

In early use it’s been a nice way to balance notifications and alerts without having to keep the Skype client running constantly in the background on my PC. We still don’t quite have the dream of just being able to log into Skype on the web from any browser to check our messages like Google Voice, but this is a nice step in the right direction.

You can catch the full Skype press release below.

Continue reading “Skype For Web BETA Available For All”

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Waze Delivers Arnold Schwarzenegger Celebrity Turn by Turn Voice

“Make a U-turn then GET TO ZE CHOPPA!!! Yeaaarrggghh!!!“

Teasing their new celebrity voice, the Waze team tweeted this pic out today.

I honestly haven’t been this excited for a turn by turn voice since I first got the John Cleese upgrade for Tomtom back in the day.  We’re really curious to see how “funny” the directions might be, we’ll find out tomorrow, but until then, the jokes just write themselves…

“Who is your daddy, and what does he drive?”

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Do You Feel More Free? Net Neutrality Rules Go Into Effect Today!

FCCThe FCC’s new rules protecting Net Neutrality go into effect today.

The rules were published in a 400 page document back in March, detailing all of the web protections. To oversimplify, reclassifying the Internet as a utility means carriers and ISPs will no longer be able to prioritize some services over others. Nor can they degrade a service for the benefit of another.

Internet Service Providers are challenging these new rules, claiming they overstep the FCC’s authority and violate federal law. The United States Telecom Association requested a hold on implementing these rules as they try to fight them in court, but a three judge panel Appellate Court in DC denied their stay. We will see an accelerated time table for litigation however, in two weeks the Telecom Association and the FCC will present schedules for additional briefing.

In the meantime however, Net Neutrality will be the law of the land. The real test will come from this first year of implementation, to see if any of the doom and gloom predictions of the Telecom industry come true.

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Microsoft Security Software Will Now Remove ASK Toolbar and Search Hijacking

It’s kinda sad how far ASK has fallen. From the cute Ask Jeeves to now being considered malware by Microsoft.

And with good reason. The Ask toolbar is an insidious little piece of software which hijacks your search options and adds an ugly bar to your browser.  I once reinstalled an OS just to completely rid a system of browser add ons, of which Ask was one.

java-ask-toolbar-installationIt’s exceedingly rare to find knowledgeable computer users who intentionally use it. That was likely Ask’s problem. Not enough people using their search engine, so they partnered with other companies to try and sneak their software onto your computer. The frustration of clicking through a program installation, and having to pay close attention to make sure no crapware is included.

Thankfully Microsoft Security Software will now scan for and remove search hijacks like these. It’s a long overdue move, but a welcome one. Microsoft’s free security software is actually quite good, and this makes it a little better at helping users with a very common security concern.

(via Microsoft Protection Center)

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Apple Charging Developers $100 a Year to Make Free Plugins for Safari Browser

apple-safari-logoWant to develop Safari browser apps or plugins? It’s going to cost you.

As Apple rolls Safari development into their overall dev program, folks working on the Apple browser will have to pay the same fees app developers pay, namely $100 a year.

Reddit user HonestBleeps, who produces the free Reddit Enhancement Suite is detailing his experiences regarding the transition:

So it used to be free to be a part of the Safari developer program. That’s being folded into Apple’s dev program now, and I’m required to pay $100 to join if I want to continue publishing Reddit Enhancement Suite – which is free.

$100 would be several months worth of donations, on many/most months, and only to support less than 1% of RES users.

We’ll have to wait for these Apple developer programs to officially merge to see if this will throw cold water on Safari development, force formally free services to start charging, or if Apple will continue to allow developers to publish Safari plugins for free.

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