Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

PlayStation’s 2022 Wrap-Up is available starting today

Starting now through January 13th, PS4 and PS5 console users can access and share their 2022 Wrap-Up highlights, which include trophies, how many games they played, the total of hours played across PS4 and PS5 games, and the number of PS Plus monthly games they downloaded if they are a PS Plus member.

You can also see the monumental stats achieved collectively by the global PlayStation community in 2022. For example, if you’ve played Horizon Forbidden West, you can see how many Thunderjaws you killed.

Players who click through all of the 2022 Wrap-Up sections can receive a voucher code to redeem one of the six Astro Bot avatars that reflects their PlayStation gaming achievements this year. Avatar voucher codes can be redeemed by other players within their region, which means you can share the code with friends and see the different avatars around the world.

You’ll get a summary card that you can share and compare with other players.

Check out your PlayStation 2o22 Wrap-Up, here. 

Source: PlayStation Blog

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Mobile Syrup

SaskTel’s infiNET service now available in Lloydminster

SaskTel has expanded its infiNET service to Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.

The carrier’s fibre optic broadband network powers the service that delivers speeds close to 1Gbps. The network is available in part of Lloydminster at this time. However, SaskTel says infiNET will be expanded to all Lloydminster neighbourhoods in Saskatchewan.

The city is located in both Saskatchewan and Alberta, and it’s unclear if the service will be expanded to the entire city.

“The ongoing work to expand Lloydminster’s fibre infrastructure bolsters quality of life for residents, helps local businesses better serve their customers, and makes us a highly attractive target for future economic investment,” Gerald Aalbers, Lloydminster’s mayor, said.

The expansion is part of SaskTel’s Fibre-to-the-Premises program, which aims to improve network connectivity for residents across the province.

The company has expanded its infiNET service to multiple other communities this year, including Biggar and Humboldt.

Image credit: SaskTel 

Source: SaskTel

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Mobile Syrup

Check out your Nintendo 2022 Year in Review

Nintendo’s Year in Review is now available, showing the games you played, the games played at launch, and how long you’ve been playing specific titles.

The Year in Review also shows many days and hours you played of certain games. For instance, I played 56 hours of Pokémon Legends: Arceus and also 20 days worth of the title in January.

Afterwards, it tells your gaming trends; for myself, it says I played 50 percent role-playing titles, 27 percent action, and 23 percent adventure games.

Lastly, it thanks you for playing and recommends other titles you might like.

Source: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Amazon’s Echo Show now includes new accessibility features

I’ve yet to encounter a tech device that supports gesture controls more efficiently than using a touch screen or pressing a button, but when added to a device from an accessibility perspective, they make far more sense.

With this in mind, Amazon has brought gesture controls to its Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10 smart displays to “make interacting with Alexa more natural.”

There’s also only one gesture included in this update — the ability to raise your hand to stop a timer. Amazon notes that this functionality could be useful for people with mobility or vocal issues.

Speaking of accessibility, Amazon’s Echo Show 8 and 10 now support text-to-speech functionality, making it easier for those with speech disabilities to interact with the devices.

Finally, Amazon has also added the ability to enable or disable all captions simultaneously without navigating to the settings app.

This update is specifically available for the Echo Show 8 (2nd-gen), the Echo Show 10 (3rd-gen) and above.

Source: Amazon

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council

In a move that’s both completely expected and also a perfect metaphor for what’s going on at Twitter, the company abruptly disbanded its Trust and Safety Council on December 11th.

The council was a volunteer group of about 100 people responsible for moderating content, including hate speed, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm, and more, according to an archived version of the Trust and Safety page shared by Gizmodo.

In an email sent to the group, Twitter wrote:

“As Twitter moves into a new phase, we are reevaluating how best to bring external insights into our product and policy development work. As part of this process, we have decided that the Trust and Safety Council is not the best structure to do this.”

Elon Musk, noted comedian and owner of Twitter, previously promised to form his own content moderation council before making major decisions like reinstating accounts. He did not do so. When the broken promise was pointed out to him, Musk blamed activists for him not following through.

Before the council was disbanded, three members resigned, warning that the “safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

Even though the Trust and Safety Council did not have decision-making power and only advised Twitter, Musk responded to the resignation by accusing the council of “refusing to take action on child exploitation for years.” Notably, this came after Musk’s layoffs gutted the Twitter teams responsible for removing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), leaving just one person for the entire Asia Pacific region. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also noted that Musk’s claim was false, but Musk doubled down and claimed he made child safety a “top priority.”

Meanwhile, CNN reported that the former head of the trust and safety, Yoel Roth, had to flee his home following threats of violence resulting from Musk’s campaign of criticism against him. Other members of the Safety council said their personal safety was also “impacted by the actions of Twitter staff.” Roth has appeared repeatedly in internal documents shared as part of Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ series. Moreover, Roth was previously critical of Musk’s use of polls, saying they were “more prone to manipulation than almost anything else [on Twitter].”

This wouldn’t be the first time Musk’s actions have resulted in harassment. Before Musk took over Twitter, he incited a wave of harassment against Twitter’s former head of policy and legal, Vijaya Gadde.

For the latest on Musk’s Twitter turmoil, check out our coverage here.

Source: Gizmodo

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Mobile Syrup

What’s Freeform, the new app that just appeared on my iPhone?

If you’ve recently downloaded iOS 16 or several of Apple’s other recent software updates, you have a new app to play with.

Freeform is Apple taking on the evergrowing industry of whiteboard/organization apps with a compelling option of its own.

At face value, Freeform is an endless digital whiteboard. However, in true Apple fashion, it has some extra power packed into it. It features fantastic collaborative and cloud-save mechanics, decent drawing tools, and it all works smoothly.

While a whiteboard might seem like a good tool for meetings, since this one is in your pocket and on every device, it’s also a suitable Pinterest board replacement, note-taking tool, drawing app and more. Other examples could be wedding planning, home organization, a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. From seating charts to blueprints to story arcs, everything can be on the same page, easily adjustable, and for the most part, understandable.

Part of me worries that the more personalized approach to drawing and organizing on a whiteboard compared to a formatted text doc or a slideshow could be confusing for large teams to collaborate on. Still, only time will tell how this tool becomes popular. However, for smaller teams or people looking to organize their thoughts, Freeform is great.

During my time with the app before release, what surprised me the most was how well the app handled links and other files pinned to the board. Instead of just being the typical blue links or file-type thumbnails, you get previews that showcase the content it links to in an easy-to-browse way.

Beyond that, you can place shapes from the massive library of over 700 items onto your canvas and colour them. Of course, you can also draw using various tools, and there’s even a convenient lasso tool to move elaborate drawings and ideas around your board with ease.

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As you’d expect, the app is available on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and offers the same tools on each device. However, the form factors and inputs each have particular strengths and weaknesses. For instance, with its Apple Pencil support, the iPad is the number one platform in my eyes. However, having boards always accessible on my phone is very handy. It’s a small thing, but it removes a layer of friction towards brainstorming and planning. The Mac is pretty good for organizing items on the large screen since you can see more of your board at once. It sounds weird, but all three versions of the app play very well together to offer a compelling whiteboard experience.

At the end of the day, using Freeform is fairly natural and there’s a lot of power packed into this tool, but it’s another Apple item that relies on your iCloud space, so even that measly 200GB option is bound to fill up fast.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple reportedly plans to let third-party app stores on iOS

I never thought we’d see the day, but here it is: Apple reportedly plans to allow alternate app stores on iPhones and iPads.

The news comes from Bloomberg’s reliable Mark Gurman, who reports that Apple has a major overhaul in the works that aims to comply with new European Union (EU) requirements coming in 2024. This includes things like the ‘Digital Markets Act,’ which will take effect in the coming months but won’t require companies to comply until 2024. The act requires technology companies to allow the installation of third-party apps and allow users to easily change default settings.

Gurman cites people familiar with Apple efforts, writing that “software engineering and services employees are engaged in a major push to open up key elements of Apple’s platforms.” Changes include allowing people to download third-party software to iPhones and iPads without using the Apple App Store. That could potentially allow app developers to dodge Apple’s up to 30 percent cut of App Store payments.

However, the changes so far are designed to go live just in Europe, although the people familiar with the effort told Gurman the project could law the groundwork for similar changes in other regions should other countries pass similar laws. Apple aims for the changes to go live in iOS 17.

Moreover, the change is reportedly unpopular within Apple. That doesn’t come as a surprise given Apple’s various attacks on sideloading — the company also lobbied against the EU laws, arguing that it could allow unsafe apps to get onto people’s devices. Apple is reportedly considering mandating security requirements for software distributed outside the app store and requiring that Apple verify those apps — Gurman notes that could carry a fee.

However, that sounds like just another way for Apple to squeeze money out of developers even if they choose not to use the App Store. Various reports suggest Apple’s long-standing argument that the App Store promotes security doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Other things Apple is working on include opening more of its private APIs to third-party apps, allowing third-party browsers to use engines other than WebKit (which Safari uses), opening more camera features to third-party apps, and even the near-field communications (NFC) chip. So far, only Apple Wallet and Pay can use NFC, a long-standing gripe with developers of financial apps. Apple may even open up the Find My network to accessory makers like Tile.

Gurman also reports there are some things where Apple hasn’t made any decisions. For one, the company hasn’t decided whether to comply with a section of the Digital Markets Act that would allow third-party payment systems within apps. Apple also hasn’t made decisions about opening up the features of iMessage despite the requirements to do so. Apple still doesn’t plan to support Google’s RCS — also not a surprise, given its views on it.

The EU threatened fines of up to 20 percent of a company’s annual global revenue for repeated violations of the law. Gurman notes that Apple generated nearly $400 billion USD (roughly $542.4 billion CAD) worldwide in 2022, putting the fine in the $80 billion USD (about $108.5 billion CAD) range. Moreover, this comes as Apple prepares to comply with another EU regulation by adding a USB-C port to the iPhone. Perhaps with both these changes on the horizon, we could see an EU-only iPhone from Apple.

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Google delays plans to change Chrome’s extensions standard

Google postponed plans to start turning off its old extensions standard in January and hasn’t set up a new timeline for the plan.

Google previously planned to test turning off its Manifest V2 (MV2) extension standard in some versions of Chrome starting January 2023. The search giant is currently trying to switch to the new Manifest V3 (MV3), which aims to improve the performance and security of Chrome extensions. However, critics have taken issue with MV3 over changes to features used by ad-blocking extensions.

According to a Google Groups post from Chrome Extensions developer advocate Simeon Vincent, Google postponed removing MV2 from pre-release versions of Chrome, like Chrome Canary, Dev, and Beta, in January to give developers more time to update their extensions and prepare for the changes:

“We’re committed to providing developers solutions to migration challenges with new functionality, bug fixes, and adequate time for adoption. For this reason, we’re postponing any January experiments to turn off Manifest V2 in pre-release channels of Chrome and changes to the featured badge in the Chrome Webstore, and we’ll be evaluating all downstream milestones as well. Expect to hear more about the updated phase-out plan and schedule by March of 2023. Our guiding principle will be to give developers sufficient time to update and test their extensions after the launch of these new capabilities before turning off Manifest V2.”

The original plan was to test the removal of MV2 in pre-release Chrome, expand the tests to stable Chrome releases in June 2023, and then stop running MV2 extensions entirely in January 2024. Now those future plans, like stopping using MV2 entirely, are “under review.”

Others have written extensively about MV3’s potential impact on ad-blockers, but the short version is that MV3 swaps the Web Request API — commonly used by ad-blockers — for the ‘Declarative Net Request’ API. It gives ad-blockers less power in an effort ot minimize security risks but critics argue the changes restrict actions extensions can take to protect user privacy.

Worse, Google’s changes don’t just apply to Chrome — Chromium will be impacted as well. That means the MV3 changes will likely trickle down into other Chromium-based browsers, such as Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi. Firefox, however, plans to support MV3 and as well as the Web Request API.

Source: Google Groups Via: The Verge, 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s iOS 16.2 features improved always-on display and iCloud end-to-end encryption

iOS 16.2, the latest update to Apple’s mobile operating system, has dropped.

First off, iPhone 14 Pro owners now have more always-on display settings that allow users to turn off the features wallpaper and notifications. End-to-end iCloud encryption and Apple Music’s new Sing karaoke feature are also included in the update to iOS 16.2.

End-to-end iCloud encryption prevents data like Notes, Photos and, most importantly, iCloud backups from being accessed by hackers and law enforcement (Apple claims that even it can’t access the backups). Sing, on the other hand, brings real-time lyrics to thousands of Apple Music songs. In total, iOS 16.2 comes in at 1.29GB.

As usual, iPadOS 16.2 is also now available, though the tablet operating system update include as many notable new features. Stage Manager now supports external display and Freeform, Apple’s cloud-based collaboration app, are part of this update.

Finally, both iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 feature Apple’s revamped HomeKit platform.

Apple also dropped its bug fix-focused macOS Ventura 13.1 and watchOS 9.1 updates.

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung Galaxy S21 series poised to recieve December update today

Some Samsung devices are getting the December security patch, according to the Rogers and Telus update schedules. Strangely, the company’s current flagships are getting the update yet — instead, it’s the Galaxy S21 series.

According to the update schedules, the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra will receive the December security update today. Samsung Galaxy S22 series devices will need to wait until December 20th to receive the update.

The security patch includes a number of fixes ranging from high to critical severity.

In the past, Samsung has been notoriously bad at releasing monthly updates on time. However, the company is slowly getting better with each new generation of devices. I don’t know if releasing the patch to 2021 model and not the 2022 model should be considered progress, however.

The Koodo update schedule reflects something similar.