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November security patch hits Pixel 4a and newer

The November security patch is now rolling out to the Pixel 4a and newer, alongside an update that adds three small fixes to the Pixel 7 series.

Thankfully, Google fixes should help battery power for the Pixel 7 series. Previous reports indicated that the Pixel 7’s display has increased power consumption, and now Google’s update should improve this issue.

Battery & Charging

  • Fix for issue causing increased power consumption while certain apps installed *[Pixel 6, 6 Pro and 6a]

Display & Graphics

  • Fix for issue occasionally causing green display flicker in in certain conditions *[Pixel 7 & 7 Pro]
  • Optimizations for display power consumption to improve thermal performance in certain conditions *[Pixel 7 & 7 Pro]

System

  • Fix for the issue occasionally causing Photos app to crash when using certain editing features *[Pixel 7 & 7 Pro]

The security patch also came with 19 security issues resolved with vulnerabilities that range from moderate to critical.

The update is rolling out over the air and should hit your phone sooner than later.

Source: Google (2) Via: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Starlink to implement data cap on residential customers

Image credit: Starlink https://www.starlink.com/

Starlink’s users will be limited to a data cap under the satellite internet company’s new rules.

Effective next month, home internet customers who use 1TB of Priority Access per month during peak hours (7am to 11pm) will find themselves on Basic Access under its ‘Fair Use Policy.’

Each service plan offered by Starlink will include 1TB of Priority Access data, which provides faster speeds and improved performance compared to Basic Access. The category offers slower speeds and impacts bandwidth-intensive apps like video streaming.

Starlink revealed the news to its customers in Canada and the U.S in an email.

While the company said less than 10 percent of its users exceed 1TB each month, anyone needing more priority data can purchase it for 25 cents/ per GB and keep track of usage on Starlink’s app or customer portal.

“Starlink is a finite resource that will continue to grow as we launch additional satellites,” the company says on its website. “To serve the greatest number of people with high-speed internet, we must manage the network to balance Starlink supply with user demand.”

Priority Access isn’t available for RV and Portability satellite customers. Different rules apply to business customers.

The rules come as Starlink continues to expand its presence in Canada. The company recently made its services available in Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. 

Image credit: Starlink 

Source: Starlink

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s ‘Hey Siri’ wake command could change to just ‘Siri’

Apple could be looking to shorten its voice-activated assistant’s wake phrase to just “Siri” from “Hey Siri,” according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

This means that to activate Siri, you’ll just need to say “Siri,” speeding up the process slightly. Gurman says that Apple has been working on this feature for the past few months and plans to release it in 2024.

According to the often-reliable source of Apple leaks, this shift requires a “significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work,” since Siri now needs to respond to one word instead of two.

Amazon’s Alexa voice-activated assistant already works by saying just “Alexa,” and Google Assistant requires “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” to start listening.

Gurman also says that Apple plans to launch deeper Siri integration with third-party apps and services. The tech giant’s most recent update to Siri added several new voice options.

Along with Macs, iPhones and iPads, Siri is also available in Apple’s HomePod mini smart speaker.

Source: Bloomberg’s Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Toronto-based Nanoleaf unveils new ‘Lines Squared’ LED light bars

Toronto-based Nanoleaf has unveiled the successor to its 2021-released Lines smart light, its Nanoleaf Lines Squared smart LED light bars with a new modular design.

The new LED lights come with a square connector, while its predecessor came with hexagon connectors. The new square connecter allows users to lay out the light bars at 90-degree angles to “set up clean lines around door frames and corners or experiment with geometric designs.” Lines Squared predecessor — Lines, only allowed 60-degree angles.

Lines Squared can be combined with the original Lines, which means users can combine the 90-degree and 60-degree angles to form a single creative design. Each Line Squared is roughly 28cm long and is made of white plastic. The bars feature a strip of RGBW LED lights along their bottom that illuminate and reflect off the surface you mount the bars on.

Each bar has two colour zones, which means each Line Squared bar can display two independent colours at once for added customization and are compatible with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT, SmartThings, Razer Chroma, iCUE.

Further, the lights feature a ‘Rhythm Music Visualizer,’ allowing the lights to react to music in real-time and a ‘Screen Mirror’ feature that allows the lights to replicate the colour on your TV or monitor.

Notably, the Lines Sqaured support the Thread ecosystem and will act as Thread Border Routers for other Thread-enabled smart devices in your house.

The new Nanoleaf Lines Squared Smarter Kit starts at $129.99. They appear to be out of stock on Nanoleaf’s website, but you can set alerts for when they’re back in stock here.

Image credit: Nanoleaf

Source: Nanoleaf

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Mobile Syrup

Ancestry Canada hosts free AR-powered wartime gallery for Remembrance Day

Ancestry Canada has created a special free immersive art gallery in Toronto to promote the artwork of famed Canadian painter Molly Lamb Bobak.

For the uninitiated, the Vancouver-born Bobak was the first Canadian woman artist to be sent overseas to document Canada’s efforts during World War II. During this time, she captured countless brave soldiers, including, in particular, Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC).

Ancestry History Revealed event in Toronto

Image credit: George Pimentel

Now, through the power of augmented reality (AR), Ancestry Canada is bringing Bobak’s works to life as part of its “History Revealed” event.

Running until November 11th at 1153 Queen Street West, the gallery features over a dozen of Bobak’s paintings that you can interact with using on-site iPads or your own smartphone. Simply scan the numbered portrait and the actual artwork will pop up on your device. You’ll then have the option to receive background information on the given painting either through text or narration.

Ancestry Revealed

For example, the first portrait shows the CWAC as it parades through town, while the second shows how many women enlisting in the army had no idea what military life would be like. As someone who wasn’t aware of Bobak’s work prior to the event, I definitely learned a lot — not only about her, but the brave CWAC. My mum, who is big into genealogy and wartime remembrance, also really appreciated the exhibit.

Those interested can book their free slot here.

Here are this week’s hours:

  • Monday, November 7th — 5 to 9pm
  • Tuesday, November 8th — 5 to 9pm
  • Wednesday, November 9th — 5 to 9pm
  • Thursday, November 10th — 5 to 9pm
  • Friday, November 11th — 11am to 11pm

As part of the Remembrance Day commemorations, Ancestry Canada has also made its military records free for all online until November 11th.

In related news, the Royal Canadian Legion and Legion National Foundation are once again offering Canadians the opportunity to design their own virtual poppy in support of Canadian veterans and their families. You can learn more about that here.

Header image credit: Molly Lamb Bobak (via Canadian War Museum)

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter reportedly delays paid verification until November 9th

Twitter has reportedly delayed the rollout of its new paid verification system until after the U.S. midterm elections, according to the New York Times.

The Times cited messages from an internal Twitter Slack channel in which employees questioned “making such a risky change before elections” over its potential to cause election interference.

A manager working on the verification badge project replied that “we’ve made the decision to move the launch of this release to Nov. 9, after the election.” The blue checkmark shown on verified accounts adds a level of authenticity to those accounts — by opening up verification to all, it potentially risks making fake news, misinformation, and fake accounts appear more legitimate.

Moreover, the Times said that Twitter didn’t respond to requests to comment, noting that the company had “almost entirely laid off” its communications team (hardly a surprise for a company owned by Elon Musk).

It’s an interesting turn of events, with the decision coming just a day after an update to the Twitter iOS app offered up paid verification. Text from the iOS app update details noted that users can sign up for Twitter Blue to get a blue checkmark “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”

Amid the blue check chaos, Musk declared Twitter would permanently ban accounts that impersonate people without a parody label. The escalation in Twitter’s impersonation policies came amid a slew of verified accounts pretended to be Musk and made fun of him. However, despite saying that accounts labeled as parody would be okay, Twitter has banned some parody accounts that impersonated Musk too.

Since taking the helm at Twitter, Musk has created turmoil across the social network. Brands have paused advertising on Twitter over uncertainty with leadership, hate speech spiked after Musk’s takeover, and Musk has suggested various schemes to try and squeeze profit out of the company (including paid verification, DMs, and more). You can keep up with the latest Musk x Twitter news here.

Source: The New York Times

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter is asking some of its fired employees to come back

After laying off roughly half of its workforce last week, it appears that Twitter’s ‘Complaint Hotline Operator,’ Elon Musk, is scrambling to get some of the fired employees back, as reported by Bloomberg.

Reportedly, some employees were laid off “by mistake,” while others are being recalled because it turns out they’re needed to build Musk’s vision for Twitter.

Platformer‘s Casey Newton also reported that an internal Twitter Slack chat message (reportedly from Musk) asked remaining Twitter employees to put together a list of former employees who would like to join back.

Prior to the layoffs, several Twitter employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the company over Musk’s plan to cut roughly half of the company’s workforce, arguing that it violates U.S. federal and California state law.

Musk said that Twitter is losing over $4 million USD (about $5.4 million CAD) per day and that reducing the company’s workforce was the only way to go. “Everyone [that] exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” he wrote in a tweet.

According to sources close to Twitter, the company now has roughly 3,700 employees, most of whom have been asked to show technical documentation to justify the work they do at Twitter and to prove their value to the company. Employees have also reportedly been working unsustainably long shifts since Musk’s takeover to meet deadlines and ship new features.

The company aims to add new features to Twitter Blue, charge $8/month for a blue checkmark, and introduce a new paywalled video feature, amid other updates. Musk is also looking to revive Vine, the OG short-form video hosting service that Twitter acquired for $30 million USD (about $40 million CAD) in 2012, only to shut it down in 2016. Read more about it here.

The latest news on Twitter and Musk can be found here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Meta reported to begin layoffs this week, ‘thousands of employees’ to be affected

Sources close to Meta are indicating that the company intends to begin large-scale layoffs this week, in what could be the “largest round” of job cuts in the tech sector, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The publication’s report states that an announcement regarding the layoffs could come as soon as Wednesday, and that “many thousands of employees” would be affected.

As of September, the company reported employing a total of 87,000 people across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Officials at Meta have already asked employees to cancel all nonessential travel beginning this week, according to unnamed sources.

Amid its crashing stock, and Meta burning its cash reserve to chase the metaverse dream, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently stated in Meta’s third-quarter earnings that the company would “focus our investments on a small number of high-priority growth areas.”

“So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year,” said Zuckerberg. “In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today.”

Meta expanded in an unsustainable manner during the pandemic. It hired over 27,000 employees in 2020 and 2021, and 15,344 in 2022. That’s more than 42,000 new employees over the course of three years, many of whom would now be laid off to bring the company’s spending back to a sustainable level.

This comes soon after Twitter announced it will cut half of its workforce under its new leader Elon Musk.

Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Wall Street Journal

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Mobile Syrup

Musk threatens permanent Twitter bans for impersonating accounts

It seems Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk is starting to realize the downsides of handing out verification to anyone who pays for it. After going live with the new Twitter Blue subscription that gives subscribers the blue checkmark verification symbol over the weekend, several users quickly made parody accounts making fun of Musk.

Despite declaring that comedy was “now legal on Twitter” after taking control of the company, Musk was not amused by the parody accounts. In a series of tweets Sunday evening, Musk said that Twitter would now permanently suspend “any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody.’” Moreover, Musk warned that changing your name on Twitter will cause a “temporary loss of verified checkmark.”

However, it seems that specifying your account is a parody account doesn’t help dodge bans when you impersonate Musk himself:

The thing is, Twitter has rules about impersonation, which don’t seem to have changed yet (Musk even acknowledges these rules in a tweet). According to Twitter’s policies, the company may take the following actions against accounts violating its impersonation rules:

Profile modifications

If your account is potentially confusing in terms of its affiliation, we may require you to edit the content on your profile. If you violate this policy again after your first warning, your account will be permanently suspended.

Temporary account suspension

If we believe you may be in violation of this policy, we may require you to provide government issued identification (such as a driver’s license or passport) in order to reinstate your account.

Permanent suspension

If you are engaged in impersonation or are using a misleading or deceptive fake identity, we may permanently suspend your account.

However, Musk’s tweets say the company will now skip straight to permanent suspensions — so far, it seems to be the case, with The Verge noting comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman both had their accounts locked or suspended after impersonating Musk. The move even appears to have bothered some Musk fans, who thought Twitter would stop doing permanent suspensions.

The Verge also reported that there don’t appear to be any changes to the Twitter terms of service, suggesting Musk rashly tweeted the new rules and had employees start enforcing them. Moreover, Musk previously promised not to make any major content decision before putting together a content moderation council — as far as we know, this moderation council has not yet been formed.

Anyway, the whole debacle is yet more evidence that offering verification to anyone willing to pay was a bad idea. The point of verification was to lend authenticity to certain high-profile accounts so that users could easily tell if an account is who claims to be. By handing out blue checkmarks to anyone who pays for them, it’s much easier to make impersonations of high-profile accounts that look legitimate.

You can read more about Musk x Twitter here.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

iRobot’s early Black Friday deals discount vacuum and mop bundles

iRobot has gone live with its ‘Early access to Black Friday’ deals, so if you’ve been wanting to try a smart home cleaning solution, but the high price tag has been holding you off, this might be the deal for you.

Check out the deals below:

Wi-Fi Connected Roomba j7+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum: $799.99 (save $999.99)

Wi-Fi Connected Roomba j7 Robot Vacuum: $499.99 (save $749.99)

Wi-Fi Connected Roomba s9+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum: $1,099.99 (save $1,299.99)

Wi-Fi Connected Roomba 694 Robot Vacuum: $339.99 (save $369.99)

Roomba s9+ & Braava jet m6 Bundle: $1,499.98 (save $1,899.98)

Roomba i3+ EVO & Braava jet m6 Bundle: $1,124.98 (save $1,299.98)

Roomba j7+ & Braava jet m6 Bundle: $1,214.98 (save $1,599.98)

Roomba i3 EVO & Braava jet m6 Bundle: $899.98 (save $1,049.98)

Roomba j7 & Braava jet m6 Bundle: $944.98 (save $1,349.98)

iRobot H1 Handheld Vacuum & H1 Extension Kit Bundle: $209.98 (save $419.98)

iRobot H1 Handheld Vacuum: $164.99 (save $329.99)

Find all of iRobot’s Early Black Friday deals here.

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Source: iRobot