OnePlus' next flagship smartphone will be backed by T-Mobile, marking the first time the Chinese-company has partnered with a carrier in the U.S. "T-Mobile will be the exclusive U.S. carrier partner for the OnePlus 6T when it launches in October," reports CNET. "That includes a specific version of the OnePlus 6T optimized for T-Mobile's network." From the report: The company, however, will still sell its standard global version that's unlocked and able to run on either AT&T or T-Mobile. The price of the OnePlus 6T is tentatively set at $550, although that hasn't been finalized. The partnership underscores the progress that OnePlus has made in the U.S. The Chinese phone maker isn't a household name, but has long attracted diehard Android fans for its mix of high-end specs and affordable prices. Having a place at T-Mobile stores means it'll attract more mainstream awareness.

T-Mobile's version of the OnePlus 6T will be optimized for the carrier's network, including the new 600 megahertz band of spectrum being rolled out that promises better and faster coverage. T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray has often boasted about the improvement to the quality of the network thanks to the new swath of spectrum. The only hiccup with the U.S. launch could come from the testing required by T-Mobile to get certification on the network. OnePlus is still in the process of getting what's known as "technical approval" at the carrier, according to one person. Failure to get the approval could cause a delay with the carrier launch.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Google announced today that it's working with Danish hearing aid manufacturer GN Hearing to create a new hearing aid spec for Android smartphones called ASHA, or Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids. It's designed to be battery-efficient, while providing high quality audio with low latency. Hearing aids utilizing this spec will be able to connect to and stream from Android devices without having to use another intermediate device. ASHA will enable Bluetooth hearing aids to be utilized the same way as headphones, used to call friends or listen to music. Google has published the new protocol specifications online for any hearing aid manufacturer to build native hearing aid support for Android. GN Hearing has announced that the ReSound LiNX Quattro and Beltone Amaze will be the first hearing aids to receive direct streaming support in a future update.

The German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) has made a direct connection between children getting into difficulty in the water and parents being too busy on their mobile phones to notice. More than 300 people have drowned in Germany so far this year. The Guardian reports: "Too few parents and grandparents are heeding the advice: when your children and grandchildren are in the water, put your smartphone away," Achim Wiese, the DLRG's spokesman, said. "We're experiencing on a daily basis that people treat swimming pools like a kindergarten and simply don't pay attention," added Peter Harzheim of the German federation of swimming pool supervisors. "In the past, parents and grandparents spent more time with their children in the swimming pool. But increasing numbers of parents are fixated by their smartphones and are not looking left or right, let alone paying attention to their children," he told German media. "It's sad that parents behave so neglectfully these days." The organization also put some blame on the school system for not making swimming lessons required from an early age. "Budget cuts have also led to swimming pools shortening their opening times," adds The Guardian.

AmiMoJo shares a report from Boing Boing: Josh Mitchell's Defcon presentation analyzes the security of five popular brands of police bodycams (Vievu, Patrol Eyes, Fire Cam, Digital Ally, and CeeSc) and reveals that they are universally terrible. All the devices use predictable network addresses that can be used to remotely sense and identify the cameras when they switch on. None of the devices use code-signing. Some of the devices can form ad-hoc Wi-Fi networks to bridge in other devices, but they don't authenticate these sign-ons, so you can just connect with a laptop and start raiding the network for accessible filesystems and gank or alter videos, or just drop malware on them.

Next month, Apple is expected to unveil three new iPhones, each with differing specs/features. According to analyst firm Trendforce, the large 6.5-inch "flagship" model will support up to 512GB of onboard flash storage. Apple Pencil support will also be "offered as an option," although the company didn't specify which models will support the stylus. Apple Insider reports: The company expects that the the 6.1-inch LCD version will come with Face ID, Dual-SIM technology. The firm expects it to retail for between $699 and $749. The 5.8-inch OLED iPhone will be priced at $899 to $949. The 6.5-inch device will come in storage capacities up to 512GB, with one variant of the size potentially having dual-SIM support and expected to be "limited within $1,000 threshold as to encourage purchasing from consumers," according to Trendforce. Both the 5.8- and 6.5-inch OLED models are expected to have 4GB of RAM. The 6.1-inch LED devices will have 3GB of RAM, the same as the iPhone X. The analyst firm believes that all three models are expected to ship in September and October.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: The researchers, which include engineers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and Binghamton University, published a study this month detailing a method in which common wifi can be used to easily and efficiently identify weapons, bombs, and explosive chemicals in public spaces that don't typically have affordable screening options. The researchers' system uses channel state information (CSI) from run-of-the-mill wifi. It can first identify whether there are dangerous objects in baggage without having to physically rifle through it. It then determines what the material is and what the risk level is. The researchers tested the detection system using 15 different objects across three categories -- metal, liquid, and non-dangerous -- as well as with six bags and boxes across three categories -- backpack or handbag, cardboard box, and a thick plastic bag.

The findings were pretty impressive. According to the researchers, their system is 99 percent accurate when it comes to identifying dangerous and non-dangerous objects. It is 97 percent accurate when determining whether the dangerous object is metal or liquid, the study says. When it comes to detecting suspicious objects in various bags, the system was over 95 percent accurate. The researchers state in the paper that their detection system only needs a wifi device with two to three antennas, and can run on existing networks.

theodp writes: "Long before phone addiction panic gripped the masses and before screen time became a facet of our wellness and digital detoxes," begins Katie Reid's article, How the Shared Family Computer Protected Us from Our Worst Selves, "there was one good and wise piece of technology that served our families. Maybe it was in the family room or in the kitchen. It could have been a Mac or PC. Chances are it had a totally mesmerizing screensaver. It was the shared family desktop." She continues: "I can still see the Dell I grew up using as clear as day, like I just connected to NetZero yesterday. It sat in my eldest sister's room, which was just off the kitchen. Depending on when you peeked into the room, you might have found my dad playing Solitaire, my sister downloading songs from Napster, or me playing Wheel of Fortune or writing my name in Microsoft Paint. The rules for using the family desktop were pretty simple: homework trumped games; Dad trumped all. Like the other shared equipment in our house, its usefulness was focused and direct: it was a tool that the whole family used, and it was our portal to the wild, weird, wonderful internet. As such, we adored it." Did you have a shared family computer growing up? Can you relate to any of the experiences Katie mentioned in her article? Please share your thoughts in a comment below.

Google's recent launch of Android 9.0 Pie hasn't gone off without some early bugs and issues. According to The Verge, users are reporting that Android Pie prevents their phone from fast charging when plugged into many chargers. Google's own charger doesn't even appear to be working. From the report: Other Pixel XL owners say the bundled charger still functions properly and displays "charging rapidly," but third-party USB-PD (power delivery) chargers no longer juice up the XL as quickly as they did pre-update. Google has oddly marked a bug report on the problem as "won't fix (infeasible)," which is likely alarming to see for those experiencing it, especially since it can very clearly be attributed to the Android 9.0 update. Things were working normally, then Pie came, and then something broke. A second thread has been posted with more users chiming in to confirm they're affected.

Since Qualcomm is set to launch a new wearable chipset on September 10, Kellen from DoidLife argues against buying a new Google Wear OS-powered smartwatch in the meantime. The new chipset will be able to execute commands quicker, and provide for substantially longer battery life. From the report: This new chipset is said to be built from the ground up, will allow watches to look pretty when you aren't using them (like a normal watch sitting idly by your side), and extend battery life. More importantly, Qualcomm is betting that this Snapdragon Wear chip will "significantly change the Wear OS ecosystem, what you expect from a smartwatch." If you buy a smartwatch today, before Qualcomm announces this chip, you will be stuck with a 2+ year old Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip. All of the new Wear OS watches that have been announced recently, use that chip. It's old. It's never been great. And it's about to be replaced by something potentially game-changing for smartwatches. A report from WinFuture says that this new Snapdragon chip will be called the Wear 3100 and will allow for "Ok Google" detection even when the display is off. It is rumored to come with Google's Pixel-branded smartwatch, although DroidLife thinks that LG will be one of the first to launch a watch with this new processor. "This LG watch is said to have physical watch hands, as well as the smarts of Wear OS and a touch display," reports DroidLife. It is expected to make its debut on September 10.

According to a new report from Wccftech, Intel will introduce new Core i9, i7, and i5 chips on October 1st that will be branded as 9th generation processors. The Verge reports: The mainstream flagship processor, Intel's Core i9-9900K, is expected to ship with 8 cores and 16 threads. Leaked documents show that this will be the first mainstream Core i9 desktop processor, and will include 16 MB of L3 cache and Intel's UHD 620 graphics chip. Even Intel's 9th gen Core i7 processor is expected to ship with 8 cores and 8 threads (up from the current 6 cores), with the Core i5 shipping with 6 cores and 6 threads. Intel is reportedly launching its unlocked overclockable processors first, followed by more 9th generation processors early next year.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: The connected devices you think about the least are sometimes the most insecure. That's the takeaway from new research to be presented at the DefCon hacking conference Friday by Ricky Lawshae, an offensive security researcher at Trend Micro. Lawshae discovered over two dozen vulnerabilities in Crestron devices used by corporations, airports, sports stadiums, and local governments across the country. While Crestron has released a patch to fix the issues, some of the weaknesses allowed for hackers to theoretically turn the Crestron Android touch panels used in offices and hotel rooms into spy devices.

Lawshae quickly noticed that these devices have security authentication protections disabled by default. For the most part, the Crestron devices Lawshae analyzed are designed to be installed and configured by third-party technicians, meaning an IT engineer needs to voluntarily turn on security protections. The people who actually use Crestron's devices after they're installed might not even know such protections exist, let alone how crucial they are. Crestron devices do have special engineering backdoor accounts which are password-protected. But the company ships its devices with the algorithm that is used to generate the passwords in the first place. That information can be used by non-privileged users to reverse engineer the password itself, a vulnerability simultaneously identified by both Lawshae and Jackson Thuraisamy, a vulnerability researcher at Security Compass. There were also over two dozen other vulnerabilities that could be exploited to do things like transform them into listening devices. In addition to being able to remotely record audio via the microphones to a downloadable file, Lawshae was also able to remotely stream video from the webcam and open a browser and display a webpage to an unsuspecting room full of meeting attendees. "Crestron has issued a fix for the vulnerabilities, and firmware updates are now available," reports Wired.

Alongside the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Home Speaker, Samsung took the wraps off its new Galaxy Watch wearable at its Unpacked event in New York City. VentureBeat reports: Beyond coming in rose gold, silver, and midnight black colors, it can be had in two sizes -- the prior Gear S3 size is now called "46mm" and will start at $349.99, while a smaller-sized model is called "42mm" and will start at $329.99. Both will be available starting August 24, solely in the specific size and color configurations shown below. Samsung is also using improved glass: Gear S3 watches used Corning's Gorilla Glass SR+ and were IP68 rated for 10-foot, 30-minute water and dust resistance. The Galaxy Watch upgrades to Corning Gorilla DX+ glass and promises to keep the AMOLED screen underneath fully water-safe; it's rated for 5 ATM (165-foot/50-meter) submersion with IP68 and MIL-STD-810G certifications.

A disappointment in the new model is a reduction in its payment capabilities. The Gear S3 included both NFC and swipe-style magnetic secure transaction (MST) support to enable a wide array of Samsung Pay wireless purchases, but the Galaxy Watch drops MST support and only works with NFC. Not surprisingly, however, it does support Bluetooth 4.2 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. While continuing the use of a Tizen operating system from the Gear S3, Galaxy Watch packs a more powerful dual-core Exynos 9110 processor running at 1.15GHz. As was the case with the Gear S3 Frontier, the Galaxy Watch is available in Bluetooth-only and LTE versions, now promising LTE support across over 30 carriers in more than 15 countries. On stage, Samsung promised that the Galaxy Watch can be used for "several" days between charges; a subsequent press release said that it's actually "up to 80+ hours with typical usage" on the 46mm model, which has a 472mAh battery, versus "45+ hours" from the 270mAh battery of the 42mm model. Each model promises at least twice the longevity "with low usage."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Apple told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that its iPhones do not listen to users without their consent and do not allow third-party apps to do so either, after lawmakers asked the company if its devices were invading users' privacy. Representatives Greg Walden, Marsha Blackburn, Gregg Harper and Robert Latta wrote to Apple's chief executive Tim Cook and Alphabet chief executive Larry Page in July, citing concerns about reports that smartphones could "collect 'non-triggered' audio data from users' conversations near a smartphone in order to hear a 'trigger' phrase, such as 'Okay Google' or 'Hey Siri.'"

In a letter to Walden, an Oregon Republican who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Apple said iPhones do not record audio while listening for Siri wakeup commands and Siri does not share spoken words. Apple said it requires users to explicitly approve microphone access and that apps must display a clear signal that they are listening.

Motorola unveiled their new flagship Moto Z3 smartphone today that's upgradeable to 5G. Like other Moto Z phones, the Z3 includes support for Moto Mods, including a new 5G Moto Mod that will let you use Verizon's mobile 5G network when it launches in 2019. The new Mod contains a Snapdragon X50 modem and 2,000mAh battery to help you stay connected to the 5G network. PhoneDog reports: The Moto Z3 is a Motorola phone that's exclusive to Verizon in the U.S. Specs for this Android 8.1-powered smartphone include a 6.01-inch 2160x1080 Super AMOLED screen and 8MP wide angle front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture. Around back there's a dual rear camera setup with two 12MP cameras, one RGB and one monochrome, along with laser autofocus and portrait mode support. Inside the Moto Z3 lives an octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor along with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, and a microSD card slot. There's a 3000mAh battery and a USB-C port for recharging that battery, as well as support for Motorola's TurboPower solution to recharge in a hurry. Unfortunately, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack to be found here. All of those features are crammed into a body with a water repellent coating. Rounding things out is a side-mounted fingerprint reader and support for face unlock.

Yesterday, during his quarterly earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a new piece of hardware that the company is working on to perform all the calculations required to advance the self-driving capabilities of its vehicles. The specialized chip, known as "Hardware 3," will be "swapped into the Model S, X, and 3," reports TechCrunch. From the report: Tesla has thus far relied on Nvidia's Drive platform. So why switch now? By building things in-house, Tesla say it's able to focus on its own needs for the sake of efficiency. "We had the benefit [...] of knowing what our neural networks look like, and what they'll look like in the future," said Pete Bannon, director of the Hardware 3 project. Bannon also noted that the hardware upgrade should start rolling out next year. "The key," adds Elon "is to be able to run the neural network at a fundamental, bare metal level. You have to do these calculations in the circuit itself, not in some sort of emulation mode, which is how a GPU or CPU would operate. You want to do a massive amount of [calculations] with the memory right there." The final outcome, according to Elon, is pretty dramatic: He says that whereas Tesla's computer vision software running on Nvidia's hardware was handling about 200 frames per second, its specialized chip is able to crunch out 2,000 frames per second "with full redundancy and failover." Plus, as AI analyst James Wang points out, it gives Tesla more control over its own future.

Today, Samsung unveiled the successor to the Galaxy Tab S3 from last year. The aptly named Galaxy Tab S4 features a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage (expandable via microSD card) and 13-megapixel f1.9 rear-facing camera. Unlike the Tab S3, it includes Samsung Dex software that lets users connect a Samsung mobile device to a monitor and then use the device as a pseudo-desktop. Ars Technica reports: The first Dex dock came out over a year ago and was designed to be used with Samsung smartphones. Users could plug their device into the dock, connect it to a monitor, pair a keyboard and a mouse, and use the setup as they would a full desktop PC. The system ran a version of Android that Samsung modified to better suit a desktop UI, which included a lock screen and a task bar area with app icons. Dex on the Galaxy Tab S4 works just like this, with a couple of extra features that leverage the power of a tablet. When connected to a monitor, both the big screen and the tablet's screen can be used simultaneously. In a short demo, Samsung showed how the device supports up to 20 open windows at once and how features like split screen and drag-and-drop can be used just as they would on a desktop PC. Users can launch Dex when not connected to a monitor as well, and that produces the same modified Android UI on the tablet's 10.5-inch, 2560 x 1600 Super AMOLED display. When connected to a monitor, both the big screen and the tablet's screen can be used simultaneously. In a short demo, Samsung showed how the device supports up to 20 open windows at once and how features like split screen and drag-and-drop can be used just as they would on a desktop PC. Users can launch Dex when not connected to a monitor as well, and that produces the same modified Android UI on the tablet's 10.5-inch, 2560x1600 Super AMOLED display. The tablet carries a $649 price, but includes all the specs mentioned above, as well as support for signature Samsung features like Air Command, translate, and off-screen memos, and a redesigned S Pen.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: For the first time in seven years, Samsung and Apple have not taken the top two positions in the worldwide smartphone market. All hail Huawei. Although Samsung held onto first place -- the South Korean giant typically dominates the first three quarters of the year, with the American company winning the fourth quarter -- Huawei passed Apple for second place this part quarter. The Q2 2018 figures come from IDC (though Canalys and Strategy Analytics both agree that Huawei passed Apple in the quarter).

MojoKid writes from a report via Hot Hardware: Although it has been over three decades since the first Commodore Amigas were originally released, a fan base for the beloved systems is still going strong. In fact, today's Amiga community seems to be more active now that it has been in years, and a number of exciting new hardware projects have cropped up in recent weeks. Two relatively new projects, led by popular members of the Amiga community Paul Rezendes and John "Chucky" Hertell, are designed to breathe new life into the Amiga 4000 and Amiga 1200.

Both men set out to reverse engineer the motherboards for these systems, not only to continue the possibility of repairing existing machines that are prone to serious damage from leaky batteries and electrolytic capacitors, but to potentially spur additional customizations for the platform in the future. Though Paul and John have only made minor modifications to the Amiga 4000 and Amiga 1200 motherboard PCBs to this point, the possibility now also exists for all new variants to arrive at some point in the future for these machines as well. The first actual working motherboards populated with components based on the Amiga 4000 Replica project or Re-Amiga 1200 haven't been shown off just yet, and they may require additional revisions to work out any kinks. However, both projects are good examples of the passion that still remains for the beloved Amiga from computing glory days gone by.

Logitech announced late Monday night that it is acquiring Blue Microphones for $117 million. The company known for USB condenser microphones, such as the Snowball and Yeti, will join Logitech's existing portfolio of brands. The Verge reports: Founded in 1995, Blue sells microphones that range in price from $60 to over $4,000 (for studio-grade hardware), and they're used by podcasters, musicians, and any other consumers who need higher-fidelity audio than what they get from the built-in microphones on their devices. Now, after dropping a heap of cash on the company, Logitech will do its best to make sure Blue's devices become just as essential as its own wireless keyboards and mice. "For Logitech, this is a new space," the company wrote in a blog post. "But, at the same time, it's not at all. Gamers are already using our Logitech G webcams to stream. People are video calling with friends and family thanks to Logitech every day. And in business, our audio and video know-how is apparent every time a video meeting takes place at the office. Joining up with Blue and their microphone lines is a logical adjacent opportunity with great synergies."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: In a forthcoming paper ("Dexterous In-Hand Manipulation"), OpenAI researchers describe a system that uses a reinforcement model, where the AI [known as Dactyl] learns through trial and error, to direct robot hands in grasping and manipulating objects with state-of-the-art precision. All the more impressive, it was trained entirely digitally, in a computer simulation, and wasn't provided any human demonstrations by which to learn. The researchers used the MuJoCo physics engine to simulate a physical environment in which a real robot might operate, and Unity to render images for training a computer vision model to recognize poses. But this approach had its limitations, the team writes -- the simulation was merely a "rough approximation" of the physical setup, which made it "unlikely" to produce systems that would translate well to the real world. Their solution was to randomize aspects of the environment, like its physics (friction, gravity, joint limits, object dimensions, and more) and visual appearance (lighting conditions, hand and object poses, materials, and textures). This both reduced the likelihood of overfitting -- a phenomenon that occurs when a neural network learns noise in training data, negatively affecting its performance -- and increased the chances of producing an algorithm that would successfully choose actions based on real-world fingertip positions and object poses.

Next, the researchers trained the model -- a recurrent neural network -- with 384 machines, each with 16 CPU cores, allowing them to generate roughly two years of simulated experience per hour. After optimizing it on an eight-GPU PC, they moved onto the next step: training a convolutional neural network that would predict the position and orientation of objects in the robot's "hand" from three simulated camera images. Once the models were trained, it was onto validation tests. The researchers used a Shadow Dexterous Hand, a robotic hand with five fingers with a total of 24 degrees of freedom, mounted on an aluminum frame to manipulate objects. Two sets of cameras, meanwhile -- motion capture cameras as well as RGB cameras -- served as the system's eyes, allowing it to track the objects' rotation and orientation. In the first of two tests, the algorithms were tasked with reorienting a block labeled with letters of the alphabet. The team chose a random goal, and each time the AI achieved it, they selected a new one until the robot (1) dropped the block, (2) spent more than a minute manipulating the block, or (3) reached 50 successful rotations. In the second test, the block was swapped with an octagonal prism. The result? The models not only exhibited "unprecedented" performance, but naturally discovered types of grasps observed in humans, such as tripod (a grip that uses the thumb, index finger, and middle finger), prismatic (a grip in which the thumb and finger oppose each other), and tip pinch grip. They also learned how to pivot and slide the robot hand's fingers, and how to use gravitational, translational, and torsional forces to slot the object into the desired position.