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Of course Facebook shared data with Chinese smartphone makers, but it probably means nothing
I love the best new iPhone feature in iOS 12, but Android is still better
We just tested the all-AMD Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop

Of course Facebook shared data with Chinese smartphone makers, but it probably means nothing

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 03:50 AM PDT

Yes, Facebook deserves all your hates and dislikes for mismanaging your data not only in the widely covered Cambridge Analytica case but ever since it started collecting it. But that doesn’t mean everything Facebook did with your data is wrong, and that includes sharing data with smartphone makers, including Chinese companies that intelligence agencies aren’t particularly fond of.

It’s precisely because of the Cambridge Analytica matter that reports about Facebook sharing data with anyone will raise eyebrows. And, again, Facebook deserves the increased scrutiny given its lax stance on privacy in previous years. Not to mention that we’re looking at a business practice Facebook did not disclose before it was featured in the news.

But there’s no proof Facebook did anything wrong. It all started with a The New York Times report on Sunday that explained how Facebook gave device makers “deep access to data on users and friends.” Companies including Apple, Samsung, Amazon, BlackBerry, and Microsoft were mentioned in that report.

Facebook swiftly came out with a blog post of its own refuting the claims in the Times report, explaining what Facebook did to ensure that device makers could deploy fast Facebook experiences on their devices, without having to wait for Facebook to do it:

In the early days of mobile, the demand for Facebook outpaced our ability to build versions of the product that worked on every phone or operating system. It’s hard to remember now but back then there were no app stores. So companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube had to work directly with operating system and device manufacturers to get their products into people’s hands. This took a lot of time — and Facebook was not able to get to everyone.

To bridge this gap, we built a set of device-integrated APIs that allowed companies to recreate Facebook-like experiences for their individual devices or operating systems. Over the last decade, around 60 companies have used them — including many household names such as Amazon, Apple, Blackberry, HTC, Microsoft, and Samsung.

This brings us to today’s newest revelation that Chinese companies are included in that list of Facebook partners. Huawei, TCL, and ZTE could be on that list, lawmakers worried, expressing their concern with Facebook’s data-sharing practices.

“Well, unfortunately with Facebook, it is a great company, but we’re seeing this pattern repeat itself,” Sen. Mark Warner told Axios in reaction to the Times story. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Facebook could have shared data with Chinese companies like ZTE, which lawmakers say it’s too close to the Chinese government.

Facebook was pretty quick to respond, according to the same Axios. Here’s what mobile partnership exec Francisco Varela had to say:

Huawei is the third largest mobile manufacturer globally and its devices are used by people all around the world, including in the United States. Facebook along with many other U.S. tech companies have worked with them and other Chinese manufacturers to integrate their services onto these phones. Facebook’s integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO, and TCL were controlled from the get-go — and we approved the Facebook experiences these companies built. Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huawei’s servers.

Statements alone will probably not suffice, given Facebook’s credibility problems, so Facebook will probably have to prove to Congress and anybody else asking that user data had not been shared with Huawei, Apple, or any other tech partner out there that might have used Facebook tools.

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I love the best new iPhone feature in iOS 12, but Android is still better

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 06:45 AM PDT

Apple released its first iOS 12 beta earlier this week, and so begins a long summer of waiting as we see Apple’s final release take shape. If it stays true to form, the company will likely release updated betas every other week with bug fixes and other refinements. As for new features, Apple is undoubtedly saving some surprises for its big iPhone event in September; each year, Apple holds a few things back from its beta software so as to not let slip any details surrounding the new iPhone models that will debut later in the year. For the most part, however, what you see in the iOS 12 beta is what the public will get come September when the final version of iOS 12 is released to the public.

There is precious little question that overall, iOS 12 is a boring update. It had to be. Apple’s current iOS 11 software is still in a state where it’s actually holding devices back from realizing their full potential. I wrote about it earlier this week, but in a nutshell: Apple’s latest iPhones are the most powerful smartphones on the planet, and yet new Android phones like the OnePlus 6 and Galaxy S9 are faster in real-world usage because of performance issues in iOS 11.

iOS 12 is still packed with plenty of new features though, so let’s chat about the best and most hotly anticipated one.

There are several new features in iOS 12 that I am excited about. For example, I can’t tell you how happy I’ll be when 1Password releases an update that takes advantage of the new password autofill API in iOS 12. Check out a video demo of it in action in this post — I can’t wait to never have to copy and paste another password on my iPhone.

Some new augmented reality features that will be enabled by ARKit 2 also look fantastic. Specifically, the multiuser capability that will allow different people to see the same virtual object from different vantage points is a game changer. The new Siri Shortcuts feature has endless possibilities, and it’s nothing short of incredible that iOS 12 won’t push a single older iOS device into obsolescence. It’s compatible with every device that can run iOS 11, and it will actually improve performance on older devices rather than slow them down. But if there’s one new iOS 12 feature that has iPhone users buzzing, it’s Apple’s revamped notifications.

In iOS 11, notifications are a nightmare. They cascade down a device’s lock screen in chronological order with no grouping whatsoever. When many notifications go unchecked and they build up, like when you’re sleeping at night, it’s easier just to ignore them than to scroll through them to see what you’ve missed. That basically renders them useless, and it’s a complaint iOS device users have had for years.

With the new iOS 12 release, Apple has addressed many of the complaints people have about iOS notifications. Not all of them, but many of them. Here are some bullet points from Apple’s website that detail the changes:

Grouped notifications: Message threads and notification topics are grouped together, so it’s easier to see what’s important with just a glance at your iPhone or iPad.
Instant Tuning: Control your notification settings the moment you receive an alert, without having to leave what you’re doing.
Deliver quietly: Within Instant Tuning, you can choose to have notifications delivered silently to Notification Center by default so you’re not interrupted by alerts.
Siri notification suggestions: Get suggestions based on how you interact with your notifications, such as which app notifications to deliver prominently and which ones to send to Notification Center.
Critical alerts: A new type of opt-in alert for important information, like reports from a healthcare provider, which you’ll receive even during Do Not Disturb.

Grouped notifications is the big one, since it finally puts an end to the madness. Notifications from the same app or from the same conversation are grouped together to cut down on the clutter. Instant Tuning is nice too, because it lets you silence notifications from a specific conversation or thread without having to go into the app itself or into the Settings app. I’ve been using iOS 12 since shortly after the first beta was released, and I definitely appreciate the changed Apple made to iOS notifications. But Android is still better.

Android’s notification system still has a number of big advantages over Apple’s new notifications in iOS 12. Notifications are more interactive and developers have the ability to enrich them in different ways. Persistent icons at the top of the screen let you know which apps have unread notifications at all times on Android devices, whereas the iPhone gives you no indication whatsoever that you have unchecked notifications when you’re on your home screen or using an app. Lock screen notifications even disappear if you unlock your phone once, so all those notifications are only accessible in the Notification Center.

Notification grouping is far smarter and more dynamic on Android, too. For example, multiple messages in the same conversation appear in a single notification, and you can even continue the conversation right from within the notification instead of having to pop open the conversation, as is the case in iOS. Here’s an image from Android Authority that shows this feature in action:

I also like that Android’s settings shortcuts are found at the top of the notification shade. Apple’s Control Center is a completely separate screen, and there’s really no reason for the separation. People don’t need massive shortcut buttons for things like opening the camera or adjusting screen brightness. Android does it right.

If Apple decided it was going to improve its notification system by copying some features from Android — which is the correct decision for Apple to have made, by the way — why not go all in? Android’s notification system has been better than the iOS system for years. Now, it’s still better even as Apple tries to catch up in iOS 12. Google and its Android vendor partners certainly don’t hold anything back when they copy Apple’s hardware and software designs, so why is Apple holding back with notifications? iOS 12 is definitely a big step in the right direction, but there’s still a steep hill to climb.

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We just tested the all-AMD Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop

Posted: 06 Jun 2018 07:12 AM PDT

The new Acer Predator Helios 500 has enthusiasts of both Intel and AMD covered. That’s because you can now choose from the model shown here, which is built around an Intel CPU and Nvidia graphics, or go all AMD with the version you see at the top of this article.

The AMD version of the Helios 500 features a 17-inch, 144Hz FreeSync Panel; 32GB of DDR4; a 256GB M.2 SSD; and 1TB HDD. And most importantly for AMD fans, it features an 8-core Ryzen 7 2700 and Radeon Vega 56 graphics.

The CPU is the desktop Ryzen 7 2700. It’s an 8-core chip with SMT for 16-threads of computing power. It’s also likely the fastest CPU around for many multi-threaded loads. In Cinebench R15, for example, we saw the Helios 500 spit out a score of 1,512.

(For reference, a Ryzen 7 2700X is in the 1,800 range. That X part does hit higher clock speeds, though.)

As far as we’re concerned, the performance of the Radeon Vega 56 chip is even more interesting. We know from our review of the desktop part that it punches beyond its class, and likely caused Nvidia to release the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti in response.

Although we thought the Radeon Vega 56 was a re-purposed desktop chip, we were told that, no, it’s a part that always been intended for mobile use.

That tells us it may very well be the very first sighting of the Radeon RX Vega Mobile chip that AMD talked up at CES. Mind you, this is not the same graphics core used in Intel’s Kaby Lake G, that unprecedented Intel/AMD collaboration.

As its name implies, the Radeon Vega 56 should be a full Vega 56 part. We only had one benchmark available to run, but it’s pretty modern—Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5. We set the laptop to 1920x1080, selected Ultra and also switched off FreeSync to prevent it from interfering with any results.

We know public results of a desktop GeForce GTX 1060 6GB cards are in the 70 fps range and GeForce GTX 1070 cards sit in the 90 fps range. The Vega 56 in the Helios 500? It hit a pretty respectable 80 fps, but it’s still definitely short of a full desktop Vega 56, which actually pushes the 110 fps range in this game.

Given the thermal limitations of laptops, we have to assume the chip in the Helio 500 is running the GPU at lower clock speeds.

The last detail we’ll mention is the battery, a 74-watt hour cell. Like most desktop replacement gaming laptops with big screens and big GPUs and CPUs, we’d expect that you’d be lucky to get an hour under heavy loads. But that’s actually typical.