Technology - Google News

Apple gives third-party repair shops more access to authorized parts - Ars Technica
Samsung announces Galaxy Home Mini public beta before full-size speaker has even shipped - Circuit Breaker
Thursday briefing: Huawei's next flagship phone will ship without Google integration - Wired.co.uk

Apple gives third-party repair shops more access to authorized parts - Ars Technica

Posted: 29 Aug 2019 06:50 AM PDT

Michael Ghadieh, owner of FixMyPhoneSF, fixes an Apple Inc. iPhone in his shop in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Michael Ghadieh — Enlarge
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Apple has been a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to iPhones and independent repair shops. Earlier this month, we discovered that people are running into problems with third-party iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max repairs due to a particular chip on the battery. And repair specialists like iFixit have repeatedly called Cupertino's design decisions "user-hostile." But on Thursday, Apple announced a new independent repair program for out-of-warranty iPhones.

"To better meet our customers' needs, we're making it easier for independent providers across the US to tap into the same resources as our Apple Authorized Service Provider network," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer in a press release. "When a repair is needed, a customer should have confidence the repair is done right. We believe the safest and most reliable repair is one handled by a trained technician using genuine parts that have been properly engineered and rigorously tested."

Independent repair shops can apply to Apple to join the program for free, although there are certain requirements like requiring Apple certifications for technicians. (Apple says the certification process is also free.) Once accepted to the program, repair shops will have access to genuine Apple parts and tools, training, diagnostics, and other resources. Additionally, these third-party repair shops will have access to those parts and resources at the same price as authorized Apple repair shops. Apple says that over the past year it piloted the program successfully with 20 businesses in North America, Asia, and Europe.

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Samsung announces Galaxy Home Mini public beta before full-size speaker has even shipped - Circuit Breaker

Posted: 29 Aug 2019 07:12 AM PDT

Samsung has quietly announced a new Bixby-powered smart speaker called the Galaxy Home Mini, and it's inviting Galaxy smartphone owners in South Korea to sign up to beta-test the new device. Samsung says the new speaker can control IoT devices, it integrates with Samsung's SmartThings platform, and it uses sound technology provided by Samsung's AKG audio brand. SamMobile was first to spot the announcement.

This is the first time Samsung has officially admitted that its smaller smart speaker exists, although we had a decent idea it was coming, thanks to its appearance in a Federal Communications Commission filing earlier this year. Beyond the few details shared by Samsung in the beta announcement, we know next to nothing about this new device. We don't even know for sure whether the speaker is battery powered, for example. Presumably, we'll find out when Samsung decides to officially announce the speaker, although it's unclear if this will happen before or after beta testers get their hands on it.

What's also notable here is that Samsung's announcement appears to omit any mention of the original Galaxy Home smart speaker that it announced alongside the Note 9 last year. Samsung's full-size smart speaker has faced continual delays since its announcement. Originally planned for a release in the first half of this year, the company delayed the speaker until the third quarter of this year, and it most recently said that it's working to "refine and enhance" it before release.

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Thursday briefing: Huawei's next flagship phone will ship without Google integration - Wired.co.uk

Posted: 29 Aug 2019 12:10 AM PDT

Staff and visitors walk pass the lobby at the Huawei office in Wuhan, China

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On September 18, Huawei is set to reveal its next flagship smartphone, the Mate 30, in Europe, but it'll launch without built-in access to the Google Play Store or any of Google's other apps and services (Reuters).

A Google representative told Reuters that the Mate 30 "cannot be sold with licensed Google apps and services due to the U.S. ban on sales to Huawei" – a recent extension to a US trade ban only covers existing products. Android itself is open source, side-loading Google Play is usually trivial and Huawei is preparing its own app store for launch, but it remains to be seen whether European users will have any interest in a high-end phone that ships without Google Services.

To help stem the tide of anti-vaccination conspiracy theories that put herd immunity – and thus vulnerable lives – at risk, Pinterest has begun showing scientifically-verified vaccination information when people search for related terms, such as "measles" or "vaccine safety" (TechCrunch). The image-sharing network had previously stopped showing search results for the terms to prevent the spread of vaccine misinformation but is now working with bodies including the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics to provide accurate data.

Apple has apologised for having contractors listen to Siri voice recordings without clear notice to its users (The Verge). It's updated its privacy policy and default settings so that recordings of Siri interactions are retained only if users opt in to help train the digital voice assistant, and says that only Apple employees – not outside contractors – will be involved in listening to and annotating recordings.

At 11:59pm today, August 29, the banks will stop accepting new claims for mis-sold PPI, hoping desperately to draw a line under a scandal that has cost them more than £45bn in compensation (WIRED). But the culture that drove banks to sell useless products is still rife, according to Treasury documents, and the regulator that is supposed to police the banks has dropped an inquiry into the culture that allowed corruption to flourish.

Google has quietly announced that its dedicated Kids platform, with restricted content and parental controls, will finally get a web browser accessible version this week (Gizmodo).

The move appears to be a response to a US FTC ruling requiring a separate, kid-friendly experience for under-13s on all platforms, rather than just on mobile devices. It's not immediately apparent whether it'll be available for non-US users at launch and YouTube has made it clear that it won't be using manual content moderation, so some disturbing videos could still slip through the net.

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