Technology - Google News

CES 2021: What will you see at the world's biggest (all-digital) show - CNET
Elon Musk slams Facebook, promotes Signal app instead. Here's what to know - CNET
How to use your Oculus Quest 2 to play any PC VR game wirelessly - The Verge

CES 2021: What will you see at the world's biggest (all-digital) show - CNET

Posted: 09 Jan 2021 05:00 AM PST

Elon Musk slams Facebook, promotes Signal app instead. Here's what to know - CNET

Posted: 09 Jan 2021 03:00 AM PST

gettyimages-1225248137 — The Signal app encrypts all of your messages to others on the platform.
Getty/Bloomberg

Tech mogul Elon Musk -- known as widely for slinging cars into the sun's orbit as he is for advocating against COVID-19 safety measures -- took to Twitter Thursday to slam Facebook over its latest privacy policy updates for its supposedly secure encrypted messaging app WhatsApp. Musk instead recommended users choose encrypted messaging app Signal.

The tweet was then retweeted by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Shortly after, Signal tweeted that it was working to handle the surge of new users.

Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 7, 2021

This isn't the first time Musk has publicly sparred with Facebook over privacy concerns. In 2018, he not only had his own personal Facebook page removed, but those of his companies Tesla and SpaceX. His take on the long-fought battle between Signal and WhatsApp isn't off-base, though.

Both of the encrypted messaging apps have been found to have security bugs over the years that have been resolved. For years, WhatsApp has openly collected certain user data to share with parent company Facebook. Its latest policy change just expands that. Signal, on the other hand, has a history of fighting any entity that asks for your data, and adds features to further anonymize you where possible.

Here are the basics of Signal you should know if you're interested in using the secure messaging app.

What Signal is, and how encrypted messaging works

Signal is a typical one-tap install app that can be found in your normal marketplaces like Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store, and works just like the usual text messaging app. It's an open source development provided free of charge by the non-profit Signal Foundation, and has been famously used for years by high-profile privacy icons like Edward Snowden.

Signal's main function is that it can send text, video, audio and picture messages protected by end-to-end encryption, after verifying your phone number and letting you independently verify other Signal users' identity. You can also use it to make voice and video calls, either one-to-one or with a group. For a deeper dive into the potential pitfalls and limitations of encrypted messaging apps, CNET's Laura Hautala's explainer is a life-saver. But for our purposes, the key to Signal is encryption.

Despite the buzz around the term, end-to-end encryption is simple: Unlike normal SMS messaging apps, it garbles up your messages before sending them, and only ungarbles them for the verified recipient. This prevents law enforcement, your mobile carrier and other snooping entities from being able to read the contents of your messages even when they intercept them (which happens more often than you might think).

When it comes to privacy it's hard to beat Signal's offer. It doesn't store your user data. And beyond its encryption prowess, it gives you extended, onscreen privacy options, including app-specific locks, blank notification pop-ups, face-blurring anti-surveillance tools, and disappearing messages. Occasional bugs have proven that the tech is far from bulletproof, of course, but the overall arc of Signal's reputation and results have kept it at the top of every privacy-savvy person's list of identity protection tools.

For years, the core privacy challenge for Signal lay not in its technology but in its wider adoption. Sending an encrypted Signal message is great, but if your recipient isn't using Signal, then your privacy may be nil. Think of it like the herd immunity created by vaccines, but for your messaging privacy.

Now that Musk and Dorsey's endorsements have sent a surge of users to get a privacy booster shot, however, that challenge may be a thing of the past.

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How to use your Oculus Quest 2 to play any PC VR game wirelessly - The Verge

Posted: 09 Jan 2021 08:00 AM PST

One of the best features of the Oculus Quest 2 is it can be manually linked via USB to your gaming PC to play more demanding VR games you couldn't otherwise run natively on the headset. That's great if you want a way to play games like Half-Life: Alyx, but the obvious downside is that you're now physically tethered to a PC — so much for the wireless freedom that the Quest 2 advertises.

Thankfully, developers have already figured out the seemingly impossible: how to run system-intensive titles on your PC and stream the visual feed to your VR device while syncing all of your movements over Wi-Fi. It gives you the best of both worlds: letting you play the games you want without being attached by a cable to your computer.

Doing this isn't as simple as installing an app through the Oculus store; there are several steps involved. I'm going to walk you through the steps required to make this happen on your Quest 2 virtual reality headset. The same steps likely work on the first Quest iteration, but I only have the latest model here to test.

Get a link cable

Even though this is a how-to on experiencing VR without wires, you'll need a wire to get started. Oculus sells an expensive 16-foot cable for around $80, but that's made for people who really want to use the Quest 2 in wired mode. There are other, less costly alternatives, like Anker's 10-foot USB-C to USB Type-A 3.0 cable, which costs about $20 and gets the job done.

Many USB cables that come with modern Android phones will likely work, too. And the cable doesn't have to be long — we're just doing some simple data transfer here. Unfortunately, the USB-C cable that Oculus includes with each Quest 2 didn't work for this process when I tried it. It's simply for charging the headset.

Enable developer settings

If you want to load files onto your Quest 2, you'll need a developer account. Fortunately, it's easy to do, but it's a strange process that's meant to be used by actual developers.

Go to this page and sign in to your Facebook account in your browser of choice. Just make sure you sign in to the same Facebook account that you signed in to on your Quest 2.
The next part of the process is to name your "organization." You can name it whatever you'd like. You can find a direct link to this page right here in case you get lost.
With those two steps out of the way, open up your Oculus mobile app (iOS or Android) and sign in with the same Facebook account. Then navigate to the "Settings" pane by clicking it at the bottom-right corner of the app window.
On the next page, click "Oculus Quest 2" right beneath your name, and a few more options will expand from within it. Click "More Settings"
Once you're there, tap "Developer Mode" and switch it on

Install the Quest 2 driver for your PC

The next couple of steps pave the way for you to sideload software onto the Quest 2 headset, which is a feature usually reserved for developers. If you're using a Windows PC, you will need to install ADB drivers to let your PC write to the headset; according to the Oculus site, macOS and Linux systems don't need a driver.

Download the software linked here, hosted by Oculus. (Just check the box saying you agree to the terms of the license — you can read it if you want — and click on "Download.")
Once it's downloaded, extract the contents of the folder. Then right click the item called "android_winusb.inf" and select "Install."

Buy the Virtual Desktop app for Quest

The Virtual Desktop app lets you access your PC through the lens of a VR headset. You can use it for games, like we'll be doing, but you can also watch movies you have stored on your PC in a variety of different virtual environments. There's a Quest-specific version of the app that you can purchase here for $20. (Make sure it says that it's compatible with Quest underneath the purchase button.)

After you purchase it, install it on the headset. We'll be returning to this app in just a bit, but for now, a few other steps.

Connect the Quest 2 to your PC

Connect your Quest 2 via its side-mounted USB-C port to your PC's fastest available USB port. If you've done everything correctly up to this point, you'll see a message displayed in the headset asking if you want to allow USB debugging. Allow it to proceed.

Download and install SideQuest on your PC

SideQuest is a free app and storefront for experiences that can be sideloaded onto your headset. For the purposes of this how-to, you're just going to use it to apply a necessary patch to the Virtual Desktop app that I just suggested you buy and install on your Quest 2 headset.

Head here to find the right installer for your operating system (I used the Windows 10 version for this how-to) and download it
Once it finishes installing, run SideQuest
At this point, your headset should show up as connected in the top-left corner of the SideQuest app on your PC with a green bubble. If it's not showing as connected, check your headset's display for a prompt. It may be waiting for you to allow your PC to access and modify the Quest 2's file system.

Sideload the Virtual Desktop VR patch for Quest 2

Within SideQuest, type "virtual desktop" in the search bar. The result you're looking for is called "Virtual Desktop VR Patch." This is the necessary key to fooling your computer into thinking your Quest 2 is a wired headset.

With your Quest 2 connected to your computer, hit the "Install to Headset" button in SideQuest, located just below the search bar in the app. The process should be pretty snappy, lasting just a few seconds.

Download Virtual Desktop Streamer

There's yet one more free application to download: Virtual Desktop Streamer. Made by the same folks who made the Virtual Desktop app you purchased on the Quest 2, this app simply streams PC content to your headset via Wi-Fi.

Once this app is downloaded and installed, you'll need to input your Oculus username in the Streamer window
If you don't know it off the top of your head, you can find it by opening the Oculus app on mobile, navigating to "Settings," and then tapping on the area that shows your name and email address. The name that will display next to your avatar is your username.

After that's entered, hit "Save"
That's the last step! But remember that it's crucial to have the Virtual Desktop Streamer app open in order for your headset to communicate with your PC.

Open Virtual Desktop on your Quest 2

If every step was done correctly, you'll see your PC pop up in the list of available devices to connect to from within the Virtual Desktop app on your Quest 2.

Once you've connected, the Options button (the left Oculus Touch controller's equivalent of the Oculus button) is mapped to open up the top-level menu for Virtual Desktop, as shown in the image below. From there, clicking "Games" will reveal every game that's installed on your PC. You can simply boot each one from there, and your PC will handle all of the hard work.

If you aren't happy with the visual fidelity within each game, you're free to customize some settings that affect latency, refresh rate, and more. Note that you'll likely get a clearer, more fluid image if your PC is powerful and your internet connection is fast. Given the reliance on your Wi-Fi network, your wireless router plays a large role in delivering a smooth experience, too.

Streaming VR over Wi-Fi certainly isn't a perfect solution. I have a Wi-Fi 6-ready router and relatively speedy internet (235Mbps down, 19Mbps up), and I still experience the occasional spot of lag and slightly fuzzy image. Though with enough tweaking on the Virtual Desktop app (turning Wi-Fi off on seldom-used tech items never hurts), I think you'll have a good time.

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