All 50 U.S. States Join FirstNet, a Nationwide Cell Network for First Responders

In the United States, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and other first responders are at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to mobile communications. Congestion on commercial networks can impede their ability to communicate with team members, and local jurisdictions use technologies that aren't always interoperable. Those were the motivations behind FirstNet, a nationwide mobile broadband network reserved for emergency services. It's making progress: As of this week, all 50 states have opted into the program.

Congress passed the legislation that established FirstNet in 2012, and AT&T, which won the contract to build it, got to work, drawing funding from $7 billion in proceeds from a government airwave auction (funded by a 2015 FCC auction). The legislation didn't force states to join FirstNet, but the deadline for enrollment ended this month, and all 50 states — including Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico — decided to opt in.

Here's how FirstNet works, courtesy Axios:

• "Fast lane": First responders get their own "fast lane" on the network to communicate during emergencies or large events. The core network will be built by Spring 2018, with the full network being complete over 3 to 5 years.

• Boon for AT&T: The company gets access to a sizable swatch of airwaves, which are extremely valuable because they can travel decent distances and through obstructions like trees and buildings.

• Sharing bandwidth: When the airwaves are not in use by public safety agencies, AT&T can use these airwaves to supplement their own commercial wireless coverage — a significant incentive to agree to the government requirements for building the network.

• The catch: If first responders need to use the network, commercial applications will be slowed down or bumped off to give first responders priority access. This will also be a boon for cell-site tower companies that will be needed to build the nationwide network in both cities and rural areas.

• App Store: FirstNet will have an app store with approved mobile apps that are optimized for public safety use.

• Security: The network will provide full encryption of public safety data, and states will have access to a dedicated Security Operations Center.

No matter how you slice it, FirstNet's progress is good news for emergency service workers. Here's hoping it rolls out as planned.

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Source: Axios

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Huawei PSmart Reportedly Packs Kirin 659 and Dual Cameras

Huawei's Enjoy 7S went on sale in China last week, but it might be bound for international shores. Evan Blass, who has a reliable track record when it comes to smartphone rumors, said on Twitter that the handset will launch internationally under the name Huawei PSmart.

It'll join the other devices in Huawei's growing P series, which tend to be accompanied by low-end variants. The Huawei PSmart, though, will reportedly launch on its own, and in three colors: Black, rose gold, and blue.

This will be offered outside of China as the Huawei PSmart. http://pic.twitter.com/sR2yadWdBV

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) December 28, 2017

The phone, which strongly resembles the Honor 7X and the Huawei Mate 10 Lite, is a good mid-range package. For 249 euro (about $299) — the MSRP leaked by online German retailer Otto — you get some pretty nice specs, including a HiSilicon Kirin 659 octa-core system-on-chip, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, a MicroSD card slot, a 5.65-inch Full HD 18:9 screen, a fingerprint sensor, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Huawei PSmart's dual camera setup consists of a 13MP camera and a 2MP camera, and the front-facing camera's an 8MP camera. There's a 3000mAh battery inside, and the phone will reportedly ship with Android Oreo.

 

The PSmart's release date is still a mystery, but we're expecting to see it launch in early 2018 in Europe — likely around late January.

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Source: Otto Via: WinFuture

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Samsung and LG Confirm That They Haven’t Slowed Down Phones

Recently, Apple admitted to slowing down older iPhones' processor speeds as the batteries aged, ostensibly to prevent unexpected shutdowns. The fallout wasn't pretty, and Apple's throttling practices raised concerns that Android manufacturers were guilty of doing the same thing.

On Thursday, HTC and Motorola said that they haven't slowed down old phones on account of aging batteries. And on Friday, Samsung and LG confirmed to Phone Arena via e-mailed statements they haven't throttled devices, either:

"Never have, never will! We care what our customers think."

LG

"Product quality has been and will always be Samsung Mobile's top priority. We ensure extended battery life of Samsung mobile devices through multi-layer safety measures, which include software algorithms that govern the battery charging current and charging duration. We do not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycles of the phone."

Samsung

In related news, Apple published a statement on its website apologized for not informing owners of older iPhones that their devices were being intentionally slowed down. The company says that the aim wasn't planned obsolescence, but instead making the iPhones "last as long as possible".

To make amends, Apple reduced the price of iPhone battery replacements by $50 for a limited time, from $79 to $29. In addition, it promised an "early 2018" software update that'll provide more information about a given iPhone's battery health.

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Source 1: Phone ArenaSource 2: AppleSource 3: Apple

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Alcatel 5 Passes Through the FCC, Appears to Have an Aluminum Body

Alcatel (formerly Alcatel OneTouch), which TCL fully acquired in 2015, is perhaps best known for its affordable Idol smartphone series, and all signs point to a big refresh in 2018. One of the upcoming handsets in the lineup — the Alcatel 5 — recently underwent FCC certification, and documents made public this week give a glimpse at its design and features.

The Alcatel 5 looks to have a brushed aluminum back cover, and could be Alcatel's 2018 flagship. (That's compared to the Alcatel 1X, which is said to have a plastic body.) The FCC's photos don't give away much, but do seem to match previously leaked renders of the Alcatel 5.

What we can glean from the pictures, though, is that Alcatel 5 will have a single rear camera and a USB Type-C port, won't have a 3.5mm headphone port, and looks to have a 3,000mAh capacity battery.

It was a little over a month ago we first heard rumors of the Alcatel 5. More recently, press renders for six of the Alcatel's upcoming smartphones — including the Alcatel 1X, Alcatel 3, Alcatel 3C, Alcatel 3V,  and Alcatel 3X — leaked in earnest. Presumably, they'll launch at different price points.

We'll likely learn more at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, where Alcatel's expected to announce the new Idol series.

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Via: TekGenius

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More than 250 Android Games Use Your Mic to Track What You’re Watching

For years, people have accused companies of using their smartphones'  microphones to record conversations. We talked about the unlikelihood of corporate eavesdropping back in June, but paranoid delusions aside, some bad actors are actually listening in. And somewhat unsurprisingly, they're middlemen for marketers.

Alphonso, a startup that sells media-viewing data, supplies a plugin that listens for audio signals in shows and movies. Roughly 250 mobile games and social applications in the Google Play Store use it to deliver targeted ads, according to The New York Times, a few of which include innocuous-sounding titles like "Pool 3D", "Beer Pong: Trickshot", "Real Bowling Strike 10 Pin", and "Honey Quest".

Even scarier, the software's accurate enough to detect audio when your phone's in a pocket or bookbag. Alphonso's CEO, Ashish Chordia, told The New York Times that it worked with movie studios to analyze movie-viewing habits and with Shazam to collect music-listening data.

The company insists that it doesn't record human speech, and that it discloses its software's tracking capabilities in app descriptions and terms of service (ToS) agreements. It also says that users have to grant permission before Alphonso's service can gain access to their devices' microphones and locations.

But a number of Alphonso-enabled applications are geared toward children, according to the Times report, and many of their disclosures aren't fully transparent.

Alphonso's plugin far from the first of its kind. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission targeted developers who'd used Silverfish, an audio-recording service akin to Alphonso's solution, in their applications.

With $70 billion of annual digital marketing money at stake, it doesn't seem likely that Alphonso, Silverfish, and other like services will head the way of the dodo anytime soon. But here's hoping that app developers are a little more forthcoming in the future about which ad-tracking services they're using.

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Source: The New York Times

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Grammarly Keeps Your Correspondence Typo-free and Suggests Improvements

Not all of us were born with Mark Twain's gift for words. And, it's unreasonable for others to expect you to match the great man on style points, but spelling mistakes and poor grammar can make a bad first impression when you're applying for a job.

You could fix this problem by hiring your own writing coach, or you could just install Grammarly. This intelligent app hunts down your writing mistakes and helps you fix them with a couple of clicks. You can currently get a one-year Premium subscription, complete with the full range of checks, for just $69.98 — that's 49% off the regular price.

Grammarly leaves other spell-checkers in the dust, thanks to an intelligent and innovative approach. The app follows the meaning of your words in order to make smart corrections. Along with spelling and grammar, Grammarly can spot punctuation errors and suggest areas for improvement. Students can also breathe easy — you can compare your work to over 8 billion web pages to spot plagiarism.

Whether you need to compose a great report or nail your submission letter, this app is your friend. One year of premium service is normally $139.95, but you can get started now for just $69.98.

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LastPass Authenticator Update Fixes a Serious Security Vulnerability

LastPass is one of the most popular password managers on Android, and for good reason: It's incredibly secure. But the same couldn't be said of LastPass Authenticator, its companion application, which made headlines when a security researcher discovered a serious vulnerability in its code. Luckily, it was patched this week.

LastPass Authenticator offers 2FA on LastPass accounts and other supported apps. It's one of the few multi-factor authentication apps that gives users the option of using a fingerprint and/or PIN instead of a passcode, but the system had a serious flaw: Almost any app could access the app's TOTP (multi-factor) codes.

It wasn't too challenging, either. As detailed in a Medium post by a programmer in early December, an attacker could use a third-party app to open LastPass Authenticator's settings activity and the settings menu, which exposed the 2FA codes.

In a blog post, LastPass announced an update for the Authenticator app that fixes the issue. The company says that now, users must provide their fingerprint or PIN code to view the one-time code, and that the one-time codes are useless without an associated username and password.

The company advises all users to update Authenticator to the latest version, and admits that "proper steps were not taken to escalate and resolve it in a timely manner" — the company was informed of vulnerability in June, it turns out. It adds that it's "identified and resolved the procedural issue" to ensure that future bug reports are correctly handled and escalated.

LastPass recommends users not to reuse their LastPass master password, and to use strong passwords with two-factor authentication. Finally, the company states that it will "constantly evolve" its bug bounty program to make its product better.

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Source: LastPass

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