Kik says it’s ‘here to stay,’ following shutdown reports

It’s been a rough run for Kik of late. The once mighty messaging service announced in late September that it would be shutting down its app. CEO Ted Livingston noted in a blog post that the startup would be trimming its headcount from over 100 people to “an elite 19 person team,” following a protracted 18 month battle with the SEC.

Today the service noted on Twitter, however, “Great news: Kik is here to stay!!!! AND there’s some really exciting plans for making the app even better. More details coming soon. Stay tuned.”

Great news: Kik is here to stay!!!!AND there’s some really exciting plans for making the app even better. More details coming soon. Stay tuned.

— Kik (@Kik) October 13, 2019

The news follows an October 7 tweet from Livingston that noted, “Some exciting news: we may have found a home for Kik! We just signed an LOI [letter of intent] with a great company. They want to buy the app, continue growing it for our millions of users, and take the Kin integration to the next level. Not a done deal yet, but could be a great win win. More soon.”

Some exciting news: we may have found a home for Kik! We just signed an LOI with a great company. They want to buy the app, continue growing it for our millions of users, and take the Kin integration to the next level. Not a done deal yet, but could be a great win win. More soon https://t.co/SeLjf9bEaG

— Ted Livingston (@ted_livingston) October 7, 2019

Along with the previously noted shutdown of Kik Messenger, the executive added that the far leaner team would be shifting its focus to its cryptocurrency, Kin. “[N]o matter what happens to Kik, Kin is here to stay,” Livingston said of the two-year-old currency at the time. “Kin operates on an open, decentralized infrastructure run by a dozen independent companies. Kin is a currency used by millions of people in dozens of independent apps.”

Kin was the subject of an SEC lawsuit earlier this year, following its $100 million ICO raise. “The SEC charges that Kik sold the tokens to U.S. investors without registering their offer and sale as required by the U.S. securities laws,” the commission wrote in June.

What the future ultimately looks like for Kik is still very unclear following the fairly cryptic tweet. We’ve reached out to the company for comment.

A book based on labor ideas from the early 20th century has provided a blueprint for workers at Google, Uber, and Kickstarter to organize without a formal union (Noam Scheiber/New York Times)

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
A book based on labor ideas from the early 20th century has provided a blueprint for workers at Google, Uber, and Kickstarter to organize without a formal union  —  A book based on ideas associated with a labor group from the early 20th century has provided a blueprint for organizing without a union.

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold concierge service is live in the US for those who need it

Part of Samsung’s reboot of the Galaxy Fold was the announcement of a Premiere Service. Along with a reinforced version of the phone and a lot more warning labels, the company announced that it would also be a 24/7 care service…just in case something happened with the device.

I had some issues with my in just over a day, after not running into any trouble with the original version of the phone. Given how gingerly the company insists users act with the device, my issue doesn’t appear to be particularly widespread — good news for Samsung on that front. Even so, this sort of things feels pretty necessary for a $2,000 (and up) phone that is effectively in mass beta testing.

Two weeks after making the device available in the States, Premier Service has gone live. Sammobile noted the addition of Fold Concierge via a new software update, bringing with it support via phone or video chat. The list of potentially helpful features ranges from on-boarding with the device to a $149, same-day screen replacement service. That can be accommodated in person at a number of locations.

It’s a pretty unique offer from a big consumer electronics company — though the Fold is nothing if not unique, I suppose. I’ve got a fuller write up of my impressions of the handset here. The TLDR version is the I can’t recommend the purchase of what is very much a first generation device that’s double the price of a standard flagship. If you’re so inclined, however, Samsung’s got a hotline for you.

Week in Review: The ‘smart home’ is still so, so stupid

Hey everyone. Thank you for welcoming me into you inbox yet again.

Last week was a short one, but I talked about the merger of a couple of the worst adtech companies in the world.

If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your inbox here, and follow my tweets here.

I would also like to take the time to say screw you to Apple for shipping such an awful keyboard that made typing this newsletter so damn difficult…. God! Now, onto the news.

---

The big story

One thing I rarely cover these days is the smart home, this, despite my apartment hosting two HomePods, two Echos, three Google Home devices and a Facebook Portal+.

I’m dying for this stuff to be useful and fun, and, instead, after a few years of playing with the stuff, I just have a handful of commands that I shout out every so often. All of my digital friends can turn on my lights, turn on my TV, play music, tell me the time and weather and a few other things that probably weren’t worth the thousands of dollars it took to bring them and their accompanying IoT gadgets into my home.

In short, I’m an idiot. On Tuesday, Google will again show off its Pixel 4 smartphone but also its latest visions for the Google Home/Nest line.

I’ve witnessed a few improvements since the first Google Home was announced nearly 3 years ago. After several hardware iterations from Google, Amazon and Facebook, these devices have gotten better looks, better sound and better voices — occasionally courtesy of celebrity partnerships. These devices are growing more capable in distinguishing user voices and offering feedback based on their individual data.

At the same time, home virtual assistants still feel awfully alien and firmly stuck in the 1.0 era.

The Google Home still feels like a flip phone with its basic set of stock apps. Third-party integrations are sparse and largely useless. Plenty of things are “possible” through smart home integrations, but every added set of rails turns the device into a Swiss army knife, rather than a “new computing platform.” Google has seemingly had to reorganize some of its devices around IoT with its Nest renaming just to give them a more cohesive mission.

Google’s Pixel 4 launches next week; here’s what we expect

This is partially an AI problem, but it seems like that element is overplayed when considering long-term potential. Saying a device should “just know” what to say is hardly a suggestion and there isn’t enough context in the world for a virtual assistant to annoy me less with unheeded guidance or advice. There’s just such a narrow runway for success in using these devices as predictive engines, something that severely impedes their potential as commerce or ad platforms. Even adding a screen has failed to help this along.

This isn’t a shot at Google any more than it is against Amazon, Facebook and Apple. The only reason I give Google shit here is because I generally like their products the most. The Home boasts by far the most intelligent assistant in my experience; I am still shocked by some of the answers it can pull out of its hat that are leaps and bounds past my HomePod’s Siri capabilities.

But that still isn’t enough.

I want to be bullish on these devices and voice interfaces as a platform, but they are so painfully unimpressive after several years even as natural language processing has made impressive advances. They are great to demo and are fun to play with but I can’t help but wonder whether this is just an endless march towards further marginal utility, not “the future.”

I will be watching to see what Google releases, my colleague Brian has summed up some of his expectations for the Pixel event.

Send me feedback
on Twitter @lucasmtny or email
lucas@techcrunch.com

On to the rest of the week’s news.

Trends of the week

Here are a few big news items from big companies, with green links to all the sweet, sweet added context:

• Apple pulls HKMap from App Store
  Apple has found itself smack dab in the middle of a PR crisis that’s pissing off pretty much everybody. Apple’s app store approval, rejection, approval and seemingly final rejection of HKMap has been quite the saga.
• Playstation 5 is coming Holiday 2020
  Sony has been teasing little dribbles of its next-generation console, but we at least have some idea of when its coming as well as a few of its distinguishing features.
• The Catalina wine mixer
  This release seems to be pretty meh overall, but there are some decent additions like Sidecar, which my colleague Brian Heater is still psyched about in his full review of the new OS update.

(Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

GAFA Gaffes

How did the top tech companies screw up this week? This clearly needs its own section, in order of badness:

1. Facebook is very chill with advertising political lies:
   [Facebook sure does love free $peech]
2. Apple has long complied with local governments, but it couldn’t seem to make up its mind on this one:
   [Apple pulls HKMap from App Store the day after Chinese state media criticized its ‘unwise and reckless decision’ to approve it]

What to expect from Google’s hardware event

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Covering the Nobels—is it worth the bother?

Enlarge / The tail side of the Jean Dausset's Nobel Medal. Dausset received the prize in 1980. (credit: João Trindade / Flickr)

One thing we do regularly at Ars is try out new types of content. We can make some pretty informed guesses as to what our readers will want to see but still find ourselves surprised at times—who knew you guys would be such big archeology fans?

But you readers have made it very clear that you're really not into scientific awards and prizes. We've tried out a number and received a clear message: not interested. The one, not-surprising exception had been the Nobel Prizes, which consistently drew a significant readership. (That shouldn't be much of a surprise, given that our science section started out as a blog named Nobel Intent.)

But that's started to change over the last couple of years, and with the falling reader interest, we're starting to re-evaluate our decision to cover these prizes. So, what follows is an attempt to spell out the pros and cons of Nobel coverage and an opportunity for you to give us your thoughts on the matter.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

https://arstechnica.com

Dyson kills its plan to challenge Tesla with an electric car

Enlarge / James Dyson, founder and chairman of Dyson Ltd., speaks during the launch of the Airwrap product during the company's beauty technology launch event in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. (credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

James Dyson, the inventor and Brexiteer, revealed in 2017 that his company was planning on making an electric vehicle. The plan was to invest $3.2 billion (£2.5 billion) in the project, which would capitalize on the company's expertise with smaller electric motors—the ones in his vacuum cleaners—as well as developing solid-state batteries to power the vehicle. The battery EV was due to arrive in 2021 and would have been built not in the UK but in Singapore. But now, those plans are cancelled.

Despite developing what he referred to as "a fantastic car," in an email to his staff Dyson revealed that "[t]hough we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable." Which is bad news for the 532 employees who have been working on the Dyson BEV for the last four years, although the company will do its best to absorb those workers into other roles.

In the email, Dyson revealed that he had been trying to find a buyer for the project but was unable to do so. This difficulty will come as no surprise to industry watchers; although Tesla has managed to establish itself as a car company, it's had a harder time making money selling those cars. Meanwhile, other more recent entrants like Faraday Future and Nio have had an ever rougher time.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

https://arstechnica.com

While tech journalists recently have embraced a watchdog role, they could be even more useful by focusing on solutions rather than palace intrigue and villains (Columbia Journalism Review)

Columbia Journalism Review:
While tech journalists recently have embraced a watchdog role, they could be even more useful by focusing on solutions rather than palace intrigue and villains  —  In March, when Mark Zuckerberg called for new regulations on internet companies, journalists rightly covered the move with skepticism.

Planting tiny spy chips in hardware can cost as little as $200

Enlarge (credit: Carl Drougge)

More than a year has passed since Bloomberg Businessweek grabbed the lapels of the cybersecurity world with a bombshell claim: that Supermicro motherboards in servers used by major tech firms, including Apple and Amazon, had been stealthily implanted with a chip the size of a rice grain that allowed Chinese hackers to spy deep into those networks. Apple, Amazon, and Supermicro all vehemently denied the report. The National Security Agency dismissed it as a false alarm. The Defcon hacker conference awarded it two Pwnie Awards, for "most overhyped bug" and "most epic fail." And no follow-up reporting has yet affirmed its central premise.

But even as the facts of that story remain unconfirmed, the security community has warned that the possibility of the supply chain attacks it describes is all too real. The NSA, after all, has been doing something like it for years, according to the leaks of whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Now researchers have gone further, showing just how easily and cheaply a tiny, tough-to-detect spy chip could be planted in a company's hardware supply chain. And one of them has demonstrated that it doesn't even require a state-sponsored spy agency to pull it off—just a motivated hardware hacker with the right access and as little as $200 worth of equipment.

Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

https://arstechnica.com

Newsletter platforms like Substack, which recently raised a $15.3M funding round, offer some writers a sustainable business model, but others see a bubble (Kaitlyn Tiffany/The Atlantic)

Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic:
Newsletter platforms like Substack, which recently raised a $15.3M funding round, offer some writers a sustainable business model, but others see a bubble  —  Venture capital has finally come for the least sexy communication style.  —  It's unclear to me whether anyone has ever fallen in love over email …

Samsung Galaxy A91 to come with Snapdragon 855, 45W fast charging

According to Sammobile, Samsung is readying the Samsung Galaxy A91 with some pretty impressive specs. The phone is expected to be a part of Samsung’s A-series 2020 lineup, meaning it would be launched in 2020, but the phone could be launched in India a little sooner.

Sammobile reports that the Samsung Galaxy A91 would sport the current Qualcomm flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 855 paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There will be a microSD card slot which will allow users to expand the storage up to 512GB. In terms of the camera, the A91 is said to come with a 48-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization on-board, along with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The third camera is a 5-megapixel depth sensor to help with portraits. On the front, users will get a 32-megapixel camera with an aperture3 of f/2.2. The phone will be powered by a 4500mAh battery, but more importantly, will also come with 45W fast charging. It is not known, however, whether Samsung will provide a compatible charger in the box, or have users purchase one separately.

According to Sammobile, the Samsung Galaxy A91 is being developed with Android 10, meaning its launch should take place right after the launch of the Galaxy S11. This is because Samsung usually launches the S-series with the new version of Android first. However, it is possible that Samsung would launch the phone before the year’s end in India, but with an Android 9 base instead of Android 10. Either way, there is plenty of time before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A91 and it is entirely possible the Samsung would re-shuffle the launch window of the phone around as they see fit.

https://ift.tt/2MbvSRB

Riot Games warns League of Legends broadcasters against discussing sensitive topics on air

The protests in Hong Kong are not just upsetting the political status quo, but also sending some very concerning ripples across the world of Technology. Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, is based out of the U.S., however, as of 2015, they are wholly owned by Tencent Games. The LoL developer has now told League of Legend broadcasters to refrain from speaking about “sensitive” topics.

The move comes hot on the heels of Blizzard banning a Hearthstone player after he expressed support for the Hong Kong protests. The ban came after Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung during a post tournament interview expressed his support for the Hong Kong protests by yelling “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age!” Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung is a native of Hong Kong.

In fear of souring its Chinese business interests, Blizzard immediately banned Chung for a year and is withholding any earnings he would have made from the tournament. To justify the move, Blizzard cited a competition rule which states that players aren’t allowed to do anything that “brings [them] into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages [Blizzard’s] image.” Blizzard is not the first or only American company to bend to China’s will with regards to the Hong Kong protests. Riot games just joins the ranks of such companies.

Twitter users were quick to also point out how Tencent has a 40 percent stake in Epic Games as well. Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games clarified that as long as he was the CEO and the controlling stake holder, political speech would never be the reason for a player or content creator to be banned.

https://ift.tt/2B98cXE

Apple working on having its own 5G modem in iPhone by 2022

Rumours have long suggested that Apple would release its first 5G-ready iPhone in 2020, with potentially all three models sporting the 5G chip. However, the 5G radio in these iPhones will be provided by Qualcomm. Now a new report by The Fast Company claims that Apple is working on developing a 5G modem in-house, with the goal of shipping it in devices by 2022, a rather ambitious goal for multiple reasons.

Right now, the iPhone (all models) include a System on Chip designed by Apple while the modem continues to be a separate chip on the logicboard. Ideally, having the modem be a part of the SoC would be the best case scenario when it comes to power-efficiency. Initially, Apple had plans on working with Intel to incorporate the modem right into the A-series processors, but then, things changed drastically in April 2019. 

Back in 2017, Apple and Qualcomm went head-to-head in legal battles across the world due to conflict over the way Qualcomm was charging royalties. However, in an interesting turn of events, on the second day of hearings in the Federal Court of San Diego, the two companies declared that they will be dropping all lawsuits, everywhere in the world. The two companies settled and within hours, Intel issued a press release saying the company was exiting the modem business.

Apple’s ambitious timelines could be attributed to the fact that they will not be starting from scratch. After buying Intel’s modem business for $1bn, Cupertino has a significant head-start towards its goal. However, it is still going to be an uphill battle to integrate the modem in the SoC, followed by fabrication, testing and certification.

 

https://ift.tt/33lyulA

OxygenOS Open Beta 3 update for OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro now available

OnePlus has announced that the OxygenOS Open Beta 3 builds for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro are now available for download. The announcement was made on OnePlus’ official forums. As expected, the new build introduces a bunch of new features and changes, besides simple bug fixes. The build also introduces an India-only feature in the form of Work-Life Balance.

System level changes includes a hide option in Settings for Game Space as well as optimised GPS performance. Fixes include issues with power usage when connected to Bluetooth headphones, the crash issue with recent apps when using navigational gestures and with Alert Slider. 

Zen Mode now features an Activity mode that lets users share their experiences with other OnePlus users. Further, the OnePlus Switch feature has been optimised in order to adapt to Android 10. The India-only Work Life Balance feature allows users to sort the notifications they receive when they are at work or leisure.

Here is a look at the complete changelog of the build:

System

Added hide option in the Settings for Game Space (Game Space - Hide Game Space) Optimized GPS performance Improved system stability and fixed known issues Repaired the crash issue with Settings caused by WhatsApp notification settings Fixed the issue with shadows when using the bottom side swipe gesture to return to the screen Fixed the issue with power usage while connected to Bluetooth Headphones Fixed the unusual display issue of screen switches between Portrait and Landscape Mode Fixed the crash issue with recent apps while using navigation gestures Recovered the Bluetooth connection icon in the status bar Fixed the blank screen issue with apps Fixed the crash issue with the Alert Slider Optimized the performance of Messages

Zen Mode

Added Activity mode to enable users to share their experience with other OnePlus users around the world

OnePlus Switch

Optimized performance and experience to adapt to Android 10

Work-Life Balance (India only)

Added Work-Life Balance Mode to enable users to sort notifications when at work or leisure, accordingly

OnePlus also reminds users that this is still beta software. As such they may not be as stable as its official OTA updates. The company has also asked users of the software to offer their feedback in its bug reporting forum.

 

https://ift.tt/2MAG59l

Amazon and Flipkart Sales, OnePlus 7T Pro, Redmi 8, and More News This Week

Amazon Great Indian Festival: Celebration Special sale, Flipkart Big Diwali Sale, OnePlus 7T Pro price reveal, OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition, Redmi 8 price in India reveal, and other top tech news of... https://ift.tt/2pm97kP

Amazon sale: TVs, ACs, washing machines at maximum discounts

https://ift.tt/2VDY4zJ