Samsung begins testing Bixby Voice in the US

An early access program available to Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ users in the US are giving them a chance to try out Bixby Voice ahead of its official launch. Bixby Voice, which is Samsung’s answer to Siri and Google Assistant, is supposedly being rolled out late this month. With that coming up, Samsung has launched the aforementioned program, which lets some users beta test the assistant before everyone else. Those who can access the testing (there will be a “limited” number of users) will need to use their Samsung accounts to register and have the Galaxy S8 or S8+ since the feature isn’t available on other devices yet.

Source: Engadget

Charity auction offers lunch with Apple’s Eddy Cue at the company’s new HQ

Just last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook took part in a charity auction to have lunch with the highest bidder (plus a companion) at the new Apple Park. He was able to earn over US$680,000 for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which broke his previous auction earning of $610,000. This time, Charitybuzz is launching an auction to have lunch with Apple’s services head Eddy Cue at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. The proceeds will go to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. Cue is known to be a longtime basketball and Golden State Warriors fan.

The auction has an estimated value of $50,000 and bids can be placed from now until June 28^th at 12 p.m. Pacific Time. The lunch will be set at a mutually agreed upon date by June 30^th, 2018. The winning bidder needs to be 18 years old or older. And just like with Cook’s lunch, the meal and gratuity are included but travel and accommodations aren’t. It also can’t be resold, re-auctioned, or transferred. It also won’t include a formal tour inside Apple Park and photos will not be permitted.

Source: MacRumors

Chinese brand Vivo might be the first to introduce an on-screen fingerprint sensor for its upcoming smartphone

While Vivo might be an unfamiliar name here, the Chinese manufacturer has been aggressively promoting its brand across Asia. And it looks like it’ll be leading the charge when it comes to introducing a device with an on-screen fingerprint sensor. A leaked video on Chinese microblogging site Weibo shows what looks like the Vivo X9 Plus but with the optical fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen itself. A report coming out of Korea reaffirms this claim but says Huawei will be the first to put on-screen fingerprint sensing on its device with the P11 and then they’ll be followed by Xiaomi and Vivo.

For this side of the world, though, Apple is said to be making this feature a mainstream requirement for phones with the upcoming release of the next iPhone. Samsung supposedly won’t have it ready in time for the release of the “Galaxy Note 8” because of “security vulnerabilities.”

Source: Android Central

An Amazon patent won’t let you check online prices from rival retailers inside stores

With Amazon’s push into brick-and-mortar stores, it seems they want to stop you from buying products online (at least from rivals) while you’re inside their establishments. The online retailer has been granted a patent for “controlling online shopping within a physical store or retail location.” So, if you use the in-store Wi-Fi at an Amazon-owned store, your browsing will be monitored and blocked if you visit a competing retailer’s site. It’s basically like a firewall for accessing specific URLs or web addresses. One way to circumvent that, though, is by using your mobile data to do some comparison shopping. It is a patent so there isn’t any way to find out whether Amazon will use the technology yet.

Source: CNET + ZDNet