Review: iOS 10

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

iOS 10 is the next best thing to a complete redesign of iOS because it relies on our familiarity with the OS but also pushes various critical functions forward in order to save time and make using our devices more efficient.

On the surface iOS 10, which was made available online as a free update to existing and eligible iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices, doesn't seem like a very huge visual upgrade.

The most venerable and really, oldest, modern mobile operating system, still retains much of the look and feel we've been used to for going on 10 years now. iOS 7 brought the biggest visual update and we've since seen refinements and locking down of the user interface for more precise and interoperable features.

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Amazon Alexa-enabled CoWatch smartwatch now available

While Amazon hasn’t ventured into smartwatch production just yet, the company has partnered with iMCO to create the CoWatch. This Android-powered wearable comes equipped with Amazon’s Alexa as your personal assistant. It’s not running Android Wear per se but an Android-based operating system called Cronologics OS. It was designed by former Google and Android engineers and works with both Android (version 5.0 and up) and iOS (iOS 9 and up). The OS is supposed to handle Alexa-heavy interactions The CoWatch is a 42mm watch that’s 12mm thick and comes with a 1.39-inch Super AMOLED display (400 x 400 resolution), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and 32 hours battery life. It’s water resistant and has an accelerometer and heart rate sensor as well.

The smartwatch was first expected to ship after its Indiegogo campaign ended in June but following delays, the release got pushed back. Now, it’s available on Amazon US for US$279 (around CA$360) and it comes in silver or black. The black version, for some reason, costs $20 more than the silver one.

Source: TechRadar

Yahoo finally confirms 2014 breach that affected over 500 million users

The Yahoo breach first broke in August when a hacker called Peace was promising to sell 200 million usernames, passwords, birthdates, and email addresses for less than US$2,000. Yahoo wouldn’t confirm the legitimacy of the attack but now we finally get confirmation that the company was victim of a “state-sponsored” attack back in 2014. Yahoo elaborated on a statement on its investor relations site the types of data the hackers might have had access to. "The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers," the statement reads. This doesn’t include sensitive payment information but the hack is considered large enough that Yahoo is working with law enforcement to see what happens.

There is no word yet if there will be a government investigation brought about by this incident. Yahoo hasn’t also said why it took so long to publicly confirm the report. It could do with the fact that the beleaguered company is selling itself to Verizon and the news could cause harm to the deal before it officially closes in early 2017.

Source: Engadget

Review: Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

Text and photos By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

iPhone 7 may not have been the huge overhaul many expected but it is a solid and worthy upgrade that will fundamentally change where and how iPhones are used. New camera capabilities are transformative and show innovation in imaging on smartphones is leapfrogging the camera industry.

Apple’s new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may, on the surface, look like mere updates to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S designs of the past two years.

While this is a fair observation that brings to question Apple’s desire or ability to evolve on past designs, there are a lot of features and functions that are brand new to the iPhone line that aim to keep it at the forefront of the smartphone industry it has helped create. 

“We have created a product that is the most deliberate evolution of our founding design,” says Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive at the start of the video explaining the iPhone 7’s design and construction. The company understands this is an evolutionary chapter in the iPhone’s history, but it doesn’t make it any less significant.

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