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

Sphero outs an adorable Spider-Man toy

If you’ve loved Sphero’s take on Star Wars’s BB-8, you might also fall in love with this talking Spider-Man toy, which comes out just in time for the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming next month. It’s unlike the usual Sphero toy, though. Unlike the BB-8, which moves around, it’s more of a talkative rubber toy. Kids can speak to it via voice commands—much like we would the other smart home speakers. It can guide kids through comic book storylines, which The Verge likens to camp counselor telling a story at a bonfire. But there’s a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book aspect to it as Spidey asks the kid what to do next. There are 400 pages worth of content included and 100 storylines to get through. Sphero intends to add stories in the future. You don’t have to worry about your child’s security as the toy doesn’t send information over the web or stores data in the accompanying app. It’ll just look for its wake-up phrases.

As mentioned, you can pair phones with Spider-Man over Bluetooth but it’s not essential to control the device with it. Some of the trigger phrases include asking it to “Tell me a story” or “Make me laugh.” It’s going to be a fun toy for young (and old) Spider-Man fans. It’s said to be available for US$149 starting today but a quick check of Amazon shows that it’s “Currently unavailable.”

OnePlus 3T gets shelved in North America and Europe

Preparing for the release of the OnePlus 5, OnePlus has opted to stop selling the OnePlus 3T eight months after they first announced it. This isn’t the first time OnePlus has been weird about its release cycle. When the OnePlus 3T came out, the OnePlus 3 got discontinued after just being released for a few months. It will still be sold in India and other Asian countries but outside of that region, we’d all have to wait for the OnePlus 5, which is set to come out next week on June 20^th.

Source: TechnoBuffalo