Sunday, September 22, 2019

New iPhone 11 Pro Max Teardown by iFixit

iFixit has teardown of the new iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The next generation iPhone features an A13 Bionic processor, 6.5-inch 458 PPI OLED display, triple 12MP rear cameras, 12MP selfie camera, Gigabit LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, NFC, and an IP68 rating.

Here are some highlights

● Monstrous L-shaped battery—with two battery connector
s (bi-lateral charging?)
● Front-facing camera cables no longer trapped under the battery
● Cameras are nestled together, each with their own independent cable.
● The iPhone 11 Pro Max board is identical in construction to the one in the iPhone 11 Pro
● Heat is pulled from the logic board through several layers of graphite and dissipated into the rear case.
● The battery is 3969 mAh at 3.79 V, for total of 15.04 Wh.
● Mystery board below the battery that serves in part as an interconnect for the battery, wireless charging coil, and Taptic Engine.
● AD5844CDA0 chip inside camera modules, possibly an image stabilizer.
● There are three pads connected via a flex cable to a complex antenna bus, possibly related to UWB
iFixit Posts Teardown of the New iPhone 11 Pro Max [Images]
Repairability Score: 6 out of 10
● Critical display and battery repairs remain a priority in the iPhone's design.
● The battery procedure has been simplified and many components are accessible independently.
● Liberal use of screws is preferable to glue—but you'll have to bring your Apple-specific drivers (pentalobe, tri-point, and standoff) in addition to a standard Phillips.
● Waterproofing measures complicate some repairs, but make difficult water damage repairs less likely.
● The glass on front and back doubles the likelihood of drop damage—and if the back glass breaks, you'll be removing every component and replacing the entire chassis.

Check out the full teardown at the link below!

Read More


iFixit Posts Teardown of the New iPhone 11 Pro Max [Images]


iFixit Posts Teardown of the New iPhone 11 Pro Max [Images]
iFixit Posts Teardown of the New iPhone 11 Pro Max [Images]

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Facebook Unveils New Portal, Portal Mini, and Portal TV


Facebook today unveiled three new home video-calling devices with WhatsApp - PortalPortal Mini, and Portal TV.

The new, redesigned Portal and all-new Portal Mini feature a sleek picture frame design to fit seamlessly into any home. Portal Mini has an 8-inch HD display and Portal has a larger 10-inch HD display for video calls, displaying photos and watching videos in either portrait or landscape orientations. An adaptive display adjusts brightness and color to your surroundings so that video calls, as well as photos and videos on Superframe, look natural. Both Portal and Portal Mini also have a powerful built-in speaker that is great for listening to music when you are not on a call.

Portal TV brings smart video-calling to the largest screen in your home. It sits discreetly on top of or below your television for immersive video calling, giving you the freedom to move around during calls and still be seen and heard.



Features:
● Smart Video Calling
Portal’s AI-powered Smart Camera intelligently pans and zooms to stay with the action so you can move and talk freely while always being in frame. And Smart Sound enhances the voice of whoever is speaking while minimizing unwanted background noise.

● Privacy Matters
Portal has clear and simple settings for privacy and security. You can disable the camera and microphone with a single tap or a sliding switch. A red light next to the lens indicates the camera and microphone are off and there’s an integrated camera cover if you want to physically block the camera lens. For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers.

If you have “Hey Portal” enabled, Portal listens for the phrase “Hey Portal.” If it’s detected, Portal sends a short audio recording and transcript of the “Hey Portal” voice interaction to Facebook. A trained team may review a sample to make our voice services smarter and more accurate for everyone. You can view, hear and delete any of your “Hey Portal” voice interactions in your Facebook Activity Log. You can also turn off voice storage in Settings anytime, which means that your voice interactions are not stored or reviewed. To learn more about Portal’s privacy features, visit portal.facebook.com/privacy.



● WhatsApp Calling on Portal
We’re adding a new way to connect with your friends on Portal through WhatsApp, in addition to Messenger calls. All WhatsApp calls on Portal are end-to-end encrypted.

● Story Time, AR and Watch Together
Story Time on Portal brings stories to life with animation, music and AR effects. Earlier this year we announced three new, award-winning children’s book series coming to Story Time: Llama Llama, Pete the Cat, and Otto. These new stories are available now. Portal TV also lets you watch shows like “Red Table Talk” and other Facebook Watch content together with friends or family who aren’t there with you.

● Superframe Photos and Videos
When you’re not on a call, Portal is a beautifully-designed digital photo frame. Portal’s Superframe can display your favorite photos, videos and birthday reminders so you always feel a little more connected to your family and friends.



● Amazon Prime Video and More
With the Amazon Prime Video app on Portal, you can stream your favorite shows and movies, including Amazon Originals. You can also download other apps like SHOWTIME, CBS All Access, Starz, Pluto TV, Red Bull TV and Neverthink with more apps coming soon. Portal also has a great speaker so you can listen to your favorite music from Spotify, Pandora and iHeartRadio and iHeartRadio Family.

● ‘Hey Portal’ Voice Control + Amazon Alexa
Portal offers hands-free voice control. Today, “Hey Portal” is available in US/Canada English with more languages coming. All Portal devices have Alexa built in, and you now have access to Alexa skills on Portal. Listen to music, check the news, get local search results, control your smart home and view the results on screen.

Pricing and Availability:
In addition to the US and Canada, the Portal lineup is coming to the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Portal is now available to pre-order in the US, Canada and Europe from portal.facebook.com and select retail locations. Portal and Portal Mini begin shipping October 15 and Portal TV begins shipping November 5. Portal Mini is $129 USDPortal is $179 USD and Portal TV is $149 USD or bundle any two Portal devices for $50 off.

Facebook Unveils New Portal, Portal Mini, and Portal TV

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Apple Releases iOS 7.1 Beta 2 to Developers for Testing

A few weeks after releasing 7.1 beta 1, Apple has just pushed out iOS 7.1 beta 2 to developers for testing. The delta update is 120mb for the iPhone 5s and build number 11D5115d.

The previous beta brought faster animations and other small UI tweaks.

iOS 7.1 beta 2:
This beta version of iOS 7.1 contains bug fixes and improvements.

For more information, visit:
http://developer.apple.com/ios7/release-notes/

This beta version of iOS should only be deployed on devices dedicated for iOS 7.1 beta software development.


We're downloading now to discover what other features have been introduced in 7.1 beta 2, but if you spot anything please let us know in the comments below!

You can grab the update via OTA or the iOS Developer Center here.



What's New:
● Control Center now 'bounces' when flicking up
● Touch ID and Passcode setting now in Settings menu first page
● Calendar has new list view
● Button shapes in Under Accessibility to help shows buttons vs text
● Animations are faster
● Dark Keyboard option that was introduced in beta 1 is gone
● A couple of new Wallpaper for iPads

Apple Has Blocked Non-Developers From Updating to iOS Beta Firmware

Apple has blocked the ability to update to iOS beta firmware without having your device registered on a developer account.

With previous builds of iOS 7, non-developers could install the betas as long as they chose 'UPDATE' instead of 'RESTORE' when installing the firmware.

Performing an update on an unregistered device will now install the firmware but will attempt to activate before loading for the first time. The following error is then presented...

Activation Error:
This device is not registered as part of the iPhone Developer Program. If you are a member of the iPhone Developer Program, please register your device in the iPhone Developer Program Portal at http://developer.apple.com/iphone.

Thus if you are not a developer, please don't try to update to beta 2. Also, since the betas expire, we recommend you restore to iOS 7.0.4.






Sunday, November 17, 2013

Pwn2Own hackers break Google Chrome on Nexus and Samsung Galaxy smartphones

Google Chrome for Nexus phones has been broken during the Mobile Pwn2Own competition, leaving devices at risk of potentially serious compromise.
With Safari on an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S4 already shown to have potentially serious weaknesses, a hacking crew called Pinkie Pie broke Chrome on a Nexus 4. They later did the same on the Galaxy device.
Companies need to take mobile security more seriously, especially when they start implementing things like Bring Your Own Device and allow customers to include corporate data on their phones.
The team were rewarded with $50,000 (£31,000) for attacks that took advantage of two vulnerabilities: an integer overflow and another that resulted in a full sandbox escape. A hacker who took advantage of the flaws could remotely execute code, potentially allowing them to install malicious applications on a target phone.
As with the hacks on the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 earlier this week, the Chrome breach would require some social engineering to get the target to visit a malicious website.
Google were alerted to the vulnerability by Pwn2Own organisers, the HP Zero Day Initiative (ZDI). It had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Earlier this week, China’s Keen Team were handed $27,000 for getting around Safari protections to steal Facebook login credentials for an iPhone and steal a picture taken of the Mobile Pwn2Own audience.
Japan’s Team MBSD, of Mitsui Bussan Secure Directions, were rewarded with $40,000 for exploiting vulnerabilities in a number of Samsung applications installed by default on the popular Galaxy S4.
Apple and Samsung have been warned about the flaws, but neither had responded to requests for comment on the vulnerabilities. It’s unclear when any of the Pwn2Own flaws will be patched.
Brian Gorenc, HP’s manager of vulnerability research and head of the ZDI, told IT Pro people were now taking mobile threats seriously and Pwn2Own was helping spread awareness.
“That’s why we launched Mobile Pwn2Own…to get researchers to responsibly disclose these vulnerabilities,” Gorenc said. “We’re really reaching out around the world to get research techniques that are unique, that we haven’t seen before.
“Companies need to take mobile security more seriously, especially when they start implementing things like Bring Your Own Device and allow customers to include corporate data on their phones.”
Despite the apparent success of the competition, no one received the top prize of $100,000, which was promised to anyone who could hack a phone’s baseband processor, allowing them to scoop up radio signals and listen in on people’s conversations.