Tech

A Samsung Galaxy S7 user explains why she doesn’t want the S20

Published

5 years ago

March 8, 2020

Harry Miller

Not worth it?

Your heart is beating with a disturbing irregularity, despite your mouth not ingesting anything caffeinated or illegal.

You’re already foaming in several places.

You’ve just got your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S20, which appeared in stores on Friday.

Please try explaining your excitement to my wife.

Look, I’ve tried. It’s hard when you write a tech column not to be at least mildly fascinated by the next new thing from Apple or Samsung.

These things are built up as events. You’re pressed to see the show, then talk about it, then buy the souvenir product.

So there we were, desperately supporting the Bay Area restaurant ecosystem — severely hit by coronavirus fears — by eating out, when my wife grabbed her phone to answer an urgent text. She then put it on the table, while she reached for her wine.

The screen on her phone has that slightly yellow tinge that, well, my face enjoys first thing in the morning. The paint on the case is peeling away at the top two corners.

This, I thought naively, was the moment to tell her that there’s a new Galaxy — the S20 — coming up and perhaps it was time to upgrade.

My wife, you see, clings on to her Galaxy S7. She insists Apple is the devil’s own brand and believes Samsung is somehow more of the people. Which seems strange when Samsung is now releasing phones costing $2,000.

Still, I muttered: “Isn’t it time to upgrade your phone?”

“Why?” she replied.

“Well, your phone’s getting quite old. It must have slowed down a lot. And it looks a bit grotty.”

“I married you,” she replied.

And down goes Chris, contemplating his second wedding anniversary, due shortly.

I picked myself up again and asked: “But don’t you want a phone with a better camera, so that you can take better pictures?”

“Why? I already take better pictures than you do with your fancy iPhone,” she said.

My iPhone isn’t the height of fancy. It’s an XR. My wife, though, is right. She does take better pictures with her S7 and I can never work out why.

“What about 5G? Aren’t you interested in that?”

“What about 5G, whatever that is? Is it really supposed to be any better than all the G’s they had before?”

I wasn’t going to give up. I tried: “One day soon, your phone’s going to die and then what will you do? These things aren’t made to last a long time.”

“What do you mean? My phone’s only four years old,” she said.

It’s a matter of perspective, isn’t it? For my wife, a four-year-old phone is still a sprightly machine. For many inside the tech bubble, it’s any of the remaining presidential candidates.

Suddenly, I thought I’d found the answer: “But the battery life… your battery sometimes dies and it really annoys you.”

“No it doesn’t,” she insisted, a touch annoyed. “It usually lasts the whole day, except when I have the clock display and then it runs out more quickly.”

I was beginning to get desperate. “But you like new things and a new phone would be newer and shinier and then you wouldn’t have to think about it for another four years.”

“But I like my phone and I’d hate to have to get a new case,” she insisted. I hadn’t anticipated that one. My wife has a case that, on its back, enjoys sparkles that mesmerically shift up, down and sideways.

Did I mention she’s a scientist — specialist subject: alcohol (seriously)? She believes in things like research, evidence, and proof. She also believes in things that serve people well and she’s still convinced her phone does just that.

She looks at new phones and sees no real reason to even be excited.

“Oh, come on,” I persisted. ” You really do like some new things. Surely you can see that this latest phone must be technically more advanced.”

In its way, this is all very flattering for phone manufacturers. In the past, they made phones so good and reliable that they lasted longer than some expected. Most developments since have been incremental. That’s why they’re now making foldable phones. At least they might move people.

And then the final element of the core emerged. My wife said: “I’m not paying $1,000 for a new phone. That’s just ridiculous.” She can’t imagine anything a phone could be or do that would suddenly justify that sort of price.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 starts at $999. The S20 Ultra starts at $1,399.

As sales are already said to be disappointing in South Korea — Samsung blames the coronavirus — is there anything about the S20 that can truly move people, other than a need for new?

Naturally, I’ll go and look at it for myself. But my wife now seems to represent at least something of a strong minority, if not a majority.

As the pickled vegetables arrived and she bathed in my defeat, she picked up her worn S7, pointed the back of it toward me and let the sparkles fall slowly toward the bottom of the case.

“Watch the sparkles,” she said. “I don’t need a new phone… You don’t need a new phone…”

Samsung Unpacked

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Tech

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

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