Month: October 2018

It’s been about 10 months since the last big batch of Pokémon (Gen III, as it’s known) started rolling out in Pokémon GO. At this point, if you’re still playing GO, you’ve probably caught just about everything there is to catch.

Missing that feeling of adding something new to your Pokédex? Good news: Gen IV is “arriving soon”.

Confirmation of the looming launch comes by way of a teaser trailer just dropped by Niantic and The Pokemon Company:

Sadly, “soon” is about as specific as they’re getting right now.

While Gen 4 (otherwise known as the “Sinnoh” generation) is made up of about 107 new Pokémon, I wouldn’t expect all of those to land at once. If Niantic’s past rollouts are any indication, it’s going to be staged in gradual chunks. Hell, even some Gen II Pokémon still haven’t shown up in the game (lookin’ at you, Smeargle!)

Though the teaser trailer doesn’t promise any specific Pokémon, the starters are all there: you see Turtwig’s twig, Chimchar’s silhouette, and a pack of Piplup swimming beneath the ice. (Oh, and that looks like Giratina’s glowing red eyes at the end there)

Meanwhile, in a separate blog post, Niantic touched on potentially controversial changes on the way:

• The recently debuted weather system will soon have less of an effect on what Pokémon appear.
• A “greater variety” of Pokémon will appear in a given area, and “at different rates”, suggesting changes to spawn patterns and perhaps the nest system.
• They’re adjusting stats across the board (CP/HP/Defense/Stamina) to “narrow the gap” between most Pokémon and the strongest few.

While Niantic is presumably making these changes to make more Pokémon worthwhile beyond the same 10-15 maxed out ‘mon generally found sitting in gyms (with many hoping this means a new PVP battle system is on the way), it’s… a tough one to pull off. With the game having been out for over 2 years now, many players have spent hundreds of hours beefing up certain Pokémon to work within the game’s current mechanics. Shift up the stats, and everything changes.

There’s a new wrinkle in the Bloomberg’s ongoing but controversial series on alleged hardware hacks affecting U.S. tech giants — despite heavy skepticism after the named companies rebuffed the allegations and critics poked holes in the reporting.

Bloomberg’s new report out Tuesday said that a U.S. telecom discovered that hardware it used in its datacenters was “manipulated” by an implant designed to conduct covert surveillance and exfiltrate corporate or government secrets.

The implant was found on an Ethernet connector — used to hard-wire device to a network — on a motherboard developed by Supermicro, a major computer manufacturer that was named in the first Bloomberg story.

It was that first report that claimed China had infiltrated a Supermicro factory to install chips on motherboards that went on to go into servers in datacenters operated by Apple and Amazon. Apple, Amazon and Supermicro denied the claims in a series of strong rebuttals. Supermicro’s said on Tuesday that it “still [has] no knowledge of any unauthorized components” and said it hadn’t been informed by any customer of the alleged security breach.

Although the report claims “fresh evidence of tampering” by China, it does not explicitly link the tampering to similar attacks on Apple and Amazon, or others.

What lends more credence to this second Bloomberg story than the first is that a security researcher said he inspected the implant first-hand, rather than the reporters having to rely on descriptions from several sources who allegedly had knowledge of the implants.

Yossi Appleboum, co-founder of Sepio Systems and former Israeli intelligence officer, provided Bloomberg with evidence and documentation — which wasn’t published alongside the story — that the alleged implant was introduced at the factory where the telecom’s equipment was built. He also said there are many ways that China’s supply chain is compromised and implants could be introduced.

Plot twist: Bloomberg didn’t name the telecom because of a non-disclosure agreement between Appleboum and the company.

We asked Appleboum several questions by email — including if the telecom company informed the FBI of the discovery — but he did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If that changes, we’ll update.

This new story certainly adds more to the mix on Bloomberg’s continuing reporting streak on hardware hacks, but doesn’t negate the apparent failings — or the lack of evidence — in its first report.

For its part, Bloomberg said as of Monday that it stood by its reporting.

But it’s difficult not to be skeptical, given the criticism on Bloomberg’s earlier reporting. Apple’s watertight statement to lawmakers explicitly denying the reporters’ claims shifted the onus onto Bloomberg to provide further evidence for its assertions in its original report, which the publication has yet to do.

Until then, it’s fair to take the reports with a healthy dose of salt.

What’s that you say, friend? Haven’t had enough Google news for the day? Have no fear. Here’s a little extra from the folks at General Electric. The company announced this afternoon that its C by GE bulbs are the first to carry Made for Google certification.

That means the bulbs will work with Google Home devices right out of the box, without the need for a smart home hub — which is nice, since none of the entry level devices sport the functionality. Screw the bulb in, and the Home device should detect it automatically, letting you turn it on and off via voice commands. That all happens via a bluetooth connection.

For good measure, the companies will be offering up a bundle featuring the Home Mini and pre-paired. That will run $55. The new Google-ready bulbs will hit retail on October 22. Two-packs of the C-Life and C-Sleep bulbs will run $25 and $35, respectively.

Is Google finally taking consumers’ privacy concerns to heart? Today, the search and Android giant took the wraps off its $149 Home Hub, a new screen-based smart home device that lets you interact with Google services like Google Photos and connected smart home devices. It’s Google’s answer to the Amazon Echo Show and Facebook’s new Portal. But in this age of privacy, the company made an interesting feature choice: it will be shipping the first version of the device without a camera built in.

“We also consciously did not put a camera on so that it was comfortable to us in the private spaces of your home like your bedroom,” noted Diya Jolly, VP of product management in the presentation today, while going through other features on the device.

The feature — or lack thereof, as the case may be — is notable. Just yesterday, Facebook unveiled its own connected home screen device, the Portal, and Amazon has been working hard to push and update its Echo Show, its Alexa-powered home hub with a screen. Both Amazon and Facebook are focused on just now how to show images, but how to capture them and to use visual cues to build more intelligent services.

Google, it would seem, is taking a different approach: tech companies have been under the spotlight for how they are handling privacy these days, and Google’s decision to leave a camera out of this device plays into the idea of how tech companies are trying to be more sensitive to what users want — and maybe need, since we already have so many other devices with cameras on them.

For Google specifically, the timing is especially important: just this week the company announced that it would be shutting down Google+, its ill-fated social network that had a bug in it that exposed the private information of users. The optics — pun intended — of pushing out a new device with a camera on it, at a time when many wonder just how much information these smart home speakers are picking up, would look very bad indeed.

On the other hand, leaving a camera out could serve other ends for Google.

It helps it keep the cost of the device down, with $149 a very competitive price point.

It also could help Google keep this device from competing with others that it is pushing to users — specifically its phones, its new Pixel Slate tablet, which has a front-facing camera for video chat; and the Pixel Stand, which — when combined with the new Pixel 3 smartphone — essentially turns that device into a screen-based home hub that does have a camera.

Lastly, it helps Google start to build a roadmap for features that it could add into the main Home Hub product in later iterations, if it finds that users are requesting it.

If you’d like to be sure you’re the only one posting elaborately staged yet casual selfies to your Instagram feed, there’s now a powerful new option to help you keep your account safe.

In late September, Instagram announced that it would be adding non SMS-based two-factor authentication to the app. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that the company rolled out the security feature last week and that non-SMS two-factor authentication is live now for all users.

Enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an additional “check” to an account so you can be sure you’re the only one who can log in. Instagram previously only offered less secure SMS-based 2FA, which is vulnerable to SIM hijacking attacks but still better than nothing.

Now, the app supports authenticator apps that generate a code or send a user a prompt in order to prove that they are in fact the authorized account holder. When it’s available, enabling 2FA is one of the easiest, most robust basic security precautions anyone can take to protect any kind of account.

If you’d like to enable app-based 2FA now, and you really should, here’s how to do it.

Open Instagram and navigate to the Settings menu. Scroll down into the Privacy and Security section and select Two-Factor Authentication. There, you’ll see two toggle options: Text Message and Authentication App. Choose Authentication App. On the next screen, Instagram will either detect existing authentication apps on your device, invite you to download one (Google Authenticator by default, Authy is a fine option too) or allow you to set up 2FA manually. Follow whichever option works best for you.

You’ll be asked to authenticate the device you’re on now, but you won’t have to do this every time for trusted devices once they have been authenticated. See? Not so bad. It was a long time for such a popular, well-resourced app to leave users unprotected by proper 2FA, but we’re glad it’s here now.

Additional reporting by Sarah Perez.

Google today announced that its Pixel phones will soon get support for Smart Compose in Gmail. Smart Compose automatically finishes your sentences for you as you type, based on what Google knows about how you and others write similar sentences. Smart Compose can also auto-complete addresses for you.

Google first launched this feature with its redesigned Gmail for the web, but it’s now bringing this to mobile, too. On mobile, of course, a feature like this is even more interesting since typing on mobile is obviously harder. Google says that on the web, Smart Compose is already saving people a billion characters of typing per week.

It’s interesting that Google is launching this feature first on its Pixel phones. Maybe that’s because those phones also feature Google’s own AI chip.

In my own experience, Smart Compose is great when it works. Too often, it still doesn’t, but the good thing is that you can always ignore it and go your merry way without Smart Compose’s suggestions getting in your way.

Google did not say when this feature would launch, but chances are it’ll go live in the next few days or weeks.

This is the Pixel Slate. Announced today among a flurry of hardware at the Made By Google event in New York, the product joins the Pixel Book as Google’s flagship Chrome OS products.

The device looks pretty much exactly like the leaks lead us to believe — it’s a premium slate with a keyboard cover that doubles as a stand. It also features a touch pad, which gives it the edge over products like Samsung’s most recent Galaxy Tab. There’s also a matching Google Pen, which appears to more or less be the same product announced around the Pixel Book, albeit with a darker paint job to match the new product.

The display features a density of 293ppi. Interestingly, the company is looking to pitch the product at creators, keeping the device more in line with the iPad Pro or various Surface products. Media consumption is a big piece as well — there’s a pair of stereo speaker grilles that flank the screen on the side bezels. The Slate will ship with three free months of YouTube TV.

Both front and rear facing cameras are 8MP, using the same machine learning found on the Pixel handsets. It can also shoot in wide screen and portrait mode.

The Slate naturally features the standard array of new Chrome features. The launcher suggests apps, while split screen lets users switch between multiple devices. The product has Google Assistant built in as well, of course, letting users interact via voice. Google says antivirus protections is built into the system with automatic updates. The power button, meanwhile, features a built-in fingerprint reader for boot up.

The Pixel Slate’s keyboard is called, get this, the Pixel Slate keyboard. The device automatically connects and the rounded keys are quiet (clearly a dig at those MacBooks) and backlit. The case doubles as both a stand and a case. Google’s worked with a number of developers here, including Adobe and, interestingly, Peloton, which is bringing fitness features to the device.

The product starts at $599, plus $199 for the keyboard and $99 for the new dark Pen. All three are shipping at some point later this year.

A few days ago, Facebook quietly introduced a “Lite” version of its Facebook app for iOS devices, but only in a single market, Turkey. The app had been previously available only on Android. Today, the company is following suit with a launch of Messenger Lite on iOS, again just in Turkey.

The launch was first spotted by app intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Like the Facebook Lite iOS launch, Messenger Lite for iOS also touts a much smaller download size than the normal version, which today clocks in at a whopping 140MB.

Instead, Facebook Lite on iOS is only 10MB in size, the App Store description notes. That’s actually a bit bigger than Facebook Lite for iOS, which came in at 5MB, we should note.

The new app also claims to use less mobile data than Messenger proper, and installs quickly and runs efficiently.

Like Messenger, the chat app can be used with individuals or groups to send text messages, photos, videos, or links. However, according to comments from early users, the Lite version doesn’t show when contacts are online through a “status” dot on their profile or in a menu.

This is a similar feature set to Facebook Lite on Android, which also supports voice and video calls.

While the app instead has only been released to Turkey for the time being, it’s available in several other languages, which could be a hint of markets to come.

As the app is just getting off the ground, it’s only ranked at No. 99 for Social Networking on iPhone, and No. 26 on iPad as of the time of writing.

This is Google’s Echo Show competitor, the Home Hub. We knew it was coming, via an avalanche of leaks and now, moments before the event has officially kicked off, here it is in all of its glory by way of the full leaked product video (again spotted by 9 to 5 Google).  The product is a looker — especially compared to the last two generations of Amazon’s Echo Show.

The device looks like an Android tablet mounted on top of a speaker — which ought to address the backward firing sound, which is one of the largest design flaws of the recently introduced Echo Show 2. The speaker fabric comes in a number of different colors, in keeping with the rest of the Pixel/Home products, including the new Aqua.

The device joins a trio of “Smart Displays” for Google Assistant built by JBL, Lenovo and LG. Design-wise Lenovo’s was the best of the bunch, but the Home Hub looks to have outclassed it. The functions pretty much what you’d expect from these devices, including traffic, weather and cooking. Of course, Google’s got one key, not so secret weapon against Amazon: YouTube.

Google has also clearly made fitness a key piece here, showing off some yoga classes on the product, along with a touchscreen smart home control center. We’re here covering the event live in New York — more information as Google makes it officially official.

There are no surprises in the world of consumer electronics. We’ve already seen the Pixel 3 from every conceivable angle, both in video and still. And now, mere minutes before today’s event is set to kickoff, Verizon (the company that owns the company that owns TechCrunch, mind) has gone ahead and confirmed the thing on its site.

Contrary to some earlier renders, the third version of Google’s Android flagship (spotted by 9 to 5 Google) does boast a sizable notch up top, in keeping with earlier images of the larger XL. Makes sense, after all, Google went out of its way to boast about notch functionality when it introduced Pie, the latest version of its mobile OS.

The specs are admittedly still a bit spot via the carrier page, but the bullet points do confirm most of what we thought we knew about the handset. Google’s sticking to the single camera on the rear of the device, in contrast to the majority of the competition.

The front facing camera (hence the notch) has been improved here, bringing with it wide angle selfies, and the ability to skip photos where the subject is blinking (a feature found on other competing handsets, including the Galaxy Note 9.

No specifics on the battery yet, beyond “all day,” along with wireless charging on-board. The ability to access Google Assistant with a squeeze, first introduced by HTC on its own handsets, is back as well.

We’re here at the event, and we’ll  keep updating when Google finally spills the beans.