Author

Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer who started his career on PC World and has written for dozens of computer and technology magazines, as well as numerous national newspapers, business and in-flight magazines. He has also written two novels.

He thinks wires are evil and had a custom desk made to hide them, known as the OC Desk for obvious reasons.

He considers 1000 miles a good distance for a cycle ride, and Chernobyl a suitable tourist destination. What can we say, he’s that kind of chap.

He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.

Connect with Ben Lovejoy

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After criticism of UK’s $185M back-tax deal with Google, France demands a whopping $1.76B

Ben Lovejoy Feb 25 2016 - 4:38 am PT

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Just one day after the UK’s public spending watchdog described the £130M ($185M) back-tax paid by Google in the country as “disproportionately small,” France is demanding a rather larger sum. Reuters reports that the country’s finance ministry believes Google owes €1.6B ($1.76B).

“As far as our country is concerned, back taxes concerning this company amount to 1.6 billion euros,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said […]

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Michel Sapin ruled out striking a deal with the U.S. search engine company as the British government recently did, saying the sums at stake in France were “far greater” than those in Britain …

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Mophie Juice Pack for the Samsung Galaxy S7 up for pre-order in UK, likely to hit US soon

Ben Lovejoy Feb 24 2016 - 7:20 am PT

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mophie

MobileFun has announced that the new Mophie Juice Pack for the Samsung Galaxy S7 is now available to pre-order at Mobile Fun for £89. It features a 3300mAh battery, so should roughly double the battery life of the new phone, and is the first Juice Pack to use Qi wireless charging.

It’s not yet showing up on the company’s U.S. site, but is likely to appear both there and in Mophie’s Amazon store shortly. A direct pound to dollar rate would price it at $124, but I’d expect it to be rather cheaper when it hits the USA …
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Google’s £130M deal with UK taxman was “disproportionately small,” says public spending watchdog

Ben Lovejoy Feb 24 2016 - 6:56 am PT

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The Public Accounts Committee, the British Parliament’s public spending watchdog, has criticized the £130M ($185M) tax deal Google struck with the UK government as “disproportionately small.” The committee also criticized the secrecy around how the sum was calculated, reports the Guardian.

Google’s controversial tax deal cannot be properly assessed by MPs because of secrecy surrounding the negotiations, according to a report by parliament’s public spending watchdog. But the deal to pay £130m in back taxes for a 10-year period seems “disproportionately small when compared with the size of Google’s business in the UK”, the public accounts committee has found.

A report published today calls for more to be done to prevent “aggressive [tax] avoidance” by multinational companies, with Google accused of hypocrisy …

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Facebook extends the Like button to offer five new ways to respond to a post

Ben Lovejoy Feb 24 2016 - 5:51 am PT

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Facebook has long faced calls for a Dislike button on posts, users arguing that they may want to express support in response to bad news, and Liking a post feels like the wrong way to do it. After a great deal of testing, the company has today announced that it is supplementing the Like button with five additional one-touch responses – but Dislike isn’t one of them …

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Rapid-charging race heats up as Oppo claims full charge in 15 mins over MicroUSB or USB-C

Ben Lovejoy Feb 23 2016 - 4:52 am PT

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The race to allow us to rapidly charge our smartphones got a big boost last year when Qualcomm announced that the Quick Charge 3.0 tech in its Snapdragon 820 chip would allow a typical smartphone to be charged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes. Oppo is now claiming that you’ll be able to recharge some of its devices in just 15 minutes, reports Engadget.

Oppo says that’s about how much time it’ll take to charge a dead 2,500mAh battery to 100%, and that the technology will work over traditional MicroUSB and USB Type-C cables …

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Sony announces trio of Xperia X smartphones, two with high camera specs incl. predictive focus [Video]

Ben Lovejoy Feb 22 2016 - 5:57 am PT

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xperia-x

Sony has unveiled three new Xperia phones, known as the X-series. The entry-level device is the XA, with a MediaTek MT6755 processor rather than a Snapdragon chip. With a 720p display and 16GB storage, Sony’s description of it as a “super mid-range” device seems to be pushing it, though you do get 2GB RAM and 13MP/8MP cameras.

The standard X gets much better specs and should make photography fans happy. It boasts a Snapdragon 650 processor with 3GB of RAM plus 32GB of storage. The display is a good if unexceptional 5-inch 1080p one, but the standout element here is the camera combo. The X gets the same 23MP rear camera as in the Z5 (though with improved firmware) and a 13MP front camera Sony says offers 6400ISO for ultra-capable low-light performance – and a new predictive auto-focus that can track a moving object in the frame …

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New smartphone/tablet chip allows staggering 4K @ 60fps output via USB-C for VR & big-screen use

Ben Lovejoy Feb 22 2016 - 4:34 am PT

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usb-c

Truly we are living in the future. A California-based semiconductor company has announced a smartphone/tablet chip that offers desktop-level video output via USB-C, perfect for both big-screen connection and virtual reality headsets.

Analogix Semiconductor, Inc. today announced the availability of its SlimPort® ANX7688, the first single-chip mobile transmitter to support 4K 60 frames per second (4096x2160p60) or FHD 120 frames per second (1920x1080p120) video resolution from a smartphone or tablet with full function USB-C, ideal for applications such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) …

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LastPass survey finds 95% of Americans share passwords, 59% use same password for multiple sites

Ben Lovejoy Feb 18 2016 - 6:00 am PT

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passwords

It’s no surprise that 95% of U.S. consumers share up to six passwords with other people when you consider that this includes WiFi passwords for home Internet connections and sharing Netflix passwords with family members, but a survey by LastPass showed that 59% also re-use the same passwords for multiple sites. Put the two facts together and people could potentially be allowing access to rather more than they intended.

The younger you are, the more likely you are to share passwords with a friends: 40% of 18-29 year olds do so, dropping to 15% for those aged 30-44 and 6% at 45-59. Only just over a quarter bother to reset a password after they’ve shared it with someone else.

While the company’s motivation is to promote the emergency access and password-sharing features it introduced last month, it does provide a nudge to ensure you’re not using your WiFi password for anything sensitive.

PSA: Skype’s group video calling on Android & iOS rolling out from today

Ben Lovejoy Feb 18 2016 - 5:52 am PT

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skype

Skype told us a month ago that it would soon be rolling out group video calling to both iOS and Android devices, and the company has today advised that the rollout is now underway.

Today, we’ve started rolling out group video calling on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets in Western Europe and North America and we expect to have completed our roll-out to these markets over the next week or so. We plan to be fully available worldwide in March

This brings the mobile experience in line with that already available on the desktop.

The UI lets you choose between a grid view of all those in the call, and a focus view that automatically switches to the person speaking. Alternatively, if you only really care about one person in the call, you can use a ‘pin’ feature to stick with your view of them.

Via Engadget

Next year’s fingerprint sensors could fit into volume rocker buttons, guard against spoofing

Ben Lovejoy Feb 17 2016 - 5:30 am PT

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fingerprint

Synaptics has provided fingerprint sensors for a number of different smartphones, the HTC One Max among them, but Engadget says that it has a much sleeker version in the works.

Synaptics’ latest fingerprint sensor for mobile devices measures only 3.5 mm wide. It’s so thin and tiny, it can fit inside a volume rocker switch on the side of your smartphone or tablet.

The company says it has also found a way to prevent the use of fake fingerprints by a new algorithm that can distinguish live fingers from printed replicas.

We probably won’t be seeing the new reader make it into phones until next year, though, as Synaptics says mass-production isn’t due to start until the third quarter of this year. There’s as yet no word of which phone brands might be looking to include it.

We’re also expecting to see the company’s pressure-sensitive screens coming to some Android devices later this year.

Image for illustration only: 91mobiles.com

Google making it easier to manage read/write access to shared Drive folders

Ben Lovejoy Feb 17 2016 - 5:15 am PT

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Google Drive is a really easy way to allow colleagues, family or friends to share access to a set of files, but keeping track of who has what access – and changing permissions – can be a fiddly business. The company has announced in a blog post that it’ll be making life much easier in future.

In the coming weeks, we will be adding a new “people icon” to shared folders, which simplifies seeing who you’ve shared a folder with and whether they have View, Edit, or Comment permissions. With this change, we hope to reduce the amount of clutter for users and make sharing more transparent for folder owners.

Google says the rollout will begin in a fortnight’s time, but will take a few days to roll out to everyone. The company also recently added the ability to control sharing notifications on mobile devices.

Project Loon has successfully delivered video-capable speeds as it moves into carrier testing

Ben Lovejoy Feb 16 2016 - 5:25 am PT

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loon

Google’s parent company Alphabet told a TED conference in Vancouver that its Project Loon Internet-delivery balloons had successfully delivered speeds of 15Mbps – fast enough for streaming video. It is preparing for carrier tests in Indonesia and elsewhere this year.

Alphabet X head Astro Teller said that the company tried a lot of unsuccessful balloon designs before finally finding one that was up to the job, reports Re/code.

There were shiny balloons and round balloons and balloons that looked like giant pillows. But eventually the company found a design that could be made cheaply and still navigate precisely. That balloon, Teller said, last year travelled around the world 19 times over 187 days last year.

Teller also shared a key part of the company’s approach to Alphabet X projects, along with details of two which the company has abandoned …

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AT&T joins Verizon in 5G testing this year, promising speeds 10-100x faster than LTE

Ben Lovejoy Feb 12 2016 - 5:42 am PT

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beyond-5g

Verizon began lab-testing its 5G network last year, aiming to carry out the first real-world tests this year, and and AT&T has now announced that it will be doing the same. The company seems even more optimistic than Verizon, which estimated 5G speeds some 30-50 times faster than LTE.

We expect 5G to deliver speeds 10-100 times faster than today’s average 4G LTE connections. Customers will see speeds measured in gigabits per second, not megabits. For reference, at one gigabit per second, you can download a TV show in less than 3 seconds.

Don’t get too excited just yet, though, as there are a couple of small hurdles to be overcome first …

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Want to work on Google’s self-driving car project? New job-listings are up …

Ben Lovejoy Feb 12 2016 - 4:48 am PT

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flagship-1

The Guardian spotted a slew of new job listings for Google’s self-driving car project, ranging from a marketing manager to manufacturing process engineers. In all, the company has advertised 36 jobs in the autonomous car division – though none of them are for (non-) drivers …

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Arrow Smart-Kart gives parents smartphone-controlled speed limiting & geofencing for their boy/girl racers [Video]

Ben Lovejoy Feb 11 2016 - 5:58 am PT

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kart

Ok, I officially want to be a kid again. Actev is this weekend launching the Arrow Smart-Kart. For kids aged 5-9, the message is that it looks and sounds like a race kart (thanks to speakers with artificially-generated V12 engine sounds), has GPS and WiFi – and it can do donuts.

For parents, the message is all about safety. The Smart-Kart has automatic collision avoidance, and a companion app allows them to set a speed limiter (anything up to the maximum 12mph) and a geofence. If their child tries to drive outside the geofenced area, the motor automatically switches off. If kids get too carried away, parents can perform a remote emergency stop and then put the kart gear into Park. Spoilsports.

It’s currently available on pre-order at $600 for the kart, plus $100 for the race-style body kit – and $50 for the drift kit that wraps around the rear tyres to reduce grip enough to do those donuts. So not cheap, but not outrageously more expensive than non-smart competitors. The free companion app is available for both Android and iPhone.

Sure beats the Anki Drive – though that is admittedly rather cheaper.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/154869778]

Via The Verge

6.2 billion – the number of smartphones & tablets on the planet by 2020, says App Annie

Ben Lovejoy Feb 11 2016 - 5:53 am PT

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cheap

Data from App Annie suggests that the total number of smartphones and tablets on the planet will hit 6.2 billion by 2020 – up from 2.6B today. That would be 80% of the forecast population of 7.76B people.

The analytics company told Bloomberg that the strongest growth will be seen in India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey as cheaper phones hit the market. For many of those in developing countries, the post-PC era has already arrived, a smartphone or tablet serving as their only Internet-enabled device …

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Android 6.0 Marshmallow rolling out to 2nd-gen Moto G handsets over the next few days

Ben Lovejoy Feb 10 2016 - 7:34 am PT

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Good news for owners of the Moto G 2nd-Gen: an OTA update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow has begun rolling out in batches, and all users should receive it over the next few days.

You’ll need to be on the latest stock Lollipop 5.0.2 ROM to receive it. Anyone who has flashed their ROM to a different version will need to restore, but no need to bother if you’re running the Stock 6.0 Soak Build (MPB24.65-24/34) as this is identical to the final release version.

Check out this Reddit thread for more details. The LG G4 began receiving the same update last week for T-Mobile users and yesterday for those on AT&T.

Google posts reminders of the four ways to keep your Android device safe

Ben Lovejoy Feb 10 2016 - 5:12 am PT

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android-security-tips

A Google blog post reminds users of the four steps they can take to protect the security of their Android devices.

Online security is a critical piece of our everyday life. That’s why we build multiple lines of defense in Android to make the internet safer for over a billions users. Even with these layers of protection, it still doesn’t hurt to take a couple of extra precautions to be super safe.

The four steps are all ones we’d expect to be familiar to 9to5Google readers, but they could serve as useful pointers for less tech-savvy friends and family members …

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Russia wants to force Google & Apple to pay more tax, apply 18% VAT to Play store purchases

Ben Lovejoy Feb 9 2016 - 5:31 am PT

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German-Klimenko

In what Bloomberg describes as ‘a 90-minute interview peppered with expletives,’ Russia’s new Internet advisor has said that he wants to force Google and Apple to pay more taxes.

German Klimenko is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru […]

Bloomberg says that he has an interesting ally in this aim …

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How to watch Super Bowl 50 online for free on your Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire box, Chromecast or Android tablet

Ben Lovejoy Feb 5 2016 - 6:45 am PT

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Good news for cord-cutters in the U.S.: you can stream this year’s Super Bowl 50 without a cable TV subscription. The Panthers vs Broncos game kicks off at 6.30pm ET/3.30pm PT on Sunday 7th Feb, and watching it on your TV box, Android tablet or PC is as simple as downloading a free app or using the live web player …

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Google engineer’s testing of USB-C cables ends as bad cable fries his Chromebook & test kit

Ben Lovejoy Feb 3 2016 - 7:19 am PT

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usb-c

Update: Leung has resumed testing with a repaired test device, but for now can only weed out bad cables for now as he still doesn’t have a working Chromebook.

Google engineer Benson Leung was doing a great job at distinguishing the good, the bad and the ugly where USB Type-C cables are concerned, exposing ones that failed to meet the proper specs as well as others that were just plain dangerous.

Unfortunately his testing has now come to an abrupt end as one particularly bad cable resulted in significant damage to both his Chromebook Pixel and the USB PD sniffer devices he was using …

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Fitbit announces fashion-oriented leather/metal fitness band, Alta

Ben Lovejoy Feb 3 2016 - 6:47 am PT

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alta

Fitbit didn’t exactly impress the market when it tried to launch a full-blown smartwatch last month, its stock price falling 11% in response to the idea of the company seemingly attempting to compete with the Apple Watch. It may have better luck with its latest offering, a fashion-oriented fitness band called Alta offering five days of battery-life. The emphasis here is on style, the $130 unit available with both leather bands ($60) and stainless steel bracelet ($100).

The Fitbit Alta will be available for pre-order from tomorrow at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart and other retail sites, with shipping in March or April, depending on configuration.

Via Engadget

Google’s self-driving cars drive three million miles a day, without leaving the lab

Ben Lovejoy Feb 2 2016 - 4:08 am PT

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google-self-driving-car-road-works-speed-limit

Google’s self-driving cars have notched up almost 1.5 million miles in autonomous mode since the project began in 2009 – but they drive twice as many miles every single day in the lab. Google’s latest monthly report reveals that every software change is tested by using it to simulate driving the entire driving history of the fleet, autonomous and manual.

One benefit of teaching a computer to drive is that it has great memory and recall. With our simulator, we’re able to call upon the millions of miles we’ve already driven and drive those miles again with the updated software. For example, to make left turns at an intersection more comfortable for our passengers, we modified our software to adjust the angle at which our cars would travel. To test this change, we then rerun our entire driving history of 2+ million miles with the new turning pattern to ensure that it doesn’t just make our car better at left turns, but that the changes creates a better driving experience overall …

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Xiaomi retained top spot in China in 2015, but Huawei likely to hit back this year, says Canalys

Ben Lovejoy Feb 1 2016 - 4:42 am PT

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xiaomi

While Canalys reported last year that Huawei overtook Xiaomi to become the biggest-selling smartphone manufacturer in China during Q3, it now says strong Q4 sales enabled Xiaomi to retake the top slot for the year. It says Xiaomi ended the year with a 15.2% market share against 14.7% for Huawei, with Apple following at 12.5%.

The WSJ reports that this view is echoed by rival market intelligence company Strategy Analytics. However, with more Chinese consumers looking to upgrade to mid-range handsets this year, Canalys analyst Nicole Peng believes the positions could be reversed during the course of this year …

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