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Ben Lovejoy

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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

Google responds to Project Loon objections, tells FCC balloons are safe & legal

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In this June 10, 2013 photo released by Jon Shenk, a Google balloon sails through the air with the Southern Alps mountains in the background, in Tekapo, New Zealand. Google is testing the balloons which sail in the stratosphere and beam the Internet to Earth. (AP Photo/Jon Shenk) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

It’s two-and-a-half years since Google first shared details of Project Loon, a series of high-altitude balloons designed to provide wireless Internet access to developing countries where infrastructure is scarce. As testing expands, and we’ve learned more about the project’s progress, the FCC has started to receive objections from those concerned that the long-range microwave transmissions might pose health risks or interfere with other wireless operations.

Google has this week written to the FCC to argue that the balloons are both safe and legal …


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Samsung’s troubles deepen as chip business no longer offsetting decline in smartphone profits

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Samsung has today reported a steep 40% decline in net profits in its Q4 earnings, stating that its chip and component business has been hit by weaker prices. It revealed that net profit for the final quarter of 2015 fell to 3.2T Korean won ($2.7B), significantly short of market expectations.

Facing global economic headwinds, including a sharp fall in oil prices, the company’s fourth quarter earnings fell QoQ, as the components side of the business was impacted by weakened prices for DRAM chips and LCD panels due to overall softer demand in the IT market and PCs.

Samsung’s smartphone business has long been struggling with increased competition from lower-cost Chinese brands, and the WSJ reports that the company expects things to be even tougher this year …


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EC says Google’s $185M tax deal with UK government may be illegal, likely to be investigated

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The European Commission says that the £130M ($185M) tax deal struck between Google and the UK government may amount to “illegal state aid” by offering the company better terms than those available to smaller businesses.

Google first came under fire for its tax arrangements in the UK in early 2013, when it was accused of funneling profits from UK Adword sales through Ireland, resulting in the company paying just £6M ($8.5M) tax on a turnover of £395M ($565M). In the new deal, it agreed to change its accounting practices to pay more tax in the UK, and to pay a lump sum in back tax …


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Obama administration proposes $4B spend to tackle legal barriers to rapid rollout of self-driving cars

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When Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted that he expected to the company’s cars to be able to drive themselves across the U.S. from coast to coast within two years, my response was that I might believe the tech could hit that deadline, but not the law. It seems I may be wrong.

The WSJ reports that the Obama administration wants to invest $3.9B in crafting rules and policies to facilitate the rapid rollout of self-driving cars. This would take place at the federal level, ensuring consistent national laws rather than a patchwork of state-by-state regulations …


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It takes four weeks to learn how not to drive one of Google’s self-driving cars

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Medium’s tech hub editor-in-chief Steven Levy provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a test-(non)driver of one of Google’s self-driving cars. Among the more surprising facts is that there’s a four-week full-time course to qualify to sit behind the wheel of one of the company’s testbed Lexus cars – with additional training needed for the cute prototype cars with only emergency controls.

There’s an abbreviated version for those who will only be sitting in the cars on the company’s private test facility. If you fancy the job, the most reliable way to apply, says Levy, is to be friends with an existing driver. If you can’t swing that, there’s always the option of applying to be a professional pedestrian …


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Google thinks we can end global poverty in 15 years, is inviting tech entrepreneurs to figure out how

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Google has never been a company to shy away from the big challenges in life, whether it’s creating self-driving cars, beaming the Internet from balloons, making human skin or abolishing death. Its latest example is a summit at the company’s Campus London space to try to figure out how world poverty could be eradicated within 15 years.

While it may sound a huge challenge, much progress has already been made. In 1990, the United Nations set a goal of halving global poverty levels by 2015, and the goal was actually reached five years early in 2010. Google now wants to complete the job – starting with an afternoon’s worth of ideas from tech entrepreneurs.

Google for Entrepreneurs is co-hosting a Tech Against Poverty summit on January 22 from 1pm to 6pm at Campus London, a Google shared office space specifically created for start-ups. Its partner in the event is Dreamstake, a support and investor platform for start-ups.

Google and Dreamstake want to test the hypothesis that the start-up culture will have a major positive impact on the poorest communities in the world. The event is open to Scientists, inventors, engineers, artists, thinkers and doers, and hopes to create some effective new thoughts in this space, with Google for Entrepreneurs actioning any ideas they see as innovating and taking a step closer to solving the problem.

The event is free, and you can register to participate at Dreamstake’s Solve for X website.

Opinion: 8 reasons Chromebooks are beating iPads in education, and what Apple could do about it

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Apple for a time led the tech market in education, even making education-specific Mac models. More recently, the company made a big push on iPads, signing a $30M deal (that would eventually have been worth a quarter of a billion dollars) in 2013 to equip every student in the LA Unified School District with an iPad.

If that program had succeeded, it would have created a template for rolling out similar ones across the whole of the USA. Instead, it failed catastrophically, and it now appears that Chromebooks are winning where iPads have failed.

CNBC reported last month that Chromebooks now make up more than half of all devices in U.S. classrooms, while Apple’s share of classroom purchases more than halved between 2012 and 2015. Why is that, and what – if anything – can Apple do to reverse the trend … ?


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YouTube names the three personalities who will interview US President Obama after his final State of the Union

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As usual, President Obama’s State of the Union address will be broadcast live on YouTube this evening, followed on Friday by a live Q&A with three YouTube personalities.

This year, YouTube has announced that the three personalities will be Destin Sandlin, Ingrid Nilsen, and Adande Thorne. Sandlin presents the science channel Smarter Every Day, Nilson runs a lifestyle/tips channel, and Thorne is a professional gamer with a knack for story-telling.

YouTube is also offering you the opportunity to suggest questions for the interview …


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AT&T brings back unlimited data plans, but there are some major catches …

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If you’re feeling jealous of any friends grandfathered into an existing AT&T unlimited data plan (especially since ‘unlimited’ was redefined from ‘5GB before throttling kicks in’ to ’22GB before throttling if congested’), the company has good news: it is launching a brand new version of unlimited data tomorrow.

Pricing starts at $100/month for a single line, plus $40 for each individual line. Unfortunately, there’s bad news too. As The Verge notes, there are some pretty big catches – the biggest of which is that you need to be a DirecTV or U-Verse subscriber to be eligible, which of course adds to the cost if you don’t already have a subscription …


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Xiaomi’s $46B valuation questioned as company misses sales target, faces greater competition

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's mobile company Xiaomi, speaks at a launch ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014. China's Xiaomi unveiled on Tuesday its new flagship Mi 4 smartphone, aimed squarely at the premium handset market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA - Tags: BUSINESS TELECOMS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY LOGO) - RTR3ZN52

Investors are “beginning to question” Xiaomi’s $46B valuation after the company reportedly failed to hit its sales target of 80M smartphones in 2015, reports the WSJ. That target was itself reduced from 100M last summer, and the company has also not yet delivered on its promise of substantial revenue from Internet services.

Xiaomi has faced tougher competition from more established brands like Huawei.

Huawei’s engineering strength and brand image, built up over decades, make it difficult for Xiaomi to compete in China, analysts say.

“The competition in China’s smartphone market has intensified tremendously this year,” said a Xiaomi spokeswoman, who declined to comment on the company’s valuation or say whether it met its 2015 sales target.

Huawei comfortably overtook Xiaomi to become the Chinese market leader in October of last year …


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PSA: Make sure you haven’t installed any of the 13 malicious apps now banned from the Play store

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ArsTechnica reports that Google has pulled 13 malicious apps from the Play store after they were found to make unauthorized downloads. The apps (listed below) are particularly dangerous in that they attempt to gain root privileges that would allow them to remain installed even after a factory reset.

The malware used a clever technique to make the apps appear safe, giving them high download numbers and positive ratings.

The apps are capable of using compromised devices to download and positively review other malicious apps in the Play store by the same authors. This helps increase the download figures in the Play Store.

Although the family of malware known as Brain Test has been around for a while, affected apps have previously only been found in third-party app stores. This is the first time Brain test apps have been found in the Google Play store …


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Reuters study shows that car-makers have more driverless car patents than Google

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Given Google’s apparent lead in driverless car technology, you might imagine that the tech giant has notched-up the greatest number of patents in the field, but Reuters says that this isn’t the case. A detailed analysis of patent filings for autonomous car technology shows that car manufacturers are way out ahead, with Google only taking 26th place.

Toyota is, far and away, the global leader in the number of self-driving car patents, the report found. Toyota is followed by Germany’s Robert Bosch GmbH, Japan’s Denso Corp, Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and General Motors Co. The tech company with the most autonomous-driving patents, Alphabet Inc’s Google, ranks 26th on the list.

Toyota has more than 1,400 patents in the field, twice as many as second-placed Robert Bosch …


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LastPass password manager update adds emergency access, sharing center and new UI [Video]

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LastPass has updated its Android app and browser extensions to version 4.0 to add an emergency access feature and shared passwords, as well as a significantly revamped user-interface.

Emergency Access (shown below) is designed to ensure that you aren’t permanently locked out of your account if you ever forget your master password.

Emergency Access lets users designate trusted family, friends or colleagues to have access to their password vault in the case of an emergency. For added security, a user can require a waiting period between when an Emergency Access contact can request access to the vault and when access is granted. During the waiting period, users can decline an Emergency Access request to their vault.

The new Sharing Center is designed to provide a safe method of allowing multiple people access to the same account, such as when two or more family members want access to utility accounts …


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Lenovo and Acer announce first USB-C monitors, making them ideal for Chromebook Pixel C

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If you have a Chromebook Pixel C and are looking for an external monitor for it, Lenovo and Acer have announced the neatest solutions yet, with a choice of 24-, 25- and 27-inch USB-C monitors.

Lenovo’s ThinkVision X24 Pro is the most basic, with a 1920×1080 resolution starting at $399, with availability in May. Acer’s H7 series monitors offer 2560×1440 resolution in 25- and 27-inch variants, and you’ll be able to get your hands on one of those next month, starting at $499.99.

Finally, Lenovo’s ThinkVision X1 is a 27-inch model offering 3840×2160 resolution, again from May, priced at $799 …


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Android Auto available on all Ford cars this year, including upgrades for last year’s models

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Ford is expanding its SYNC® connectivity system, adding Android Auto™, enabling easier and safer access to Google voice search, Google Maps, Google Play Music and more via steering wheel controls and touch screen In North America, Ford is making Android Auto available on all 2017 vehicles equipped with SYNC 3, starting with the all-new Ford Escape. Owners of 2016 vehicles equipped with SYNC 3 will have an opportunity to upgrade later in the year.

Ford has announced that Android Auto will be coming this spring to all 2017 models equipped with its Sync 3 infotainment system. The 2017 Escape will be the first model to get it (like most car manufacturers, Ford starts selling its 2017 models early this year). The system will also support Apple’s CarPlay.

Ford was one of the first car manufacturers to sign up to Android Auto, but aside from telling us it would be integrated with its own infotainment system Sync, the company had gone rather quiet since then.

If you’re now kicking yourself that you bought a 2016 model last year, don’t worry …


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LG adds funky-looking hub to its SmartThinQ home automation system

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As home automation devices proliferate, most tech companies seem to have decided that wirelessly connecting them up to a central hub is the best way to enable us to keep them all under control. Apple’s HomeKit platform uses the Apple TV as its central box, and Samsung has its SmartThings Hub.

LG is now following suit, pre-announcing the SmartThinQ Hub it plans to formally launch at CES. Interestingly, the device – which looks similar to the Amazon Echo – has a built-in display, which the company says can display alerts as well as allow direct control of devices without using your smartphone.

LG SmartThinQ Hub serves as a gateway to smart sensors and connected appliances in the home but is more than that, with the ability to display reminders from personal calendars and stream music from its built-in speaker. The elegantly designed SmartThinQ Hub includes a 3.5-inch color LCD display and connects to a smartphone app to facilitate two way communication with smart appliances and smart sensors in the home.

LG also offers SmartThinQ sensors, which aim to turn dumb appliances into smart ones by using things like vibration to allow a washing-machine to signal when a wash is complete.

The company hasn’t yet announced a price, but Samsung’s SmartThings Hub costs $99, so is likely to be in the same kind of range.

Cortana for Android just got a whole lot less useful as it loses ‘Ok Cortana’ feature

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We said when we tested the beta of Cortana for Android that it wasn’t that useful when you had to open the app and touch the microphone to voice a query. Microsoft later fixed that in time for the public launch, but an update this week took us right back to square one as the company removed the ‘Hey Cortana’ feature in the U.S. market.

Engadget reports that the feature apparently conflicted with ‘Ok Google’ in a way that could render the phone unable for many tasks – including making phone calls.

Google’s latest 360-degree interactive Spotlight Story is a Santa-based thriller by Wallace & Gromit creators

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It’s a little over two years since Motorola launched Spotlight Player, an app that could be used to view a 360-degree interactive animation. Initially limited to the Moto X before being rolled out to other Android devices, you move your smartphone up, down, left and right to choose which part of the scene to view – and can also view through Google Cardboard.

Google held onto the team when it sold Motorola to Lenovo, and it has now launched Special Delivery, a holiday-themed Spotlight Story from Aardman Animations, the creators of Wallace & Gromit. While you have to pay for some stories, this one is free as a holiday gift from Google …


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Samsung Pay coming to China as company signs deal with card-processor UnionPay

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Samsung Pay will be available in China “as soon as early 2016” after the company signed a deal with card-processor UnionPay. The deal was an essential step as UnionPay has a monopoly on payment terminals in China. Apple yesterday announced its own deal with the company for Apple Pay.

Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics said, “The collaboration with China UnionPay, coupled with the support from major UnionPay partner banks in China, will bring this secure and easy-to-use mobile payment solution to more Samsung mobile users.”

The deal will allow Samsung Pay users to use both swipe and contactless payment terminals, but there is still some red-tape to overcome first …


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Apple Music Android app updated with Beats 1 fix, Sonos support and more

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Apple has updated the Apple Music Android app with a bug fix and a couple of new features.

This update fixes an issue that prevented listening to Beats 1 without an Apple Music membership. It also includes support for the upcoming beta of Apple Music on Sonos, and for playlist folders created in iTunes.

It also includes stability and performance improvements.

Apple first offered the app to Android users last month, and offers a three-month free trial, after which an individual subscription costs $10/month while a family of up to five can share a $15/month subscription.

Check out our setup and first impressions video for a taster.

California DMV wants to ban Google’s proposal for self-driving cars without manual driving controls

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Google’s vision of self-driving cars whose interiors have no driving controls could be thwarted in its home state of California. Automotive News reports that the California Department of Motor Vehicles wants to impose legislation that would require all autonomous vehicles to have both driving controls and a specially-licensed driver behind the wheel.

While Google’s primary test fleet of self-driving cars have manual controls, these are only intended for development purposes. The next-generation prototypes (shown above) have no controls …


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Report: Google’s self-driving car project intended as Uber competitor, Alphabet company

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While there have been long-running theories that Google plans to operate a fleet of self-driving cars as an Uber/Lyft competitor, rather than selling them directly to consumers, a Bloomberg piece sounds rather definite about it. The paper also says that the project will be spun off into its own Alphabet company.

Google Inc. plans to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under the Alphabet Inc. corporate umbrella next year, a person briefed on the company’s strategy said […]

The fleets ­– which would include a range of large and small vehicles – could be deployed first in confined areas like college campuses, military bases or corporate office parks, the person said.

The idea of initial use in ‘confined areas’ (read: not public roads) could potentially accelerate the introduction of the service …


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Samsung Pay now works with 19 new cards, including PNC Visa and KeyBank MasterCard

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Samsung has announced that its Samsung Pay service has added 19 new card issuers in the USA, including ‘eligible’ PNC Visa credit and debit cards and KeyBank MasterCard credit and debit cards. The new banks and credit unions were first promised back in October.

New Visa issuers supported include TCF Bank, Central Florida Educators Federal Credit Union, Financial Center Federal Credit Union, Greater Kinston Federal Credit Union, Keypoint Credit Union, Numerica Credit Union, Utah Community Credit Union, Amegy Bank National Association, California Bank and Trust and Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Additional new MasterCard issuers supported include Achieva Credit Union, Associated Bank, Bayport Credit Union, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Cambridge Savings Bank, USC Credit Union and Navy Federal Credit Union.

A full list of supported cards and banks can be found here.

There’s still time to get a free $50 Best Buy gift card by activating the mobile payment service before the end of the year.