MacRumors

Google this morning held an event in San Francisco, California, where the company unveiled several new hardware products, including the Pixel 2, the Google Pixelbook, and two new versions of the Google Home smart speaker.

The Pixel 2 comes in 5 and 6-inch screen sizes, with the XL model featuring slimmer bezels. It features what Google says is a bolder look with an aluminum body with a soft sculpted back and premium coating, a glass top, and buttons with a pop of color. There's a fingerprint sensor on the back of the device, no headphone jack, and IP67 water resistance.

Active Edge lets users squeeze the side of the Pixel 2 to activate Google Assistant and do things like silence phone calls, and the OLED display is always-on to display notifications and the time (the 6-inch version uses a P-OLED display). A fast charging feature allows for 7 hours of charge in 15 minutes. The Pixel 2 supports the Google Lens feature, which lets the Pixel camera identify objects in the world, and it includes AR stickers.

There are camera improvements, including support for Portrait Mode, a feature similar to the Portrait Mode in the latest iPhones. Portrait Mode on Pixel 2 requires just one camera and is available for both the front and rear cameras. Google says DxO has given the camera a score of 98. For comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus received a 94.

Pricing on the Pixel 2 starts at $649 for 64GB storage. The Pixel 2 XL starts at $849 for 64GB of storage. Pre-orders are available starting today. Google is releasing new wireless Google Pixel Buds alongside the Pixel 2. While these connect to Pixel 2 over Bluetooth, they have a wire between the left and right earbuds, unlike the AirPods. Pixel Buds feature real time language translation and are priced at $159.

Google Home Mini features a sleek, smooth design. It's small enough that it fits anywhere in the home. The enclosure is made of a special fabric created by Google to let through light and sound. It comes in three colors: coral, chalk, and charcoal, aka a red, a gray, and a black color.

Four LED lights under the fabric let users know that the Google Home Mini is listening, and it responds to touch. The circular shape of the device projects 360 degree sound, for sound that Google says is "amazing." The speaker costs $49 and can be pre-ordered starting today ahead of an October 19 launch date.

Google Home Max is the "biggest and best sounding" Google Home ever, and Google says it's 20 times more powerful than the existing Google Home. The speaker features dual 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers, 0.7-inch tweeters, and an "acoustically transparent fabric" that comes in chalk and charcoal.

Like Apple's upcoming HomePod, Max features Smart Sound that's able to adapt to the ambient environment in the home, adjusting the sound to its location. It costs $399 and will be available in December. The price point includes 12 months of free YouTube Red service.

Google also announced Broadcast, a feature that lets a message from one Google Home be sent to other Google Home speakers, and new learning experiences for children.

As for laptops, Google introduced the high-end Google Pixelbook, its thinnest and lightest laptop yet. Pixelbook is 10mm thick and weighs a kilogram, and it can convert from a laptop to a tablet. It has a 12.3-inch touchscreen, Core i5/Corei7 chips, 16GB RAM, up to 512GB storage, built-in Google Assistant, and 10 hours of battery life.

It supports a new Pixelbook Pen for writing on the touchscreen and interacting with Google Assistant. Pixelbook is priced starting at $999, while the pen is priced at $99. Both are available for pre-order starting today ahead of an October 31 launch.

A small but increasing number of iPhone 8 Plus owners have shared pictures of their devices burst open due to possible battery failure.

MacRumors reader Anthony Wu‏, from Toronto, Canada, said he bought and unboxed a new iPhone 8 Plus on Sunday, but he was forced to return it by Monday after the display popped out. The damage was presumably caused by a defective battery inside the iPhone that swelled and placed pressure on the assembly.

We also received a similar photo today of an iPhone 8 Plus with the display burst open from iRepair, an iPhone, iPad, and Mac repair shop in Greece. In this case, we're told the customer unboxed the device last night, plugged it in overnight, and in the morning it looked as it does in the picture below.

In the latter case, the customer was supposedly using only an official Apple power adapter and Lightning to USB cable.

There are now at least five cases of possible iPhone 8 Plus battery failure, following reports in Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong last week.

Following the first two reports, an Apple spokeswoman told MacRumors that the company is "aware" and "looking into" the matter. But the company didn't immediately respond to our request for an update on the status of the investigation. Apple routinely looks into any possible safety concerns with its devices.

With millions of iPhones coming off the production line overseas, and thereby millions of lithium-ion batteries being manufactured, it's common in the industry for there to be a very low percentage of defective units.

For that reason, five cases of suspected iPhone 8 Plus battery failure out of millions of devices probably isn't much cause for full-blown concern at this point, but we'll continue to monitor the situation to see if a larger trend develops.

By comparison, there were reportedly hundreds of Galaxy Note 7 devices with critical battery-related failures before Samsung recalled and discontinued the device. Some of the devices caught fire, as well, which posed greater safety risks that even prompted the FAA to ban the device from in-cabin use during flights.

Following a lengthy investigation, Samsung eventually admitted that the Galaxy Note 7's battery had a design flaw.

We'll update this article if Apple responds.

Update: A sixth incident of an iPhone 8 Plus burst open has been reported in China by the Oriental Daily News. (Thanks, Edwin!)

On October 4, 2011, Apple held a media event in which it introduced Find My Friends, refreshed the iPod Nano and iPod touch, and revealed the iPhone 4s with its all-new Siri voice assistant. This means that today marks the sixth year anniversary of when Apple's Siri was first introduced to the world, although the AI helper wouldn't be available to the public until the iPhone 4s launch on October 14, 2011.

In the original press releases for Siri, Apple touted using your voice to send text messages, schedule meetings, set timers, ask about the weather, and more. Apple explained Siri's understanding of context and non-direct questions, like presenting you with a weather forecast if you ask "Will I need an umbrella this weekend?"

Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.

Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location.

Apple didn't create Siri itself, however, as the company purchased the technology that’s now prevalent in all iOS devices by acquiring Siri, Inc., a spinoff of SRI International where the technology originated. Prior to the assistant's presence on iPhone, Siri was a standalone app on the App Store (launched February 2010) that offered automated personal assistant services through integrations with third-party apps like OpenTable, FlightStats, Google Maps, and more. Users could interact with these apps using Siri's voice-recognition technology, created by Nuance.

Just two months after Siri appeared on the App Store, reports of Apple's acquisition of Siri surfaced in April 2010, and the purchase was quickly confirmed by representatives and board members from the voice-recognition company. According to Siri board member Shawn Carolan, "The offer from Apple was of a scope and tenor that it was a no-brainer to accept it." The standalone app was removed from the App Store after Apple's unveiling of its own Siri in October 2011.

Over the years, Siri has debuted new features and expanded to more devices, including the iPad (June 2012), iPod Touch (September 2012), Apple Watch (April 2015), Apple TV with Siri Remote (September 2015), Mac with macOS Sierra (September 2016), and HomePod (coming December 2017).

Since 2011, Siri has become a large enough part of Apple's brand that the company just this year launched a series of advertisements focusing solely on the assistant's helpfulness, aided by actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The latest version of iOS, iOS 11, has seen a few improvements brought to Siri, including a more natural speaking voice, text-to-talk, and a translation feature.

Details about Siri's origin at Apple have continued to emerge over the years, with voice actress Susan Bennett revealing a few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the early days of the project in an interview posted earlier in 2017. Bennett described having to say "nonsense phrases" like "Say the shrodding again," which she later realized provided Apple with "all of the sounds of the English language."

The next place that Siri will be found in is Apple's HomePod speaker, which was for a long time simply called the "Siri Speaker" prior to its official unveiling at WWDC in June. HomePod will greatly rely on user interaction with Siri, allowing for music playback, HomeKit control, timer settings, news reports, and essentially most of the tasks that Siri can already do elsewhere. Most importantly, Siri will become a "musicologist" in HomePod and gain a greater understand of music-related trivia to greater enhance HomePod's position as a high-quality audio device.

Despite advancements, many users frequently point out Siri's flaws and inconsistencies in certain situations. It's been rumored previously that Apple's development on Siri has been hindered by the company's commitments to privacy. But, in an interview last month Apple VP of marketing Greg Joswiak argued that user data privacy and a smart AI assistant can co-exist: "We're able to deliver a very personalized experience... without treating you as a product that keeps your information and sells it to the highest bidder. That's just not the way we operate."

Sonos today introduced the Sonos One, an all-new smart speaker with six far-field microphones that allow it to work with digital assistants.

Sonos One can be controlled entirely with voice. At launch, it will support Amazon Alexa in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, including full voice support for Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, and TuneIn. Alexa voice control for Spotify will be coming soon after launch.

Google Assistant support will be added in 2018, making the Sonos One the first smart speaker with support for multiple major assistants.

Sonos One can play music from more than 80 streaming services, including popular ones like Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, Tidal, and Pandora. In addition, it supports other traditional Alexa capabilities related to the weather, timers, news and traffic reports, the latest sports scores, and more.

Sonos is releasing a free software update today that will enable many of its existing speakers to be controlled with Alexa as well. In the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Sonos owners can use any Alexa-enabled device like the Echo or Echo Dot to control the speaker with voice commands.

Sonos also announced that it will begin supporting Apple's AirPlay 2 in 2018, making it possible to play any sound from an iOS device on Sonos speakers. Apple users will also be able to control music on Sonos speakers with any Siri-enabled device, such as an iPhone, iPad, and the HomePod once it launches.

Sonos One comes in black or white, weighs four pounds, and has an illuminated LED indicator light to ensure you are always aware when the speaker's microphone is active. The speaker connects to a home's Wi-Fi network, and it also has one 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for those who prefer a wired connection.

The speaker features premium audio quality, with two Class-D digital amplifiers tuned to match the speaker drivers and acoustic architecture, one tweeter, one mid-woofer, adjustable bass and treble controls, and a six far-field microphone array used for advanced beamforming and echo cancellation.

Sonos One will be available starting Tuesday, October 24 for $199 in the United States. Pre-orders start today.

A new in-depth story about the ongoing legal fight between Apple and Qualcomm has been posted online today by Bloomberg Businessweek, going behind the scenes of the accusations and rebuttals made by the two tech companies. The fight centers upon the "Qualcomm tax," or the amount of money that Qualcomm charges smartphone makers for the internal components of a device that allows it to connect to a cellular signal, also known as the smartphone's modem.

According to court documents seen by Bloomberg Businessweek, the true origin of the feud is described as starting two summers ago at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. There, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee are believed to have "shared a quiet word," where Cook told Lee to "pressure" South Korean antitrust regulators into intensifying a Qualcomm investigation that had been open for about a year at the time.

Apple wanted to get itself in front of investigators and spur more questions about the Qualcomm tax, which it could do because it was in an agreement with the modem supplier. That deal had lowered the tax from $30 to about $10 per iPhone, with Apple promising not to challenge any of Qualcomm's patents. However, it meant that Apple could truthfully answer any question in an investigation about the supplier that was already under way -- which Qualcomm claims was exactly Apple's intent at the Idaho conference.

Qualcomm claims that at the event—almost certainly the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, which both Cook and Lee attended—the Apple executive urged Samsung to pressure South Korean antitrust regulators to intensify an investigation into Qualcomm that had been open since 2014. “Get aggressive,” the Apple executive said, according to Qualcomm's filing, adding that this would be the “best chance” to get Qualcomm to lower its prices.

Apple says nothing improper happened. “I don’t know what conversation they are talking about,” says Bruce Sewell, the company’s general counsel, in an interview at headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. “For Apple to have said to Samsung, ‘You guys are in Korea and you should be watching this case carefully,’ doesn’t seem to me to be anything beyond simply the kind of conversation two CEOs might have.”

The story then details a few other parts of Qualcomm's history, including its massive "Patent Wall" that greets visitors to its headquarters, displaying patents for Qualcomm's CDMA specification and others that the company claims to be for the first smartphone and app store. "I can't think of a keystroke that you can do on a phone that probably doesn't touch a Qualcomm invention," said CEO Steve Mollenkopf.

Apple was reliant on Qualcomm for this reason for many years, as it produced the highest quality modems in the supply chain and forced the Cupertino company to deal with the Qualcomm tax. That changed in 2015 when Intel began producing modems that would arrive in the iPhone 7. According to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell, "What prompted us to bring the case now as opposed to five years ago is simple, it's the availability of a second source."

This introduction of a quality second source in the modem supply chain was met with another point by Apple: a smartphone modem is simply one of many components that make up an iPhone — and of "no special significance" as modern consumers rely less on the actual cellular features of the device. These two points encouraged Apple's decision to fight back against Qualcomm, ultimately leading to Apple's lawsuit earlier this year, a Qualcomm countersuit soon after, and more companies joining Apple in its fight.

“Cellular connectivity is important,” he says, “but it’s not as important as it used to be.” On another table behind Sewell, an Apple representative has laid out two versions of the iPhone 7: One model, which has 128 gigabytes of memory was sold by Apple for $750. The other, which has 256 GB, sold for $100 more. How is it fair, Apple asks, for Qualcomm to charge as much as $5 more for the technology in the more expensive phone, given that the two devices are otherwise identical?

In July, Qualcomm claimed that Apple infringed on six of its new patents concerning battery life and graphics processing in smartphones, and in August the U.S. International Trade Commission opened an investigation into Apple's alleged infringement with a decision date aimed around the time of the September 2018 iPhone launch. The patent infringement accusation is said to be designed to disrupt Apple's supply chain and "push the company to negotiate," with Qualcomm CEO Mollenkopf stating that all of the legal back-and-forth won't last forever, expecting Apple to settle soon.

That won't happen according to Sewell: "There's no way that this case settles, absent a complete reinvention of the licensing model that Qualcomm has adapted in the industry."

Check out the fully story by Bloomberg Businessweek right here.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it will take Ireland to court for its failure to recover up to 13 billion euros ($15.3 billion) of tax due from Apple (via Reuters). Apple was ordered to pay the unpaid taxes in August 2016 after the Commission ruled that the company had received illegal state aid.

The Commission argued that Irish revenue commissioners gave Apple unfair advantage between 1991 and 2007 by allowing the company to move income from the European market through two "non-resident" head office subsidiaries based in Ireland. Ireland vowed to appeal the ruling.

“More than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, adding that Dublin had not even sought a portion of the sum.

“We of course understand that recovery in certain cases may be more complex than in others, and we are always ready to assist. But member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition,” she added.

The Commission said the deadline for Ireland to implement its decision had been Jan. 3 this year and that, until the aid was recovered, the company continued to benefit from an illegal advantage.

Ireland's finance ministry said it had never accepted the Commission's analysis in the Apple state aid decision, but would collect the money due pending Dublin's own appeal of the ruling.

"It is extremely regrettable that the Commission has taken this action, especially in relation to a case with such a large scale recovery amount," the ministry said in a statement.

Apple claimed earlier this year that the Commission made "fundamental errors" when it ruled that the company owed Ireland the unpaid taxes plus interest, and argued that the profits to those activities were attributable to the United States.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the EC's ruling "total political crap" and described the lower end 0.005 percent tax rate Apple is accused of paying as a "false number". The Apple CEO has previously said he believes the decision will be reversed.

In addition, Vestager announced a demand for Amazon to pay around 250 million euros in taxes to Luxembourg. Amazon denied it owed any back tax, and claimed it had not received any "special treatment" from Luxembourg.

"We will study the Commission's ruling and consider our legal options, including an appeal," an Amazon spokesperson said.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 produces generally better results than the iPhone 8 Plus when shooting still photography, but falls short of Apple's handset when it comes to recording video. That's according to the latest comprehensive smartphone camera test conducted by Dxo Labs, in which the two phones essentially came out tied overall.

The reviewers singled out Samsung's device for its "phenomenal" photo sub-score, which as the first smartphone to achieve 100 points in the category, "breaks new ground and makes the Note 8 the current class-leader for stills, thanks to excellent zoom quality, good noise reduction and detail preservation, and fast and accurate autofocus".

The Note 8 is Samsung's first foray into the world of dual cameras and is a great success, offering the best zoom capabilities of any mobile device we've tested to date. Add to that PDAF autofocus, optical image stabilization, Auto HDR, and a massive 6.3" Super AMOLED display, and there's plenty for smartphone photography enthusiasts to get excited about.

Overall, Note 8 achieved a DxOMark mobile score of 94 points, making it the joint-leader for smartphone image quality alongside Apple's iPhone 8 Plus, which the site previously praised for having the best smartphone camera they had ever tested. The Note 8's low-light photos showed less noise and more detail than its rivals, although HDR mode tended to clip highlights and highly backlit subjects didn't always turn out very clear.

In terms of video, the Note 8 was notable for offering good exposure with fast convergence, fast and stable autofocus, as well as good noise reduction, white balance, and color rendering. However, while the Note 8 trumped Apple's phone when taking stills, its video performance suffered due to residual motion when holding the camera still during recording, earning it a video sub-score of 84. In comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus achieved 89 in the same tests.

DxO says it has analyzed the image and video quality of over 10,000 cameras, lenses, and mobile phones, and its tests are generally respected within the industry. The company also sells some consumer-facing products like the DxO ONE camera, which can be plugged into an iPhone's Lightning connector.

The full review is worth checking out, and includes additional photos and analysis of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8's dual cameras compared to its rivals.

Apple has announced it will be opening an all-new retail store at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, California later this year.

"We've got something special in store for you," says Apple. "Introducing the all-new Century City. Join us this fall."

Apple's plans to open a more spacious store at Century City were first revealed by MacRumors last month, as part of the company's ongoing efforts to modernize its chain of nearly 500 retail stores around the world.

Apple will be in a prime location at the center of the shopping mall, which is undergoing a $1 billion expansion and modernization. The new store will be opposite an upcoming Rolex watch store, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Apple's current store at Century City opened in June 2005 and has significantly less square footage. The larger store will provide the space needed to accommodate more products, increased customer traffic, and Today at Apple sessions.

The new store should also be based on Apple's latest retail design, including large glass doors, sequoia wood tables and shelves, a large video screen for Today at Apple sessions, and light boxes spanning the length of the ceiling.

All new Apple retail stores opened since September 2015 have been based on the updated design, including Apple's flagship Union Square location in San Francisco. Apple has also renovated over 40 existing stores with the newer look.

Apple has yet to provide a more specific date for the store's grand opening, but it appears it will be at least a few weeks from now, based on the lack of intermediate Today at Apple sessions on the store's calendar through at least October 17.

Yahoo's massive data breach that occurred in August of 2013 affected all three billion Yahoo accounts that existed at the time, Yahoo parent company Verizon disclosed today in a statement on Oath.com, the website for the brand that now encompasses both AOL and Yahoo.

Previously, Yahoo said the hack affected 1 billion accounts, or a third of all accounts at the time. Verizon now says new intelligence suggests the attack was much larger, compromising all Yahoo accounts in 2013.

Subsequent to Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon, and during integration, the company recently obtained new intelligence and now believes, following an investigation with the assistance of outside forensic experts, that all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft.

Information stolen from affected accounts included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, hashed passwords, and both encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. Clear text passwords, bank account information, and credit/debit card information are not believed to have been accessed in the attack.

In a statement, Verizon says the Yahoo team is continuing to take significant steps to enhance security.

"Verizon is committed to the highest standards of accountability and transparency, and we proactively work to ensure the safety and security of our users and networks in an evolving landscape of online threats," said Chandra McMahon, Chief Information Security Officer, Verizon. "Our investment in Yahoo is allowing that team to continue to take significant steps to enhance their security, as well as benefit from Verizon's experience and resources."

Yahoo initially uncovered the attack after law enforcement officials provided the company with Yahoo user data from an unknown source. Yahoo notified users it believed were affected in 2016 at the time the attack was disclosed, but the company will now send email notifications to additional user accounts affected by the hack.

Along with the attack in 2013, Yahoo saw another data breach in 2014 that compromised 500 million accounts, and a third major breach targeting accounts between 2015 and 2016.

The security breaches affected Verizon's $4.48 billion June acquisition of Yahoo, leading Yahoo to drop its asking price by $350 million.

Yahoo is already under SEC investigation for not disclosing the data breach sooner and affected victims have been given the right to sue the company.