quickstart
12 MAXIMUMPC JUN 2019 maximumpc.com
TRIUMPHS TRAGEDIES
5PB BLACK HOLE PIC
The data used to generate the
picture needed 1,000lb of HDDs,
moved by airplane; the Internet
would have been too slow.AMAZON/GOOGLE PEACE
The settled spat means we can
look forward to YouTube on Fire
TV Sticks, and Amazon Prime
Video on Chromecast devices.WIN 10 UPDATE CHOICE
The upcoming Windows Update
will finally enable you to choose
when your machine updates.FTC LOOKS AT LOOT BOXES
The Federal Trade Commission is
to investigate the fairness of loot
boxes, often seen as gambling.NATIONAL PARK NO-NO
The maker of a drone landed in
hot water after a promo video was
revealed to have been filmed in
Yellowstone, a no-drone territory.MICROSOFT EMAIL HACK
A vulnerability in a customer
support account has lead to
hackers swiping people’s email
details and personal profiles.A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in techTech Triumphs and Tragedies
SAMSUNG’S NEW Galaxy Fold has
a problem. The first batch, sent to
reviewers, have seen screens fail at
an alarming rate. Reviewers can be ham-
fisted, and some had removed a polymer layer
from the screen that you aren’t supposed to touch.
It looks like a screen protector, but isn’t. However, it soon emerged that
they were not alone in finding the Fold to be fragile, as reports worldwide
emerged of screen failures after days of use. It seems the polymer layer
removal is a separate issue, and something more serious was happening.
After investigation, Samsung has delayed the phone’s launch. Something
has gone wrong between the design, production, and testing, despite building
a robot that opened and closed the phone 200,000 times to test the hinge.
This is embarrassing, and has reminded everyone of the problems with
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, the one that occasionally caught fire. –CLScreens break in days
SAMSUNG’S FOLDING
PHONES FAILFACEBOOK HAS YOUR
CONTACT LIST, POSSIBLY
FACEBOOK IS HAVING a hard time keeping out of the news for its data infringements. This
time, it has been harvesting people’s email contact lists without permission, since May- Until recently, it had been asking some new users to enter their email account
passwords in order to verify their account. Facebook says this was when people signed
in on systems that didn’t support the OAuth security protocol. It now seems this action
prompted Facebook to download your email contact list to its servers, and use it to
construct a map of your social circle. Facebook claims all this was “unintentional,” and it
had removed the previous voluntary system prompts, but failed to remove the process.
A recent poll of security professionals put trust in Facebook at about a quarter.
Making money out of your data is the core of Facebook’s business, and the company
is looking increasingly out of touch with its users—not good for a social network. –CL
IT “ACCIDENTALLY” DOWNLOADS 1.5 MILLION
APPLE AND QUALCOMM were at each other’s
throats mere weeks ago, embroiled in a
huge legal battle over royalty payments.
Apple challenged Qualcomm’s right to
charge what it did, and Qualcomm wanted
Apple to pay a proportion of its iPhone
revenue it owed, which it claimed had
reached over $7 billion.
At the start of April, pundits still claimed
the chance of any deal was minimal, and it
looked set to follow the pattern of Apple’s
seven-year legal war with Samsung over
smartphone patents. The case even got as
far as the opening statements. Then, in a
move that almost nobody saw coming, the
two firms signed an agreement to drop all
outstanding legal actions. Apple is to pay
Qualcomm an undisclosed sum (rumored
to be around $6 billion), and sign a six-year
licensing deal with the company, with an
optional extension.
Meanwhile, Intel has announced that
it’s leaving the 5G smartphone modem
business, and has shelved plans to release
5G modems, which were due next year.
This follows years of effort by Intel to
get into the mobile market, and not quite
getting it right. It has spent an estimated
$10 billion on research and development
on mobile devices over the years, and
was losing a billion a quarter in 2014, the
last time it reported the mobile division’s
business separately. It now has very little
to show for it. Intel will continue to work on
5G infrastructure, but will leave the chips
in phones to others.
This, then, is probably behind much
of the sudden clarity between Apple
and Qualcomm. If Intel can’t deliver a 5G
modem chip, it’s not a good idea to be
involved in a protracted—and expensive—
legal battle with a major supplier, or
customer. This leaves Qualcomm looking
rather good, and its stock price showed
it, jumping 20 percent at the news.
Meanwhile, Apple has quietly started
hiring cellular modem architects. –CLIntel drops 5G modems,
and peace reignsAPPLE AND
QUALCOMM
BURY HATCHET