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iPhone 14 – All The Rumours and Leaks So Far

Rumours about the next iPhone continue to grow. It seems as though we’ve barely got used to the current one before a new model is being teased.

The iPhone 14 is expected to be the next release in Apple’s 2022 Flagship line. There are rumours buzzing around regarding the design, price, and features, but these should all be handled with caution. Plenty of the iPhone 13 rumours turned out to be false, so we can expect to see similar with the iPhone 14.

We have not seen specific rumours regarding the iPhone 14’s suspected release date. But what we do know is that Apple is hosting WWDC 2022 starting June 6 and it is likely that iOS 16 will be announced, the next major software version for the iPhone. There has been no date announced from Apple for an Autumn event, which is typically when the next iPhone is announced. Generally, the Autumn event in the US is sometime in September, with releases coming shortly after.

The latest buzz points to the iPhone 14 receiving a better front-facing camera, thanks to a potential new lens supplier.

We’ve also heard that the iPhone 14 series may have an under-display Touch ID, a more durable titanium alloy body, a hole-and-pill shaped display, and a bigger camera bump.

A shakeup of the lineup also seems likely as Apple is expected to say goodbye to the Mini.

We may also finally see the rumoured satellite communication connectivity in the iPhone 14 series. Whilst the feature was expected to debut with the iPhone 13 series, it’s been rumoured that Apple has been working on enabling users to make calls and send texts in areas without cellular coverage. This could be a huge gamechanger, and a significant safety feature if true. 

New iPhones always include camera improvements, and the iPhone 14 is no exception. There are rumoured improvements to the Ultra Wide camera, and a possibility that Apple will introduce a periscope zoom lens that allows for much greater optical zoom, but it’s still not yet clear if this will come in 2022 or 2023. 

There are conflicting rumours regarding the iPhone 14’s rear camera bump. Some reports have stated that a redesign for the upcoming phones would remove the chunky camera bump, whilst Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the bump will actually be expanded to accommodate a wider camera with a 48-mega pixel camera system.

Starting in 2022, high-end iPhone models are likely to adopt a vapour chamber thermal system, which Apple is rumoured to be “aggressively testing.” The VC thermal system will be required for the high-end iPhones due to their stronger computing power and faster 5G connection speeds. There are already smartphones from companies like Samsung, Razer, and LG that use vapour chamber cooling technology, which is used to keep a device cooler when it is under heavy stress.

There have been rumours that Apple is aiming to remove the Lightning port from the iPhone for a portless design with charging done over MagSafe, but it’s not clear if that technology will be introduced with the 2022 iPhone models.

Apple is working on a car crash detection feature for the iPhone and the Apple Watch, which could come out in 2022. It would use sensors like the accelerometer to detect car accidents when they occur by measuring a spike in gravitational force. When a car crash is detected, the iPhone or the Apple Watch would automatically dial emergency services to get help. Since it’s planned for 2022, this could be a feature designed for the iPhone 14 models and the Apple Watch Series 8, though it’s not likely to be limited to those devices. It would be an expansion of the Fall Detection feature that’s in existing Apple Watch and iPhone models.

The iPhone 14 is expected to feature WiFi 6E connectivity, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that WiFi 6E will offer the high-speed wireless transmissions necessary for AR and VR experiences, and it is also expected to be used in the mixed reality headset that could come out in 2022.

The iPhone 14 models may launch without a physical SIM slot, with Apple transitioning to an eSIM-only design. Apple is allegedly advising major U.S. carriers to prepare for the launch of eSIM-only smartphones by 2022, which suggests some iPhone 14 models may be the first to come without a SIM slot.

As always, new rumours and leaks are being reported every day, but all should be handled with a grain of salt until legitimate verification can be acquired.

By July 15, 2023 0
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Google Urged to Stop Tracking Location Data Ahead of Roe Reversal

Lawmakers argue Android phone data could be “weaponized against women” if the US Supreme Court officially overturns abortion protections.

MORE THAN 40 Democratic members of Congress called on Google to stop collecting and retaining customer location data that prosecutors could use to identify women who obtain abortions.

“We are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google’s current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care. That’s because Google stores historical location information about hundreds of millions of smartphone users, which it routinely shares with government agencies,” Democrats wrote May 24 in a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). The letter was sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Specifically, Google should stop collecting “unnecessary customer location data” or “any non-aggregate location data about individual customers, whether in identifiable or anonymized form. Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women,” lawmakers wrote. They also told Google that people who use iPhones “have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices.”

The draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade could be followed by strict limits or bans on abortion in many states, and Democrats wrote that “Republicans in Congress are already discussing passing a law criminalizing abortion in all 50 states, putting the government in control of women’s bodies.” 

Location Data From Android Phones

In their letter, Democrats told Pichai:

While Google deserves credit for being one of the first companies in America to insist on a warrant before disclosing location data to law enforcement, that is not enough. If abortion is made illegal by the far-right Supreme Court and Republican lawmakers, it is inevitable that right-wing prosecutors will obtain legal warrants to hunt down, prosecute, and jail women for obtaining critical reproductive health care. The only way to protect your customers’ location data from such outrageous government surveillance is to not keep it in the first place.

Google obtains detailed information “from Android smartphones, which collect and transmit location information to Google, regardless of whether the phone is being used or which app a user has open,” they wrote. While Android users have to opt into this data collection, “Google has designed its Android operating system so that consumers can only enable third party apps to access location data if they also allow Google to receive their location data too. In contrast, Google is only able to collect location data from users of iPhones when they are using the Google Maps app,” the lawmakers wrote.

We contacted Google about the letter yesterday and will update this article if we get a response.

Exactly how Google’s location privacy settings work has been a matter of confusion, even for some Google employees. As we wrote in August 2020, documents from a consumer fraud suit the state of Arizona filed against Google “show that company employees knew and discussed among themselves that the company’s location privacy settings were confusing and potentially misleading.”

Democrats Say iPhone Users Have More Privacy

Because many of the cheaper smartphones use Android, the lawmakers warned of a “digital divide” affecting the privacy of people with low incomes:

No law requires Google to collect and keep records of its customers’ every movement. Apple has shown that it is not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers’ locations. Google’s intentional choice to do so is creating a new digital divide, in which privacy and security are made a luxury. Americans who can afford an iPhone have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices.

While Google uses location data to target online ads, the company often turns over the data to law enforcement officials who obtain court orders, the Democrats wrote. “This includes dragnet ‘geofence’ orders demanding data about everyone who was near a particular location at a given time,” they wrote, adding that “Google received 11,554 geofence warrants in 2020.”

iPhones also use location services, though the lawmakers seem to be satisfied with Apple’s privacy promises. Among other things, Apple says that if location services are turned on, geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers are sent “in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple” to augment a “crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations.”

With the Find My feature that can locate lost devices, Apple says it “retains location information and makes it accessible to you for 24 hours, after which it is deleted” and that “device location services information is stored on each individual device and Apple cannot retrieve this information from any specific device.”

Post-Roe State Abortion Laws

Assuming the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, there could be more state laws like the recently enacted Texas Heartbeat Act that bans abortions after it’s possible to detect a “fetal heartbeat.” The law defines that as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.” This effectively bans abortions after six weeks, and the state law lets private citizens file lawsuits to obtain injunctions and damages of at least $10,000 per abortion.

These lawsuits could be filed against anyone who “performs or induces an abortion” that violates the Texas Heartbeat Act or anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets” an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Aiding or abetting includes “paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise, if the abortion is performed or induced in violation of this subchapter.” Civil suits can also be filed against anyone who “intends to engage in the conduct” described in the law.

The Texas law doesn’t allow the exact scenario Democrats warned of in their letter, that prosecutors could jail women who obtain abortions. But states would have more leeway to enact stricter anti-abortion laws or bans after lifting Roe v. Wade.

The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, says that “26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion without Roe.” Many of these states have laws that were enacted before the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and never removed, laws that were enacted after Roe but currently blocked by court order, or “trigger” bans that would “take effect automatically or by quick state action if Roe no longer applies.”

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

By July 15, 2023 0
Uncategorized

‘Dragon of Death’ Unearthed in Argentina Is One of the Largest Pterosaurs Ever Discovered

The ancient flying terrors were as large as school buses.

The ‘Dragon of Death’ feasted on birds over 80 million years ago.

Imagine a winged dinosaur the size of a school bus casting a massive shadow over you as it swoops down to Earth. Fossils of such a beast, dubbed the “dragon of death,” have been unearthed by scientists in the Andes mountains region of Argentina, according to a report by Reuters.

The ancient flying reptiles roamed the skies 86 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, at around the same time as dinosaurs. The creature had a huge wingspan, measuring up to about 30-feet long.

This new species is now one of the largest flying reptiles discovered worldwide, and the largest found in South America.

“Dragon of death” is a catchy moniker stemming from the newly discovered creature’s official scientific name: Thanatosdrakon amaru. The name is a combination of the ancient Greek words for death (thanatos) and dragon (drakon).

“It seemed appropriate to name it that way,” project leader Leonardo Ortiz told Reuters. “It’s the dragon of death.”

The research was published in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research in April.

By July 15, 2023 0
Uncategorized

‘Stranger Things’ or ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’: Which Will You Watch?

Netflix and Disney Plus stream their big hitters May 27. CNET staffers make the case for Stranger Things or Star Wars. Are you Team Hawkins or Team Tatooine?

The next Star Wars TV show pits Obi-Wan Kenobi against his darkest enemy, Darth Vader. But that isn’t the only clash of titans on your screens right now. Rival streaming services Disney Plus and Netflix go head to head as the Obi-Wan Kenobi show and Stranger Things season 4 premiere on the very same day — today, Friday May 27.

Disney Plus hadn’t even debuted when Stranger Things launched on Netflix in July 2016. We’ve watched the kids from Hawkins, Indiana, tackle teen angst and Upside Down monsters in this ’80s-influenced monster hit. By contrast, Obi-Wan Kenobi sees Star Wars star Ewan McGregor pick up his lightsaber for the first time in 17 years. And it turns out both are pretty good — CNET’s Richard Trenholm calls Obi-Wan “assured, pacey and … most importantly, character-driven”, while CNET’s Gael Cooper says season 4 of Stranger Things is “the best one yet.” Decisions, decisions!

We asked CNET’s staffers which of these two sci-fi epics they’re most psyched to see. Which will you choose?

Hello there

Much as I love spending time in the neon glow of Stranger Things, I’m extremely eager to follow old Obi-Wan Kenobi on some damned-fool idealistic crusade. Star Wars is irresistible, McGregor has only gotten better in the years since Revenge of the Sith, and director Deborah Chow helmed some of The Mandalorian’s finest episodes.

I’d happily watch Obi-Wan just wander around Tatooine for six episodes, but it sure looks like he’ll have to show some Imperials who’s boss. It’s going to be epic.

Turn me upside down… again

I love Star Wars, but I’m more excited about Stranger Things. And before you boo me, let me explain. We know Obi-Wan will be fine. There’s no tension, danger or mystery about what’s going to happen to him. We already know he falls to Darth Vader aboard the Death Star so Luke and the crew can escape. Any tension or sense of danger within Obi-Wan’s show is undercut by the fact that we know how his story plays out.

The story of Eleven and the rest of our Hawkins gang, on the other hand, is a mystery. We can guess and speculate, but we don’t know. I want to be at least a little surprised about what happens. That’s what’s pulling me to Stranger Things.

A tough choice

That’s a tough choice. Both appeal to my Gen-X DNA. Modern Star Wars products feel so overwarmed and designed-by-committee that I can’t imagine anything surprising. From the trailers, Obi-Wan (the show) looks like The Book of Boba Fett, which looked like The Mandalorian, etc. Apparently space is… mostly desert.

Stranger Things does feel like it ran out of ideas after the first two seasons. Sometimes it’s OK to say: “We’ve done enough, we’ve told our story, let’s go out on top.”

I did go to the in-person Stranger Things Experience in NYC a few weeks ago, however, so maybe I’m all talk. Complaining and overanalyzing is a pivotal part of fandom, so that’s just my way of saying I’ll be watching both.

A celebration

I am really excited to watch both of these shows at some point, but Obi-Wan will absolutely be coming first, and really for me it comes down to timing. Stranger Things was one of the first horror-adjacent things I could watch with my kids, one of which is now deeply happy to sit and enjoy anything spooky. And the recent teases that this next season is going to lean darker really has me curious. But as I write this, I’m double-checking the pieces of my Jedi robes I’ve spent the last month assembling for the Star Wars Celebration convention happening on the same day as the release of Obi-Wan. So, obviously, that’s going to be something I’ll need to watch first to avoid any spoilers at the con. 

Help me, Obi-Wan

This is probably sacrilege, but Stranger Things has never really done anything for me. Right from the start, I didn’t have much emotional connection to those 1980s retro touchstones like The Goonies or Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe I’m missing out, but I haven’t watched it since the first season.

But Ewan McGregor with a lightsaber? That is extremely my jam. Star Wars TV shows have been a mix after the excellent Mandalorian and the plodding Book of Boba Fett, but Obi-Wan is a character who just exudes that big-screen Star Wars magic. In my mind, the franchise is crying out for some of that energy. And if the first episodes aren’t so great? Top Gun: Maverick is in theaters this weekend, and that’s a lot of fun.

It's pulling us in!

Given the history, I am 100% sure that Stranger Things will be a better season of television. Besides a few dud episodes, the Duffer brothers have barely put a foot wrong with what has ultimately become one of the most influential TV shows in the short history of streaming television. I’ve loved Stranger Things with every fiber of my being.

But unfortunately, Star Wars is Star Wars. Like a decaying draugr, ambling awkwardly in the direction of brains, fate has decreed I must flay myself once more at the altar of George Lucas. Like most long-term Star Wars obsessives, I’m duty bound to watch this show the second it drops. Also like most Star Wars fans, I’m duty bound to complain about it online.

I fully expect that Obi-Wan will be disappointing and underwhelming, but I will be there from day one, desperately hoping to be “whelmed.”

By July 15, 2023 0
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