Tech

fitbit-users-struggle-with-“very-frustrating”-app-bugs-for-months

Fitbit users struggle with “very frustrating” app bugs for months

fitbit, Google, smartwatch, Software, Tech / /

iOS and Android —

People have been complaining about some of the issues since at least April.

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Fitbit's Charge 6.

Enlarge / Fitbit’s Charge 6.

Google

Users of Fitbit’s iOS and Android apps have been reporting problems with the apps’ ability to sync and collect and display accurate data. Some have been complaining of such problems since at least April, and Fitbit has been working on addressing syncing issues since at least September 3. However, Google’s Fitbit hasn’t said when it expects the bugs to be totally resolved.

On September 3, Fitbit’s Status Dashboard updated to show a service disruption, pointing to an incident affecting the web API.

“Some users may notice data discrepancies or syncing issues between [third-party] apps and Fitbit. Our team is currently investigating the root cause of the issue,” the dashboard reads.

On September 3, Fitbit also released version 4.24 of its mobile apps. It’s unclear if the update is related to the problems. At least some of the complaints in this story started coming to light before September.

Owners of older and newer Fitbit devices have taken to the company’s online support forum to discuss software problems they’re reportedly having. There are several threads with dozens of pages’ worth of responses pointing to issues, like the app’s dashboard “deleting steps and not syncing properly,” the app recording steps but not distance traveled, the app seemingly showing inaccurate data, and other bugs.

When reached for comment about the complaints, a Google spokesperson told Ars Technica: “We’re aware of the issue and are working hard to get it resolved.”

Monthslong problems

Some of the complaints about the apps have seemingly gone on for months. Fitbit representatives have said online that the issues are being worked on.

For example, in an 11-page thread on Fitbit’s community forum, users say the app inaccurately claims that they’ve taken about the same number of steps per day for several days in a row. The thread began on April 10. On September 8, a Fitbit moderator said that Fitbit “is aware of the situation and is working on a solution to it.”

“We haven’t received any time frame yet, how long our team still needs to solve this. Hopefully it will be fixed soon,” the Fitbit moderator going by JuanFitbit said.

The Fitbit app.

The Fitbit app.

Google

In another thread, started on July 3, a Charge 5 user claimed that their iOS is tracking steps but not kilometers traveled. On September 18, JuanFitbit posted in the thread: “We still haven’t received an update on how long this will take. But our team has this problem as one of their priorities to solve.”

“Insanely annoying”

As expected, the ongoing bugs and broken features have left users frustrated and hungry for a solution.

“This is insanely annoying,” a forum user going by MonkeyPants wrote on September 11. “The app has constant syncing issues especially with the One.”

Since acquiring Fitbit in 2021, Google has ushered sweeping changes to the platform, including removing the online dashboard, social features, and the ability to sync Fitbits with computers. Some long-time Fitbit owners have accused Google of reducing Fitbit support and quality in favor of Google Pixel Watches. For its part, Google has denied that it will stop making Fitbit products.

On Fitbit’s forum, a user called DustyStone claimed they are having problems with the app’s dashboard losing steps and not syncing properly. They said this happened with both an old Fitbit One and newly purchased Inspire 3:

It looks that Google just somehow screwed up the app. Worse yet, nothing has changed in weeks. Google is a tier 1 tech company. But their response to this issue and the deletion of the web based Fitbit platform shows that may no longer be the case.

Similarly, MBWaldo said they are “not sure how serious the fitbit team is about resolving” the app problems while lamenting the lack of an online dashboard, like countless other users we’ve seen.

“Very frustrating!!!!,” MBWaldo wrote. “I have been experiencing this for several days now. I have deleted app and reinstalled it, I have unpaired and re-paired the ONE and looked for app updates in the app store – NADA. And of course the dashboard is no longer available at fitbit.com.”

Some app problems fixed

Based on Fitbit’s forums, it seems that at least some recently reported software problems have been fixed.

For example, some customers recently pointed to a problem with the apps’ “Exercise days” tiles not loading properly being fixed. Some people have also said that they’re no longer experiencing a problem where the app was listing calorie counts for days in the future.

One only needs to go back to the recent Sonos app debacle for a reminder of the importance of ensuring that software changes won’t hurt the experience of already-purchased hardware. A company’s bad app and slow response to issues can ruin otherwise functioning hardware and discourage future purchases.

Although this is different from the Charge 5’s battery problems that were suspected to be caused by a firmware update—Google denied this was the case but didn’t provide an alternate answer—it’s an improvement to see Google at least acknowledge the app problems. But killing features combined with a broken app experience won’t help the wearables brand’s errant reputation. Fixes are reportedly in the works, but for some it may be too little too late.

Fitbit users struggle with “very frustrating” app bugs for months Read More »

real-time-linux-is-officially-part-of-the-kernel-after-decades-of-debate

Real-time Linux is officially part of the kernel after decades of debate

Biz & IT, Linus Torvalds, Linux, RTOS, steven rostedt, Tech / /

No RTO needed for RTOS —

Now you can run your space laser or audio production without specialty patches.

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CNC laser skipping across a metal surface, leaving light trails in long exposure.

Enlarge / Cutting metal with lasers is hard, but even harder when you don’t know the worst-case timings of your code.

Getty Images

As is so often the case, a notable change in an upcoming Linux kernel is both historic and no big deal.

If you wanted to use “Real-Time Linux” for your audio gear, your industrial welding laser, or your Mars rover, you have had that option for a long time (presuming you didn’t want to use QNX or other alternatives). Universities started making their own real-time kernels in the late 1990s. A patch set, PREEMPT_RT, has existed since at least 2005. And some aspects of the real-time work, like NO_HZ, were long ago moved into the mainline kernel, enabling its use in data centers, cloud computing, or anything with a lot of CPUs.

But officialness still matters, and in the 6.12 kernel, PREEMPT_RT will likely be merged into the mainline. As noted by Steven Vaughan-Nichols at ZDNet, the final sign-off by Linus Torvalds occurred while he was attending Open Source Summit Europe. Torvalds wrote the original code for printk, a debugging tool that can pinpoint exact moments where a process crashes, but also introduces latency that runs counter to real-time computing. The Phoronix blog has tracked the progress of PREEMPT_RT into the kernel, along with the printk changes that allowed for threaded/atomic console support crucial to real-time mainlining.

What does this mean for desktop Linux? Not much. Beyond high-end audio production or replication (and even that is debatable), a real-time kernel won’t likely make windows snappier or programs zippier. But the guaranteed execution and worst-case latency timings a real-time Linux provides are quite useful to, say, the systems that monitor car brakes, guide CNC machines, and regulate fiendishly complex multi-CPU systems. Having PREEMPT-RT in the mainline kernel makes it easier to maintain a real-time system, rather than tend to out-of-tree patches.

It will likely change things for what had been, until now, specialty providers of real-time OS solutions for mission-critical systems. Ubuntu, for example, started offering a real-time version of its distribution in 2023 but required an Ubuntu Pro subscription for access. Ubuntu pitched its release at robotics, automation, embedded Linux, and other real-time needs, with the fixes, patches, module integration, and testing provided by Ubuntu.

“Controlling a laster with Linux is crazy,” Torvalds said at the Kernel Summit of 2006, “but everyone in this room is crazy in his own way. So if you want to use Linux to control an industrial welding laser, I have no problem with your using PREEMPT_RT.” Roughly 18 years later, Torvalds and the kernel team, including longtime maintainer and champion-of-real-time Steven Rostedt, have made it even easier to do that kind of thing.

Real-time Linux is officially part of the kernel after decades of debate Read More »

30th-anniversary-limited-run-ps5-and-ps5-pro-bring-back-mid-’90s-gray-plastic

30th-anniversary limited-run PS5 and PS5 Pro bring back mid-’90s gray plastic

gaming, PlayStation 5, ps5, ps5 pro, Tech / /

u r not (red) e —

Sony launched a similar gray PlayStation 4 in 2014 for the 20th anniversary.

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  • The PS5 Pro version of the 30th anniversary bundle comes with both varieties of DualSense controller, a plate for an (optional) optical drive, and other accessories.

    Sony

  • The regular PS5 version of the limited edition console.

    Sony

  • This is still a PS5 Pro, despite the PS1-inspired casing.

    Sony

  • It’s possible that Sony should have never stopped using the multicolor PS logo.

    Sony

  • The limited-edition PlayStation Portal.

    Sony

Sony launched the original PlayStation console in Japan on December 3, 1994, and Sony isn’t letting the 30th anniversary pass by quietly. Today the company has announced limited-edition versions of both the PS5 and PS5 Pro with gray plastic shells and multicolored PlayStation logos, inspired by the gray plastic shells of the original. The retro-inspired modern consoles will be released on November 21 and will be available for preorder starting September 26 from Sony’s direct.playstation.com site.

Sony is also releasing DualSense and DualSense Edge controllers with gray shells and colorful PS logo buttons and a gray version of the Switch-esque PlayStation Portal streaming console. Sony says that the limited-edition PS5 Pro will be limited to 12,300 units—a reference to the December 3 launch date—but didn’t mention any specific manufacturing numbers for the regular PS5, either DualSense controller design, or the PlayStation Portal.

Both console bundles also come with a handful of other accessories: a PS logo sticker, a PS logo paperclip, cable ties, and (my personal favorite) a regular USB-C cable with a giant, chunky PS1-style controller connector on one end.

Though they’re inspired by the original PlayStation, neither limited edition console comes with a built-in optical drive; however, they do include the gray plastic enclosure for anyone who chooses to add an $80 optical drive after the fact.

The USB-C cable with the PS1-style connector housing on it may be my favorite part of this entire announcement.

Enlarge / The USB-C cable with the PS1-style connector housing on it may be my favorite part of this entire announcement.

Sony

Sony has, notably, announced no pricing information for either console or any of the controllers or other accessories, though it almost doesn’t matter—the nature of limited-edition gaming-related collectibles is such that enthusiasts and scalpers will snap these consoles up shortly after launch, regardless of whether Sony sells them at the usual MSRP or not.

Sony released a similar PS1-inspired version of the PlayStation 4 for the PlayStation’s 20th anniversary in 2014, and it still fetches a high price—upward of $1,000 on eBay for used versions in good condition and between $1,500 and $2,000 for mint-in-box consoles.

Listing image by Sony

30th-anniversary limited-run PS5 and PS5 Pro bring back mid-’90s gray plastic Read More »

patents-for-software-and-genetic-code-could-be-revived-by-two-bills-in-congress

Patents for software and genetic code could be revived by two bills in Congress

EFF, Gene patents, Linux Foundation, patents, pera, Policy, prevail, software patents, Tech / /

Patently retro —

PERA and PREVAIL want to re-enable patents struck down by Supreme Court rulings.

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Image from the patent office of a patent for

Enlarge / An image from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where in 1874, the newest thing was not software or genetic compositions, but shutter fastenings from H.L. Norton.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider two bills Thursday that would effectively nullify the Supreme Court’s rulings against patents on broad software processes and human genes. Open source and Internet freedom advocates are mobilizing and pushing back.

The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (or PERA, S. 2140), sponsored by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), would amend US Code such that “all judicial exceptions to patent eligibility are eliminated.” That would include the 2014 ruling in which the Supreme Court held, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing, that simply performing an existing process on a computer does not make it a new, patentable invention. “The relevant question is whether the claims here do more than simply instruct the practitioner to implement the abstract idea of intermediated settlement on a generic computer,” Thomas wrote. “They do not.”

That case also drew on Bilski v. Kappos, a case in which a patent was proposed based solely on the concept of hedging against price fluctuations in commodity markets.

Open source groups hunker down

Software and Internet advocates have taken notice. This week, the Linux Foundation, working with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), announced an expanded partnership with Unified Patents, intended to defend open source software against what it gamely calls “non-practicing entities” (NPEs), but most people would term patent trolls. “As the risk and volume of frivolous litigation against open source projects grows, the need to provide accessible protection from NPEs has become crucial,” the Linux Foundation writes.

In interviews with The Register, leaders at CNCF and Unified Patents described patent trolls as actively chasing any widespread technology, aiming for settlements over the cost of trials. Nearly 98 percent of NPE claims are settled, according to Unified Patents, but NPE claims challenged at the US Patent and Trademark Appeals Board lose 67 percent of the time.

Challenging patent claims, however valid, could get tougher under the PREVAIL Act, the other bill being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. PREVAIL would, among other changes, limit patent challenge petitions to 14,000 words, hampering attempts to debunk complex patents. The Act would also eliminate clearance patents, which companies can use to clear any infringement claims prior to their own products’ release.

Clearing the way for genome patents

Another wrinkle in the PERA bill involves genetic patents. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2013 that pieces of DNA that occur naturally in the genomes of humans or other organisms cannot, themselves, be patented. Myriad Genetics had previously been granted patents on genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which were targeted in a lawsuit led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The resulting Supreme Court decision—this one also written by Thomas—found that information that naturally occurs in the human genome could not be the subject to a patent, even if the patent covered the process of isolating that information from the rest of the genome. As with broad software patents, PERA would seemingly allow for the patenting of isolated human genes and connections between those genes and diseases like cancer.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) describes PERA and PREVAIL as “a huge gift to patent trolls, a few tech firms that aggressively license patents, and patent lawyers. For everyone else, it will be a huge loss.” The EFF maintains a collection of stories of people claiming their jobs or avocations were “Saved by Alice” (the Supreme Court ruling).

The Judiciary Committee is set to debate and potentially amend or rewrite PREVAIL and PERA (i.e. mark up) on Thursday. Tillis told Axios that the bills are necessary for “Biotech, a number of emerging sectors [needing] relief, or we’re just going to stifle innovation.” Most Judiciary Committee members have not indicated their votes on the bills. Pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA supports the bills, while numerous advocates for lower-cost drugs and biosimilars oppose them.

Patents for software and genetic code could be revived by two bills in Congress Read More »

amazon-“tricks”-customers-into-buying-fire-tvs-with-false-sales-prices:-lawsuit

Amazon “tricks” customers into buying Fire TVs with false sales prices: Lawsuit

Amazon, fire tv, Policy, Tech, TVs / /

Fire TV pricing under fire —

Lawsuit claims list prices only available for “extremely short period” sometimes.

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A promotional image for Amazon's 4-Series Fire TVs.

Enlarge / A promotional image for Amazon’s 4-Series Fire TVs.

A lawsuit is seeking to penalize Amazon for allegedly providing “fake list prices and purported discounts” to mislead people into buying Fire TVs.

As reported by Seattle news organization KIRO 7, a lawsuit seeking class-action certification and filed in US District Court for the Western District of Washington on September 12 [PDF] claims that Amazon has been listing Fire TV and Fire TV bundles with “List Prices” that are higher than what the TVs have recently sold for, thus creating “misleading representation that customers are getting a ‘Limited time deal.'” The lawsuit accuses Amazon of violating Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.

The plaintiff, David Ramirez, reportedly bought a 50-inch 4-Series Fire TV in February for $299.99. The lawsuit claims the price was listed as 33 percent off and a “Limited time deal” and that Amazon “advertised a List Price of $449.99, with the $449.99 in strikethrough text.” As of this writing, the 50-inch 4-Series 4K TV on Amazon is marked as having a “Limited time deal” of $299.98.

A screenshot from Amazon taken today.

Enlarge / A screenshot from Amazon taken today.

Camelcamelcamel, which tracks Amazon prices, claims that the cheapest price of the TV on Amazon was $280 in July. The website also claims that the TV’s average price is $330.59; the $300 or better deal seems to have been available on dates in August, September, October, November, and December of 2023, as well as in July, August, and September 2024. The TV was most recently sold at the $449.99 “List Price” in October 2023 and for short periods in July and August 2024, per Camelcamelcamel.

The 50-inch 4-Series Fire TV's Amazon price history, according to Camelcamelcamel.

Enlarge / The 50-inch 4-Series Fire TV’s Amazon price history, according to Camelcamelcamel.

Amazon’s website has an information icon next to “List Prices” that, when hovered over, shows a message stating: “The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product’s prevailing market price.”

The lawsuit against Amazon alleges that Amazon is claiming items were sold at their stated List Price within 90 days but were not:

… this representation is false and misleading, and Amazon knows it. Each of the Fire TVs in this action was sold with advertised List Price that were not sold by Amazon at or above those prices in more than 90 days, making the above statement, as well as the sales prices and percentage discounts, false and misleading. As of September 10, 2024, most of the Fire TVs were not sold at the advertised List Prices since 2023 but were instead consistently sold well below (often hundreds of dollars below) the List Prices during the class period.

When contacted by Ars Technica, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction against Amazon.

“Amazon tricks its customers”

The lawsuit claims that “misleading” List Prices harm customers while also allowing Amazon to create a “false” sense of urgency to get a discount. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon has used misleading practices for 15 Fire TV models/bundles.

The lawsuit claims that in some cases, the List Price was only available for “an extremely short period, in some instances as short as literally one day.“

The suit reads:

Amazon tricks its customers into buying Fire TVs by making them believe they are buying Fire TVs at steep discounts. Amazon omits critical information concerning how long putative “sales” would last, and when the List Prices were actually in use, which Plaintiff and class members relied on to their detriment. Amazon’s customers spent more money than they otherwise would have if not for the purported time-limited bargains.

Further, Amazon is accused of using these List Price tactics to “artificially” drive Fire TV demand, putting “upward pressure on the prices that” Amazon can charge for the smart TVs.

The legal document points to a similar 2021 case in California [PDF], where Amazon was sued for allegedly deceptive reference prices. It agreed to pay $2 million in penalties and restitution.

Other companies selling electronics have also been scrutinized for allegedly making products seem like they typically and/or recently have sold for more money. For example, Dell Australia received an AUD$10 million fine (about $6.49 million) for “making false and misleading representations on its website about discount prices for add-on computer monitors,” per the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

Now’s a good time to remind friends and family who frequently buy tech products online to use price checkers like Camelcamelcamel and PCPartPicker to compare products with similar specs and features across different retailers.

Amazon “tricks” customers into buying Fire TVs with false sales prices: Lawsuit Read More »

tcl-accused-of-selling-quantum-dot-tvs-without-actual-quantum-dots

TCL accused of selling quantum dot TVs without actual quantum dots

tcl, Tech, TVs / /
Many playing video games on TCL C655 Pro

Enlarge / TCL’s C655 Pro TV is advertised as a quantum dot Mini LED TV.

TCL has come under scrutiny this month after testing that claimed to examine three TCL TVs marketed as quantum dot TVs reportedly showed no trace of quantum dots.

Quantum dots are semiconductor particles that are several nanometers large and emit different color lights when struck with light of a certain frequency. The color of the light emitted by the quantum dot depends on the wavelength, which is impacted by the quantum dot’s size. Some premium TVs (and computer monitors) use quantum dots so they can display a wider range of colors.

Quantum dots have become a large selling point for LCD-LED, Mini LED, and QD-OLED TVs, and quantum dot TVs command higher prices. A TV manufacturer pushing off standard TVs as quantum dot TVs would create a scandal significant enough to break consumer trust in China’s biggest TV manufacturer and could also result in legal ramifications.

But with TCL sharing conflicting testing results, and general skepticism around TCL being able to pull off such an anti-consumer scam in a way that would benefit it financially, this case of questionable colorful TVs isn’t so black and white. So, Ars Technica sought more clarity on the situation.

Tests unable to detect quantum dots in TCL TVs

Earlier this month, South Korean IT news publication ETNews published a report on testing that seemingly showed three TCL quantum dot TVs, marketed as QD TVs, as not having quantum dots present.

Hansol Chemical, a Seoul-headquartered chemicals company, commissioned the testing. SGS, a Geneva-headquartered testing and certification company, and Intertek, a London-headquartered testing and certification company, performed the tests.

The models examined were TCL’s C755, said to be a quantum dot Mini LED TV, the C655, a purported quantum dot LED (QLED) TV, and the C655 Pro, another QLED. None of those models are sold in the US, but TCL sells various Mini LED and LED TVs in the US that claim to use quantum dots.

According to a Google translation, ETNews reported: “According to industry sources on the 5th, the results of tests commissioned by Hansol Chemical to global testing and certification agencies SGS and Intertek showed that indium… and cadmium… were not detected in three TCL QD TV models. Indium and cadmium are essential materials that cannot be omitted in QD implementation.”

The testing was supposed to detect cadmium if present at a minimum concentration of 0.5 mg per 1 kg, while indium was tested at a minimum detection standard of 2 mg/kg or 5 mg/kg, depending on the testing lab.

These are the results from Intertek and SGS’s testing, as reported by display tech publication Display Daily:

Testing Lab TCL Model Measured Indium Cadmium Indium Minimum Detection Standard (mg/kg) Cadmium Minimum Detection Standard (mg/kg)
Intertek C755 Sheet Undetected Undetected 2 mg/kg 0.5 mg/kg
Intertek C655 Diffusion Plate Undetected Undetected 2 mg/kg 0.5 mg/kg
SGS C655 Pro Sheet Undetected Undetected 5 mg/kg 0.5 mg/kg
SGS C655 Pro Diffusion Plate Undetected Undetected 5 mg/kg 0.5 mg/kg
SGS C655 Pro Sheet Undetected Undetected 5 mg/kg 0.5 mg/kg

TCL accused of selling quantum dot TVs without actual quantum dots Read More »

apple-software-leaks-new-mac-mini-with-five-usb-c-ports-ahead-of-rumored-event

Apple software leaks new Mac mini with five USB-C ports ahead of rumored event

Apple, apple m4, Apple silicon, ipad, iPadOS, m4, Mac, macOS, Macs, Tech / /

m4 macs with m4 max? —

Apple often launches Macs and iPads in October, after the iPhone dust settles.

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Apple's M3 Max-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro. New Pro laptops and some desktops could be on tap for later this fall.

Enlarge / Apple’s M3 Max-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro. New Pro laptops and some desktops could be on tap for later this fall.

Andrew Cunningham

Apple’s newest iPhones and Apple Watches don’t come out until later this week, but the rumor mill is already indicating that Apple is planning a product announcement for October to refresh some of the products that didn’t get a mention at the iPhone event. Apple scheduled its release calendar similarly last year, when it announced and released new iPhones in September and then launched the first wave of M3 Macs around Halloween.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that the event will mainly focus on the first wave of Macs with M4 processors, following the standard M4’s introduction in the iPad Pro earlier this year. As he has reported previously, he expects new MacBook Pro models with the M4 and “pro-level M4 chip options,” presumably the M4 Pro and M4 Max. He also expects an M4 version of the 24-inch iMac.

But the most interesting of the new Macs will still be the redesigned Mac mini, which hasn’t gotten an M3 update at all and has been using the same basic external design since 2010. This Mac mini is said to be closer in size to the Apple TV than the current mini, but still uses an internal power supply so that owners won’t have to wrangle a power brick. At least some of the current device’s ports will be replaced by USB-C and/or Thunderbolt ports, something that MacRumors apparently confirmed earlier today when they found a reference to an “Apple silicon Mac mini (5 ports)” in an Apple software update (some of those ports are reportedly on the front of the device, a nice Mac Studio design upgrade that I’d like to see on a new Mac mini).

The “five port” descriptor does imply that there will be another model with either more or fewer ports—Apple used similar terminology to distinguish the two- and four-port versions of some MacBook Pro models in the Intel days. The current M2 Mac mini models have fewer ports than the models with the M2 Pro chip, because the more powerful processor also has more I/O capabilities—assuming we get one Mac mini with an M4 and an upgraded model with an M4 Pro, we’d expect the Pro version to have more ports.

Gurman says that other Mac models, including the Mac Studio, Mac Pro, and MacBook Air, will see M4-series updates throughout 2025. Of those, the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro have gone the longest without an update—they’re all still using M2-series chips.

Apple is also said to be planning some new lower-end iPads for the October event—not the first time that Macs and iPads have shared billing for one of these late-fall product announcements. The $349 iPad 10 and the iPad mini have both gone over a year without any kind of hardware update; it seems likely that they’ll both get newer chips, if not significantly updated designs.

Apple software leaks new Mac mini with five USB-C ports ahead of rumored event Read More »

ios-18-brings-rcs-to-major-carrier-iphones,-but-prepaid-plans-are-still-waiting

iOS 18 brings RCS to major carrier iPhones, but prepaid plans are still waiting

Apple, Google, google fi, iMessage, ios 18, MMS, rcs, SMS, Tech / /

Not exactly flipping the switch —

A future iOS update may be needed to unlock better Apple-to-Android messages.

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Thumb hovering over the Messages app on an iPhone

Enlarge / Illustration of a person who refuses to check their iPhone’s messages until RCS is enabled on their MVNO carrier, out of respect for their Android-toting friends and family.

Getty Images

The future of inter-OS mobile messaging is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.

With iOS 18, Apple has made it possible for non-Apple phones to message with iPhones through Rich Communication Services (RCS). This grants upgrades from standard SMS text messages, like read receipts, easier and higher-quality media sending, typing indicators, and emoji/response compatibility. More than that, it allows for messaging while on Wi-Fi without cellular services and makes group messages far less painful to navigate and leave. Notably, RCS messages between iPhones and non-iPhones will not be encrypted, like Apple’s private iMessage service available exclusively between Apple devices.

iOS 18 makes these RCS upgrades possible, but certainly not guaranteed, at least as of today. Lots of people have already been enjoying cross-platform RCS messaging when texting with iOS 18 beta users. And iPhones on the big carriers’ plans can now trade RCS with Android users. But some iPhone users, particularly on mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)—typically pre-paid services that do not own network hardware but resell major carrier access—do not have an RCS option available to them yet.

Google, a major proponent of Apple adopting RCS, confirmed to Ars that Google Fi, its own MVNO cellular service, does not, as of this writing, offer RCS chat for iPhone users on Fi messaging with Android users. Android users on Google Fi can use RCS with iPhones on other carriers, so long as that iPhone has “RCS interoperability enabled.”

Reading between the lines, you might conclude that Google is waiting on Apple to enable RCS on a network-by-network basis, both for Fi and for Android users at large. And a Google spokesperson would suggest that is correct.

“We have been working for a long time to accelerate the adoption of RCS, and are excited that Apple is taking steps to adopt RCS with the launch of iOS 18,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “Only Apple has the ability to enable RCS interoperability for iPhone users on Fi, and our hope is that they will do so in the near future.”

Ars has contacted Apple, along with carriers Mint Mobile and Boost Mobile, for comment on RCS availability across carriers and will update this post with new information. Some customers of MVNOs offered by the major carriers themselves, like those on Visible from Verizon, have reported having RCS access with iOS 18 installed.

Apple got the message, kept it green

Users of other MVNOs have asked on Reddit why their upgrade from basic SMS to RCS did not occur during the iOS 18 betas. A co-founder and current CFO of Mint Mobile said on September 9 that it would “be a few months, unfortunately,” as the “backend transition is taking some time… Believe me, we want this out as soon as we can,” wrote Rizwan Kassim.

A moderator for the Mint Mobile subreddit suggested that the backend transition involves carriers setting up a relay API for messages, adding that to the “carrier bundle” they deliver to customers and then providing Apple with information it can add to a future iOS update.

If you have an iPhone that isn’t on one of the major carriers’ primary plans (AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon) and want to check if RCS should be available, you can do that in Settings. Head to General, choose About, and scroll down to the Carrier line under your active SIM or eSIM. Tap the “Carrier” line until you see “IMS Status.” If it reads “Voice & SMS,” you don’t have RCS yet, but if you see “Voice, SMS & RCS,” you do.

The version of RCS that iPhone and Android users might use now, or soon, is the “RCS Universal Profile,” which does not include the encryption that Google’s own messaging apps provide over RCS. Google’s “Get the Message” campaign tried to shame Apple into adopting RCS. The related site notes that “Apple is starting to #GetTheMessage” with RCS adoption but that iPhone users will have to “check with your carrier” to turn on the feature.

Apple announced RCS support in November 2023. The company’s choice of a particularly strong green color to denote messages that are not going over its own iMessage servers—but culturally associated with Android—have inspired both a notable Drake track, a wild month of efforts by messaging startup Beeper to work around its Apple-only nature, and a portion of the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple. RCS support, whenever it arrives for whatever carrier, will not change the color of cross-platform messages.

iOS 18 brings RCS to major carrier iPhones, but prepaid plans are still waiting Read More »

also-releasing-today:-new-ios-17,-macos-14-updates-for-the-upgrade-averse

Also releasing today: New iOS 17, macOS 14 updates for the upgrade-averse

Apple, iOS, ios 18, ipad, iPadOS, IPhone, Mac, macOS, macOS 15, macos sequoia, Tech / /

safe space —

Security updates without the headaches for the risk-averse (and bug-averse).

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Also releasing today: New iOS 17, macOS 14 updates for the upgrade-averse

Today is the official release date for the public versions of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 Sequoia, and a scad of other Apple software updates, the foundation that Apple will use for Apple Intelligence and whatever other features it wants to add between now and next year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. But for those who value stability and reliability over new features, you may not be excited to update to a new operating system with a version number ending in “0.”

For those of you who prefer to wait for a couple of bugfix updates before installing new stuff, Apple is also releasing security-only updates for a bunch of its (now) last-generation operating systems today. The iOS 17.7, iPadOS 17.7, and macOS 14.7 updates are either available now or should be shortly, along with a security update for 2022’s macOS 13 Ventura. An updated version of Safari 18 that runs on both macOS 13 and 14 should be available soon, though as of this writing is doesn’t appear to be available yet.

Apple has historically been pretty good about providing security updates to older macOS releases—you can expect them for about two years after the operating system is replaced by a newer version. But for iOS and iPadOS, the company used to stop updating older versions entirely after releasing a new one. This changed back in 2021, when Apple decided to start providing some security-only updates to older iOS versions to help people who were worried about installing an all-new potentially buggy OS upgrade.

Eventually, iOS and iPadOS users will need to install iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 to keep getting security updates. But for the handful of older iPads that can’t run iPadOS 18, Apple will usually keep supporting those specific devices with security updates for a year or two. Apple was still providing new security updates for 2022’s iOS 16 as recently as August, keeping older devices like the iPhone 8 and the first-generation iPad Pros reasonably secure even though they were incapable of running newer operating systems.

Also releasing today: New iOS 17, macOS 14 updates for the upgrade-averse Read More »

macos-15-sequoia:-the-ars-technica-review

macOS 15 Sequoia: The Ars Technica review

AI, Apple, apple intelligence, Apple silicon, Features, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Studio, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, macOS, macOS 15, macos sequoia, Reviews, Tech / /
macOS 15 Sequoia: The Ars Technica review

Apple

The macOS 15 Sequoia update will inevitably be known as “the AI one” in retrospect, introducing, as it does, the first wave of “Apple Intelligence” features.

That’s funny because none of that stuff is actually ready for the 15.0 release that’s coming out today. A lot of it is coming “later this fall” in the 15.1 update, which Apple has been testing entirely separately from the 15.0 betas for weeks now. Some of it won’t be ready until after that—rumors say image generation won’t be ready until the end of the year—but in any case, none of it is ready for public consumption yet.

But the AI-free 15.0 release does give us a chance to evaluate all of the non-AI additions to macOS this year. Apple Intelligence is sucking up a lot of the media oxygen, but in most other ways, this is a typical 2020s-era macOS release, with one or two headliners, several quality-of-life tweaks, and some sparsely documented under-the-hood stuff that will subtly change how you experience the operating system.

The AI-free version of the operating system is also the one that all users of the remaining Intel Macs will be using, since all of the Apple Intelligence features require Apple Silicon. Most of the Intel Macs that ran last year’s Sonoma release will run Sequoia this year—the first time this has happened since 2019—but the difference between the same macOS version running on different CPUs will be wider than it has been. It’s a clear indicator that the Intel Mac era is drawing to a close, even if support hasn’t totally ended just yet.

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neofetch-is-over,-but-many-screenshot-system-info-tools-stand-ready

Neofetch is over, but many screenshot system info tools stand ready

command line, cpufetch, fastfetch, hyfetch, Linux, neofetch, nerdfetch, Tech, Terminal / /

Pics or it didn’t compile —

Dev behind a popular screenshot tool checks out, but the successors are good.

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Four terminal windows open to different system information fetching tools

Enlarge / Sorry about all the black space in the lower-right corner. Nerdfetch does not make good use of the space it’s given—unlike the Asahi install on this MacBook.

Kevin Purdy

Almost nobody truly needed Neofetch, but the people who did use it? They really liked it.

Neofetch, run from a terminal, displayed key system information alongside an ASCII-art image of the operating system or distribution running on that system. You knew most of this data, but if you’re taking a screenshot of your system, it looked cool and conveyed a lot of data in a small space. “The overall purpose of Neofetch is to be used in screen-shots of your system,” wrote Neofetch’s creator, Dylan Araps, on its Github repository. “Neofetch shows the information other people want to see.”

Neofetch did that, providing cool screenshots and proof-of-life images across nearly 150 OS versions until late April. The last update to the tool was made three years before that, and Araps’ Github profile now contains a rather succinct coda: “Have taken up farming.” Araps joins “going to a commune in Vermont” and “I now make furniture out of wood” in the pantheon of programmers who do not just leave the field, but flee into another realm entirely.

As sometimes happens, the void was filled not by one decent replacement but many.

  • Fastfetch, which is indeed pretty fast and seems to have more distros recognized (like Asahi Linux on an ARM MacBook).

    Kevin Purdy

  • Hyfetch, which gives you a bunch of pride flag options on first running but can also be used without pride colors.

  • Nerdfetch, which I could never quite get to run perfectly with Nerdfonts, Cozette, or Phosphor. It’s small, which can be handy, but it mostly just shows a Tux penguin, not an OS-specific ASCII image.

  • Cpufetch, which, as the name implies, drops much more chip data into the term.

The neo-Neofetches

Fastfetch seems to have captured the default forum/thread/blog recommendation as a Neofetch replacement. It is under active development, with changes occurring just hours before this post was published. It’s highly customizable, available across most major platforms and distributions, and extensible through modules. It supports Wayland, provides more detailed memory and storage statistics, and, as the name suggests, is generally faster. It’s FOSS and has a tutorial on customizing and extending Fastfetch.

NerdFetch gives you the kind of icon customization you might expect if you’re the type who takes meticulously arranged screenshots of your desktop. By installing one of the glyph-packed Nerd Fonts, you can replace text inside your readout with icons readable at a glance. It’s available on POSIX-compliant systems (“Anything but Windows”). It lacks a lot of customization and module options, and it’s missing the big, custom OS logo (it seemingly shows a very abstract ASCII Tux in both MacOS and Asahi Linux). But it’s also compact and a bit different.

What else? There’s hyfetch, which is “neofetch with pride flags,” but it also contains inside it “neowofetch,” which is an updated neofetch sans pride coloring. The macchina system info tool is written in Rust and offers themeing, being “basic by default and extensible by design.” And cpufetch is, as you might imagine, a lot more CPU data, along with a logo. Curiously, cpufetch showed an “arm” rendering when I ran it under Asahi Linux on a MacBook, but then an Apple logo while inside MacOS. Works either way! Just interesting.

If you’ve put time into getting a Linux desktop just how you like it—or just getting Linux onto a device that really doesn’t want it—it follows that you’d want to show it off. These are not the last of the apps that will try to make fetch happen, but they’re a strong start.

Listing image by Kevin Purdy

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unicode-16.0-release-with-new-emoji-brings-character-count-to-154,998

Unicode 16.0 release with new emoji brings character count to 154,998

android, Apple, emoji, Google, iOS, macOS, microsoft, samsung, Tech, Unicode, Windows / /

right there with you, bags-under-eyes emoji —

New designs will roll out to phones, tablets, and PCs over the next few months.

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Emojipedia sample images of the new Unicode 16.0 emoji.

Enlarge / Emojipedia sample images of the new Unicode 16.0 emoji.

The Unicode Consortium has finalized and released version 16.0 of the Unicode standard, the elaborate character set that ensures that our phones, tablets, PCs, and other devices can all communicate and interoperate with each other. The update adds 5,185 new characters to the standard, bringing the total up to a whopping 154,998.

Of those 5,185 characters, the ones that will get the most attention are the eight new emoji characters, including a shovel, a fingerprint, a leafless tree, a radish (formally classified as “root vegetable”), a harp, a purple splat that evokes the ’90s Nickelodeon logo, and a flag for the island of Sark. The standout, of course, is “face with bags under eyes,” whose long-suffering thousand-yard stare perfectly encapsulates the era it has been born into. Per usual, Emojipedia has sample images that give you some idea of what these will look like when they’re implemented by various operating systems, apps, and services.

Unicode 16.0 also adds support for seven new modern and historical scripts: the West African Garay alphabet; the Gurung Khema, Kirat Rai, Ol Onal, and Sunuwar scripts from Northeast India and Nepal; and historical Todhri and Tulu-Tigalari scripts from Albania and Southwest India, respectively.

We last got new emoji in 2023’s Unicode 15.1 update, though all of these designs were technically modifications of existing emoji rather than new characters—many emoji, most notably for skin and hair color variants, use a base emoji plus a modifier emoji, combined together with a “zero-width joiner” (ZWJ) character that makes them display as one character instead. The lime emoji in Unicode 15.1 was actually a lemon emoji combined with the color green; the phoenix was a regular bird joined to the fire emoji. This was likely because 15.1 was only intended as a minor update to 2022’s Unicode 15.0 standard.

Most of the Unicode 16.0 emoji, by contrast, are their own unique characters. The one exception is the Sark flag emoji; flag sequences are created by placing two “regional indicator letters” directly next to each other and don’t require a ZWJ character between them.

Incorporation into the Unicode standard is only the first step that new emoji and other characters take on their journey from someone’s mind to your phone or computer; software makers like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and others need to design iterations that fit with their existing spin on the emoji characters, they need to release software updates that use the new characters, and people need to download and install them.

We’ve seen a few people share on social media that the Unicode 16.0 release includes a “greenwashing” emoji designed by Shepard Fairey, an artist best known for the 2008 Barack Obama “Hope” poster. This emoji, and an attempt to gin up controversy around it, is all an elaborate hoax: there’s a fake Unicode website announcing it, a fake lawsuit threat that purports to be from a real natural gas industry group, and a fake Cory Doctorow article about the entire “controversy” published in a fake version of Wired. These were all published to websites with convincing-looking but fake domains, all registered within a couple of weeks of each other in August 2024. The face-with-bags-under-eyes emoji feels like an appropriate response.

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