Month: December 2019

We’ve not been shy about reporting on the Pixelbook Go’s appeal since it was released a little over a month ago. I have zero issues telling anyone I talk to that it is the best Chromebook experience on the market right now even if the asking price is a tad bit high in some people’s opinions. I have no problem proclaiming that it is my favorite Chromebook ever made and that until some of the upcoming ‘Hatch’ Chromebooks hit the market, I’m not even considering buying anything other than it for my daily workflow.

But we’ve also been pretty blunt about the one big flaw the Pixelbook Go shipped with: the dreaded screen flicker. When I started seeing it at first, I thought I might be imagining things, but it was soon confirmed that I wasn’t. From our individual experiences here in the office and others online, it became quite clear that there was an issue with the Pixelbook Go and it wasn’t really getting better with any of the offered workarounds.

Up until yesterday, all we had was a promise that a fix would arrive in Chrome OS 79 and I’d actually pinned quite a bit of hope on those promises. After all, the bug didn’t cause anything to be broken, but when you are using a premium device you don’t expect to be distracted by your screen glitching out on a consistent basis. The stress of using the Pixelbook Go like this was was only compounded by the fact that I still felt like it was the best Chromebook out there and was still recommending it based on the fact that a fix was inbound very soon.

On both sides of the coin (as a user and one recommending this device to others) I’m overly excited to report that after a full day of testing, Google has erradicated the screen flicker issue from the Pixelbook Go with Chrome OS 79. Before the update, I’d see the flicker at least once every 5 minutes and I’ve now gone a full day without seeing a single issue.

The fix remedies the singular complaint I’ve had with the Pixelbook Go since launch and serves to make using it feel like a seamless, fully-enjoyable experience again. I know it is functionally a small thing, but seeing a visual fault over and over every day has a way of stealing the feeling of reliability of any device. With this removed, I feel so much more comfortable relying on my Pixelbook Go as my go-to Chromebook and it makes me want to recommend it to anyone interested that much more.

Microsoft finally revealed its next-generation console at the 2019 Game Awards on December 12. The device was revealed as the Xbox Series X, but yesterday, Business Insider reported that Microsoft actually plans to call its next-gen console “Xbox.”

So does that mean there won’t be a device called the Xbox Series X? No. It turns out that there will be a specific version of the upcoming Xbox called “Xbox Series X.”

“The name we’re carrying forward to the next generation is simply Xbox,” a Microsoft rep told Business Insider. “And at The Game Awards you saw that name come to life through the Xbox Series X. … Similar to what fans have seen with previous generations, the name ‘Xbox Series X’ allows room for additional consoles in the future.”

Microsoft wasn’t ready to reveal any of those additional consoles, so it simply led with the Xbox Series X. But now we know there could be an Xbox Series Y, Z or “… of Unfortunate Events.”

The point is that this current generation’s mix-up, whereby the Xbox One was followed by the very different Xbox One S and Xbox One X, won’t be repeated.

Recently, CHUWI has launched UBook Pro Intel N4100 processor version. Not only Intel N4100 processor performs well in daily usage, but also regulates power consumption intelligently. With great performance and decent price, UBook Pro can be more cost-effective.

CHUWI has released the unboxing video on Youtube, which showed the detailed hardware information and actual experience of UBook Pro Intel N4100 version. As you can see in the video, the unboxing suit include UBook Pro, power adapter, keyboard and stylus.

UBook Pro has a 9 mm full-metal body, equipped with 12.3 inch 3:2 display ratio IPS screen, weights at only 781g.

The u-shaped kickstand supports stepless adjustment, with the maximum opening Angle of 145°, it can be transformed into laptop, workstation or tablet, which means that almost all scenes in life.

HiPen H6 stylus can draw delicately on the screen, supports up to 4096 pressure levels.

Intel N4100 processor is built with Intel’s most advanced 14nm+ manufacturing process, quad-core, four threads, the highest frequency reaches up to 2.4 GHz. With the storage combination of 8GB LPDDR4 and 256GB SSD, UBook can be more smooth and efficient in daily usage.

In the real CPU-Z test, Intel N4100 processor had a single-core score of 182 and a multi-core score of 588. The processor also performed well in GeekBench software with single-core score of 1765 and a multi-core score of 5197. In addition to great performance, Intel N4100 processor also consume low power.

Equipped with Intel UHD Graphics 600 core graphics card，UBook Pro can decode 4K video easily, which provides smooth experience in watching video.

With Win10 operating system and magnetic backlit keyboard, UBook Pro can work efficiently. Benefit from the full-size key cap, user can keep the highest productivity by typing smoothly.

In conclusion，Book Pro Intel N4100 version performs well in hardware configuration and daily usage. Meanwhile, lower price makes it become more cost-effective. You can check all the exact details on the official website too.

After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 79 of Chrome OS is now available. Notable features in Chrome OS 79 include a reworked Overview mode for tablet devices and lockscreen media controls.

Virtual Desks widely rolled out with last month’s release. Chrome OS 79 continues iterating on them by having links you click always open in the current workspace.

Dedicated Chrome OS tablets are still relatively rare, but all 2-in-1s have the same tablet mode. An updated Overview mode for slates, convertibles, and detachables lets you scroll vertically through open windows. There are about six cards to a page with the next column peaking to signal you have more open.

You can long-press on one and drag to either side of the screen for split view. This new Overview — which is particularly ideal on smaller screens — is in contrast to the regular laptop version that just shrinks cards as more windows are added.

Building on version 76 in August adding Android-esque media controls in the Notification Center, Chrome OS 79 lets you see what audio is streaming with playback controls on the lockscreen. It works with both Android apps and any playing media on the web.

Manage your apps in Settings allow you to control basic application preferences and permissions from a single list. Google plans to further improve application management in the future.

Click in further and you can see whether you’ve granted an app permission to your location, microphone, camera, and more. Quickly adjust these settings based on your preferences, through one centralized menu.

A new “tab freezing” feature in Chrome 79 works to save memory, CPU, and battery resources. Tabs in the background for over 5 minutes will be frozen and not able to perform tasks. There is an exception for audio and video, while sites can experimentally opt-out.

This release also expands Google’s password and phishing protections in Chrome. More details are available here.

Originally planned for the previous release, Chrome 79 features an experiment for 1% of users that enables secure DNS connections through DNS-over-HTTPS. This prevents user tracking and malicious redirects. A new flag allows you to opt-out of the DoH test: chrome://flags/#dns-over-https.

Chrome will check if the user’s DNS provider is among a list of participating DoH-compatible providers and if so, it will enable DoH. If the DNS provider is not on the list, Chrome won’t enable DoH and will continue to operate as it does today.

Chrome will begin marking sites that use TLS 1.0 or 1.1 “Not Secure” and remove the lock symbol. This measure starts in January 2020 as Google encourages sites to move away from legacy TLS.

Google is working on a shared clipboard between computers and Android that’s available from the right-click menu. Copied text can be shared on devices that are logged in to the same Google Account and have Chrome Sync enabled. Text is end-to-end encrypted and Google notes how it can’t see the contents. It began rolling out in October for a “limited number of users” and will be “released to all users in a future version of Chrome.”

Apple iOS 13 comes with a number of cool security and privacy features, including the ability to better control apps such as Google and Facebook. But iOS 13.3 has upped the stakes even further by adding the ability to use security keys such as Yubico’s YubiKey in Apple’s Safari browser.

When iOS 13.3 dropped last week, I wrote about the basic considerations that need to be taken into account when using security keys. The best option for now is the YubiKey, which is the first featuring USB-C and lightning connectors on a single key. Also worth noting is that YubiKey maker Yubico now makes an authenticator app to use if a service doesn’t offer built in support for security keys.

Apple iOS 13.3: Using a security key now

The ability to use security keys in Safari is an exciting development, so how do you get started?

Once you have your key, in the case of YubiKey, there are some instructional videos and guides on how to set up authentication across sites. I’ll use the example of Twitter to get you started.

First, log into Twitter via the Apple Safari browser on your iPhone. You might have Face ID set up to authenticate you as an extra secure layer. Once you’ve logged in, go to the security section in your settings and toggle on the switch to indicate that you want to use a security key.

After you have done this, you will be asked to put your key into the device. You will be asked to press the key to indicate it’s you. Now you are ready to use it as a layer of authentication to log into Twitter.

Once this is set up, it’s easy to log into other services on your iPhone’s Safari browser using your security key. The video below shows how I used the YubiKey to log into my Twitter account.

Why use a security key with your iPhone?

Big sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Google will always be at risk of getting hacked, and people often use weak passwords or repeat their credentials across a number of services.

This is why extra methods of authentication beyond passwords are so important. Biometrics are partly resolving the issue but security keys provide something robust–a physical padlock of sorts that you have in your possession.

They also help to protect you against phishing, where attackers will try to steal your credentials by encouraging you to enter them on a fake log in page.

Securing your iPhone using iOS 13

Apple’s iOS 13 offers great improvements in security–although it is also important to note that the operating system update has come under fire recently for not applying the same controls to Apple’s own apps. With this in mind, I created a guide to securing all your apps in iOS 13, including Apple’s. Along with using biometrics such as Face ID, security keys are a great addition.