Facebook publishes first results of its brain-typing experiment

Facebook has published details of its brain-computer interface experiments, with some promising results. The system is a brain-reading computer developed by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco backed by Facebook Reality Labs. The paper was published in Nature Communications and details the team's success in reading brain impulses associated with certain words that the test subjects were about to utter.

There already exist brain-computer interfaces that people can use to type, but in order to do so, they need to spell out each letter individually on a virtual keyboard. The team at USCF demonstrated that their system could extract the answer to pre-determined questions based on the subject’s thoughts.

The experiment was performed on subjects who were on their way to epilepsy surgery and had invasive implants placed in various parts of their brain. Then the system was trained on the 24 pre-determined questions and its possible answers. Once the training was complete, the subjects would be presented with a question, to which, they would answer out aloud. The system would be able to detect their answers based on its training and lead author and UCSF neurosurgery professor Edward Chang said that the accuracy of the system was between 61 to 76 percent, far higher than the current 7 to 20 percent of existing such brain-computer interfaces.

While the study has promising results, it is far from what Facebook has been promising the world; a non-invasive brain-computer interface. The current paper is based on a system that requires highly invasive implants, and more importantly, is functional in a very limited environment where it has already been trained on all the questions and their potential answers. Lastly, the answers had to be spoken in order for the system to read the brain waves and deliver the result, which isn’t exactly “thinking and typing.”

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Google researchers find six security bugs worth 5 million in iOS

Two members of Project Zero, Google’s bug-hunting team, have found six bugs in iOS that could have led cyber attackers to compromise devices like iPhones and iPads. The duo published the details and demo proof-of-concept code for five of the six “interactionless” security bugs that made the OS vulnerable to hackers who could have exploited it via the iMessage client. If sold in the exploit market, these six bugs would have reportedly fetched over $5 million.

The bugs were discovered by Google Project Zero security researchers Natalie Silvanovich and Samuel Groß. ZDNet reports that all the six security flaws were patched on July 22 when Apple rolled out the iOS 12.4 update. As per Silvanovich, details about one of the "interactionless" vulnerabilities are kept private because the latest iOS update did not completely patch the bug. Silvanovich will be holding a presentation about these vulnerabilities at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas next week.

How the bugs could have compromised iOS security

The researcher said that out of the six vulnerabilities, four could have lead to the execution of malicious code on a remote iOS device, with no user interaction needed. To compromise the device, an attacker could have sent a malicious message to the victim's phone. In such cases, the code is executed once the user opens and views the received message. The fifth and sixth bugs could have allowed an attacker to extract data from the compromised device's memory and read files off the device remotely, this too, with no user interaction.

According to a price chart published by US-based information security company Zerodium, if these bugs were sold on the exploit market, they could have brought over $1 million each for every vulnerability. It means that the bugs which the researchers published are valued between $5 million and $10 million. Vulnerability research hub Crowdfense told ZDNet that since the exploits were “interactionless,” and the vulnerabilities worked on recent versions of iOS exploits, these could have been valued between $2 million and $4 million each, that is, the total value of the bugs is between $20 million and $24 million.

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Windows 10 cloud reinstall option coming soon

It appears Windows 10 is scheduled to get a new feature that could save users a lot of effort while reinstalling their operating system. It’s a feature that MacOS has enjoyed for quite some time now. Dubbed “Cloud download”, the feature is expected to be found in Windows’ reset options in Settings along with “Reset locally”, which means users reinstalling Windows 10 in the future can either choose to use a local image or download it afresh from the cloud.

The news of the new Windows 10 reset method that Microsoft is currently working on comes in the form of a tweet sent by WalkingCat. According to the tweet, the boot menu in the leaked Windows Build 18950 (for the upcoming 201H1 update) gives the user an option to reinstall the existing operating system using a local image or download Windows from the cloud. This build has reportedly been leaked before its official roll-out to the Windows Insider Fast ring users.

An earlier report by groovyPost claims that Microsoft Surface devices such as the Surface Book and Surface Pro already come with an option to download the Windows 10 image from the cloud at the time of setup. “Recover from the Cloud is especially handy if your recovery partition is corrupt. Microsoft has not documented the feature anywhere on its official Surface web page,” writes groovyPost in its report while explaining how to use the feature.

Earlier this week, another leaked internal Windows 10 build showed us that Microsoft is working on a redesign of the Start menu in which the popular Live Tiles are missing and the icons are unnaturally large. You can see how the new Start menu that’s still in development looks here. The redesigned Start menu and Cloud download feature aren’t expected in the stable release of Windows 10 till June next year.

 

18950 bootux : How would you like to reinstall Windows? > Cloud download : Download Windows > Reset locally : Reinstall my existing Windows operating system

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) 29 July 2019

 

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Redmi K20, Redmi K20 Pro to go on sale in India today: offers, price, specifications

The Redmi K20 series will be up for grabs again in India today. Just like the previous sales, the Redmi K20, K20 Pro will be sold on Flipkart and Mi.com. The sale will be live at 12pm today, and the phones will be sold till the stocks last. The phones offer a 3D curved back, and sport a pop-up selfie camera that comes with a pulsating notification LED light. They also have Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on top. 

Redmi K20, K20 Pro price, offers, and sale time

The Redmi K20 is priced at Rs 21,999 for the base variant of 6GB RAM + 64GB storage variant. The 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant will cost you Rs 23,999. Additionally, the Redmi K20 Pro is priced at Rs 27,999 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant, whereas its 8GB RAM + 256GB storage will cost you Rs 30,999.

As mentioned before, the latest sale will kick off at 12pm today. The phones will be available in three colour options: Carbon Black, Flame Red, and Glacier Blue. 

As for the sale offers, both phones include a five-percent unlimited cashback on Flipkart Axis Bank credit card, flat Rs 1,000 off on ICICI Bank credit card and debit card EMI transactions, and five-percent cashback on HDFC Bank debit cards on Flipkart.com. In contrast, Mi.com is offering Rs 1,000 off on ICICI Bank credit cards and EMI transactions, exchange discounts, and two claims of Mi Screen Protect.

Redmi K20 Specifications

The Redmi K20 features a 6.39-inch AMOLED full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and 91.9-percent screen-to-body ratio. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chipset, paired with 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage. The phone runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. The phone packs a 4000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging.

As for the cameras, the Redmi K20 sports a triple rear camera setup: a 48MP primary Sony IMX582 sensor with an f/1.75 lens, a secondary 13MP sensor with a wide-angle lens, and an 8MP tertiary sensor with an f/2.4 lens. And for the selfies, the phone has a 20MP pop-up camera.

Redmi K20 Pro specifications

The Redmi K20 Pro features a 6.39-inch AMOLED full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by a Snapdragon 855 chipset, paired with up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The phone packs a 4000mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging.

In the optics department, the phone ports a triple rear camera setup: a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor with an f/1.75 lens, a 13MP secondary sensor with a wide-angle lens, and an 8MP tertiary sensor with an f/2.4 lens. There is also a 20-megapixel pop-up selfie camera on board.

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PUBG Mobile Lite tops Google Play Store Ranking in just three days

It is obvious that PUBG Mobile has taken the world by storm. However, the game was not playable on all smartphones especially entry-level devices with 1 or 2GB RAM. PUBG Mobile Lite was in the works for quite some time and the game finally hit the market. The game hit the Google Play Store and, in just three days, has become the number 1 downloaded app on the Google Play Store. Numbers from the app's page on Google Play Store say it has crossed more than 10 million downloads. The highlight of the game is its ability to run on low-end devices with 1 or 2 GB RAM. 

In an official release, PUBG said, “PUBG MOBILE LITE, attracts attention by reaching the number 1 spot on the Google Play Store, within the first 3 days of launch. This is not too surprising, given the popularity of the mobile version of the game within the country. Built with Unreal Engine 4, this version of PUBG MOBILE is compatible with even more devices and optimized for devices with less RAM without compromising on the gameplay experience, which has attracted millions of fans around the world. The popularity of PUBG MOBILE LITE can be attributed to the fact that a considerable segment of the Indian smartphone market comprises of ‘entry-level smartphones’ and now thanks to the new lighter version - PUBG MOBILE LITE, this segment has access to a game which was beyond their reach.”

We at Digit ran the game on a smartphone with 1GB RAM and the game ran smoothly. PUBG Mobile Lite does make the obvious compromises. For starters, the map is smaller when compared to the full mobile version. Instead of 100 players, PUBG Mobile Lite has 60 players on the map. In terms of textures and game assets, you will notice that things like furniture and other items in the houses and hangers are missing. The terrain in the game is simpler too. Graphically, the game runs at a lower resolution. That doesn't mean the game is unplayable. The best part about PUBG Mobile Lite is the fact that the game runs butter smooth and is very responsive on the 1GB RAM device. Foliage is one key asset in the game. Players use the foliage to hide and take on unsuspecting enemies. The foliage representation in the game is good and works well for cover. Elements like smoke grenades and vehicles too work as they do in PUBG Mobile.

Needless to say, we enjoyed our experience with the game on an entry-level device.  You can check out our detailed hands-on of PUBG Mobile Lite running on a Redmi Go here. If you are new to PUBG Mobile Lite here are some tips and tricks to help you get that chicken dinner.

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Redmi 7A goes on sale today at 12pm: Specs, price and all you need to know

Redmi's entry-level smartphone, the Redmi 7A will go up for sale today. This time, the handset will be up for grabs via Mi.com and Flipkart. The Redmi 7A was launched in the first week of July and is priced starting at Rs 5,799 on the company’s e-store. The phone competes with other entry-level handsets like the Realme C2.

Redmi 7A specifications:

As mentioned, the Redmi 7A is an entry-level smartphone and it comes equipped with a 5.45-inch HD+ Full HD display. It features a unibody matte finish design and comes in Matte Blue, Matte Gold and Matte Black colours. Under the hood, the phone sports the Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 mobile platform, which is paired with up to 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. There’s also a dedicated microSD card slot to expand its storage up to 256GB.

In terms of optics on the back, it comes equipped with a 12MP Sony IMX 486 sensor paired with an f/2.2 aperture lens. On the front is a 5MP camera that supports AI face unlock, AI Background blurring, AI Beautify and some additional features. Backed by a 4000mAh battery that is claimed to deliver 17 hours of HD video playback, the handset also features a splash-resistant design and is said to sport reinforced corners. The device gets a two-year warranty and also comes equipped with wireless FM radio feature.

Redmi 7A price, availability and launch offers

The 2GB RAM + 16GB storage version of the Redmi 7A costs Rs 5,799, while its 2GB RAM + 32GB storage variant is priced at Rs 5,999. The smartphone will go on sale today at 12pm via Mi.com and Flipkart. 

For launch offers, buyers of the handset on Flipkart can avail a BuyBack offer, along with a 5 percent discount with Axis Bank Buzz credit card. One can also opt for no-cost EMI options, exchange discount, and Complete Mobile Protection at Rs 199. On Mi.com, there's a Rs 2,200 cashback and 125GB extra data for Jio subscribers who buy the Redmi 7A. The company is also offering an exchange discount and Mi Protect for security against liquid and accidental damages at Rs 399.

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2020 iPhone could support time-of-flight 3D sensors: Report

While the 2019 iPhones are yet to be launched, the rumour mill is already churning out predictions for the 2020 iPhones. According to some reports, Apple is expected to release three new iPhones this year. As for 2020, the tech giant could supposedly incorporate time-of-flight (ToF) sensors in the future iPhones. Additionally, Apple might also include 5G connectivity in next year’s iPhone models.

Previously, a report speculated that Apple might introduce VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) ToF sensors on the rear of the 2020 iPhone models. The setup is similar to the TrueDepth camera setup found on the current iPhone models, but on the front. Ming Chi Kuo, a well-known analyst, has also predicted that Apple might bring ToF sensors to its 2020 iPhone lineup.

In the latest research note shared by 9to5Mac, Kuo claims that at least two of the 2020 iPhone models could feature a ToF sensor on the rear. Furthermore, Kuo added that Apple might introduce three iPhone models next year with Face ID support.

Additionally, according to Kuo, all three 2020 iPhone models could support 5G connectivity. He added that 5G iPhone models might support both mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. Last year, Kuo also said that Apple could first bring ToF-sensing technology to the iPad lineup sometime in early 2020.

As for VCSEL, it is currently used in a number of consumer electronics products. It is a semiconductor that emits infrared light, and it is primarily used to enable augmented reality-based applications and range finding. It could help Apple create a much bigger use case for AR-based applications while enabling users to capture photos with even more detail.

Apple is expected to introduce an all-new iPhone lineup in 2020. However, all these are speculations at the moment and it’s fairly early to trust them all.

As for this year, the tech giant might launch three iPhone 11 models with A13 chip, taptic engine, and more.

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