Video shows Microsoft’s new “Outlook Spaces” app before release

Microsoft has taken somewhat of an extended look at organizational and professional uses for its suite of programs in recent years, more so than usual. Microsoft Teams, a Slack competitor, kickstarted the trend in 2017. While it’s true that Microsoft has always had a focus on enterprise, it’s apparent that only recently have they seemingly begun to re-think parts of their strategy and started to focus on improving the experiences that they already offer. “Outlook Spaces” is the latest app from Microsoft that aims to do exactly that, allowing users to put together their emails, notes, files, documents, calendar appointments, and to-do lists into online spaces.

The feature is not officially unveiled yet, but some have been able to access the feature on Microsoft’s own website. Outlook Spaces looks a whole lot like the Fluid Framework preview that the company began demonstrating back in November. Fluid takes documents and turns them into apps that can be interacted with by multiple people at a time. We don’t know whether or not Spaces is running on the Fluid Framework or not yet. A video of the feature has been shown on Twitter by Walking Cat.

Spaces helps you organize your emails, meetings, and docs into easy-to-follow project spaces. Forget worrying about dropping the ball; Spaces helps you stay effortlessly on top of what matters. https://t.co/eyru4apQEK pic.twitter.com/MZad1loRuz

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 16, 2020

Microsoft describes Outlook Spaces as a web app that “pulls together your documents, emails, and events using the search terms you provide here.” The company also says that “in upcoming releases, we’ll be using AI to assist in discovering and grouping work items into Spaces.” If you want to enable the feature yourself you can, but it requires a bit of work. You’ll also need a work or student account with an Outlook license. Simply follow the steps below and you should be able to get access to Outlook Spaces.

How-to enable Outlook Spaces (aka TimeStream):
open https://t.co/avxqKhgMti
open DevTools->Storage->LocalStorage
add item : key : “featureOverrides”, value: “outlookSpaces-enabled”
refresh browser

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 16, 2020

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Via: The Verge

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Google’s new Incremental File System may let you play big Android games before they’re fully downloaded

Mobile gaming is a huge market, with its total revenue accounting for nearly half of the global games market in 2019, according to market research company Newzoo. The Play Store is flooded with new games to try each week, which can be difficult to keep up with if you have limited time to play. Google is working on a new file system for a future version of Android, possibly Android 12 in 2021, which could make it much easier to try out new games. The file system is called Incremental File System, and it’s designed to allow for applications to be executed while its binary and resource files are still being downloaded.

In early May of 2019, Google submitted patches to merge support for the Incremental File System into the Linux kernel. According to the documentation that Google submitted, Incremental FS is a “special-purpose Linux virtual file system that allows execution of a program while its binary and resource files are still being lazily downloaded over the network, USB etc.” The purpose of this feature is “to allow running big Android apps before their binaries and resources are fully downloaded to an Android device.” Right now, if you want to play an Android game that is 5GB in size, you would have to wait for the entire download to finish before you can launch the game. Google says that Incremental FS can “frictionlessly wait for [temporarily] missing data,” which means that you’ll be able to launch the game as it continues to download more and more of the full game. In the case of our hypothetical 5GB Android game, let us say that the game’s intro is 200MB in size located at a 1GB offset. With Incremental File System, the game’s first MB of data can be downloaded, and while it’s being executed, the process can call for the first MB of data at the 1GB offset to be downloaded next, allowing the intro to start. Then, the rest of the 200MB of intro data can be downloaded, which would hopefully happen faster than the intro is played back, and then the game’s main menu can be loaded. There might be a small freeze in execution when the next set of data needs to be loaded, ie. the menu located at the 150MB offset, but this would allow the user to get into the game faster than waiting for the entire download to finish.

After submitting the patches to the Linux kernel, Google engaged in discussions with multiple Linux kernel maintainers regarding the implementation and purpose of the FS. Some criticized Google for creating a custom kernel filesystem rather than extending the existing FUSE, or Filesystem in Userspace. Google stated that FUSE-based filesystems add significant performance overhead for its target scenarios, increasing power usage to the point where phones spent energy faster than they were charging over a cord. This was problematic because a Googler said “the project goal was to allow instant (-ish) deployment of apps from the dev environment to Android [phones].” Based on this comment, we assumed that Google was only intending for this feature to aid developers in testing incremental builds of their mobile games. That might still be the case, however, several months after the last comment was made on the initial Linux kernel patches, Google started to merge commits related to the Incremental File System to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). The commits introduce huge changes to many parts of Android and Android’s Linux kernel, so we believe it’s possible that Google is planning to use the Incremental File System to improve the general user experience. Perhaps Google wants to allow users to start playing large Android games without having to fully download them—essentially serving as a native Instant Apps replacement that doesn’t require any extra work from developers since the implementation is in-kernel.

Currently, Google is testing the feature on a Pixel 4 XL (coral), and they’ve also built a kernel module for use with a Generic Kernel Image (GKI). In several comments, Googlers explain that Android devices with this feature will have a new /data/incremental directory that contains sub-directories for each app on the device. The sub-directories will contain APKs, native libraries, and OBB files. In these sub-directories, the Incremental File System will be mounted, and each will be bind-mounted to point to the original installation directories, ie. /data/app/. The Google Play Store will be able to check the file signature of applications installed on the Incremental FS, which will likely prevent the execution of incremental applications with different signatures than the currently installed applications.

Given that work on this feature is still ongoing and the internal deadline for major Android 11 feature changes is likely fast approaching, if not already passed, we suspect that devices won’t start shipping with support for the Incremental File System until Android 12 in 2021. We will continue tracking the development of this feature and will update you if we learn more about how it works, of course.

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Thanks to XDA Recognized Developers phhusson and luca020400 for their inputs!

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TCL is working on a phone that slides open into a tablet

Cramming a tablet-sized screen into something that can fit in your pocket is a dream people have had for years. Only recently with the introduction of truly foldable displays has the dream become more real. Companies are still working on alternatives, though, and TCL is approaching the situation with a slider.

Leaked renders of a TCL prototype show a phone that can expand into a tablet with a sliding mechanism. The phone looks to be a pretty normal smartphone when it’s not expanded. The display appears to curve around the edges very heavily. The right side of the phone, including the dual punch-hole, can be pulled out to reveal a larger display that was tucked under the “main” display.

According to CNET, this TCL prototype is indeed using one single flexible display. So this is not a case of a separate display sliding out and a considerable gap or ridge separating the two halves. We have no idea how the mechanism actually works, but the display must be folded and tucked away somehow.

This is a design that we’ve never seen before. There have been many slider phones, of course, but never have both halves featured a display. Whether it’s one foldable display or two separate displays, it seems there’s always a hinge involved. While interesting, this design does seem to pose several problems.

A display that must fold onto itself so sharply would be bad for longevity, especially if it requires multiple folds to tuck away. That also means we’re likely dealing with creases as well. If the display isn’t folding completely flat onto itself, like the Motorola Razr, that means the phone could be pretty thick to accommodate it. TCL was apparently planning to reveal this device at MWC, but the event was canceled last week. We’re not sure when the company will decide to show it off. What do you think of this foldable design? Is it better than a hinge?

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Source: CNET

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Nubia Red Magic 5G will launch with up to 16GB RAM

The Nubia Red Magic 3 is more of a gaming device than it is a smartphone, but that doesn’t make it a bad phone. The Red Magic series is primarily composed of gaming devices offering impressive hardware at a lower price, even if the hardware doesn’t actually stand out a whole bunch from the rest of the crowd. The company confirmed its first flagship of the year – the Nubia Red Magic 5G – would launch at MWC 2020. But wit the cancelation of MWC, the company’s scheduled press event has been canceled as well. Other companies such as OPPO and Xiaomi have entirely killed off their scheduled events, but just like Realme, Nubia plans to go ahead with their scheduled press conference via livestream. Today, Ni Fei, President of Nubia Technology Co. Ltd, announced on Chinese social media site Weibo that the Red Magic 5G will have up to 16GB of RAM.

16GB in a smartphone was unheard of until the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, which boasts absurd specifications for a rather tall asking price. 16GB of RAM is a pretty unnecessary amount of RAM in a smartphone, as it’s an amount that exceeds the RAM some may even have in their computers. 16GB of RAM is a recommended configuration in gaming computers. Ni Fei shared a screenshot of the Red Magic 5G’s about section. It’s possible that Nubia may intend to use the RAM to speed-up other system operations, something that OnePlus toyed with in the form of “RAM Boost“. RAM boost was used to hold applications frequently used by the user in RAM, as RAM is faster for the device to access than the actual storage on the phone.

Posters revealed by Ni Fei on his personal Weibo account earlier this month also revealed that the Nubia Red Magic 5G will be the first 144Hz 5G smartphone on the market. Support for QHD+ 144Hz panels is supported by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, which was previously confirmed to be a part of the phone. The only modem that can be paired with it is the Snapdragon X55, which is a 5G modem.

On top of that, 80W fast wired charging has been confirmed, though it’s incompatible with USB-PD specifications and is very likely to be proprietary. Because the increased heat generated by this incredibly-fast charging technology can reduce the battery’s capacity over time, Mr. Ni Fei says that the company devised a solution using the built-in fan of the Red Magic 5G in order to cool the battery while it’s charging. This not only maintains the battery’s longevity but also ensures the battery can be fast-charged for longer, reducing the charging time.

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Source: Weibo

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Privacy-centric messenger Signal is ramping up to take on WhatsApp

WhatsApp remains the favorite messaging platform of many, and with over two billion users, its ubiquity makes communication simple. However, with growing concerns surrounding its ownership by Facebook (even though WhatsApp boasts end-to-end encryption), many are looking towards alternative options. Facebook’s track record when it comes to privacy has never been good, and with the company only recently making moves towards not adding advertisements to WhatsApp, its userbase is understandably miffed. Typically, those aforementioned alternative options are composed of two superlatives – Telegram or Signal. WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, after leaving the company amidst rows with his previous Facebook-colleagues, has invested $50 million in Signal’s development. He also co-founded the Signal Foundation (a non-profit) and joined as executive chairman in 2018.

This particular linking up makes sense, especially as WhatsApp’s first versions of end-to-end encryption had actually used Signal’s open-source encryption protocols. Acton only left Facebook back in 2018 after having seen the company’s attempts at dismantling the privacy offered by WhatsApp. Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for approximately $19 billion. Since then, Acton has been heavily involved in data privacy movements such as #DeleteFacebook, which he has openly supported over the past few years since his departure.

The Signal Foundation now has 20 employees, with the Signal app boasting more and more features as time goes on. It is no longer merely just a barebones encrypted messaging app, but also offers features that rival those of other messaging apps. It supports the sending of images and videos that disappear after viewing (à la Snapchat or Instagram), stickers, and emoji reactions to messages. It has also been announced that the app will trial support for storing encrypted contact details in the cloud, and will also offer a new system for group messaging in the future.

“The major transition Signal has undergone is from a three-person small effort to something that is now a serious project with the capacity to do what is required to build software in the world today,” Moxie Marlinspike, creator of Signal and co-founder of the Signal Foundation, says.

While these features are not typically aimed at the privacy-conscious that Signal originally aimed to attract, they are “enrichment features” that will entertain and attract the general user that may not care so much about privacy. “This is not just for hyperparanoid security researchers, but for the masses,” says Acton. “This is something for everyone in the world.”

Signal’s group chat changes will allow administrators to add and remove people from groups without a Signal server ever being aware of that group’s members. It’s designed in partnership with Microsoft Research where an app uses “anonymous credentials” for gatekeeping user entry into a group. “It required coming up with some innovations in the world of cryptography,” Marlinspike says. “And in the end, it’s just invisible. It’s just groups, and it works like we expect groups to work.”

The previously mentioned contact storing would also use a new system called “secure value recovery,” which would let you create a contact book of Signal users which is stored – encrypted – on Signal’s servers. This would be preserved when switching from phone to phone, meaning that you can keep your Signal contacts entirely separated from your smartphone if you so wish. The data stored would be encrypted so that it can’t even be seen by the operating system. This feature, should it prove successful, may form the foundation for Signal to do away with the use of phone numbers entirely. There are worries that adding more features introduces more room for vulnerabilities to crop up.

“I’ll just say, this is something we’re thinking about,” says Marlinspike. Secure value recovery, he says, “would be the first step in resolving that.”

Signal Private Messenger (Free, Google Play) →

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Source: Wired

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Unofficial LineageOS 17.1 brings Android 10 to the Sony Xperia 10/10 Plus

Back in November of last year, Sony released its update schedule detailing Xperia devices it was planning to update to Android 10. Among the devices included on the list were the Xperia 10/10 Plus which the company said would receive the update “from early 2020 onwards.” Well, it’s mid-February and it’s still unclear exactly when Sony will begin rolling out the latest version of Android to these devices.

If you have been itching to try out Android 10 on your Xperia 10/10 Plus, we have some good news for you. An unofficial build of LineageOS‌ 17.1 based on Android 10 is now available for the devices.

Sony Xperia 10 Forums ||| Sony Xperia 10 Plus Forums

This unofficial port of LineageOS‌ 17.1 for the Xperia 10/10 Plus comes courtesy of XDA‌ Recognized Developer LuK1337. To try out this unofficial build of LineageOS‌ 17.1, all you need is an unlocked bootloader and a custom recovery like TWRP installed on your device.

Since these are initial builds, they might not be stable enough to consider them as a daily driver. However, if you don’t mind bugs and odd behaviors, by all means, give it a try. For download links and flashing instructions, head over to the linked thread below for your respective device.

Download Unofficial LineageOS 17.1 for Xperia 10

Download Unofficial LineageOS 17.1 for Xperia 10 Plus

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HP Is Offering Major Discounts on New Hardware This President’s Day

As with almost every holiday weekend, President’s Day has become a significant shopping event in recent years. HP is making a special effort to entice deal-seekers and tech enthusiasts, with major discounts on top-tier laptops, monitors, printers, and more. From today until February 22, you can save up to 60% on select products at the HP Store. 

Tech deals are usually more common right before the winter holidays, so HP’s sale provides an excellent opportunity to grab an affordable upgrade outside the usual shopping season. One of the highlights is the highly-rated HP Spectre x360, which is currently $420 off MSRP at $729.99. 

This powerful laptop has a 4K touchscreen and an 8th Gen Intel i5 processor, along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It is the ideal machine for remote workers and creatives on the go.

For those seeking more power, the HP ENVY All-in-One provides impressive performance in a slimline package. This desktop machine has a beautiful 27″ Quad HD touch display, powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics and 16GB of memory. In the sale, it is currently $350 off MSRP at $1,499.99.

To supplement these discounts, HP is offering 5% off selected PCs and monitors priced at $599 and above with code 5PDS2020. You can also save 10% on selected PCs and monitors priced at $999 and above with code 10PDS2020.

Head over to the HP Store to take advantage of these prices and see the full range of sale items.

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