Month: March 2020

Enlarge (credit: Nopphon Pattanasri / EyeEm)

eBay is banning the sale of a number of items related to the novel coronavirus outbreak after rising prices raised concerns about price gouging.

The online auction giant says that "effective immediately" it will "block new listings and start to remove listings" that offer "masks including N95/N100 and surgical masks." Hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes will also be banned.

eBay says these listings "may violate applicable US laws or regulations, eBay policies, and exhibit unfair pricing behavior for our buyers." Several states have anti-gouging laws prohibiting big price increases in a time of emergency.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | MassimoVernicesole)

Update (April 1, 2020): The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to finalize the anti-robocall order on March 31, 2020, complying with instructions the commission received from Congress. The order "requires all originating and terminating voice service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their networks by June 30, 2021, a deadline that is consistent with Congress’s direction in the recently-enacted TRACED Act," the FCC said. As we wrote earlier, the FCC plans a one-year deadline extension for small phone providers. The FCC also voted to seek public comment on how "to promote caller ID authentication on voice networks that do not rely on IP technology," meaning older landline networks.

Original story from March 6, 2020 follows: Phone companies would be required to deploy technology that prevents spoofing of Caller ID under a plan announced today by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.

Pai framed it as his own decision, with his announcement saying the chairman "proposed a major step forward... to protect consumers against spoofed robocalls." But in reality the FCC was ordered by Congress and President Trump to implement this new rule. The requirement on the FCC was part of the TRACED Act that was signed into law in December 2019. Pai previously hoped that all carriers would deploy the technology voluntarily.

Enlarge / The front of the 2019 iPad Air. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Earlier this week, Apple notified app developers of a revised set of App Store review guidelines—the rules by which Apple curates its iOS/iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS App Stores.

Among many other things, the revised rules expand the definition of what constitutes a spam app and also clarify that developers are able to use push notifications to serve ads to users (provided users have explicitly opt in to them) and limit submissions of certain types apps to trusted organizations in regulated or sensitive industries.

The most controversial of these changes has been the clear statement that developers can serve ads to users via push notifications. At one point in the past, Apple's guidelines stated that push notifications "should not be used for advertising, promotions, or direct marketing purposes or to send sensitive personal or confidential information." Now the guidelines state:

Enlarge / A protective tent is placed over Starliner after it returned to Earth in December. (credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

After pondering the totality of issues that arose during a December test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft this week, NASA chief of human spaceflight Doug Loverro said Friday that he decided to escalate the incident.

So he designated Starliner's uncrewed mission, during which the spacecraft flew a shortened profile and did not attempt to dock with the International Space Station, as a "high visibility close call." This relatively rare designation for NASA's human spaceflight program falls short of "loss of mission" but is nonetheless fairly rare. It was last used by NASA after a spacewalk in 2013 when water began to dangerously pool in the helmet of astronaut Luca Parmitano.

Asked to explain during a conference call with reporters why he did this, Loverro said, "We could have lost a spacecraft twice during this mission."

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  The Find X2 Pro.

Oppo's latest flagship was announced last night, the Find X2 Pro. The Find X2 Pro is the sequel to the Oppo Find X, an innovative phone that had a motorized pop-up top, unveiling a camera and facial recognition system from behind the display. The Find X2 doesn't have any radical design elements, though. It really just looks like a Samsung phone. Oppo and OnePlus are both owned by BBK and frequently share designs, so there's a good chance some of the tech here will show up on the OnePlus 8.

The phone has a 6.7-inch, 3168×1440 120Hz display, a Snapdragon 865 with 5G, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 4260mAh battery, IP68 dust and water resistance, and three rear cameras. Oppo is definitely out-Samsunging Samsung with the display here. While The Galaxy S20 makes you choose between the full resolution or 120Hz, the Find X2 Pro lets you run at 120Hz at full resolution. On paper, it's the best display on the market. There's an in-display fingerprint reader, which Oppo says is 10 percent larger than last year's. There's no wireless charging, no headphone jack, and no expandable storage. We were hoping Oppo would do better on the price than Samsung, but at €1,199 ($1,357), the phone slots in right between the $1,199.99 S20+ and the $1,399.99 S20 Ultra.

The once-unique design touch seems to be in the back material. The black version is a polished ceramic instead of the usual glass. The last ceramic phone we tried was the Essential Phone, and while ceramic weighs more, it seems to have the same pros and cons as glass: It's RF transparent, which is good, and it has a fair bit of scratch resistance, but it's also going to shatter the first time you drop the phone. Oppo says the ceramic has a "gleaming surface that feels as silky as it looks," but I don't really want "silky" as a feel for a back material, I want it to be grippy. One option that might offer more grip is the orange color, which uses a faux leather back.