Hasta La Gadget!

HuffPost talked to the HBO show’s screenwriters and stars about what viewers can expect from the second season of the hit series.

With the release of the iPhone 14 on the horizon, some tech industry analysts have made bold predictions. Here’s what they expect to see with the new iPhone.

Meta has long been working on end-to-end encryption for its messaging products, but so far, only WhatsApp has switched on the privacy feature by default. In its latest update about its efforts, Meta said it will start testing default end-to-end encrypted chats for select users on Messenger. Those chosen to be part of the test will find that some of their most frequent chats have been automatically end-to-end encrypted. That means there’s no reason to start “Secret Conversations” with those friends anymore. 

The company is also testing secure storage for encrypted chats, which gives users access to their conversation history in case they lose their phone or want to restore it on a new device. To be able to access their backups through security storage, users will have to create a PIN or generate codes that they’ll then have to save. Those two are end-to-end encrypted options and provide another layer of protection. That said, users can also opt to use cloud services to restore conversations — those with iOS devices, for instance, can use iCloud to store the secret key needed to access their backups. Meta will also begin testing secure storage this week, but only on Android and iOS. It’s still not available for Messenger on the web or for unencrypted chats. 

Meta

The other tests Meta is rolling out in the coming weeks include bringing regular Messenger features to end-to-end encrypted chats. It will test the ability to unsend messages and to send replies to Facebook Stories as encrypted chats, and it’s also planning to bring end-to-end encrypted calls to the Calls Tab on Messenger. Ray-Ban Stories users will be able to send encrypted hands-free messages through Messenger, as well.

In addition, Meta is launching a new security feature called Code Verify, which is an open-source browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. As its name implies, it can verify the authenticity of the Messenger website’s web code and ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with. As for Instagram, the company is retiring the app’s vanish mode chats, which aren’t encrypted, while also expanding ongoing tests for opt-in end-to-end encrypted messages and calls on the service. 

All of these are part of Meta’s preparations as it works its way towards the global rollout of default end-to-end encryption for messages and calls on its services. It plans to launch even more tests and updates before its target rollout sometime in 2023.

Government officials reportedly said the raid was timed for when former President Donald Trump was out of town.

Merely a day after Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 launch, Xiaomi was quick to follow with a surprising punch. The Mix Fold 2 is the Chinese brand’s second foldable phone, featuring a surprising thickness of just 5.4mm when opened — barely enough to house a USB-C port — and 11.2mm thick when folded. While Huawei’s Mate Xs 2 is also 5.4mm thick when opened, bear in mind that it folds outwards instead and therefore lacks a secondary display, not to mention its 11.1mm-thick camera “column.”

One of the features that enables the Mix Fold 2’s thickness is Xiaomi’s third-gen “micro water drop hinge,” which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel within the 8.8mm-tall hinge structure. To put things into perspective, Xiaomi pointed out that the current “water drop hinge” structure on a competitor’s foldable — with an obvious image reference to Huawei’s Mate X2 — is 11.25mm tall, as illustrated in the second image in the gallery below. The company added that with this new hinge and panel, the crease is even less visible — narrower space over all, with an average depth of less than 0.15mm.

Interestingly, Xiaomi was willing to sacrifice a bit of battery juice to reach this thickness, going from the original Mix Fold’s 5,020mAh to 4,500mAh. It’s as if Xiaomi is betting big on the efficiency of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor here. There’s still support for 67W rapid charging, which goes from zero to 100 percent in just 40 minutes. Together with the smaller hinge and slimmer body parts, these contribute to a lighter overall weight — 262 grams (about 9.24 ounces) instead of the old 317 grams (about 11.2 ounces). Other goodies include larger heat dissipation components, dual Harman Kardon speakers, NFC and IR remote.

Some adjustments have been made on the two displays. For one, both have adopted a slightly wider aspect ratio. The exterior Samsung panel now comes in a 6.56-inch size with a 2,520 x 1,080 resolution, shielded by Gorilla Glass Victus. The interior foldable screen is a supposedly more efficient 8.02-inch Samsung Eco² OLED panel with a 2,016 x 1,914 resolution, and it’s covered by a flexible piece of ultra-thin glass (30um). Both screens support up to 120Hz refresh rate and 1,000-nit brightness, along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. There are also three ambient sensors around the phone for a more accurate auto brightness for both screens.

Xiaomi

On the photography side, there’s no more “liquid lens” gimmick this time. The Mix Fold 2 shares a near-identical 50-megapixel main camera (with optical stabilization) and 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera as the Xiaomi 12, but this time with a Leica Summicron certification — much like the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which kick-started this partnership. You also get an 8-megapixel 2x portrait camera (45mm equivalent), as well as a 20-megapixel selfie camera on the other side. But of course, you can also unfold the phone and switch to the rear cameras for selfies instead, in which case you’ll be using the secondary screen as a viewfinder.

Given the phone’s thickness, a camera bump was inevitable, so Xiaomi could only attempt to minimize the camera module height, and it did so by switching to the less common SMA (shape memory alloy) actuator to power the main camera’s optical stabilization. It’s unclear whether there are any performance disadvantage with this solution, though.

Xiaomi

With the Leica partnership, the Mix Fold 2’s camera app gained a “Leica Authentic” mode for those prefer natural-looking shots, as well as a self-explanatory “Leica Vibrant” mode for everyone else. Regardless of the photography mode, this foldable phone produces the classic Leica M3’s shutter sound when shooting, and you’ll find various Leica-inspired filters, lens effects and interface elements throughout the camera app. If you often take photos of fast-moving kids or pets, you’ll apparently appreciate Xiaomi’s AI-assisted “CyberFocus” AI tech here, which was ported over from the company’s CyberDog and already featured on the Xiaomi 12 series.

Much like the 12S Ultra and the original Mix Fold, the Mix Fold 2 is exclusive to the China market, so good luck finding an importer in your area. The phone starts from 8,999 yuan (about $1,340) for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage version, then it jumps to 9,999 yuan (about $1,480) for double the storage, then to 11,999 yuan (about $1,780) for a whopping 1TB. All three flavors come with a vegan leather case with a built-in kickstand, and folks in China can already pre-order today.