Some of Google's unwitting users are learning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company's policies, it can abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online photos and other vital digital services.Several people who recently bought Google's new Pixel phone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now suffering that punishment after the company detected their online purchases and judged they violated its terms of service. Those rules, outlined in a document that few people read closely , forbid the purchase of the Pixel for "commercial" resale.
"There isn't an hour that doesn't go by that I don't think about the enormity of what Google has done to me," said one of the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York. "This is like a digital death sentence."
Sell Your Phone, Lose Your Account
Super and his fellow resellers got into trouble for buying up to five Pixel phones from Google's online store and having them delivered to New Hampshire for resale. They received $5 for each phone. As of Sunday, some started finding themselves locked out of their Google accounts.
In a Thursday statement, Google described the resale arrangement as a "scheme" devised by a dealer looking to sell the Pixels at marked-up prices in violation of its policies.
Google declined to say how many people were affected by the account lockdown. DansDeals , a consumer-focused website that first reported Google's crackdown, concluded that more than 200 people had been blocked from their Google accounts after talking to the New Hampshire dealer behind the Pixel buying spree. The Associated Press was unsuccessful in its efforts to identify and interview the dealer.
The crackdown may come as a surprise to the hundreds of millions of people who now routinely rely on Google, Facebook, Apple and other tech companies as the caretakers of their digital lives. Few of the people involved in this situation appear to have backed up their data outside of Google.
Google said it plans to restore the accounts of customers who it believes were unaware of the rules, although the company didn't specify how long that might take.
Living Without Google
Once they figured out why they were being locked out, the exiled consumers realized how dependent they had become on Google as the custodian of their digital communications, records and other mementoes.
Some said they couldn't retrieve confirmation numbers for upcoming flights or notices about an upcoming credit-card payment. Others couldn't fetch work documents or medical records. Some started getting phone calls from friends, family and colleagues wondering why they weren't responding to emails.
Like two other people interviewed by the AP, Super said he had no idea that he was violating Google's policies when he bought the Pixels for the New Hampshire dealer. He can't believe Google would do something as extreme as locking him out of his account without warning, rather than just banning him from buying its phones in the future.
"Google's slogan is 'Don't be evil,' but to me, there is nothing more evil that what Google has done here," Super said.
Crime and Punishment
Some of the Pixels purchased for resale were delivered before Google recognized the violations and meted out a punishment spelled out in a separate terms-of-service document . "We may suspend or stop providing our services to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies or if we are investigating suspected misconduct," Google warns in one section.
Google doesn't give any advance notice before it shuts down an account, and doesn't make distinctions between minor and major violations. Affected users can appeal for reinstatement, though it's unclear how long that might take or what criteria Google uses in such cases.
Apple also forbids online purchases of iPhones for resale, although its terms of service say only that the company reserves the right to cancel any order suspected of breaking the rule.
Daniel Levy, who has been locked out from his Google account since Monday, said he has learned a hard lesson, though not necessarily the one the company intended.
"They confiscated my property and shouldn't be trusted," said Levy, who lives in Lakewood, New Jersey. "I will never use their services again."
Technology Hot News Spot
Showing posts with label tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tricks. Show all posts
Monday, November 21, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Technology News - This is why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies
If you want to make something cool, don’t give it to geeks first. Google Glass learned that the hard way.
Despite Snapchat’s best efforts, Robert Scoble still got a hold of a pair of the Spectacles camera glasses. He’s the enthusiastic tech blogger above who shot a nude selfie wearing Google Glass in the shower that came to embody the gadget’s cursed brand. He even admits to me that it was smart that Snap Inc didn’t send him a pair.
A SpectaScobles selfie was the exact opposite of Snapchat’s plan. That’s why it didn’t deliver any review units of Spectacles to bloggers, or send them to tech celebrities who usually get early beta access to new products.
If it did, that would have forged a perception of Spectacles as a serious device meant to be painstakingly reviewed instead of casually played with as they should be. And it would have positioned them for serious adults and early adopters, instead of the typical teens that make up Snapchat’s core user base.
So instead, it suddenly dropped a goofy vending machine full of Spectacles on a beach boardwalk in LA, near a national park in Big Sur, California, and a roadside tourist trap off Route 61 near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Snapchat lovers scrambled to get there quick and stand in long lines in hopes of scoring a pair.
There are several reasons this was brilliant:
Artificial Scarcity – People love exclusivity, but with an air of egalitarianism. By not openly selling them online or in a permanent brick-and-mortar store, and instead making their availability extremely limited, somewhat random, and only for those willing to stand in line, their perceived value skyrocketed. Sure, people are selling them on eBay for huge markups at $800 to $2000 dollars. But the point was anyone with $130 and some luck could don the glasses.
Geographic Clustering – Snapchat itself blew up in LA high schools, becoming a hit with a densely interconnected group of teens long before the press picked up on the phenomenon. Facebook actually started quite similarly, only being available at a few elite colleges like Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford. Spectacles were also launched like this. Beyond making everyone else a bit jealous, it limited the chance of someone being the only person in their area using the product. For Snapchat and Facebook, that meant people actually had friends to use the app with. And for Spectacles, it means there will still be hype left to exploit when they hit the east coast and abroad.
Buying As An Experience – When was the last time the acquisition of a product felt as momentous as owning the product itself, and that moment wasn’t annoying? Sure lots of people stayed up late to order their Apple Watch and tweet what configuration they got, though I wouldn’t call that fun. People got excited about their place in the waitlist to use the Mailbox email app, yet the eventual rollout was anti-climactic. But the googly-eyed Snapbot vending machine, dropped in scenic locations, with an augmented reality try-on screen, got almost as much coverage as the videos you make with Spectacles.
Snapchat isn’t the only one realizing big, flashy press conferences and early access for journalists aren’t the only way to release a product.
Facebook cut back on glitzy launch events following one it threw for Facebook Home, which immediately flopped. And after Sean Parker’s video app Airtime bumbled its 2012 launch extravaganza with broken demos featuring celebrities like Jim Carrey, its 2016 relaunch had no event attached.
And poor Google Glass. It tried to normalize wearing a computer on your face by handing it to the least fashionable people around, bloggers and app makers. It needed people to look cool wearing it, or at least not super weird, before anyone cared what the reviews said and the apps did. That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld.
Scoble concludes that the Spectacles Snapbots “make a lot more sense than the way Google rolled out Google Glass to developers and nerds.”
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Monday, November 7, 2016
Did You Know Why Are Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 Phones Exploding?
Samsung was forced earlier this week to discontinue its
flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. For good. The Galaxy Note 7 turned
out to be a massive disappointment. The phone intended to fight the
iPhone 7 Plus this year was seen as one of the hottest Android devices
in town. Unfortunately, it also turned out to come with an unexpected
side-effect: the Galaxy Note 7 is a fire hazard. Even after Samsung
fixed it.
New manufacturing issues
Samsung has yet to explain what went wrong with its batteries in both
the original phones and the replacements. The Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC), which worked with Samsung on the US recall, said on
September 15th that batteries made by Samsung SDI were faulty.
Apparently, they were made slightly too large for the space available in
the phone. Installing them would crimp the corner, which could lead to a
short circuit, overheating and potentially a fire.
Samsung removed Samsung SDI batteries from its Galaxy Note 7 supply and turned to China’s Amperex Technology. However, Bloomberg reports
that even Amperex batteries proved to have a manufacturing
problem. Investigators of the latest Galaxy Note 7 incidents believe
that a flaw different from the one that caused the original recall is to
blame, according to Bloomberg.
The new issue hasn’t been explained, but it looks like it may have
crept into the supply chain after Samsung began replacing the faulty
phones. Samsung had no choice but to pull the plug. Neither Samsung nor
Amperex’s parent company TDK Corp. commented on the matter, Bloomberg says.
More disturbingly, Samsung is apparently leaving its carrier partners
in the dark about the problem. Samsung is asking partners to share
testing data, but Samsung isn’t reciprocating. Carriers have no idea
what to tell customers, one unnamed carrier executive said.
Fast charging
Another theory that tries to explain the numerous Galaxy Note 7
explosions has to do with the fast-charging feature of the battery.
According to the Financial Times, the problem comes from tweaks made to the processor to speed up charging.
“If you try to charge the battery too quickly it can make it more
volatile. If you push an engine too hard, it will explode. Something had
to give. These devices are miracles of technology — how much we can get
out of that tiny piece of lithium-ion,” an unnamed source said after
supposedly speaking with Samsung executives about the matter.
That beautiful design
The Galaxy Note 7’s looks might actually lead to explosions.
Specifically, it’s the symmetrical curvature of the phone, a feature
Samsung bragged about, that may have exerted pressure on battery packs
and caused the short circuits that eventually led to dangerous fires.
After the first recall, leaked documentation from the Korean consumer
protection agency said that Samsung SDI’s batteries were slightly
larger than the compartment they were supposed to be placed in.
Furthermore, the isolation plates that separate the anode and cathode
were too close to the edges.
One theory states that external pressure could have been applied to
those isolation plates during manufacturing. The plates are placed
towards the edge of the battery and when the phone is sealed, the
battery pack might be subjected to excessive pressure. The images below
show SDI battery packs with isolation plates placed too close to the
edge.
Tricks to Use One WhatsApp Account On Two Phones
Want
to use one whatsapp account with two different phones?It will be fun
doing this.But don’t try to snoop anyone.One of the downsides of
WhatsApp is that it every WhatsApp account is associated with a single
phone number making its use limited to one phone at a time. Because the
WhatsApp app on your phone periodically checks for an active phone
number and if it doesn’t find a match, it will prompt you to re-verify
to use it again. Therefore, multi-phone use of the same WhatsApp account
on multiple phones usually doesn’t work. But there is a simple
workaround.
Even though it is not the most elegant of solutions, it works. And it only needs an active internet connection on the second phone and functions even without a SIM card.
Even though it is not the most elegant of solutions, it works. And it only needs an active internet connection on the second phone and functions even without a SIM card.
Use One WhatsApp Account On Two Different Phones
STEPS TO DO THIS:
1. Open the Web browser on the second phone that you want to also use WhatsApp on and go to web.whatsapp.com.
2.
On the mobile browser, it will automatically redirect you to the
WhatsApp home page. From the browser options, choose “Request desktop
site” (where you find this could vary from browser to browser) and it
will then open up the desired Web page with a QR code displayed
prominently.
3.
On the phone that has WhatsApp installed and running, go to
options/settings and choose “WhatsApp Web” (If you are already using
WhatsApp Web on any other browser, you will have to log out before
proceeding). It will fire up the QR scanner.
The
catch is that you can use this method to use WhatsApp on only one
additional device (other than the primary phone on which WhatsApp is
installed) and to use on another device, you will have to log out from
one.
Also WhatsApp Web isn’t a full-feature replacement for the installed version of WhatsApp. You wouldn’t get notifications and the interface isn’t optimised for mobile use. You might want to switch to landscape to for a fuller view.
Also WhatsApp Web isn’t a full-feature replacement for the installed version of WhatsApp. You wouldn’t get notifications and the interface isn’t optimised for mobile use. You might want to switch to landscape to for a fuller view.
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Tips and Tricks to Solve Common Miui Problems
Xiaomi
is not only about high specifications yet affordable smartphones, more
importantly is the MIUI system that comes together with the phones. Up
to date, MIUI has been developed until MIUI 7 and yet, improvements are
being introduced weekly with the China Dev ROM. The simple and yet
functional MIUI system has attracted lots of users to try out Xiaomi
smartphones.As a loyal MIUIers,I would like to share a few simple tricks
in MIUI that MIUIers can’t missed. Let’s learn together the awesomeness
of MIUI.
1. How to turn on the “developer options” in MIUI
You
can turn on the developer options through Settings>About
phone>tap 3-6 times on the MIUI version tab. Tada…You have turned on
the developer options for MIUI.
2. Why there is a bit yellowish tint on my Xiaomi smartphone display?
To
reduce the yellowish tint on the display, please go to
Settings>Display>Colors & saturation>Choose Standard/cool.
This should reduce the yellowness of the display.But if the screen is
still yellow tinted after changing the settings, then this might be due
to production failure. Please do not hesitate to contact the Xiaomi
customer service in your country or take the phone to the nearest
service center to solve the problem.
3. Why sometimes during phone calls there is echo?
This can be solved by: Settings>Sounds>Suppress noise during calls> Single-mic noise suppression.
4. Xiaomi phones could not sent or deliver MMS
This
can be solved by logging into the Mi account. Settings>Mi
Account>Mi cloud. Some of the users who changed the password in PC
are required to delete the account and re-login again.
5. There are some noise on my Mi phone screen.
Dial
*#*#6484#*#* (Which is also the T9 input for MIUI, isn’t this
convenience), choose tab number 11 Touch sensor>Recalibrate the touch
screen
6. How to solve the black screen during phone calls?
Dial
*#*#6484#*#*, number 8 Proximity sensor>recalibrate the sensor. If
it is still the same, the tempered glass might have blocked the sensor
and thus failed. Change another tempered glass/screen protector that do
not block the proximity sensor. If problem still persisted, please visit
the nearest Xiaomi service center for a full checkup.
7. Why when there are calls coming in, the ringtone will only ring after 1-2 second?
When
there is a stranger phone calls come in, the phone will determine
whether this is a harassment phone calls, the system will take about 1
second to decide, that’s why phone will only ring after 1-3 seconds
(this is predetermined by the developers). If the phone calls are from
the number inside contact list, the phone will ring immediately.
8. The sound quality of Mi phone it not that great.
Try
to turn on the Settings>Sound & Vibration>Audio
settings>Mi sound Enhancer. Try to match the earphones that you are
using currently with the available choices in the list.
9. Why my mi phone ringtone is not loud?
Setting>Sound
& vibration>Volumes>Ringtone and notification (Set it to the
loudest). Or you can try plug in earphones, setting>Sound and
vibration>Switch on. With this option on, although there is no
earphones if the phone rings, the speaker volume will be louder 20% as
compared to this function turned off. The last option is there are some
phones the speaker is located beneath the phone, try to turn the speaker
on the upper side.
10. Why I always feel my phone is lagging?
This
is because the animation for the phone is turned on. If you don’t like
the animation, can go to Settings>Additional settings>Developer
options>Window animation scale>Animation off. If you still feel
there are some lags, can try to reflash the phone.
11. How to turn off the in-game vibration?
Settings>Sounds
and vibration>Vibrate on touch>off. Normally, the vibration
during gaming can be turn off in the game menu setting.
12. How to change ringtone easily?
You
can place your ringtone (.mp3) in the File Explorer>Internal
Storage>MIUI>Ringtone. Or, Settings>Sound and vibration>Call
ringtone and vibrate: here, you can choose to have long or short
ringtone for the choices available. The last resort is:
Contacts>Default ringtone>Select the tone you like.
13. When I am playing games, I always accidentally touch the bottom three buttons.
Pull
down the navigation bar>Turn on “Buttons” option. To turn on the 3
buttons function, simply touch home button and power button
simultaneously.
14. Can I switch off the notification for Mi App Store (China ROM)?
No. But you can try to root your phone and uninstall the default MI app store.
15. How to enable the camera in MIUI to detect the gender and age?
Camera>Swipe
to right>At the bottom, setting>turn on the Face detection, then
in the Age and gender, turn on show age and gender when beautify is on.
Then go back to camera, choose selfie mode, at the bottom, the star
icon, choose to turn on the beautify mode (low, mid or high). Then you
can see the age and gender in the selfie cam.
16. Can Xiaomi phone scan and detect barcode and QR code?
Yes. Camera>Setting>switch on the scan QR codes mode. The other place where you can scan QR code is Tools>Scanner.
17. How to easily transfer files between phones and PC?
First,
make sure your phone and PC is connected to the same WiFi. Then,
Explorer>at the bottom screen, FTP>Start server>There will be a
link on the screen, started with ftp://xx.x.x.x:xxxx.
Go to your pc>My Computer>Paste the ftp link in the Computer
address bar. Now, you can easily transfer files between PC and Mi phones
without cables.
18. My PC can’t recognize when I plug in my phone through USB connection
If
the data cable and USB port is working well, then
Settings>Additional settings>Developer options>switch on the
USB debugging.IF your pc still can’t detect your phone then uninstall
all phone drivers such as samsung,motorola,htc,micromax etc., and then
plugin your USB cable.It should work fine!
19. My Mi phone is drop dead, can’t start up with any button pressed
Long
press the power button at least 10 seconds, this will turn on the
phone. If the phone is lag in a screen, this will help to restart the
phone. Currently, Xiaomi flagship phones do not support removable
battery anymore, thus remove battery and restart is not possible. But,
you still can remove battery in selected Redmi series.
The
other way is press the volume up button and power button
simultaneously, your will be directed to Mi logo and recovery page,
choose you language of choice and choose to Reboot.
If
the phone is in off mode, they to press the volume down and power
button simultaneously, to enter the Fastboot mode (Mi bunny fixing
Android robot pic), then try to long press (really really long) the
power button.
If all the method above proven to be failed, it is the time you pay a visit to the nearest service center
20. The screen is dark, but bottom 3 navigation button lights are turned on.
Long press the power button (at least 10 seconds) and try to reboot the phone.
My
friend faced this problem before, is scarce, because he turns off the
auto-brightness and set the phone brightness to the lowest. This can be
solved by blind testing. Unlock the phone, pull down the navigation bar
and try to manually adjust the brightness.
21. The screen turned off during gaming and the phone can’t be turned on
Sometimes,
when you’re enjoying the game with your phone so much, you forgot about
the phone battery where you played until it is out of juice! Try to
charge the phone and power on, if the phone can be on, then today is
your lucky day. If can’t on, charge it for minimum 30 mins, then turn it
on. IF after 30 mins of charging still can’t turn on, please visit the
nearest customer service, if the phone is still under warranty, you can
actually change the motherboard for free..Yay!!
22. If my Mi phone is spoiled, under what circumstances I can repair it for free?
If
the phone is not spoiled due to fall down (the physical condition of
the phone is bad) or drop into water, you can repair it for free in
1-year period from the date of purchasing.
23. The phone has not been use for quite sometimes, how to adjust the time and date back to current accuracy?
Normally,
the time and date is automatically updated when the phone is connected
to the internet. There is no need of manual adjust them. But, make sure
you choose the correct time zone for your phone.
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