The 15-second video shows a partially hidden phone prototype that has no visible notch — in fact, the selfie camera isn't visible at all. And yet, the selfie camera appears to function as you'd expect. Near the end of the video, someone places a finger over the camera, blocking its view, as if to prove that the camera is really there.
The under-the-display selfie camera is another step towards a smartphone that's basically all screen on the front. Technologies like in-display fingerprint sensors and vibrating displays that double as speakers made it possible for smartphones to have huge screens, leaving the selfie camera as the last major obstacle in completely eliminating the notches and bezels that most major phones have these days. But it's hard to tell whether it's possible to make this type of camera as good as regular selfie cameras.
Oppo's VP Brian Shen shared a few more details about the technology on Chinese social media site Weibo. He said that at this stage, the optical quality of the under-the-display camera will have "some loss", but he pointed out that every new technology takes time to perfect.
Benjamin Geskin has tweeted a leaked screenshot of the iOS 13 Reminders app running on an iPhone in the new Dark Mode theme.
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9to5Mac has privately seen similar images and can corroborate the design. Obviously, it closesly matches the screenshot that 9to5Mac previously published, which depicted the iPad Reminders app.
What’s cool about Geskin’s image is it shows how the same iPad app will appear on a phone-sized screen, collapsing the side-by-side panes into a full-screen interface. It also shows off the new dark theme coming in iOS 13.
The Reminders interface sits on what appears to be a true black background. The new buttons for ‘Today’, ‘Scheduled’, ‘All’ and ‘Flagged’ are drawn as dark grey tiles with the colorful iconography popping off the page.
Geskin says that his screenshot (or really what is a photograph of a screenshot, you can see the glare if you zoom in closely) comes from an early March build of iOS 13 so it’s possible that some changes have taken place since that time (like removing the stray separator line below the search box and above the first row of tiles).
Yesterday, Geskin also shared an image of the new volume indicator UI present in the same March build. It is our understanding that the volume UI does not look like that anymore, but the Reminders interface pictured here is more representative of what Apple will actually unveil later today.
The WWDC keynote kicks off at 10 AM Pacific Time where Apple will announce iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6 and tvOS 13. Of course, 9to5Mac will be bringing live coverage of all the announcements — so stay tuned.
We've seen phone makers coming up with creative ways to avoid the front-camera notch, with the pop-up camera being an increasingly common option amongst Chinese phones, along with the flip-up camera on the more recent ASUS ZenFone 6. Vivo and Nubia even just went with a secondary display on the back at one point. But now, it appears that Oppo has found a non-mechanical solution -- an under-display selfie camera.
In his weibo post earlier today, Oppo VP Brian Shen shared a short video clip of what appears to be a notch-free prototype smartphone lying on a desk. The camera app was launched, and despite the lack of a visible front-facing camera, the screen still seemingly showed a live view of the room's ceiling. Just to add credibility to the video, the demonstrator also hovered a finger over where the camera is supposedly hidden.
Having a non-mechanical front camera solution means there's no physical wear and tear, plus that's one less piece of fragile part to worry about. That said, in a follow-up post, Shen admitted that this under-screen camera technology is still in its early days. "At this stage, it's difficult for under-display cameras to match the same results as normal cameras, there's bound to be some loss in optical quality," Shen said. "But, no new technology jumps to perfection right away."
There's no word on when we may see this technology on a mass-produced smartphone, but our guess is that Vivo, Oppo's main rival in China and also a sister company, may also be working on a similar implementation -- as hinted by the APEX 2019 concept phone's product manager back in March. Either way, hopefully we'll be hearing from Shen again about this in the near future.
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience - prepare to be amazed. 📲
You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaY
Update: Well, it didn't take long before Xiaomi responded with its own under-display camera demo. The company's president, Lin Bin, shared a video clip that was allegedly shot last month, in which an under-screen camera was added to a Mi 9 prototype. "No hole, no notch, no pop-up camera." But again, there's no mention on a launch date.
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during Apple WWDC on June 8, 2015 in San Francisco, California.
Getty Images
Apple is expected to launch the latest version of iOS, its software for the iPhone and iPad, on Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC. The company has launched a new version of its iPhone software at WWDC every year since 2009, and analysts and reports don't expect this year to be any different.
The announcement of the new software, likely called iOS 13, will show how Apple is evolving its most important product, the iPhone, in the face of a contracting smartphone market.
The company's Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, also is an opportunity for Apple to highlight its growing services business, which revolves around selling online subscriptions to iPhone users, including an announced video service this called Apple TV+. The next version of iOS will have to support this service.
"This year WWDC will have a different feel as Apple needs to prove with its next iOS, currently codenamed Yukon, that this platform has the speed, scalability, and feature functionality to smoothly support and lay the groundwork for the company's flagship video streaming service slated for the fall," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Friday.
WWDC kicks off on Monday in San Jose, California. The company's new product announcements will be revealed in a livestreamed keynote address starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
One platform to rule them all?
WWDC is Apple's main event to communicate how it sees its various software platforms developing.
At WWDC in 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook framed Apple as a company with four main platforms: iOS, watchOS, macOS, and tvOS.
"This is a huge moment for us – four great platforms that become even more capable with working with all of you," Cook said in 2016.
But in 2019, Apple doesn't seem to have a four-legged stool anymore. Apple is increasingly emphasizing its ability to sell add-on software and subscription services to iPhone owners as smartphone sales shrink.
With that business goal front an center, Apple's iPhone is being positioned the center of Apple's software development universe, and its iOS App Store distribution platform as one of the company's crown jewels.
For example, Apple's TV strategy has moved away froma becoming its own separate platform for apps. Instead, Apple's main video product is itself an app that aggregates paid video feeds from outside providers — which are "channels," not apps. The Apple TV app is increasingly available on television sets from competitors like Samsung, and Apple said in the spring that its streaming service, Apple TV+, will go on sale this fall.
It will also be a good place to look for clues whether the Mac platform might become secondary to iOS going forward.
Last year, the company previewed a new set of developer tools that would enable iPhone apps to run on Mac computers with minimal effort. Apple uses the technology for some of its own apps that have jumped from the iPhone to the Mac, such as News or Memos.
Developers are worried that if the two platforms become more closely linked, that software will be primarily developed for iPhone and then ported to Mac, potentially robbing the desktop version of power-user features.
"Are you merging iOS and MacOS? No," read a bold-faced slide at last year's WWDC. Developers will be watching closely to see if that's still true.
The one platform that might be gaining in stature is watchOS, which runs on the Apple Watch. According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple may introduce a new app store for Apple Watch, providing a new way to for developers to make money from watch apps.
iOS 13
iOS 13 will reportedly have a slew of new features for users, including a dark mode, improved one-handed keyboard, and improvements to apps like Mail, Health, and iMessage, according to reports from Bloomberg and 9to5Mac.
If past years are any guide, the new software will be available for beta-testers later this summer, and will launch for everyone alongside new iPhones in the fall.
Many of the reported system-wide improvements are subtle, including improved performance and a new feature in Screen Time. Apple is expected to redesign the "share sheet" that enables people to send photos and information from inside of apps.
iPads are expected to get particular attention, including a new feature that lets Mac users use the iPad as a second monitor, and a better multi-tasking tinerface.
Apple's own apps are expected to get a lot of attention this year. The Health, Reminders, Books, and Find My Friends apps are all expected to get a redesign, according to Bloomberg.
No new iPhones, but maybe a new Mac
Don't expect a lot of new hardware at WWDC. No new hardware was released at WWDC last year, but 2017's conference included the introduction of the HomePod smart speaker and the iMac Pro desktop.
"History suggests investor disappointment will follow the event given the likely absence of any material hardware product announcements," Loup Ventures cofounder and longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster wrote on Friday. "This reaction misses the point of WWDC: give developers the tools to build world-class software and services."
There is chance that Apple discusses a high-end Mac desktop computer, which would fit in with the conference's programming focus. In 2017, Apple said it would release a high-end professional-oriented Mac computer, but didn't specify a time frame.
Antitrust complaints
5,000 developers travel to San Jose for WWDC, and the vast majority of them like Apple — after all, they have chosen to work on Apple's platforms and often spend thousands of dollars to travel to enjoy WWDC's party-like atmosphere.
For instance, Apple faced complaints from companies like Spotify and politicians such as Elizabeth Warren about alleged anticompetitive practices in the App Store. Most recently, a group of screen addiction apps have been publicly lobbying Apple because they say they've been removed from Apple's platform unfairly.
Last week, Apple launched a website that said the App Store platform promotes competition, to head off further complaints. Apple's message to its developers is that it helps them make a lot of money, and that when it removes or bans apps, it's not for business reasons, but because of safety and consumer trust.
"According to our estimates, the world's App Store users spent nearly twice as much in apps last year as Google Play's did, despite the latter's considerably larger market global market share," app analytics firm Sensor Tower cofounder Alex Malafeev said in an email.
Developers will be watching Apple closely to see what it says to them directly about fairness and competition on the platform.
Over the past two weeks, Huawei has lost nearly every partner it has thanks to a US trade ban, including high-profile splits with Google, Corning, and ARM that have plunged the Chinese phone maker into an unprecedented crisis. But some of its major partners are staying quiet — most notably Microsoft, which still hasn’t put out an official statement on the ban. Microsoft did quietly pull Huawei laptops from its site, suggesting some kind of withdrawal of services, but we’re still in the dark about the company’s broader plans for dealing with the ban.
Microsoft is one of Huawei’s biggest software partners, licensing and maintaining Windows on a number of Huawei laptops that have to be directly licensed and updated by the company. It’s most likely that Microsoft is simply staying quiet because of the sensitivity of the issue, but the silence raises an interesting question: if Microsoft (or any other company) defies the Commerce order and keeps doing business with Huawei, what kind of penalties would it face?
The assumption from nearly everyone in the industry is that Microsoft will take the same tack as Google and the others, for the simple reason that they can’t afford not to. There’s a raft of penalties for companies that defy export bans, ranging from civil fines to denial orders that would place explicit limits on what the violating company can export, all administered by dedicated Export Enforcement investigators. If the violations are flagrant enough, there can even be criminal penalties, like a case in May that saw a New Jersey man convicted on conspiracy charges for exporting weapons to Ukraine. But given how much Microsoft relies on government and international contracts for its business, there would be plenty for the company to lose before the threat of jail time was even raised.
It’s not just US companies that need to be careful of this kind of penalty. As law firms are rushing to clarify, anyone who licenses technology from the US has to abide the same restrictions, which effectively means cutting off partnership with Huawei. “For example,” one firm explains, “nonpublic U.S.-origin technology necessary to produce a toothbrush may not be provided to Huawei by a company outside the United States without a BIS license,” even if the toothbrush itself is made outside the US. That risk goes a long way to explain why companies like ARM, which is based outside the US and provides chip architectures rather than manufacturing itself, are still steering clear of the ban.
What’s more likely is that Microsoft is simply playing for time. Trump himself has hinted that the restrictions could be removed as part of a trade deal, which would likely be struck before the new tariffs go into effect on June 25th. If that deal actually happens, staying quiet and riding out the storm might seem smart in retrospect — but given Trump’s track record as a federal deal-maker, it seems like a risky bet.
At its I/O developer’s conference in May, Google announced that it was bringing a neat feature to its search results: augmented reality models, which allows users to take a look as a 3D image of a search result. The company just rolled out the feature to users with an ARCore or ARKit-ready Android phone or iPhone, as spotted by Cnet.
The feature only has a couple of animals that you can check out right now, such as a tiger, a lion, a giant panda, a rottweiler, a wolf, and a bunch of others. (Cnet’s Scott Stein has a thread that lists off the ones that he found.)
It’s AR of the tiger!
If you’ve got an AR-enabled phone, you can now bring select animals right into your space for a safari (or safe snuggle) with Search. pic.twitter.com/kWpudETgeq
To use the feature, navigate to Google on a compatible device, and search for the animal in question in Google Search. If the animal you’ve searched for (say, a wolf) is available, it’ll show up in a small box with some statistics and an animated thumbnail, and an invitation to “meet a life-sized wolf up close.”
From there, tap “View in 3D”, and the site will populate an animated, 3D model in your screen. When you click on the AR tab on the top of the screen, it’ll switch you to an AR view on your phone. This step took a couple of minutes: it had me move my phone around before populating a handful of animals, but eventually, it displayed a tiger, a golden eagle, and a wolf hanging out in my backyard. It’ll let you take a clean screenshot, minus all of the tabs and buttons.
The feature is pretty cool: it’s a good way to see just how large some of these animals really are up close (I kept thinking that they were too large, until I looked at their stats), and I could see this being useful in a classroom or educational setting.
At I/O, Google noted that the feature would be used for some more practical things, like shopping, where you could see what a product looked like without actually having it in hand, or if you wanted to check out how muscles looked on a person — it would overlay your search result in AR. That’s not the extent of Google’s AR ambitions: it’s been testing an AR navigation feature for Google Maps, and has been releasing AR Playmoji stickers for users to play with.
The feature isn’t the first time that Google has inserted some sort of interactive, animal-related feature into its search results. Back in 2016, it launched a feature that allows people to listen to animal sounds in search results, although you have to specifically search for “Animal Sounds” to access that — searching for “Wolf Sounds” just brings you to regular links, like clips from YouTube or other related pages.
Enlarge/ Maybe this is the "Mark Taylor" I seek...
Getty Images | vladru
After a layoff dumped me into the job market for the first time in more than a decade, I had an all-too-close encounter with a new breed of digital fraudsters who prey on the unemployed. These high-tech predators use a new twist on an old scam to "hire" the victim in order to gain access to their bank account. The scheme was cleverly engineered, but a couple of small irregularities tipped me off to my would-be assailants' plans before they could steal anything more than two days' worth of my time. Once alerted, I was even able to use some of their own tactics to inflict a bit of pain on the folks who sought to scam me.
Embarrassing as it might be, I'm sharing my experiences in the hope that they might help you avoid falling victim to these cyber-vultures and perhaps even turn the tables on them.
The setup
Like most successful cons, this one involved gaining the willing consent of its victim through some combination of greed, fear, or desperation. Having been laid off several months earlier, I fell into the latter category and was ripe for the picking. When I lost the unfulfilling but steady editorial job I'd held down for the past few years, I was confident that my strong credentials and deep collection of contacts I'd made over the years would help me land a better gig within a month or two.
To my surprise, the job hunting skills I'd honed over my 20+ year career were outdated and almost useless at penetrating the layers of digital screening agents that stood between me and a potential employer. I found myself in unfamiliar territory, struggling to learn the complex Kabuki dance that today's job seekers must master in order to slip past Corporate HR's silicon sentinels and gain an audience with a carbon-based life form.
Even engaging a resume coach to help me finetune my credentials failed to break the deafening silence until an email arrived from ZipRecruiter, one of several job hunting sites I was registered with. The recruiter was responding to the application I had submitted a day earlier for a remote-work tech writer position at a biotech firm. Since the scammers used the name of a real company for their scheme, I've redacted it from the email below:
Company: XXXXXX, INC. - Position Type: Full-Time/Part Time.
Positions Available: Copywriter/Technical Writer/Proofreader and Editor. Pay: 45-50/HR
Station: Freelance/Remote - Full Time & Part time available. Candidate Interview Reference Code: ZPRTR11680 - Job Code: 3022
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
Manage team of experienced copywriters and proofreaders, bringing team members together in pursuit of highly relevant, error-free content across both digital and traditional print media
Evolve company’s voice and tone, championing the evolution of, and adherence to, our brand style guide
Lead proofing and copy functions as a “hands on” manager, personally taking on related tasks to hit critical deadlines
Work closely with Creative Director and team in the development of new and existing concepts, and in crafting output that sells
Manage overarching editorial process and workflow for all copy-writing and proofing milestones, prioritizing work, while improving process to maximize efficiency and productivity
Supervise and coach copywriters on developing engaging content that seamlessly integrates with visual design.
Your resume has been reviewed by our HR Department for the position and we believe you are capable of handling this position based on the contents of your resume you sent for our ad on ZIPRECRUITER. Your details has been forwarded to Mrs MARK TAYLOR the Assistant Chief Human Resources Officer. He will be conducting interview with you to discuss the Job Details, Pay Scale and every other thing you need to know about the position.
You are required to Log on to Google Talk Messenger/Hangout and send an Invite/Message to the Asst. Chief Human Resources OfficerMARK TAYLOR on his ID at (hrmdesktaylor@gmail.com). An interview tag identification number has been assigned to you ***ZPRTR11680***. Introduce yourself to him and indicate your interview reference code.
Thus began a two-day odyssey that nearly ended with my new "employers" draining the contents of my bank account.
Enlarge/ Have you ever heard of a job interview conducted via Google Hangouts? Can't imagine this happened frequently back in 2015 when these screenshots of Hangouts on iOS were current...
The hook
Per the email's instructions, I hopped onto Google Hangouts and reached out to "Mark Taylor," the person who would be interviewing me. His voice channel did not seem to be active so we messaged back and forth and set up a time to chat the following day.
During our exchange, I noticed that his replies contained some subtle grammatical irregularities that were very similar to the ones I'd seen in the first email. Wanting desperately to believe that this interview would be my ticket to a steady paycheck, I told myself that the recruiter's odd turns of phrase were probably due to the fact that he was working at some sort of offshore service center.
Any lingering concerns I had were put to rest after a bit of research revealed that the biotech firm the recruiter claimed to represent was a real company. Thus assured, I spent some time gathering information from the company's website to prep for the upcoming interview.
The following day, I logged onto Google Hangouts, properly dressed and groomed for the video chat I'd been preparing for. To my surprise, I learned that the interview would be conducted using Hangouts' text messaging service. Here is an excerpt of the conversation:
Me: Hi Mark—it's Lee. I'm on Hangouts and trying to confirm that the application will default to my external microphone instead of the one in my laptop. I'll call in a couple of minutes and if we have difficulty I'll run the call through my phone.
"Mark Taylor": Hello Lee, we can conduct the interview via text.
Sure—that would be fine too. If it's OK with you, I'll try the voice link and default to text if that doesn't work.
(After unsuccessfully trying to establish a voice link for a few minutes, Mark broke in again)
Are you ready to proceed with the interview now?
Yes. Let's rock!
The interview consist of three phases i.e " Introduction to the Company, Questionnaire Phase, Job Briefings, Description and Pay scale" So I'll begin by introducing you properly to the Company, provide you with the necessary information/details you need to know about us after which we would proceed with the questionnaire and job briefings OK.
Sounds great! Thanks—I'm ready
After a long briefing about the company, its research, and the oncology treatments it was developing, Mark began the formal part of the interview by introducing himself as the assistant chief human resources officer of the company and describing the duties I'd be expected to fulfill.
After reviewing my qualifications, he asked me several of the questions I've frequently encountered at conventional interviews over the years, including the ever-popular "whatcan you describe as the most difficult challenge you have faced in your career thus far and what methods did you apply to get it solved?"
I think I remember noticing that some of the questions I was answering had the same verbal tics I'd seen in the earlier emails, but, even if I did, I was too busy typing my replies to allow it to be a concern.
This was followed by a series of shorter questions that seemed at first to be mostly a professional skills assessment that included:
Explain in details the 3(three) major qualities of a good proofreader?
As a technical proofreader what would be your approach to problem solving when editing a write up?
Give three expectations of a creative copywriter?
But there were two questions that seemed out of place. They wanted to know which bank I used and whether it supported electronic deposits, a process in which you deposit checks by taking pictures of them with your Smartphone. It seemed like an odd thing to ask, but I told them that my bank did accept electronic deposits and moved on to the next question.
Within a few minutes of submitting my answers, Mark informed me that I'd passed the interview and would receive a formal offer to work from my home as a copywriter/proofreader. My pay would be $45/hour during my one-week training and evaluation period, stepping up to $50/hour when I became an employee.
After months of living on unemployment checks, those were the words I'd longed to see.
I was elated as we settled into what I was told would be the first part of the company's onboarding process. Mark explained that, following my training period, I'd meet with a company representative who would help me complete the last of the HR paperwork and verify that my home office was properly equipped with a top-line Mac Book, a pricey color laser printer, and a few other pieces of expensive tech the company deemed necessary.
Elation turned to panic because it wasn't clear whether the company would supply the equipment or if I'd have to pony up for it myself. To my relief, he told me that the company would send me a check that I'd use to buy the equipment from one of the company's preferred vendors.
I'd been online for most of the day, and it was getting late. We agreed to reconnect the following morning to complete the on-boarding and begin the training I'd have to take before beginning my actual work.
Before I signed off, Mark said that he'd send me a check so I could start purchasing my new office equipment as soon as possible. Life was good.
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