MacRumors

OLED panels are expected to penetrate up to 30 percent of the smartphone display market by 2018 through increasing adoption by smartphone vendors, according to industry sources (via DigiTimes).

The supply of OLED panels will remain constrained in the first half of 2018 as Samsung Display will continue to be the sole supplier that can mass-produce the panels, while rivals including LG Display, Japan Display (JDI) and Sharp may start volume production of OLED panels in the second half of 2018 at the earliest, indicated the sources.

Tellingly, that penetration rate could climb higher if the burn-in issue related to OLED panels could be solved, according to cited sources. Multiple reports surfaced in October about potential screen burn-in or image retention issues with Google's new Pixel 2 XL smartphone.

For its part, Apple says the iPhone X has been engineered to be the "best in industry" at reducing burn-in effects, but a support document published by Apple suggests burn-in is still a problem that some users could potentially see over time.

Apple will launch a trio of new iPhone models in 2018, including 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch models with OLED displays and a 6.1-inch model with an LCD display, according to respected KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple has reportedly also expressed interest in buying advanced LCD panels from Japan Display for use in some of its iPhones next year. OLED displays offer sharper contrast and brighter colors than traditional LCD panels, but cost and supply issues are an ongoing concern for Apple, and are likely to slow down any full transition to the technology.

Japan Display's advanced LCD panels, which it calls Full Active LCDs, are said to match or exceed some of OLED's advantages at a lower cost, and Apple is interested in procuring them for use in at least some iPhones set to debut in its 2018 smartphone line-up, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, supply constraints of OLED panels are providing current TFT-LCD makers with additional time to seek alternatives to further strengthen their competitiveness, said DigiTimes' sources.

Google is facing a collective lawsuit in the United Kingdom over its alleged snooping of iPhone users, according to a new report in the Financial Times. According to the lawsuit, led by a former director of the consumer group Which?, Google illegally gathered the personal data of millions of iPhone users in the U.K. between 2011 and 2012.

Veteran consumer rights campaigner Richard Lloyd alleges the search giant bypassed the default privacy settings on Apple's smartphones which allowed it to track the online behavior of users browsing in Safari. Google then allegedly used the data in its DoubleClick business, which lets advertisers target content based on user browsing habits.

The lawsuit, filed in London's High Court, claims Google's "Safari Workaround" breached the U.K. Data Protection Act by taking personal information without permission.

"In all my years speaking up for consumers, I've rarely seen such a massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own," said Mr Lloyd, who has set up a group called Google You Owe Us.

Google said: "This is not new – we have defended similar cases before. We don't believe it has any merit and we will contest it."

The case Google refers to occurred in the U.S. in 2012, after it and several other advertising agencies were discovered to be circumventing privacy protections in Safari for iOS in order to track users through ads on numerous popular websites.

At the time, Safari blocked several types of tracking, but made an exception for websites where a person interacted in some way — by filling out a form, for example. Google added coding to some of its ads that made Safari think that a person was submitting an invisible form to Google, and thus Safari let Google install a cookie on the user's phone.

Google halted the practice once it was reported by the Wall Street Journal, but argued that the tracking was unintentional and did not harm consumers. However, that didn't wash with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the company was forced to pay a record $22.5 million fine over its use of the tactic.

Around 5.4 million people in Britain are said to have owned an iPhone between June 2011 and February 2012, when Google's "Safari Workaround" was active, and could be eligible for compensation, according to the U.K. lawsuit.

Today's news also marks the first time a collective action has been brought in the U.K. against a leading tech company over alleged misuse of data. "Collective action" is where one person represents a group with a shared grievance, similar to a class action lawsuit in the U.S.

Lloyd, who has secured £15.5 million ($20.8 million) in funds from a litigation company, said he expected each claimant would receive several hundred pounds in the event that they win the case. As a ballpark figure, a claim by 5.4 million people for £500 each would result in a £2.7 billion ($3.63 billion) payout for Google.

"We think there is a massive gap in the law in terms of consumer redress around data rights being breached," said Lloyd. He hoped the legal battle would result in a clear set of guidelines and precedent for consumers as to how they could act collectively in similar future cases.

Award-winning photo editing app infltr received an update on Wednesday that adds a number of notable new features, including support for recording filtered videos.

The new video recording mode appears beside the regular camera shutter button within the app, and joins infltr's existing support for capturing Live Photos, depth photos, and raw photos.

The new video mode also brings the ability to flip the recording between the front and rear camera using a simple double tap on the screen, so users recording a selfie video can switch to show their surroundings. With version 2.12, infltr also allows the iPhone's torch mode to be turned on and off during recording.

With iOS 11 and the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, Apple introduced five Portrait Lighting effects that make use of depth information. infltr's latest update enhances its existing depth editing functions with a new solid color overlay tool, so users can change the background or foreground of depth photos in pre- or post-production editing modes. Unlike Apple's Portrait Lighting effect, infltr's approach works with the iPhone 7 Plus camera and on any devices that have saved depth photos.

Elsewhere, the update brings 25 new color blend modes, a new sharpen tool, an auto-straighten photo tool, and the ability to share photos taken in the app directly to Instagram.

infltr costs $1.99 and can be downloaded for iPad and iPhone (with Apple Watch support) from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Medical smartphone accessory company AliveCor this week received FDA-approval for its EKG Kardia Band, the first medical-grade accessory for Apple Watch. The band has been available in Europe for some months, but the product's clearance by the FDA means it can now be sold in the United States.

The Kardia Band for Apple Watch has an integrated metallic sensor in the strap that enables it to communicate with the company's app to take EKG readings, where it can detect abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AF), much like AliveCor's existing KardiaMobile device.

However, the latter device attaches to the back of an iPhone and requires users to hold their phone with both hands for 30 seconds to register a reading, whereas the Kardia Band lets wearers take readings discreetly wherever they are and in real time.

Users need only navigate to the Apple Watch-compatible Kardia app, start a reading, place their thumb on the sensor, and wait for the 30-second analysis to finish. During this time, they can also speak into the Apple Watch's microphone to note the presence of palpitations or shortness of breath, or any dietary habits that could be linked to heart-rate fluctuations.

Recordings are stored and viewed in the Kardia iPhone app, and can also be sent to the user's doctor. The app also connects to Apple's stock Health app, so users can integrate their EKG readings into other fitness data for a more comprehensive picture of their overall health.

According to TechCrunch, AliveCor is also introducing a new feature called SmartRhythm that utilizes a neural network for better insights into heart rate data. The company says SmartRhythm can potentially detect an abnormal heart beat using the Kardiaband or KardiaMobile EKG reader.

The AliveCor Kardia Band costs $199 and can be ordered directly from the company's website or from Amazon. Readers should also note that a subscription to AliveCor's premium service ($99 a year) is required to access all of the available features once the 30-day trial period ends.

(Thanks, Anna!)

YouTube is testing a new Community feature called Reels, which was announced today in a blog post covering a expansion of the Community tab. As explained by YouTube, Reels is YouTube's answer to the popular "stories" format that's available on Instagram and Snapchat.

We want to do even more to give you easy ways to express yourself and engage with fans, so today we're also unveiling a new feature. Reels are YouTube's spin on the popular "stories" format, but designed specifically for YouTube creators. We learned that you want the flexibility to create multiple Reels and have them not expire, so we'll give you those options. We're also bringing creator-focused features like linking to YouTube videos and YouTube-y stickers.

YouTube gave TechCrunch more information on Reels, and explained that it's meant to be a way for creators to express themselves and engage fans without the need to upload an entire video.

Reels will consist of a few quick mobile videos that are up to 30 seconds in length, which can be edited with filters, music, text, stickers, and more.

Unlike the stories features on other social media networks, Reels will not expire, and instead of being featured at the top of the YouTube app, they'll be available in a dedicated tab on the creator's channel.

YouTube plans to roll out Reels as a beta feature to "learn and improve the product" before rolling it out to all YouTube creators.

Just a few days before the Los Angeles Auto Show opens to the public, many automakers have debuted new vehicles compatible with Apple's CarPlay system, providing hands-free access to Maps, Messages, Phone, Music, and select third-party apps.

We've confirmed that CarPlay is available either as a standard option or as an upgrade in the following 2018 and 2019 vehicle makes and models:

• 2018 BMW i3
  

• 2018 BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo
  

• 2018 Hyundai Kona
  

• 2018 Jeep Wrangler
  

• 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
  

• 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo
  

• 2019 Audi A8
  

• 2019 Genesis G70
  

• 2019 Kia Sorento
  

• 2019 Lincoln MKC
  

• 2019 Lincoln Nautilus
  

• 2019 Mercedes-Benz CLS
  

• 2019 Porsche Cayenne
  

• 2019 Subaru Ascent
  

• 2019 Volvo XC40

It's likely that the 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line and 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 also support CarPlay.

CarPlay is now available in hundreds of vehicle models around the world, but there are still a few notable absentees at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The 2018 Mazda6, for example, will not support CarPlay at launch. "As a company we continue to look into implementing CarPlay into future Mazda vehicles," a Mazda spokesperson told MacRumors today.

The company behind Jaguar, Land Rover, and Range Rover is also showing off several vehicles at the auto show, but none of them are compatible with CarPlay. "The technology is on the way soon," a Jaguar-Land Rover spokesperson told MacRumors today.

Other CarPlay-less vehicles include the 2019 Lexus RX L and 2019 Infiniti QX50. Lexus parent company Toyota is the biggest automaker to not support CarPlay.

A recent survey indicated that an increasing number of customers consider CarPlay a must-have feature, so it may only be a matter of time before some of those automakers holding out on Apple's technology reverse course.

Apple today updated its official Apple Support app to introduce an overhauled interface and a new "Discover" tab for learning about new features in the products you own.

The new Apple Support interface features a cleaner look with more white space and a universal search bar at the top of the "Get Support" section for locating articles more quickly.

When selecting a product to get help, the app is better organized into different topics, with support articles separated into "Popular Topics" and "More Topics." More recommended articles are also offered up during the support process, making it simpler to find help.

A new navigation bar at the bottom of the app is separated into "Discover," "Get Support," and "Account." Aside from Discover, these features were previously available, but were organized differently.

The new Discover tab is the biggest addition to the Support app. It's designed to surface tutorial articles that are specific to the device you own. On an iPhone 7 Plus, for example, the Discover section offers up articles like using the Files app, capturing Live Photos, and using Messages.

There's also a "Collections" feature that has sections like Welcome to iOS 11, Get to know your iPhone, Get the most from your iPad Pro, Apple Watch Workout, and more.

The new Support app is available starting today, with the update available in the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Following an op-ed shared on Axios earlier this morning by CEO Evan Spiegel, Snapchat has now unveiled its radical redesign with the goal of creating a personalized user experience that's easier to navigate, particularly for new users (via TechCrunch). The app's update will start to roll out to iOS and Android users on Friday, and will be introduced to everyone "within a few weeks."

The update aggregates both Stories and direct messages into one place, to the left of the main camera section of the app, and an algorithm sorts and prioritizes this section by "who you talk to and view most." This personalized content is now separate from premium publishers, celebrity Snapchatters, and aggregated Story events in "Discover" to the right of the camera, where Stories were located previously.

According to Spiegel, this is an attempt to "separate the social from the media" and ensure that it's simpler to keep up with your real friends and not be inundated with things you might not care about created by brands and influencers.

With the upcoming redesign of Snapchat, we are separating the social from the media, and taking an important step forward towards strengthening our relationships with our friends and our relationships with the media. This will provide a better way for publishers to distribute and monetize their Stories, and a more personal way for friends to communicate and find the content they want to watch.

The Discover area is curated by Snapchat employees but is also affected by an algorithm that will sort content based on your past viewing behavior, which Spiegel stated is inspired by Netflix's recommendation algorithms. Spiegel said that research has shown "your past behavior is a far better predictor of what you're interested in than anything your friends are doing," referencing rival companies like Facebook and Twitter.

All of this borders the camera section of the app, which you'll still see first when you open Snapchat. Navigation is made simpler thanks to icons that push you to specific sections of the app from this launch menu, including more obvious buttons for My Story, adding friends, Snap Map, and more.

The biggest change comes on the Friends page and its combination of Stories and direct messages. When you come to this area of Snapchat, you'll first see new Snaps and messages at the top, then Stories from close friends (who you watch and chat with the most), and then last will be other Stories from friends you don't interact with as much. Auto-advancing is back but with a new quality of life fix that provides a brief title screen that pops up with the name of the next friend in the queue, which you can easily swipe to skip.

Snapchat has been facing intense competition from Instagram and its own Stories feature, which it launched in August 2016. The Facebook-owned company's version of Stories quickly caught on with users and eventually managed to capture more daily active users than Snapchat in less than a year.

Waze today announced it is rolling out three new features in its popular crowdsourced navigation app for iOS and Android, the most notable of which is support for high occupancy vehicle lanes, also known as carpool lanes.

If you are driving with at least one passenger, or have a hybrid or electric vehicle with a special permit, Waze will now take carpool lanes on highways into consideration when determining your optional route.

If you are carpooling, the feature can enabled under Navigation > Add Toll/HOV pass within Waze's in-app settings. If you have a fuel-efficient vehicle, it can be selected as an option under Navigation > Vehicle Type.

Carpool lane support is initially available to Waze users in 22 states across the United States, and in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. More cities in the United States and Canada will be added over time.

The states supported include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Washington D.C. is also supported.

Next, a new "OK Waze" voice command allows for true hands-free use, allowing drivers to initiate navigation, get a preview of the route ahead, send traffic-related reports, add stops along the way, and more while staying focused on the road ahead. The feature can be enabled under Sound & Voice > Talk to Waze > OK Waze.

Talk to Waze is initially available to English-speaking Waze users in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, and will continually roll out in more languages soon.

Last, Waze now supports motorcycles as a vehicle type. In this mode, motorcycle riders will be directed on routes optimized for motorcyclists. Waze says the more motorcyclists ride in this mode, the smarter the routing will become.

Waze is a free download on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone. Today's update doesn't appear to be available yet, although "OK Waze" functionality is working, so some changes may be implemented on the backend.

Facebook users are beginning to notice a new account verification test on mobile devices that asks for them to upload a clear photo of their face, which will then be used to confirm that they are a real person, similar to other basic captcha tests that prove human users are not a bot. The selfie verification test has been around since at least earlier this spring, but the story is just now beginning to spread after more users have shared screenshots of the test on Twitter (via Wired).

Facebook told Wired that this new photo test was created to "help us catch suspicious activity at various points of interaction on the site, including creating an account, sending Friend requests, setting up ads payments, and creating or editing ads."

Every step of the process is automated, from the moment when Facebook flags an account for suspicious activity and asks for a photo verification, to the actual process of checking the uniqueness of the uploaded photo, meaning you'd have to upload a picture not previously shared on Facebook. Once the process is done, Facebook said that it will "permanently delete" the image from its servers. This is one of "several methods" the company uses to detect suspicious activity.

Earlier in November, Facebook announced a trial for a "non-consensual intimate image pilot" program, where part of the process asked users to send such images to themselves on Facebook Messenger. This was intended to eventually prevent any of these images from being spread online by reviewing and hashing the image, "which creates a human-unreadable, numerical fingerprint of it." This way, if someone else did try to share the image on Facebook, the company's database of hashes would spot the image and prevent it from being uploaded.

As with any of Facebook's tests, it's unclear how widely available the new image verification system is currently, or if it will expand to a wider user base in the future. According to a deleted Tweet spotted by Wired, if Facebook asks you for the photo log-in you might be locked out of your account completely until you provide the image, with a message stating: "You Can't Log In Right Now. We'll get in touch with you after we've reviewed your photo. You'll now be logged out of Facebook as a security precaution."

Microsoft looks set to release a new iOS app for Windows 10 users in the coming months that lets them transfer photos from their Apple devices to their PCs more easily.

First discovered by Italian blog Aggiornamenti Lumia, the companion app is said to support the fast transfer of photos and videos from Apple smartphones to PCs provided they're connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The app appeared briefly as an update on the Windows Insider "Fast Channel" and should become available to all Windows 10 testers soon.

The app seems to be for people who don't use Microsoft's OneDrive cloud backup service, as it replicates some features already available in the OneDrive app, which lets users upload pictures from an iPhone and import them directly into the Windows 10 Photos application.

The new software is part of Microsoft's wider mobile strategy to improve its iOS offerings, now that Windows 10 Mobile hardware is no longer a focus for the company. Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Phone back in July, and is no longer developing new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile.

(Via The Verge.)