The headphone jack will vanish from most premium smartphones by the end of the year

Closeup of the headphone jack on the iPhone 6s.
iFixit Last year I wrote about how Apple's decision to drop the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 meant the beginning of the end for the humble 3.5mm port, and I gave it a decade until the port was extinct.

Must read: iPhone: What will the next 10 years bring?

What's interesting is that when I made that prediction many breathed a sigh of relief because ten years is a long time in tech, and that it would be years before Android hardware OEMs began taking away their beloved connector.
I never said anything of the sort. Even before the iPhone 7 was released, and it wasn't yet clear whether Apple had dropped the port, I wrote the following:
"... if Apple drops it for the iPhone and the iPad, other companies won't be able to resist copying the move. Oh, sure, they might hold out at first, but eventually, they will all follow suit."
Well, it's already started to happen, and the snowball is gathering momentum.
Not only is the headphone jack gone from the latest iPhone, but the HTC Bolt, Moto Z, and LeEco smartphones have already eradicated the jack, and rumor has it that Samsung's decided to do the same with its upcoming flagship Galaxy S8.
As to why everyone will drop the headphone jack, here are the top reasons:

Apple's started doing it

The components cost money, and also adds to the assembly costs

That hole allows dirt, dust, water, and random pocket schmoo to get into the device

I predict that by the end of 2017 all of the top of the line smartphones will not have a headphone jack, and that it will pretty soon afterwards be regarded by most consumers as a sign of a "budget" device.

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Smartphones gain on cards in physical access

Gartner says a fifth of all organisations will use smartphones in place of traditional physical access by 2020

"A significant fraction of organisations use legacy physical access technologies that are proprietary, closed systems and have limited ability to integrate with IT infrastructure," said David Anthony Mahdi, research director at Gartner. "Today, the increasing availability of mobile and cloud technologies from many physical access control system (PACS) vendors will have major impacts on how these systems can be implemented and managed."

PACS technology is widely deployed across multiple vertical industries and geographies to secure access to a wide range of facilities (buildings, individual offices, data centres, plant rooms, warehouses and so on), ensuring that only entitled people (employees, contractors, visitors, maintenance staff) get access to specific locations.

Mobile technology is already widely used for logical access control. Phone-as-a-token authentication methods continue to be the preferred choice in the majority of new and refreshed token deployments as an alternative to traditional one-time password (OTP) hardware tokens. Gartner projects that the same kinds of cost and user experience (UX) benefits will drive increasing use of smartphones in place of discrete physical access cards. Smartphones using technologies and protocols such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, and Near Field Communication can work with a number of readers and PACS technology.

One of the easiest ways to use a smartphone's access credentials is to integrate them — via a data channel over the air or via Wi-Fi — into the access control system (ACS) and "unlock the door" remotely (just as an ACS administrator can). This approach requires no change to reader hardware.

Using smartphones can also simplify the integration of biometric technologies. "Rather than having to add biometric capture devices in or alongside readers, the phone itself can easily be used as a capture device for face or voice (or both), with comparison and matching done locally on the phone or centrally," said Mahdi. "This approach also mitigates the risks from an attacker who gains possession of a person's phone."

The technology's limitations remain a challenge. For example, there's significant disparity in functionality between smartphones, and some security and risk management leaders should be aware that their physical card readers and PACS might require a significant upgrade to use smartphones for physical access. "Nevertheless, replacing traditional physical access cards with smartphones enables widely sought-after cost reductions and UX benefits," said Mahdi. "We recommend that security and risk managers work closely with physical security teams to carefully evaluate the UX and total cost of ownership benefits of using access credentials on smartphones to replace existing physical cards."

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Low-Priced Smartphones With High-End Features

If you're holding your breath for the iPhone 8 or the next flagship phone from Samsung, you might want to take a gander at the new, low-priced smartphones from Asus, Huawei, and other little-guy companies.
These phones and others being launched in 2017 cost $400 or less. Yet they serve up high-end technology, including wireless and rapid charging, ultrasharp displays, dual cameras, advanced virtual-reality experiences, and almost immortal batteries. You could pay more than twice that much for equivalent technology from the biggest brands. (There are some downsides to these low-priced smartphones—some have skimpy internal storage, for instance.)
With this kind of competition from low-priced smartphones, how long can Apple and Samsung get away with $900 models? That depends, according to Jitesh Ubrani, a senior research analyst for mobile technology at technology consultant IDC. “When it comes to their flagships, I doubt we’ll see any price reductions in the future,” he says.
But, Ubrani says, Android vendors such as Samsung face a lot of price pressure because users can easily switch brands without losing access to the Google ecosystem they already use. This means that in the future they might offer additional inexpensive models alongside their top-end phones.
iPhone users could be out of luck. “Apple continues to remain in a category of their own as their brand remains strong and fans remain loyal,” Ubrani says.
Consumer Reports will test these low-priced smartphones as they roll out in coming months before we can determine whether they live up to their promises. But if these devices perform as well as their makers claim, 2017 could be the best year ever to get cutting-edge technology at an affordable price.

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'I ain't got no love': Why Donald Trump's musical choices matter

The words felt like private thoughts found in an old diary and newly exposed to fresh air.
“If you try acting sad, you’ll only make me glad.”
“I ain’t got no love, I ain’t the kind to meet.”
“Regrets, I’ve had a few — but then again too few to mention.”
Yet this wasn’t the sour fruit of opposition research. The words are lyrics from two songs prominently featured in Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities: the Rolling Stones’ “Heart of Stone,” which played as Trump and his wife Melania entered a celebratory concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and “My Way,” the standard popularized by Frank Sinatra that accompanied the first couple’s first dance at an inaugural ball.
Let that sink in.
At a moment when millions of Americans were looking to the new president for signs of hope, inclusion or generosity — for anything beyond the acrid demagoguery many felt marked his campaign — Trump chose songs that proudly delivered messages of callous self-regard.
Could he have been trolling the critics he refers to as enemies?
If so, Trump wasn’t the only one weaponizing music over the weekend. At another inaugural ball, the Piano Guys — an irritating pop-classical foursome that found fame doing goofy covers on YouTube — performed Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” widely known as Hillary Clinton’s campaign theme.
Afterward, Platten took to Twitter to say she hadn’t given the group permission to play the song, which prompted the Piano Guys to tweet that their selection “had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton or politics.”
Oh, come on.
At the Lincoln Memorial concert, country star Toby Keith — who as recently as October was publicly referring to Trump as a “media whore” — seemed to take a whack at his famously impulsive host with “American Soldier,” his ode to an even-keeled fighter.
And then of course there was Madonna, one of the highest-profile celebrities to appear at Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington, D.C. Performing her song “Human Nature,” the singer added an unprintable command that answered the sexual aggression of Trump’s vulgar “Access Hollywood” comments.
Remarkably, though, Madonna was an outlier Saturday. More typical of the demonstrations in Washington and elsewhere — at least as presented in the media coverage Trump would no doubt call dishonest — were musical performances that reached for the kind of optimism and sensitivity lacking from the president’s events.
You heard it in Maxwell’s tender rendition of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” his creamy falsetto a reassuring balm after Trump’s talk of American carnage. You heard it in “Pride (In the Name of Love),” U2’s stirring tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., which the Edge and Juliette Lewis performed in Los Angeles.
And you heard it in “Girl on Fire” as sung by Alicia Keys, who tweaked the lyrics of her tune to encompass the thousands of women standing before her in Washington.
“These girls are on fire,” she sang, in stark contrast with the man who picked “My Way” to reflect the state of his marriage.
Were these touchy-feely gestures mere exercises in brand management? To some extent, sure: Even the most altruistic pop star needs her fans to like her, and one way to accomplish that is to make fans feel good about themselves.
But so are presidents expected to provide a sense of uplift, never more perhaps than in their first few days in office. Music is a cheap and easy way to do that; indeed, it’s a cheap and easy way to fake it, as countless politicians have demonstrated by co-opting spirited tunes they clearly don’t agree with (or even understand).
Trump’s supporters might point to his hard-nosed song choices as proof of his fortitude: Here’s a guy unwilling to sugarcoat the truth.
But maybe his grim selections also indicate an inability to dream.

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Get Help Worldwide (A community of people providing each other financial help on the principle of gratuitousness, reciprocity and benevolence...)

 

HOW DOES IT WORK

How does it work technically? You declare the willingness to Give Help (click on "Provide Help"), type in the amount you wish to Provide as Help either in your Local Currency on in Bitcoin after which your account will be rewarded with One Time Registration Bonus (depending on amount of Help Provided). Help provided will start growing from the moment it was entered online at the rate of 30% for Local Currency or 50% for Bitcoin in 30 days, while you remain with your money till you are paired with who you will donate directly to. In GHW, you will be able to see picture of who you are donating to with their Country. Your Yield amount and date shows you Amount you can request on the 30th day and the date of Maturity. Say you have announced willingness to assist with $ 100 in Bitcoin, they will immediately start growing! By 50% in 30days, this $100 will become $150 in Bitcoin, if you declare willingness to give 1,000 in your Local currency (30% growth) in 30 Days it will become 1,300 

Click to register    https://gethelpworldwide.com/office/?mod=others&node=register

Accordingly, you will be able to request for Help of $ 150 in Bitcoin or 1,300 in your Local currency. Participants who fail to upload their Picture will earn 30% of their Provided Help in Bitcoin in 30days and 20% of their Provided Help in Local Currency. Participants who Upload their Picture will Earn their Complete 50% in Bitcoin in 30days and 30% for Local Currency in 30days. Participants who upload fake pictures will be Blocked when their ID is requested and compared with the uploaded picture. However, you cannot Get Help if you have not Provided Help. Request for providing help comes to you in your Dashboard. If you do not do it within 48 hours, you will be removed from the system. (For all eternity) In cases of any matter regarding the topic our Support Team are ready to help and answer all your questions.

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When registering in the system, you get from $20 to $100 as a One Time Registration Bonus in Bitcoin and 4,000 to 20,000 as One Time Registration Bonus in Your Local Currency. Bonuses are given only once, not every time. Only those who’s first Pledge to Provide Help falls within the bonus range. (Otherwise the System will be pulled apart for bonuses). Registration Bonus Ranges for Bitcoin are as Follows;

(1.) $20 Registration Bonus — if you have contributed from $50 to $499.
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(3.) $100 Registration Bonus — if you have contributed from $3'000 and above.

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(1.) 4,000 Registration Bonus — if you have contributed from 15,000 to 149,000.
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Key Guidelines / Penalties include the following

• If you are paired and you contact the money-receiving member, asking for a 24hr time extension to make payment, once he/she approves in his account, you will lose 25% of your credibility score.
• If you offer to provide help and you cancel the offer (before you are paired), 5% score point will be deducted from your Credibility score card.
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Finally, please note that Credibility Score value is a key input for the “automatic pairing and assigning control system”; this system is solely responding for matching requests to offers. Members will higher Credibility Score will have higher priority for paring

REFERRAL BONUS

You get 10% from all deposits of the participant you invited. Inviting new members into the Community is your additional contribution to its development. But nobody force the members of the Community to invite new participants. But at the same time, understanding that the GHW platform can’t exist without development and participants’ encouragement in the form of referral bonuses motivate many people to take an active position.

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There are NO Guiders/Sponsors in this Platform. This platform has been DESIGNED TO LAST FOREVER and therefore does not support the excess payout privileges of Guiders which drains the system. The System ONLY Supports/Allows REPRESENTATIVES who are given extra 5%-10% of their Provide Help Offer in Addition to their 30% if they are participating in Local Currency or 50% if in Bitcoin in 30days depending on how hardworking they are.

RECOMMITMENT

GHW is here to Change Lives, Change Nations and Change the World. It is designed to last forever; we understand that everyone will love to earn money every 30days. We will like to inform you that this Community will last forever if only everyone makes a New Pledge to Provide Another Help after they have Received Help knowing that the new Help you pledged to Provide will bring in another 30% in Local currency or 50% in Bitcoin in 30days. It will keep the community running forever. GHW also implemented some featured to keep this in check.

• a.) After receiving Help, a Participant is given a maximum of 3days to make another Pledge to Provide Help. If no new pledge is made after 3 days from receiving help, the system will commence debiting of your Credibility score. Please note that accounts with credibility score of zero(0) will be automatically blocked. All we need in this community are people who are active and have the Mind Set to Give and in turn Receive. We need people that will make this community last forever.
• b.) When a Participant makes a Pledge to Provide Help of $100 for Example; his/her next Pledge to Provide Help will not go below the Previous Help provided. It can only be the same or higher. This will keep the Community Growing instead of being setback by people who will give help of $1,000 for example and after Getting Help of $1,500 they decide to Provide Help of $10 in their next Pledge. Such doesn’t work here on GHW
• c.) Feel the joy of giving when you see the face of who you are Providing Help to. This will help Participants make friends all over the World. A Real Social Financial Platform with Sincere people Changing Lives, Changing Nations and Changing the World.                                 Click to register    https://gethelpworldwide.com/office/?mod=others&node=register

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MMM Slowly Begins the Payment of ‘Poor Members’ (Images)

Contrary to reports that the contentious money-doubling scheme, MMM has stalled in pairing community members for financial transacting since unfreezing accounts, the social network has been attending to poor members at the snail speed.

The foremost Ponzi Scheme, Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox has been calmly pairing members with small investments as promised in the official comeback statement on the 13th of January, 2017.

There have been reports that the Wonder Bank recorded almost zero financial activity three days after its infamous return that was wildly celebrated by members in Nigeria.

Subscribers complained about their requests for ‘help’ being cancelled by the administrator without any valid explanattion. But in a soothing message, one of the social media propagators of the social network, Vicky Superb Onyido has announced her success in getting paired with other community members for transactions.

According to her, she was rematched after some transactions were inexplicably blocked as seen in the screenshots obtained by TORI NEWS.

A study of the screenshots by TORI NEWS revealed that MMM might be only attending to its ‘poor members’ who invested small sums of money while their big investors have their fates hanging in the balance.

Financial transactions in the region of N7,000 to N34,000 are currently being executed today, 18th of January, 2017 as seen on the screenshots shared by the Abuja resident.

See the screenshots below:

 Hope awaits all pending requests!!!

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