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March 15, 2021

🔥 Good morning!

Today's newsletter is brought to you by OnePlus! Sign up for notifications for the OnePlus 9 Series launch event and get your daily chance to win a free OnePlus 9 series device, a pair of Buds Z earbuds, and 5% off all OnePlus accessories. New winners every day, so get in early and check each day for more chances to win! 

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Also: Daylight savings might mess with whatever time you normally get this, but should settle out within a week or two. 

Google’s oopsies

Google had a bad weekend. And that’s not even mentioning that it didn’t win a dismissal of $5B lawsuit regarding incognito mode (CNET).

No, the real story is more about mistakes.

Google Clock best clock apps for Android

First, Pixel DST problems

  • People across North America reported that their Google Pixels missed the switch to daylight savings time. A bunch of Reddit threads popped up, with owners of the Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4 series, Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5 all reporting the issue, with Arizona a problem area in particular, along with areas in Canada.
  • Most said a reboot fixed the problem, but stories of people missing work or struggling to know what the actual time was popped up.
  • It’s a throwback to yesteryear when Daylight Savings Time bugs would come up on iPhones and Android devices, often wrong alarm times meaning earlier or later wakeups, time and again(The Guardian).
  • Now, software developers will complain about timezones, daylight savings starting/ending variously across the world, and so on. It is not an easy problem. But it’s not exactly a hidden problem either.
  • In any case, it seems like anyone who sets their time via the network-provided time and timezone — the normal and good default setting — might’ve struck the problem. 
  • The blame lies somewhere there, and I look forward to Google talking about the bug and/or just fixing it before Europe, the UK, Australia, and so on, make the switch back/forward depending on hemisphere later this month.

Leaks

Google’s second slip-up was leaking the names of a bunch of coming unannounced phones. In a support document update to ARCore, its augmented reality platform, the docs list unreleased phones from eight Android OEMs, including:

  • Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  • LG Stylo 7
  • Motorola Moto G100
  • Oppo Reno 5A and Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus 5G Bosch
  • Realme 8 Pro
  • Samsung A82 5G

Spilling the beans:

  • We’ve only heard a few small leaks about a Samsung A82 5G phone, likely a successor to 2019’s Galaxy A80; maybe coming out after the A52 and A72 expected to launch week.
  • The Asus Zenfone 8 Flip hasn’t been announced or even officially teased yet so that’s a big mistake.
  • At least Realme 8 Pro is launching this month, so that’s not such a slip.
  • But LG’s Stylo 7, a 2021 edition of the LG Stylo 6, one of the only non-Galaxy Note phones to offer a built-in stylus, is also new.
  • Then there’s the Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus 5G Bosch… which could be anything. What’s Bosch doing there?
  • In any case, Google removed all mentions of these devices in the docs, which more or less certifies it as an oopsie. 
Roundup

The OnePlus Watch launch date is now confirmed, will be announced alongside the OnePlus 9 series (Android Authority).

⚖ Xiaomi welcomes US judge’s ruling, temporarily halting its blacklisting (Android Authority).

📶 AT&T adds 5G to its legacy unlimited data plans, meaning no switching plans to get full speeds. Will all carriers follow? Extremely welcome news (Engadget).

🎧 Kuo: AirPods 3 mass production to start in Q3 2021 …which rules them out of a March 23 launch and looks more like September/October? (MacRumors).

📺 Netflix’s possible password-sharing crackdown has a silver lining: Enter two-factor codes? That’s …ok, maybe (Wired).

🔋 Kia shows off first full images of new EV6 electric car ahead of a March launch, date TBC (The Verge).

🤖 The NTSB has put the NHTSA and Tesla on blast for its limited regulation of autonomous driver assist systems and calls for stricter safety standards (Ars Technica).

📰 Microsoft and newspapers join forces to fight Google in the US, with it all sounding a lot like what happened in Australia with Facebook and Google (The Verge).

📸 Adobe adds “Super Resolution” to Photoshop, quadrupling pixel counts via ML, bringing the CSI “Enhance” jokes to life (PetaPixel).

💳 The biggest company in Silicon Valley that you can’t buy stock in? Stripe, now valued at $95B. (TechCrunch).

🛫 Air travel is picking up: TSA records highest passenger screenings in nearly a year (CNBC).

🚀 SpaceX just launched a Falcon 9 rocket on a record 9th flight and stuck the landing, as the Starlink constellation just keeps growing (NASASpaceFlight.com)

🍗 Erm, this guy tried and more or less succeeded to actually (well, technically) cook a chicken by slapping it (YouTube).

🧠 “What part of the brain handles translating mental math into written math formulas?” …and why am I missing it (r/askscience).

Monday Meme
book movie meme
  • Now, arguably, Forrest Gump, The Godfather, and for some people, The Lord of the Rings, are better than the books.
  • The last one is most arguable though!

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor

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