2022 saw smartphone shipments drop to 10-year lows

PC makers weren’t the only ones who dealt with a grim 2022. Canalys estimates that smartphone shipments tanked 11 percent year-over-year, making it worst annual performance in a decade. The fourth quarter was worse — shipments fell 17 percent compared to the end of 2021. That was also the worst fourth quarter of the past 10 years, according to analysts.

Most industry heavyweights had a tough time, too. Apple and Samsung were the only two major brands to gain market share in 2022, growing to 19 and 22 percent respectively. Chinese rivals Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo all shrank. It won’t surprise you to hear that Apple overtook Samsung in the last quarter (the iPhone 14 family was brand new, while the Galaxy S22 was relatively old). However, it was still a record high — Apple claimed 25 percent of the market in the fall where Samsung had ‘just’ 20 percent. Higher-end brands held steady, in other words.

You might already know why the market went south. The combination of a tough economy and supply problems hurt demand and created shortages. Even if you could afford your dream smartphone, you might have had a difficult time finding it. That led companies to run sales and otherwise go to great lengths to entice customers and clear out unsold stock.

Don’t expect 2023 to be much better. Canalys predicts that the smartphone space might only grow slightly at best. China’s re-opening is poised to help, but researchers only believe the effect will be noticeable toward the second half of the year. If that proves true, phone makers may still end up fighting for your attention with aggressive promos.

What happens when smart bulbs meet dumb software?

The official Philips Hue app sucks.

You’d think that, being the oldest name in the smart lighting world, Philips would have the best app on the market. More than a decade of iterative improvements and a mature hardware world would see the app rise proudly above its competitors. Sadly for me, and every other Hue user, the company seems to have fallen asleep behind the wheel.

(Yes: I know that Philips Lighting rebranded itself as Signify, but let’s not confuse matters here.)

I picked up a Hue starter kit and some additional Lux bulbs back in 2013, and was very impressed with the setup for at least ten minutes. It very quickly became one of those gadgets that only really got used to show the power of your smart home to visitors. And they rather quickly tired of my ability to change my living room lights from white to purple, and back again. In fact, I mostly used the bulbs as glorified dimmer switches, which wasn’t enough to justify the high cost of the initial investment.

At some point, the app started insisting I replace the v1 (round) Bridge for the v2 (square) model. And I bristled, already feeling aggrieved that Hue was all mouth and no trousers, I resented having to pay when the existing system worked perfectly well. Especially since I could have used that money to buy more Hue bulbs and further lock myself into Philips’ ecosystem.

No tears were shed when the Bridge eventually got smashed by one (or both) of my kids when I was out of the room. I decided, in a tiny flurry of COVID-19 lockdown-induced Marie Kondo-ing, that I’d toss the box into the trash and be done with it. After all, it was broken, and changing the color of my bulbs did not spark the joy I was expecting, not to mention the fact that Philips loves to charge a lot of cash to sync your lighting to a movie playing on your TV.

Last month, my wife asked me why we weren’t able to use Hue any more, and I explained the situation. She asked how much it would cost to fix it, and found a sealed, unused, second generation Bridge available on Facebook Marketplace for half the price at retail. So we snapped it up, obviously making the usual security checks about buying second hand IoT gear before plugging it into our network.

That was, however, when the troubles began, since you can’t just sign in to your existing Hue account, hook it up to the new Bridge, and be done. Nobody at Philips seems to have imagined that it might be worthwhile building out the ability to revive an account tied to a dead bridge. In fact, there’s no way to connect anything without a fresh login, and the bulbs themselves are tied to the old one. The app also doesn’t provide any way to hard reset a bulb, or in fact do anything beyond leave you staring at a splash screen.

For about half an hour, I did wonder if I’d just wasted some cash on a new Bridge but never to get things working again. I felt a frustration, a powerlessness, the sort that comes when you’re locked and bolted out of a building at 2am in an unfamiliar city and your phone’s out of charge. My login wouldn’t work, because my bridge wasn’t connected to the internet. A new login won’t even acknowledge the presence of the expensive hardware all over my house. My hands got very itchy.

This is the kicker: I’m not the first person to learn how bad Philips’ software development is, because there’s a whole army of third-party Hue apps out there. Much in the same way that charity is an indictment on behalf of the state, the depth and breadth of Hue apps available is a massive critique on Philips’ lackluster app development. You’re paid to do this, and there’s no available function in the app to be able to fix what could be a fairly common problem.

I opted to use Hue Lights, one of many independent apps that offered the ability to hard reset a bulb. All I had to do was bring each bulb close to the bridge (you’ll need a lamp handy), turn it on, and hard reset each unit individually. Then I could reconnect them to the new bridge and, as if by magic, could then start using them with the official Hue app. Not that, I’ll be honest, I really want to. Because this third-party, very simple app has more power than the official Philips app and it’s easier to use. If you haven’t tried it, I heartily recommend that you do. At least until Philips gets its act together.

Meta’s Oversight Board calls for more inclusive rules on adult nudity

Meta’s Oversight Board has overruled the company’s takedowns of two Instagram posts showing a transgender and non-binary couple with bare chests and covered nipples. One of the images was posted in 2021 and the other last year. In the captions, the couple discussed trans healthcare. The posts noted that one of them planned to undergo gender-affirming surgery to create a flatter chest and that the duo was fundraising to pay for the procedure.

However, Meta took down the posts for violating its rules on sexual solicitation. The Oversight Board says that moderators reviewed the images multiple times after user reports and alerts from automated systems. The couple appealed Meta’s decisions to the company and the Oversight Board. Meta determined that removing the posts was the incorrect call and restored them, but the board looked into the dual cases all the same.

The Oversight Board overruled Meta’s original takedown decisions. It determined that the removal of the images was not in line with the company’s “community standards, values or human rights responsibilities” and that the cases underline core issues with Meta’s policies.

The board wrote that Meta’s directives to moderators on when to remove posts under the sexual solicitation policy is “far broader than the stated rationale for the policy or the publicly available guidance.” It claimed the discrepancy causes confusion for moderators and users. Meta itself has noted that this approach has led to content being incorrectly removed.

In addition, the board called out the inherently restrictive binary perspective of the adult nudity and sexual activity community standard. It notes that the rules, as things stand, generally don’t allow Meta’s users to post images of female nipples, though there are exceptions for things like breastfeeding and gender confirmation surgery.

“Such an approach makes it unclear how the rules apply to intersex, non-binary and transgender people, and requires reviewers to make rapid and subjective assessments of sex and gender, which is not practical when moderating content at scale,” the board wrote. It called the current rules “confusing” and noted that the extensive exceptions (which also allow for images related to protests and breast cancer awareness) “often convoluted and poorly defined.” As such, the board claimed, the policy is not workable in practice.

“The board finds that Meta’s policies on adult nudity result in greater barriers to expression for women, trans and gender non-binary people on its platforms,” an Oversight Board blog post reads. “For example, they have a severe impact in contexts where women may traditionally go bare-chested, and people who identify as LGBTQI+ can be disproportionately affected, as these cases show. Meta’s automated systems identified the content multiple times, despite it not violating Meta’s policies. Meta should seek to develop and implement policies that address all these concerns.”

The board recommended that the company modify its rules on adult nudity and sexual activity to include “clear, objective, rights-respecting criteria” so that everyone is “treated in a manner consistent with international human rights standards, without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.” It urged Meta to review the policy to determine if it protects users against the non-consensual sharing of images and whether other rules need to be tightened on that front. Moreover, it called on Meta to align its guidance to moderators with the public rules on sexual solicitation to minimize errors in enforcing the policy.

“We welcome the board’s decision in this case. We had reinstated this content prior to the decision, recognizing that it should not have been taken down,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. “We are constantly evaluating our policies to help make our platforms safer for everyone. We know more can be done to support the LGBTQ+ community, and that means working with experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on a range of issues and product improvements.”

In public comments on the case (PDF), several people criticized Meta for the original decisions, claiming that there was nothing sexually explicit about the images. One user called on Meta to bring in LGBTQIA+ human rights specialists and establish policies to protect trans, non-binary and other LGBTQIA people from harassment and unfair censorship. Another called out Instagram for a double standard, accusing the platform of permitting images in which nipples are covered only by body tape while removing others where they’re covered by pasties (patches that cover nipples and areolae).

One person noted that the couple “have helped me accept myself and help me understand things about myself,” noting that content shared on the account is “very educational and useful.” The comment added that “there is nothing sexual about their nudity and them sharing this type of picture is not about being nude and being provocative.”

Arturia turns the MiniFreak into a standalone soft synth

When Arturia launched the MiniFreak, it also promised that a plugin version, MiniFreak V would also be available soon. Originally it was only available to those who purchased a hardware MiniFreak, but now it’s being offered to anyone who wants access to the dual digital sound engines and 22 oscillator modes without eating up any more physical space in their studio.

MiniFreak V brings all of the features of the hardware synth to your computer, save for the analog filters. Instead the V version gets modeled analog filters. Arturia has long history of delivering excellent emulations of analog hardware, so this isn’t a cause for concern. The software version even has the same limitations, like six-voice polyphony. So if you’ve been tempted by the MiniFreak, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet, this is an excellent way to take it for a test drive.

You still get a robust mod matrix, customizable LFO curves, two LFOs per voice, four lanes of modulation sequencing, a 64-step sequencer and 10 effects with three slots. It doesn’t quite have the raw power of Arturia’s Pigments, but it does have a number of features that lacks — most notably those nearly two dozen oscillator modes. 

In addition to putting the power of the MiniFreak in your DAW, the V version can also sync with the hardware instrument. So you can control it straight from your computer. Of course that’s been available to owners of the synth for a while now, but it’s just icing on the cake if you pickup the VST now and decide to snag the real deal down the road. 

The UI largely mimics the physical instrument, down to the orange highlights and patterned mod / pitch strips to the left of the keyboard. It does offer a lot more visual feedback, however, including animated wave shapes for the oscillators, LFOs and envelopes. Arturia’s MiniFreak V is available now at for $99 or bundled with V Collection 9 for free. After the intro period is over the price will go up to $199.

Update 12:08pm ET: The original version of this article incorrectly stated the price of MiniFreak V as $149. It has been updated to reflect the correct pricing.

‘The Last of Us’ is HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era

If you enjoyed HBO’s take on The Last of Us, you’re far from alone. WarnerMedia has revealed that the video game adaptation racked up 4.7 million viewers on conventional and streaming TV for its January 15th premiere, making it HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era. Only the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon rated higher with a crowd topping 9.9 million, and Boardwalk Empire‘s 4.81 million-viewer launch from 2010 (when HBO Go arrived) was only slightly stronger.

The Last of Us “nearly doubled” the audience for Euphoria‘s season two opener, WarnerMedia says. While it’s not yet clear how well the game series will fare in the long term, the company notes that Sunday night viewing for an HBO show tends to account for 20 to 40 percent of the total gross viewership per episode.

The strong initial performance isn’t surprising. On top of the long hype campaign, The Last of Us has well-known names (including Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin) as well as the benefit of an established fan base from Naughty Dog’s game franchise. Include HBO Max availability and a good early critical response and there were many people willing to tune in.

It’s too soon to say if The Last of Us will be the most popular game-based TV series to date. It has to compete with successes like Netflix’s League of Legends series Arcane, among others. However, the initial viewing data suggests this bet on a lavish production has paid off for everyone involved. In that light, it’s easy to see why Sony was willing to commit to TV shows for God of War and Horizon. As with rival shows like Halo, this is a chance to expand interest in a franchise to many more people.

Samsung expands self-repair program to include S22 and Galaxy Book devices

Samsung expanded its self-repair program for Galaxy devices today, adding the latest flagship smartphones and, for the first time, PCs. As you may remember, the initiative is a team-up with iFixit, which provides tools and online self-repair guides.

Starting today, you can order repair kits for the 15-inch models of the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360. Supported PC repairs include the display, battery, touchpad, case (front and rear), power key with fingerprint reader, and rubber foot. Additionally, Samsung added the Galaxy S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra kits. It supports repairs for the display assemblies, rear glass and charging ports for those phones.

The newly supported models join the program’s initial lineup of the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S21 and Galaxy Tab S7+. The new kits still include a free return label to help you send used parts to Samsung for recycling. All the new kits are available starting today.

A person’s hand holding a tool, repairing an opened-up iPhone on a blue mat.
Apple’s Self Service Repair program
Apple

While Apple’s program covers more components (including cameras and SIM trays), it also requires you to rent or buy a separate toolkit and talk with someone on the phone to complete the process. With Samsung’s kit, you only need to buy the part and follow the instructions.

Samsung frames its self-repair program as being about convenience and the environment — and it can be beneficial for both of those things. But the elephant in the room is Right to Repair legislation on federal and state levels. New York and Massachusetts have passed laws mandating self-repair programs, while the White House has also pushed for it. In 2021, President Biden ordered the FTC to tackle “unfair anti-competitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items” in the farming and technology industries. So although Samsung’s and Apple’s programs are good for consumers, it’s a stretch to think this would happen without the threat of government legislation.

Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max chips finally arrive for MacBook Pro and Mac mini

As rumored, Apple has unveiled its new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that will arrive very soon in new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini computers. The new models will be up to 40 percent faster and offer superior battery life — and if you’re keen to …