Gadgets & Tech – Spoken Edition

It was long assumed that one of the big sacrifices to making a laptop as thin as the MacBook Air was severely diminishing its repairability. But iFixit gutted the recently announced 2020 MacBook Air and discovered more than just keyboard improvements; Apple has also made it easier to fix several of the laptop’s most crucial components.

Before the Galaxy S20 even went on sale, I predicted its high price would put a damper on sales, and due to the impact of covid-19, things have only gotten worse. So now to help spur sales, Samsung is instituting a new program that will give new S20 owners a 50 percent buy back guarantee. That means anyone who purchases a standard Galaxy S20 for $1,000 from Samsung.

Archaeologists in Leeds, England discovered more than 600 beer bottles at the site of an old Victorian brewery. Stacked neatly beneath a cellar staircase, the beer inside these 19th-century bottles contains dangerous concentrations of lead. The bottles were found beneath the remains of what used to be the Scarborough Castle Inn, in the cellar of the old Tetley Brewery, reports The Drinks Business.

One of the most crucial steps people can take to protect their data is using unique, complex passwords that are neither easily guessed nor recycled or reused between their accounts. The easiest way to do this is by using a password manager. Apple makes one available to macOS and iOS users for free, but the application doesn’t stack up to the functionality of popular third-party password managers like LastPass and 1Password.

That could soon change, with the company reportedly gearing up to bring some of the best features of those apps to its own. According to a report from 9to5Mac, which said it obtained an “early build” of the forthcoming iOS 14 update, Apple is currently testing new security features for iCloud Keychain. Those reportedly include warning users about reused passwords to prevent against poor password practices as well as introducing a two-factor authentication integration that would allow users to log into sites without having to use a second key delivered via SMS or email, which can be less secure than using the function through a password manager, or a third-party authentication app.

Apple didn’t immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment about the reported features.

Apple users may not be entirely ready to kill their paid password manager subscriptions just yet, though. The seamlessness with which you can use some third-party password managers across devices—on your Apple phone through a Keychain auto-fill function, on Chrome through an extension, on desktop, etc.—makes it a no-brainer for users who like the ease of having access to their passwords across all of their devices, and with relative ease.

But all the same, Apple introducing some of these functions to its existing password manager could help its users practice better password hygiene by using unique passwords for all of their accounts as well as making 2FA a little more seamless on those sites that support it—particularly users of 2FA using SMS, for example, can still have their information stolen through SIM hijacking.

A release is still a ways off, however, as iOS 14 isn’t slated to release until fall. So don’t go abandoning your better-equipped password managers just yet.

Two weeks ago to little fanfare, Apple somewhat abruptly released refreshed versions of the iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini. And now, it seems like Apple is prepping for the imminent release of the iPhone 9 (or whatever Apple ends up calling its upcoming mid-range phone).

Just this week, 9to5Mac reported that cases for the iPhone 9 have begun showing up at major retailers such as Best Buy alongside explicit instructions that the cases should not be added to inventory systems until April 5th.

While this isn’t the first time people have spotted iPhone 9 cases popping up in the wild, cases being delivered in mass to big box stores suggests that an official iPhone 9 announcement could happen within the month.

To add even more evidence that the iPhone 9 could arrive shortly, last week YouTuber Jon Prosser said that Apple was holding briefings on the iPhone 9 and claimed that the phone will be ready to ship in April. Prosser even gave his claim a five toilet paper confidence rating (though don’t ask me why his confidence levels are based on TP), which given Prosser’s relatively accurate history regarding previous Apple announcements lends even more credence to his report.

While covid-19 has caused many products to be delayed, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in February that because the iPhone 9 is comprised largely of existing components and won’t include a new seven-element plastic camera lens that rumors say Apple has been developing, he is still expecting the iPhone 9 to come out sometime in the first half of 2020. The product news cycle would certainly belong to Apple even more than usual.

As for the phone itself, the iPhone 9 is expected to feature a 4.7-inch LCD display with a single rear camera, an Apple A13 processor, and a traditional TouchID home button instead of FaceID. Also, in case a 4.7-inch phone might be a bit too small for your tastes, some code recently found inside iOS 14 suggests that there will also be an iPhone 9 Plus with a 5.5-inch screen.

While none of this has been officially confirmed yet, most signs seem to indicate that Apple really is prepping to release a new mid-range iPhone sometime in April. So if you’ve been waiting to upgrade or are still holding onto an old iPhone 6 or 7, you may want to sit tight for another few weeks while we wait for Apple to officially release the iPhone 9.

Chiropractors in Canada and elsewhere are being told to stop advertising their services as a treatment for covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. In Canada, organizations such as the College of Chiropractors of Ontario have sent dozens of warning letters to clinics and practitioners in the area, following complaints by the nonprofit advocacy group Bad Science Watch.

Joining a growing list of streaming services offering free extended trials as people spend more time at home, Roku has announced it’s offering 30 days of free viewing with extended trials that will give users access to channels like Showtime, Epix, and Smithsonian.

Google has finally kicked the Infowars app from its Play Store, the company confirmed to multiple outlets Friday. The tech giant’s app store was one of the last major bastions for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as his show (and all the extremist views and tainted supplements it touts) has been booted from nearly every mainstream online platform.

Thanks to the coronavirus, spending hours upon hours—if not full days—indoors is quickly becoming the new normal for folks across the country. Some Gizmodo staffers have their own ways of dealing with the new stress from being shut-in, I’ve always been partial to spending hours browsing what’s left of the old, shitty internet, image macros and all.

Multiplayer is a great way to breath new life into a video game you’ve lost interest in, but if you’re in need of extra controllers to let family or roommates join you for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this simple app promises to turn your Android smartphone into a wireless Joy-Con.