From the “What apps do behind your back” department. This time a company bought by Asics. The “bug” was “fixed” now Or why you should not install every app your favorite brand wants to sell you.
Looks like there is a problem with the ARM TrustZone implementation. (Small update, yes this is a big issue. But it was reported and it’s possible to fix it in software).
Currently the FP2 uses a OV88xx … After the OV16860, Omnivision currently announced a new sensor called OV12890. Maybe some of those could be later used as drop-in replacements? I’m not sure if they are size, SoC or pin compatible, but it looks like there are a lot of new sensors out there to choose from. Nice to know!
One item that surprises me: on the question “5. Is the brand (company) significantly involved in at least 3 initiatives that addresses the urgent appeal to improve the social and environmental conditions of mining metals and minerals; for example tin from endangered tropical islands Bangka and Belitung, conflict minerals from Congo, etc?” Fairphone gets the feedback “Fairphone does not mention membership at any other endorsed, active initiative.”
Over 1.000.000 children are working in gold mines.
SOMO compared manufacturers on their work to eleminate child labour from their gold supply chain and concludes that Fairphone is clearly leading.
Read their entire research and Press release here:
There’s a (brief) article on Fairphone in the June 2016 Öko-Institut newsletter . For those interested, there are also a number of other articles on obsolescence and conflict minerals in the newsletter (all in German).
There is a new-old discussion about DRM in browsers/HTML5. I know most people think this has nothing to do with phones. But in the end it has because this is how you will get content on your phone. And it will more and more pop again. It’s a cycle that repeats every 2 to 5 years and for every new gadget. It can be helpful to know about so you can make your own decisions about it.
“We’re hearing from multiple sources that Cyanogen Inc. is in the midst of laying off a significant portion of its workforce around the world today. The layoffs most heavily impact the open source arm of the Android ROM-gone-startup, which may be eliminated entirely (not CyanogenMod itself, just the people at Cyanogen Inc. who work on the open source side).”