Privacy has unfortunately become almost a commodity these days. It is something that users mostly take for granted, especially in exchange for convenience, and something companies use to barter with each other. Despite that somewhat lax attitude, however, there are times when too much is really too much. As seems to be the case with GO Keyboard, a popular third-party Android keyboard that is reportedly going way above acceptable behavior and even outright violates Google Play rules.

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One of the perceived problems of smartphone OEMs switching to glass both back and front is their durability. Glass is, after all, perceived to be more fragile than metal or even plastic. The keyword here is “perceived”. Not all glass are made equal, especially not the glass used in smartphones. And, as JerryRigEverything’s triple stress test of the iPhone 8 shows, the addition of glass may have actually helped make Apple’s latest smartphone even sturdier than ever.

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If could get a handsome laptop with the best specs you could get on a tight budget, would you mind that it looks like an already existing product? That is the question you’ll have to ask yourself when facing the Chuwi LapBook Air, whose price and availability hast just been revealed. There is no beating around the bush, it’s going to be mocked as a MacBook Air knockoff. But at half the price of one, you will definitely be tempted to take this one more seriously than that.

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With very few exceptions, like Nexus or Pixel or Essential, almost all Android smartphones come with some pre-loaded apps made by the OEM itself. It’s bad enough that these are baked into the firmware, making them impossible to uninstall and can only be disabled. What’s worse is that they can also slow down the development and rollout of updates. Joining the also few OEMs bucking that trend, OnePlus is extracting some of its custom apps for faster updates, both for the apps as well as OxygenOS itself.

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HTC phones aren’t dead yet. At least for now. Even after its smartphone workforce has been almost cut in half by the Google “agreement”, HTC assures its loyal followers and investors that it will still be making smartphones. And as if on cue, details of a certain HTC U11 Plus have surfaced, claiming to be the company’s late 2017 flagship. And, almost ironically, it might be its most daring smartphone yet.

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There is no shortage of Windows 10 tablets and 2-in-1s that support one kind of stylus or another. There is just one problem: they each have their own, using sometimes incompatible technologies. Wacom, ever the champion of styluses, has a solution. Announced last may, the Wacom Bamboo Ink pen offers a pressure-sensitive stylus to a wide plethora of Windows 10 devices from different manufacturers. The only requirement? That they support the Windows Ink.

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The remains of a young Neanderthal boy are helping shed light on how Neanderthals developed such large brains (larger than that of modern humans, in fact). According to the study, these larger brains were likely due to longer growth periods. Such a conclusion was made by analyzing the largely complete and well-preserved skeletal remains of a Neanderthal child estimated to have been 7 or 8 at the time of death.

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LIFX has announced that its current Lifx and Lifx+ lineup of WiFi smart bulbs now work with Apple HomeKit. Thanks to this new support, current and future Lifx smart bulb owners are able to control their home or office's lighting using their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or other Apple product. The new support is available now.

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It appears Instagram will finally add a 'follows you' feature that makes it possible to see whether another user is following you on the social network. This feature has popped up in testing for users in the Android app, though it doesn't seem to be widespread at this time. The new 'follows you' tag appears on the the Instagram user's bio page, though if you're not seeing one now, the feature simply may not be available to you yet.

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Netflix has just expanded its HDR and Dolby Vision support, announcing that these videos are now available on the iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X. It was a quiet announcement, as with the other devices that get Netflix HDR support, but represents a big expansion to its still-small list of supported mobile devices.

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I'm an HTC fan, but I can't say I'm impressed by the company's billion dollar deal with Google. The phone-maker has been instrumental in many of the most pivotal moments in modern smartphone history, producing some of my favorite devices in the process. I've also found myself at times being one of the company's more vocal critics, though, and for all HTC's attempts to spin this deal with Google as a win-win for all, I'm not convinced.

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Facebook has revealed that it will provide Congress with the advertisements that were purchase by the Russian entity Internet Research Agency throughout 2015 to 2017. The advertisements came to light a couple weeks ago when Facebook revealed that the Russian agency had bought in excess of 3,000 ads targeting both political and social issues in the United States.

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