iFixit teardown confirms Google Home is basically an overgrown Chromecast

When Google first announced its Home speaker, sources said that the device’s internal technology would be based off the Chromecast. Now that Home is shipping to customers, iFixit has released an official teardown confirming the hardware is basically ripped from the 2015 Chromecast.

Notably, the Home’s processor, flash memory, and RAM are the exact same chips found in the second-generation Chromecast, but with an audio amplifier thrown in for obvious reasons. It’s not a huge surprise that Google’s done this. As Dieter Bohn has noted before, at the core, the Chromecast was built to send and receive information from the cloud, so it makes sense that the same hardware components would be used on the Home. All Google had to do was make the Home more conversational than its streaming dongle.

The Google Home received a positive review from iFixit, scoring an 8 out of 10 for simple, modular pieces that could be easily replaced. If you tried hard enough it looks like you could potentially put a new case on to make it look less like an air freshener, but have a look at the full teardown here and judge for yourself whether it’s worth the effort.

China's new cybersecurity law draws criticism from tech companies and rights groups

China this week passed a cybersecurity law aimed at combatting hacking and terrorism, though as Reuters reports, critics say it would strengthen the country's censorship regime and make it more difficult for foreign tech companies to do business there. The law was passed on Monday and is set to go into effect in June 2017.The legislation requires agencies and companies to improve their network defense systems and calls for security reviews in so-called "critical" sectors. It also tightens China's already expansive censorship program by holding companies accountable for any unapproved information that they allow to spread online, according to The Wall Street Journal, which notes that many of the law's other provisions formalize practices that were already in place.

Government officials say the law is necessary to thwart growing online threats. "China is an internet power, and as one of the countries that faces the greatest internet security risks, urgently needs to establish and perfect network security legal systems," Yang Heqing, of the National People's Congress standing committee, tells Reuters.

Foreign companies have strongly criticized the law, saying it will harm business and trade. The list of critical sectors covers a wide range of businesses, including telecommunications, transportation, and finance, and there are concerns that requirements for "secure and controllable" products could exclude foreign technologies.

Other provisions require companies to store personal and business-related data on servers located in China, and to provide "technical support" to authorities during criminal investigations. Such requirements have raised concerns that foreign tech companies may have to disclose intellectual property or provide the government with backdoor access to continue doing business in the country. More than 40 companies petitioned Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in August calling for the law to be amended, though contentious provisions remained in the version passed this week.

China has gradually expanded its online controls under President Xi Jinping. Last year, it passed a broad and vaguely worded national security law that critics said would make it easier for the government to quash dissent. Rights groups have raised similar concerns about the law passed on Monday.

"Despite widespread international concern from corporations and rights advocates for more than a year, Chinese authorities pressed ahead with this restrictive law without making meaningful changes," Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Monday. "The already heavily censored internet in China needs more freedom, not less."

Samsung's Galaxy S8 with rumored AI button might be delayed until April

Samsung could be betting heavily on its as-yet-unseen AI assistant to sell the next generation of Galaxy smartphones. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the company is considering adding a dedicated button for the service to next year’s Galaxy S8. "The latest internal prototypes of the premium Galaxy S8 handset include a button on the side edge of the smartphone that would be used to launch a beefed-up virtual assistant," says the WSJ, adding that its sources cautioned that "prototypes aren’t final and could change."

This follows a report from Reuters that the company’s AI assistant will be incorporated not only into Galaxy smartphones, but also the company's home appliances and wearables. Earlier this year, Samsung acquired Viv Labs, a startup founded by the original creators of Apple’s Siri, and it's assumed the new assistant will be based on their technology. The Korean tech giant hasn’t detailed what type of features its new assistant will offer, but says it will be "significantly differentiated" from competitors, and will work with a range of third-party services."Developers can attach and upload services to our agent," Samsung executive vice president Rhee Injong said at a briefing. "Even if Samsung doesn't do anything on its own, the more services that get attached the smarter this agent will get, learn more new services, and provide them to end-users with ease."

According to The Wall Street Journal, though, Samsung fans might have to wait longer than usual to see the company’s next flagship device. For the past three years, Samsung has unveiled its latest handsets at the Mobile World Congress trade show in February, but theWSJ says that in 2017, this unveiling could come as late as April. The company will undoubtedly want to assure nothing is left to chance following the Note 7 battery debacle, which was reportedly caused by a scramble to beat this year's "dull" iPhone. With the Galaxy S8, Samsung will definitely want to be safe rather than sorry

A beautiful glimpse into the modern world of classic blacksmithing

I’m a sucker for reality shows like How It’s Made or Dirty Jobs, the kind that take reveal the creation process behind everyday items. Man at Arms: Reforged is a show that hits a the same button, and just the other week, the show crossed over a milestone: the 100-episode mark.

If you haven’t seen Man at Arms: Reforged, you can check out the entire run on YouTube. The premise is incredibly simple: every other Monday, a team of blacksmiths at Baltimore Knife and Sword craft a sword (or sometimes a shield or other weapon) from scratch, sometimes based on user suggestions or simply what the team wants to make.

The show first debuted in February 2013, and featured blacksmith Tony Swatton of Burbank California’s Sword and the Stone. That first episode was devoted to replicating Jaime Lannister’s sword from Game of Thrones, and was short: just under five minutes. It was a rush of tightly edited footage that eventually yielded to a montage of the sword being tested on car windshields and other modern objects.

Over the course of the first 50 episodes of the show, Swatton forged everything from Link’s Master Sword from Legend of Zelda to the Lich King's Frostmourne from World of Warcraft, staying close to the original formula and runtime. Swatton and his team at Sword and Stone eventually “needed to take a break from the show to pursue some other opportunities,” prompting the introduction of a new team, led by Kerry Stagmer and Matt Stagmer of Baltimore Knife & Sword.

With the shakeup came a whole new look for the show: the relaunched series began playing with some hybrid weapons, such as a Batman’s Wolverine Claws, a lightsaber katana, andthrowing shields for Captain America, although the show largely has returned to the original premise: asking commenters what they’d like to see created.

The show’s creator, Andy Signore, the senior vice president of content and head of creative at DEFY Media and the show’s executive producer, Brent Lydic told The Verge by phone that early on, the approach to the show was like that of Honest Trailers: “I would go to comments: ‘tell us what you want to build next’, and so that’s sort of where things were born,” Signore said. “We really listen to Matt [Stagmer] and the team over there, and what they want to build.”

THERE’S A CERTAIN INQUISITORIAL PLEASURE OF WATCHING BLACKSMITHS AT WORK

The show also has up to six weapons in production at any given time, which the team works into their already busy schedule. (When they aren’t creating the series, the team is crafting weapons for films and renaissance festivals.) “They’ve got a team of five or six guys out there,” Lydic noted, “so each person has gotten us a specific aspect of that build and we just move along kind of like a conveyor belt.”

There are a number of YouTube channels out there devoted to blacksmithing, such as Alec Steele’s daily vBlog into the life of a blacksmith, and Miller Knifes, which forges knives out of random objects. There’s a certain inquisitorial pleasure of watching these sorts of videos, as a chunk of metal is fashioned into a functional object. Signore chalked this up to a general fascination with watching things get made. “I think it’s not just something that anyone can just do,” he noted. “I think a lot of people want to learn it or try to do it, it’s like, you want to look to these guys and feel manly that you can make a knife with your bare hands.”

With over a hundred episodes under their belt, Lydic and Signore noted that they have been playing with the format a bit more, bringing in some additional sponsors for some of their more ambitious episodes, and upping the length of each episode into the 20-minute range, while also experimenting with some more in-depth historical builds. The pair noted that they’ve experimenting with some other things as well, including a Virtual Reality episode that will drop in the next couple of weeks.

The show has a base appeal: it’s exciting to see a molten piece of metal get shaped into a deadly blade, and there’s a sense of safety in watching the process from the sidelines. But blacksmithing is a complicated, difficult occupation, one that requires years of training to produce a quality sword. At its best, the show’s pleasure comes looking into a world of master craftsmen, a place that you don’t usually get to visit, right from your computer.

Staples’ Black Friday deals include deals on the Amazon Echo Dot and Windows PCs

Staples is joining the ever-increasing crowd of retailers infringing on Thanksgiving this year with early Black Friday sales announcements. The retailer has announced some appealing deals on the Amazon Echo Dot and Google Chromecast, along with discounts on the usual slate of of mid-range Windows PCs and printers that the company is known for.

Deals will be available all-day Thursday for those who prefer to do their shopping online, with the company offering next-day pickup at its physical retail locations to customers for Black Friday sales at when they open at 6AM on Friday, November 25th

Here are the highlights of what Staples is offering on Black Friday:

PCs:
Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) for $799.99(usually $999.00)
HP Pavilion 15 (Intel Core i7 processor, 12GB RAM, 1TB HDD) for $499 (usually $779.99)
HP Pavilion 14 (Intel Core i5 Processor, 12 GB RAM, 1 TB for $389.99 (usually $639.99)
Lenovo Flex 4 (Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) for $499.99 (usually $749.99)

Tablets:
Kindle Paperwhite (2016) for $99.99 (usually $119.99)
Amazon Fire HD 8 (8GB) for $79.99 (usually $129.99)
Amazon Fire 7 for $33.33 (usually $49.99)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7.0 for $99.99 (usually $149.99)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 for $129.99 (usually $199.99)

Other:
Amazon Echo Dot for $39.99 (usually $49.99)
Brother HL-L2320D Monochrome Laser Printer for $49.99 (usually $99.99)
Google Chromecast for $25 (usually $35)
Amazon Fire TV Stick for $29.99 (usually $39.99)
Linksys AC2600 router for $129.99 (usually $249.99)
Logitech K480 Wireless Bluetooth keyboard for $19.99 (usually $49.99)
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB external hard drive for $69.99 (usually $89.99)

First Click: Playstation 4 Pro, Google Daydream View, Surface Book, and more in the week ahead

It’s November which means we’re firmly into reviews season now that all the major product announcements have been made ahead of the holiday season.

Thursday will see the release of Google’s Daydream View VR headset. The $79 Daydream View announced in October will only support the Google Pixel and Pixel XL at launch, but it’ll work with any future phones built upon Google’s Daydream VR platform. The View also ships with a custom wireless controller that hopes to become "the mouse of VR," as Google's Andrew Narkter put it. Is the Daydream VR better than the Samsung Galaxy Gear VR headset? Watch for our review to find out.

Thursday also marks the retail availability of the Playstation 4 Pro. The $399 PS4 Pro announced in September features 4K and HDR output thanks to some higher-specced guts. Both Netflix and YouTube committed to developing HDR streaming apps for the PS4 Pro as well. Mark Cerny, chief architect of the PS4, said the PS4 Pro is intended "to take the PS4 experience to extraordinary new levels." 

A limited edition New Nintendo 3DS will be just $99.99 on Black Friday

The New Nintendo 3DS is getting its cheapest price yet on Black Friday.

Nintendo will be releasing two new limited edition versions of the handheld — one black, one white — which will both be available on November 25th for $99.99. That makes it just slightly more expensive than the $79.99 Nintendo 2DS, which is missing features like glasses-free 3D visuals, and half the price of the larger New Nintendo 3DS XL. Both of the new limited edition variants feature a slick and subtle Mushroom Kingdom print.

Nintendo’s focus may be shifting to the upcoming Switch handheld / console hybrid, but now is a good time to grab a 3DS if you haven’t yet. The much-anticipated Pokémon Sun andMoon launch on November 18th, while a new handheld version of Super Mario Maker is due out on December 2nd.