LG teases big 5.7″ screen, smaller body, waterproof design & more for upcoming G6 flagship

LG Electronics is teasing an upcoming G6 flagship smartphone in a new 45-second teaser video posted to its YouTube channel yesterday.

Listing some of the things people apparently want in an ideal smartphone, the clip seems to tease a minimum-bezel 5.7-inch waterproof phone (you'll recall that Apple's iPhone 8 is rumored to feature increased IP68-rated water resistance).

Although it does not specifically mention G6, the clip asks you to “imagine how your wishes will come to life” before hinting it’ll all happen in February, when G6 is expected to be formally announced at Mobile World Congress.

iPhone 8 rumored to feature increased IP68 water resistance like Samsung’s Galaxy S7

iPhone 7 files as Apple's first smartphone with IP67-rated dust and water resistance, but the next iPhone should be even more water resistant.

According to The Korea Herald on Friday, unnamed industry sources in the know have stepped forward saying iPhone 8 will feature the IP68 rating protection.

iPhone 8's improved water resistance is “part of drastic upgrades” marking the 10th anniversary of the device, sources told the Korean newspaper.

iPhone processor supplier TSMC hints it might build chips in America

As we reported this morning, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp are considering setting up an $8 billion LCD panel production plant in the United States. According to another report, semiconductor maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) has also expressed interest in taking advantage of business-friendly incentives proposed by incoming U.S. President Trump.

As a reminder, TSMC currently churns out Apple-designed silicon for latest iOS devices and is also said to have landed a lucrative contract to build next-generation A11 chips for future Phones and iPads.

Appeals court reopens Apple vs. Samsung case over iPhone’s patented design

Believe it or not, the longstanding Apple vs. Samsung patent spat over iPhone's iconic design is now in its sixth year. During that time, Samsung was found guilty of infringing upon Apple's patented smartphone design, including iPhone's rectangular front face with rounded metal edges and a grid of colorful icons on a black screen.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reopened that lawsuit yesterday after a recommendation from the U.S. Supreme Court to determine how much Samsung should pay the Cupertino firm over copying iPhone's look and feel, according to court documents uncovered by Law360.com.

WhatsApp has a backdoor that allows snooping on end-to-end encrypted messages [updated]

In 2016, WhatsApp finally enabled complete end-to-end encryption for both chats and video calls to ensure that no one but the intended recipient can decipher contents of their communications. Unfortunately, it's come to light that WhatsApp's system has been plagued by a major vulnerability which was discovered by Tobias Boelter, a cryptography and security researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, Boelter said the backdoor could let Facebook read end-to-end encrypted content, meaning the social network could be complied with court orders to make decrypted messages available to law enforcement and other government agencies

UPDATE: We've received a response from WhatsApp regarding the alleged backdoor.

Apple suppliers Foxconn and Sharp could build $8 billion LCD plant in USA

Apple's key suppliers—iPhone assembler Foxconn and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp—say that rumored plans calling for establishing an LCD manufacturing plant in the United States are “still on the table”. Company officials made that comment in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's “Make in America” call, Japanese outlet Nikkei reported Friday.

An unnamed Sharp executive told Nikkei that such a decision must be made “carefully”.

Chrome 56 adds support for FLAC codec, “Not Secure” HTTP warning, web Bluetooth & more

Chrome 56 for Mac and other platforms has entered Google's beta channel. When released to the general public, the browser will bring native support for the FLAC audio codec within the browser and other perks. This should come in handy because macOS does not support the FLAC file format out of the box so users often must use a third-party converter or video player to play these files. With Chrome 56, Mac users will be able to play FLAC-encoded audio files embedded in web pages or local files drag and dropped onto the browser window.

How to customize the “About This Mac” section of a Mac

The "About This Mac" window contains information relating to your computer specifications and OS version, and is useful for quickly checking any of those details. However, it's a little impersonal, and often (on a Hackintosh), incorrect. If, like me, you enjoy customising your machine to your own personal taste then this guide should help somewhat, by jazzing up the "About This Mac" section.

Glimpse is an Apple Watch app news addicts will love (with reservations)

Every once in a while a Watch app comes along that brings something ostensibly new to the table. Glimpse, a project that sets out to relay real-time content from your iPhone straight to your Apple Watch’s watch face, is one of those notable additions. The app is home to a handful of social networks and about twenty prolific news outlets, which subject to your taste can selectively refresh on your iPhone and welcome you with new content every time you glance at your watch face.

The promise and potential of Glimpse is uncontested, but so are the flaws in its execution as of today. So before you speed to the App Store, think over the following items to find out if Glimpse has been tailored to you.