Apple’s number one resolution for 2018: hire a good lawyer. The company now faces at least nine class action lawsuits after admitting to slowing down older iPhone models without warning to compensate for poor battery performance.

iPhone users have filed suits in California, New York, and Illinois so far, saying they upgraded their devices after updating to new versions of iOS caused their phones to become sluggish. If they had known their batteries were to blame for the slowdown, they claim, they would have simply replaced the batteries instead of buying a new phones.

Apple acknowledged last week for the first time what many users had already suspected – iPhones slow down as they age, and it’s not the result of natural wear and tear, but rather a deliberate decision by the company.

“Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” Apple explained in a statement. “Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.”

iPhone users who have brought suits against the company allege that Apple’s silence caused owners around the world to reach the false conclusion that they needed to buy newer, pricier iPhones instead of replacing their batteries in order to solve the performance issues.

One suit accuses Apple of fraud through concealment and unfair business practices, reports the Los Angeles Times, while another accuses Apple of breaching an implied contract and a third levies a laundry list of claims against the company including fraud, false advertising, and unjust enrichment.

iPhone owners in Israel have also filed a class action lawsuit arguing that Apple breached its duty toward consumers by failing to disclose that software updates would slow the performance of older phones.

Transparency is at heart of the Batterygate scandal. While users are undeniably (and understandably) angry over upgrading unnecessarily, Apple’s secrecy is the most troubling issue for many.

“Rather than curing the battery defect by providing a free battery replacement for all affected iPhones, Apple sought to mask the battery defect,” a suit filed in San Francisco said.

James Vlahakis, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the Illinois lawsuit, told the Los Angeles Times Apple should have disclosed that a software update could affect the phone’s performance so consumers would have known replacing the battery was an option.

“We think they could have extended the phones’ life if [Apple] had been more honest,” he said.

One lawsuit, unearthed by Patently Apple, is seeking an insane US$999 billion payout. Other suits are asking for a court order barring Apple from slowing down iPhones in the future or requiring Apple to notify owners when an iOS update will affect phone performance.

The post Apple Slammed With Multiple Class Action Lawsuits Over iPhone Slowdown appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

If your 2018 resolutions include more travel, now would be a good time to ensure your passport’s still valid and your credit card isn’t maxed. According to the booking experts at Skyscanner, January will be the best month for cash-strapped travellers to snag an airfare bargain.

Skyscanner is one of the best tools around for scoring affordable flights thanks to a suite of budget-conscious features (our favourite: a map that lets you set your location and price range, then search for matching fares anywhere in the world).

After crunching the numbers from more than 60 million users, Skyscanner has crowned January the best time to book cheap flights in the first half of the year. US travellers searching for domestic flights can expect to see fares around 16% cheaper than the yearly average. Come March, those tickets could increase up to 13% more expensive than the yearly average.

The situation becomes even more stark when you consider long-haul travel. International flights are potentially up to 36% cheaper than the yearly average in January, while in March, they risk soaring up to 56% over the average.

Note: though the data focused on flights originating in the USA, expect similar numbers wherever you’re based

If you’re still debating about where to spend your vacation days in 2018, Skyscanner has also revealed which destinations are trending. The top five cities topping searches and bookings are old-standbys: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, and Las Vegas. Travellers have also shown interest in Phuket, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Edinburgh, as well as Hamburg, Lyon, Bologna, and Casablanca.

And don’t waste time hovering over that “Buy Tickets” button. The best deals are packed into the first two weeks of January, says Skyscanner, so lock down those fares ASAP before prices creep up again in week three.

The post January Will Have 2018's Cheapest Flights, So Get Ready To Book appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

No stranger to ruffling feathers, Banksy closed out 2017 with a guaranteed-to-provoke performance and two new paintings in Bethlehem.

The elusive street artist brought festive cheer to a region he calls “the least Christmassy place on earth” with the Alternativity, an updated take on tradition set in the carpark of the Walled Off Hotel he unveiled earlier this year.

The bold statement set a British holiday institution under the omnipresent gaze of military watchtowers from the Israeli West Bank barrier wall. While it’s no surprise to see Banksy behind a caper of this kind, what does surprise is his co-conspirator: Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle.

An hour-long documentary reveals how the unlikely partnership came about, following the project from conception to rehearsal to packed performance. It seems Banksy nabbed the Oscar-winning director with an intriguing challenge: if you could make Britain look cool at the Olympics, surely attaining peace in the Middle East through amateur dramatics won’t be a problem.

So Boyle bravely packs his bags and heads to Bethlehem, accompanied by a film crew from BBC Two to capture the action.

Over six weeks, Boyle (and Banksy, remotely advising over the proceedings) stages the nativity play with the help of local director Riham Isaac. A cast and crew are assembled. A rockstar-worthy stage is built. Donkeys are assessed and rejected. Talented children show off their vocal and comedic chops. And against all odds, it snows in Bethlehem.

Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two, said: “It is brilliant for BBC Two to be working with Danny Boyle, Banksy and the creative team who together are making this alternative nativity. It promises to be a challenging and provocative exploration of a story of that speaks to young and old alike.”

In fact, the final performance is surprisingly traditional – minus the occasional mobile phone and hiphop tune – and more affecting than you might expect.

To accompany the show, Banksy debuted two new murals. One features two cherubs attempting to chisel through the separation wall, the other is a stenciled ‘Peace On Earth’ message with an suspicious caveat: “Terms and conditions apply.”

The Alternativity was a one-off, but for those who missed out on the “festive spectacular”, the BBC Two documentary can be watched above.

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Your crazy conspiracy theorist friend can rest easy tonight knowing he was right about at least one thing. After years of speculation from users, Apple has confirmed that it deliberately slows down iPhone models as they age.

The confession comes after a Reddit post about a sluggish iPhone 6S went viral. User TeckFire explained that they were able to get their 6S running at its original speed simply by replacing the battery, prompting other users to speculate about exactly why a battery swap did the trick.

The Reddit thread caught the attention of the team at Geekbench, a company that builds software to measure processing power, who delved further into the issue. After running a series of tests on the 6S and 7, Geekbench concluded that the problem is widespread and unlikely to be the product of natural wear and tear on an aging battery.

Instead, they theorised, Apple may have “introduced a change to limit performance when battery condition decreases past a certain point.” An intentional slowdown would function as a safeguard against the “sudden shutdowns” – an issue Apple acknowledged earlier this year – that plague older devices.

But many had a less generous take on the situation. The Reddit post and Geekbench report added more fuel to the “planned obsolescence” conspiracy, a narrative favoured by users who believe Apple covertly throttles older models to encourage people to upgrade to newer and more expensive phones.

With the outcry growing increasingly loud, Apple at last addressed the controversy, issuing a statement that largely confirmed the Geekbench report:

“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

In other words, yes, Apple is slowing down processor speeds for iPhones with aging batteries, but no, it isn’t doing it to force customers to buy new devices.

Since Apple admits they slow down old iPhones I’ll admit I probably won’t buy a new iPhone

— Jeff Zenisek (@jeffzenisek) December 21, 2017

Twitter users were predictably disgruntled about the news, but Tom Warren and Nick Statt of The Verge took a decidedly more measured approach.

“It all makes sense,” they wrote. “As battery life degrades, a smartphone’s ability to achieve the same performance with less efficient battery use degrades as well, and Apple has released updates to address that problem as best it can and avoid embarrassing device malfunctions or even potentially dangerous component failures.”

Where Apple has really gone wrong, many are now arguing, is its lack of transparency.

“…the company isn’t doing itself very many favors by being a bit opaque. It’s clear that controversies like this — underpinned by conspiracy theories around planned obsolescence — sprout up because there is a lack of communication between device manufacturers like Apple and consumers,” said Warren and Statt.

“By choosing to implement this quietly, it appears more nefarious than it really is. That doesn’t engender trust,” added developer and blogger Nick Heer.

The good news is, if you’ve found yourself on the receiving end of an Apple slowdown, solving the problem could be as simple as replacing your battery. Just heed the warning of the original Reddit post: if you do it yourself or take it to a third-party repairer, you will void your warranty with Apple forever.

The post Apple Finally Admitted To Intentionally Slowing Down Older iPhones appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

When it comes to designer living, many of us have heard of warehouse conversions, fire station conversions and even flour mill conversions. What’s probably not as common though is a jailhouse conversion. Until now.

Germany’s latest Liberty Hotel was a working prison just under a decade ago but has since been repossessed and transformed into a 38-room luxury accommodation. The property features two robust (and we mean breakout-proof levels of robust) sandstone buildings and is situated in Germany’s southern Rhineland.

Behind the heavily fortified sandstone walls, the prison aesthetic has been swapped out for cool interior pieces by Patricia Urquiola and Antonio Citterio for Axor. Even the jail’s former exercise yard was given a warm civilian revamp with linking glass now spanning most of the outdoor area.

The adjoining restaurant is an equally elegant affair with Alain Ducasse graduate chef Jeremy Biasiol looking after the grub.

The post Germany's Latest Luxury Hotel Is A Former Prison Complex appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

We’re calling it. Joel Edgerton is one of Australia’s best dressed men today. The boy from Blacktown has come a long way from his formative years during the 90s into a fully-fledged Hollywood heavyweight who’s capable of carrying his craft as well as his wardrobe.

How so exactly?

Let us investigate exhibit one: the three piece suit. Edgerton has seemingly mastered how to pull off the three piece suit without looking too vanilla. Herringbone and houndstooth fabrics are often paired with vests and knit cardigans of striking contrast to give the entire look a much needed ‘pop’.

Exhibit two: He knows how to rock a turtleneck. We took a look at this earlier in the week when Edgerton stepped out with co-star Will Smith in a double-breasted/turtleneck combo which oozed 70s charisma.

Exhibit three: the man knows how to rock a mean beard and coiffed haircut.

And finally, a black tie party is no foreign land to the man. From tuxedos to dinner suits, Edgerton has pulled it off with ease and most importantly, class.

The post Here's Proof That Joel Edgerton Is Owning The Red Carpet Game appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

He might be one of Hollywood’s rising actors of the moment but Common did something slightly out of place with his wardrobe at the CNN Heroes awards this week.

The 45-year-old actor and musician rocked an emerald green suede suit over a black turtleneck and he came out looking more like auntie’s favourite curtains. Whilst the combination isn’t an issue, the high sheen suede did little for Common’s usually on-point looks.

Simply ditching the suede finish would have worked in the actor’s favour here as the issue isn’t so much the hue but the texture which adds a bit too much contrast to folds and creases, an effect that is further amplified under the bright lights of camera flashes and spotlights.

Not even Common’s kicks could save the day here with a pair of laceless black suede sneakers which looked oddly out of place against rolled-up leg sleeves.

You win some, you lose some. We still love you, Common.

The post Common Dressed Like Your Auntie's Curtains At the CNN Heroes Awards appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

It’s barely been a month since hackers took $77 million from a Slovenian company in a single hit and now there’s news of another digital heist.

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Youbit is the latest victim of the lucrative cyber crime which has resulted in the company filing for bankruptcy after its second breach this year. According to Reuters, the exchange was first attacked in April where almost 4,000 bitcoins went missing. South Korean authorities at the time accused North Korean hackers.

The latest theft has officially sent Youbit out of business with hackers successfully breaching the exchange’s hot wallet and taking 17 percent of its bitcoin reserves in the process. According to Youbit, security had already been beefed up after the first attack whilst the remaining 83 percent of the exchange’s funds were moved into a cold wallet.

Regardless of these measures the company still filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday and has officially ceased all trading on its platform. The downside to all of this? Youbit has had to mark down customer assets to 75 percent of their market value with customers being able to withdraw their bitcoin effective immediately.

The remaining value of the stolen bitcoin will be reimbursed to customers once the bankruptcy and insurance proceedings have concluded.

It’s important to note that Youbit was just a small exchange that handled small volumes in South Korea’s surging bitcoin scene. In essence, it’s collapse will have little effect on the wider bitcoin economy however it does still highlight the current security flaws regarding cryptocurrency.

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In Memento, Guy Pierce’s Leonard relies on an intricate system of Polaroids and tattoos to cope with anterograde amnesia. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes prefers the mind palace technique to organise his vast repository of knowledge. Moonwalking With Einstein explores many more methods of memory training endorsed by the world’s top ‘mental athletes’.

But according to a recent study conducted in Canada, an ultra effective memory trick may require neither Sherlock’s intellect nor Leonard’s fearlessness in the face of needles. It’s as simple as speaking to yourself out loud.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo asked 75 students say 160 words aloud and recorded them doing it. Two weeks later, the students returned to the lab and studied half of the words they’d encountered earlier in preparation for a memory test. They were instructed to review using four different strategies: reading the words to themselves silently, listening to a recording of someone else reciting the words, listening to the recording of themselves saying the words, and reading the words out loud to themselves.

Upon taking the recognition test, one revision method rose to the top of the heap: reading the words aloud.

On average, reading out loud led to 77 per cent correct answers. The second most effective method of review was listening to a recording in their own voice, followed by listening to a recording in someone else’s voice.

Researchers believe the advantage to reading out loud comes from both the act of reading and the experience of hearing oneself. They chalk it up to a phenomenon they call “the production effect”. The production effect gives memory an edge by combining motor processing (which makes it a more active process) with visual processing from reading (which may lead to deeper learning rather than mere superficial listening), while making it a self-referential experience (which makes the information more salient since you said it yourself).

Combine all three factors, and you have the recipe for a memory worthy of a great detective, Dr. House, or Dumbo.

The post Know Someone Who's Forgetful? This May Help Them appeared first on DMARGE Australia.