Netflix ‘post-play’ feature that automatically jumps to the next episode is now optional
Netflix has been rolling out a ‘post-play’ experience (shown above) on various platforms since late 2012, but not everyone is a fan of how it jumps to a new episode automatically. That’s not a problem anymore, since TechHive points out that now there’s a toggle in your Netflix account settings (under playback settings) that keeps it from playing the next episode automatically. By default the feature is on, although as Netflix explains, it still requires a prompt of some kind to keep going after a couple of episodes have played. The post-play UI remains intact no matter what you choose, so watching the credits for every last best boy, grip and “no animals were harmed in the making of” will still require jumping on the remote to zoom back in. Of course, if your main concern is of House of Cards moving on an episode or two after you’ve dozed off, then this will fix it. Like other settings it’s locked to individual profiles, so turning it off for the kids can keep them from turning out like the rest of us — far too lazy to bother clicking a button to advance.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: TechHive, Netflix Support
Apple Looking to Develop Mobile Payment Service
Apple is looking to develop a new mobile payment service on the back of its hundreds of millions of iTunes Store accounts, most of which have credit cards already attached, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The report claims Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president in charge of Internet Software and Services — including the iTunes Store — has met with other companies to discuss the company’s desire to handle payments in retail stores and elsewhere.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s iTunes and App Store chief and a key lieutenant of Chief Executive Tim Cook, has met with technology industry executives to discuss Apple’s interest in handling payments for physical goods and services on its devices, according to people familiar with the situation.
In another sign of the company’s interest, Apple moved Jennifer Bailey, a longtime executive who was running its online stores, into a new role to build a payment business within the technology giant, three people with knowledge of the move said.
Apple has been driving new payment technologies in its own retail stores, including the use of Bluetooth-based iBeacons and the ability to pay for smaller purchases through its Apple Store iPhone app, without the need to interact with a salesperson.
At the moment, Apple only allows accountholders to use their stored credit card information for purchases on Apple’s online and retail stores through its app as well as the iTunes and App Stores. The new Touch ID technology could speed up and authenticate purchases if Apple were to integrate that with its mobile payment service.
Tim Cook said last October that Apple would use its skills in building software, hardware, and services to create “great products” in categories that Apple does not participate in today. Passbook, the system that Apple released a few years ago to make it more convenient for customers using gift card or ticketing apps — along with Touch ID, iBeacon, and its vast collection of saved credit card numbers — could all be part of a larger mobile payments play by the company.
Mobile payments is a burgeoning industry, one that Tim Cook called “in its infancy” last year, with many players. Ebay’s PayPal, Google, Square, Visa, Mastercard and American Express are all examining — or have already developed — mobile payment platforms.
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Apple Campus Celebrates 30th Mac Anniversary With One Republic Performance [Mac Blog]
In celebration of the Mac’s 30th anniversary, Apple employees are being treated to a musical performance by popular band act One Republic, which is currently going on at Apple’s Cupertino campus.
(Photo courtesy of @soulo1200s)
Apple holds a bi-weekly “Beer Bash” for employees at its campus that often include musical performances when a bash coincides with a special event. Previous Beer Bash performances have included Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Maroon 5, Cake, The Fray, and Phillips Phillips.
The company also decorated its Cupertino headquarters with several 30th anniversary posters, which list every employee who has ever worked at Apple by badge number, and several Apple executives, including Tim Cook, have given interviews about the Mac to celebrate its birthday.
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Apple is reportedly building a mobile payment service
There are plenty of existing mobile payment systems that let you buy goods with your iPhone, but there are now signs that Apple wants to take on some of those duties itself. The Wall Street Journal claims that the company is in the early stages of building a mobile payment infrastructure that would let its customers buy all kinds of products and services, not just those in its own stores. Sources say that Cupertino has tasked the former head of its online store with getting the service off the ground, and it’s reportedly discussing the idea with other companies in the tech industry. Apple isn’t commenting on the rumor, but it has been researching mobile payments for years — we know it’s at least intrigued by the concept.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: Wall Street Journal
Daily Roundup: PlayStation Vita TV review, the future of Nokia featurephones and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The future of Nokia featurephones
Engadget’s Brad Molen discusses Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Nokia and how the deal might change the future of the manufacturer’s once-mighty featurephone linup. Follow the link for more information.
PlayStation Vita TV review
Sony’s PS Vita TV media streamer is cute, quiet and about the size of a deck of cards. You can even pair it with a PS3 DualShock controller and viola, you’ve got games. But would your $96 be better spent on a more portable PS Vita? Click the link for our review and find out.
Apple gushes on 30 years of Mac
It’s the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh computer, and what a ride it’s been. And to commemorate the event, Apple’s put together a video presentation and interactive timeline that’s sure to make many nostalgic. Click the link for details.
Google ad patent arranges shoppers’ transportation
Google was granted the patent for an ad that can arrange transportation for shoppers who want to visit its advertisers’ stores. Why shop online when a chauffeur can take you to a real store, right? Click on through for more information.
Filed under: Misc
[RUMOUR] Will LG be debuting the LG G Pro 2 at MWC 2014?
Assuming LG hasn’t lost its marbles recently, we are all expecting them to release a successor to the not-quite successful LG Optimus G Pro phablet. While competing with the equally mammoth Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the Optimus G Pro proved itself to be a decent phone in its own right with some semblance of useful stylus features, though its sales figures never seemed to reflect this. In the year since that phone was announced, LG has done away with the ‘Optimus’ nomenclature so we can probably expect the follow-up phablet to be called the LG G Pro 2 and if a report coming out of Korea is to be believed, we’ll be seeing this new phone next month at MWC 2014.
The report also specifies that such a device would carry specifications like a 6-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 3GB RAM, LTE/LTE-A support and Android KitKat. This sets the G Pro 2 squarely in the sights of the perennial phablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and it has to wage somewhat of an uphill battle. Even so, assuming this rumour is true, it will be interesting to see if LG includes a stylus again and if they have made any strides with the UI that so many complained about in the LG G2.
Do you think the LG G Pro 2 has any chance in today’s market? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Symantec has found Windows Malware that attempts to infect Android
The Android OS has had its fair share of malware scares over the years, often drawing comparisons with its competitor iOS, who apparently has a pretty clean sheet. A new malware has reared its head in the last few days, found by Symantec, but while most Android malware targets the OS from within, this latest one takes a slightly different route. Trojan.Droidpak is its name and it is a piece of Windows Malware that attempts to infect Android.
So how exactly does it do this? Flora Liu from Symantec explains:
The infection starts with a Trojan named Trojan.Droidpak. It drops a malicious DLL (also detected as Trojan.Droidpak) and registers it as a system service. This DLL then downloads a configuration file from [a] remote server… It then parses the configuration file in order to download a malicious APK
The file also continues to do malicious things such as downloading Android Debug Bridge and searching for Korean online banking apps, prompting the user to replace them with infected versions; all-in-all, a pretty nasty piece of code. So how do you avoid the risk of becoming victim to Trojan.Droidpak? Symantec has these suggestions for you:
- Turn off USB debugging on your Android device when you are not using it
- Exercise caution when connecting your mobile device to untrustworthy computers
- Install reputable security software, such as Norton Mobile Security
- Visit the Symantec Mobile Security website for general safety tips
What do you make of these latest Android security risks? Let us know in the comments.
Android 4.4 KitKat update for HTC One hits U.S. carrier labs, certification expected next week
HTC took to the Twitterverse Thursday to announce that One owners in the U.S. should be seeing the update to the latest and greatest version of Android soon.
The company said that the final KitKat software has entered carrier labs for final testing and certification is expected next week.
The unlocked, developer and Google Play edition’s of the One have already received the update.
Over at the software update page, it also indicates that the KitKat updates for the AT&T HTC One mini and Sprint and Verizon HTC One max are in the integration phase, the Verizon HTC Droid DNA is in the certification phase and the Virgin Mobile HTC Desire 601 is in the integration phase.
For more information about the KitKat updates, check out the source links below.
The post Android 4.4 KitKat update for HTC One hits U.S. carrier labs, certification expected next week appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Reports of iTunes Radio Working in the U.K. After iPhone Restore
Over the past several months, iTunes users in the U.K. and several other countries have noticed the availability of the welcome screen of iTunes Radio on their devices, hinting at an upcoming release.
As of today, MacRumors has had a few reports from U.K. and Australian users that have been able to access and listen to iTunes Radio on their iPhones. While some MacRumors forum members in the U.K. have been able to access the service, others say that it is not yet available for them. Similar reports are coming in on Reddit and Twitter.
It appears that most of the users that are able to access and use iTunes Radio had recently wiped and restored their devices, which suggests that iTunes Radio may be accessible after an iPhone reactivates. MacRumors is not, however, recommending that users restore their devices, and it’s not clear if this is a temporary glitch as Apple prepares for the U.K. launch.
iTunes Radio, which was first announced in June at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference and later became available in September alongside the launch of iOS 7, has thus far been limited to listeners in the United States.
In October, Bloomberg suggested Apple would expand the service to Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand by early 2014, but the service has remained limited to the U.S. throughout January. While some U.K. users receiving access after a restore could indicate an imminent release, a similar situation arose back in October with some users in Canada and the U.K. temporarily able to access the service.
According to Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services Eddy Cue, launching iTunes Radio worldwide is a top priority for the company, with Apple ultimately aiming to have the service “in more than 100 countries.”
(Thanks, Mark!)
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Google glitch flooded at least one poor guy’s inbox
Users around the world dealt with Gmail woes earlier today, but at least one faced an even stranger Gmail problem. David Peck, a private banker from Fresno, California, has been receiving thousands and thousands of emails from strangers — all because of a bizarre Google search result glitch that apparently kicked in yesterday.
The culprit? A dodgy link that appeared when users perform a Google search for “Gmail.” If they were logged into a Gmail account at the time, clicking that link opened a blank email aimed at Mr. Peck’s Hotmail address, and more than a few curious users decided to fire off messages. Some of those myriad emails were questions, some were blank, but Peck told TechCrunch that he was receiving about 500 emails an hour.
Turns out, Mr. Peck may not have been the only victim here. Earlier this week, Search Engine Land reported a similar link issue that pointed to yet more people’s email addresses. We haven’t received reports of other inboxes getting slammed by strangers, but a Google spokesperson just confirmed that the now-fixed glitch caused “some email addresses on public webpages” to “appear too prominently in search results.” Peck’s story started making the rounds on the heels of a widespread Google app outage, but that was just bad timing — the company also stated that the two issues were unrelated.
Source: TechCrunch
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