Verizon demonstrating LTE Multicast during Super Bowl XLVIII
As part of its massive Super Bowl sponsorship, Verizon has taken over a good chunk of Manhattan’s Bryant Park. We’re at the Verizon Power House this morning, a heated oasis in the otherwise frigid city center, where reps are detailing the carrier’s LTE Multicast service, which enables transmitting live content directly to a variety of VZ devices using the existing network infrastructure. Unlike basic LTE streaming, however, Multicast allows for an uninterrupted video feed regardless of the number of devices currently using the service in any particular area.
We first heard about Verizon’s implementation at CES 2013, and it looks like Big Red’s planning to flip the switch during the first half of this year, though a pricing model, precise availability and device compatibility haven’t been detailed. If you’re in NYC this week, however, you’ll be able to snag a sneak peek of Multicast running on a Sequans-powered tablet and a Galaxy Note 3. The service is currently live at a demo room in Verizon’s Bryant Park booth.
Update: We had an opportunity to check out the service on both the tablet (which was developed in cooperation with Sequans for the purpose of this demo) and a Galaxy Note 3, and the feed looked fantastic. Verizon is currently broadcasting video content at 1.8 Mbps and a data feed at 750 Kbps, both in a full-screen format and a four-panel mosaic, but both options most likely won’t count against an established data cap. In other words, assuming you have a subscription in place, you should be able to access Multicast independent of bandwidth restrictions.
A first glimpse of the new ‘multiOS’ handset from Geeksphone
Though we were able to tell you all about the Geeksphone Revolution’s specs last month, the gestation-themed stock photo gave no clue as to how it actually looked. Now, we finally have pictures of the Firefox OS / Android dual-boot handset (there’s another after the break) and a further description of how it’ll work. First off, Geeksphone is now referring to the Firefox OS option as “Boot2Gecko by Mozilla,” harkening back to the original (awful) name for some reason. Nomenclature aside, it’ll come with Android installed (a version hasn’t been specified yet) and you’ll be able to choose Boot2Gecko or “any other community supported ROM” — but it won’t be dual-boot. You’ll get OTA updates for whichever OS option you choose, along with the previously reported dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, a 4.7-inch 960 x 540 screen, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel front / 2-megapixel back camera. There’s still no sign of a release date and, more importantly, the price — that’ll no doubt weed out those willing try the MultiOS device from those who prefer the devil they know.
Filed under: Cellphones
Source: Geeksphone
Dead Zebra celebrates Chinese New Year in a way only Dead Zebra could: with a limited edition Figurine
Some of you may have noticed that quite a few things shipping out of China have been delayed for a week or so, thanks, of course, to the national week-long holiday of the Chinese New Year. How opportune for us that Dead Zebra celebrates Chinese New Year as well, releasing an Android figurine signifying the Year of the Horse that is about to begin, sporting traditional Chinese wear and a horse mask.
The figures will be going for $10 a pop and Dead Zebra is offering an additional deal where you can add a square or hexagonal case to display your figure for only $3 more. You’ll want to get in quick, even though orders are restricted to two of these figurines per order, as limited edition figurines often fly off the shelves, despite Dead Zebra’s best efforts to restock them.
Do these limited edition Chinese New Year Android figurines take your fancy? Let us know if you’re going to pick one or two up.
Source: Dead Zebra via Android Police
Google hacked together some pretty underwhelming games for Glass (video)
While Google Glass may still be in its infancy, gaming on the wearable is practically in the zygote stages. To help change that, developers at the search giant have cobbled together some games in an effort to “inspire” developers. That said, what Google is offering doesn’t seem too different from what we’ve seen out of other teams. There are five diversions in total (including a Fruit Ninja clone, as well as tennis and a matching game), but there isn’t anything particularly exciting about them. For example, Balance tasks you with keeping a stack of shapes from falling off of your skull via Glass’ baked-in accelerometer. Clay Shooter, on the other hand, has you yelling “pull!” to line up the target with your eyepiece’s crosshairs, and shouting “bang!” to shoot the pigeon — sure to be a big hit in crowded areas. Still, if you’re curious what official Glass games look like, we’ve embedded video after the jump.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Developers
Press Play Products Review: 9.8ft Flat Micro-USB Cable and Micro-USB Flex Cable
You might not have heard of Press Play Products before, but we were able to meet with them at CES 2014 and they provided us with some pretty interesting gear which we’re going to take a look at today, namely their 9.8ft flat micro-USB cable and their microUSB Flex Cable.
The 9.8ft flat micro-USB cable
The standard micro-USB cable is about 1 metre long, which for many people who love to plug in to charge and take their Android device with them to their bed or sit on the couch, is simple not long enough. In comes Press Play Products’ 9.8 foot, or 3 metre, cable which should eliminate quite a few frustrating moments when you’ve run out of cable.
The fact that the cable is also a flat cable means that, among other things, it’s quite compact to store and when it’s fully unfurled, it has less of a footprint in the area you’re using it in. Many suppliers of micro-USB cables are moving towards using flat cables due to the minor, though important, advantages over conventional round cables it has such as cable interference and flexibility.
There’s not much else to be said about the cable: it looks to be well made, and it works as intended. If you’re in need of a longer cable, this is definitely one option you should look into. This 9.8ft flat micro-USB cable is available from the Press Play Products website now for $14.99 and is available in the pictured red, but also black, white, blue and pink; check out the product page here. As a side note, the Press Play Store also offers free shipping within the US and international shipping is $19.
The micro-USB Flex Cable
The easiest way to describe the Flex Cable would be to tell you to imagine Doc Oct of Spiderman fame crossed with a micro-USB cable. Still sound a bit weird? Well, it’s probably easier just to show you exactly what the Flex Cable can do:
Yes, the Flex Cable is able to support the full weight of a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 by itself. The Flex Cable is made from a very solid metal structure which allows it to be bent into quite a few different positions while maintaining the ability to stay firmly in that position during operation. That makes it quite useful if you’re plugging into a laptop or a wall plug and you want to prop up your device in the portrait position so you can still use and see what’s happening on the screen, and even if you’re not charging your device, you can simply use the cable as a flexible stand. Check out Press Play Products’ video to see a bit more of what it can do:
The cable is very high quality and even if you manage to scratch through the plastic outer layer, you’re unlikely to damage the cable or the structure of the Flex Cable at all. It’s also quite heavy, as you might expect from being made almost purely of metal, which might discourage some from using it as a travel accessory. Furthermore, the inherent nature of the cable means that you won’t be able to make the cable terribly small, at least, not small enough to store in your pocket.
While the Flex Cable itself is going to be more durable than any cable you’ve ever seen, as with all micro-USB cables, the weakest point of the cable is always going to be the micro-USB connection itself, and while the Flex Cable will instil you with the confidence to attempt things like this:
You should probably be even more careful seeing as you can put your Android devices into more unusual positions than usual; and yes, that is a Nexus 7 balancing on the Flex Cable. Just as a disclaimer, Press Play Products does put a note in the box that says the Flex Cable does not support devices with screen sizes over 5-inches, but you definitely get a sense of just how strong it is when you can still attach a Nexus 7 to it.
The micro-USB Flex Cable is available on the Press Play Products website now for $29.99, and is available in the black that we demoed here as well as white and chrome finish. For more details, check out the product page here. You might be thinking that it might be a bit expensive for a cable, but if you think of it both as a cable and a stand, you begin to see that the Flex Cable is actually quite good value for how useful it is.
Conclusion
So there you have it: two very different cables with very different purposes, but both with significant advantages for the Android users that are currently having frustrations with their very ordinary micro-USB cables.
If you are interested in picking up either (or both) cables, Press Play Products is very generously giving AndroidSPIN readers a coupon code to get 25% off the price of the cables as well as making international shipping a flat rate of $10. Simply enter the code “Spin25″ when purchasing to redeem the deal. Note that the coupon is only applicable to the two cables featured in this review and will only be available for a limited time, so get in quick!
For more information about Press Play Products and their products, you can check them out at www. pressplayproducts.com.
[RUMOUR] Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 to be completely different to its predecessor, to be announced in March or April
While very few people can argue that the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch looked quite stunning compared to its smartwatch competition, even fewer can argue that it was a success. Poor battery life and mind-boggling compatibility oversights, among other things, have seen the wearable device relegated to the growing heap of has-been smartwatches. Unsurprisingly, Samsung wants a do-over of the smartwatch and ZDNet Korea is reporting that an industry source has said that the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 will be an entirely different design and will aim to utilize a flexible OLED screen.
I don’t know if this is the same ‘flexible’ screen that ended up in the Samsung Galaxy Round, but I would be cautious with this rumour’s use of the term. Whatever the screen turns out to be, the source also claims that the smartwatch will be debuted at a Samsung event in London in either March or April. Let’s hope for their sake that Samsung does away with the inconvenient compatibility restrictions they put on the original Galaxy Gear at the very least.
What do you think about Samsung’s decision to completely redesign the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2? What did you think of the original Galaxy Gear? Let us know your 2 cents in the comments below.
Source: ZDNet Korea via Android Ice Cream Sandwich
President Obama Mentions Apple-Backed School Broadband Initiative During State of the Union Address
During his yearly State of the Union address, President Barack Obama mentioned that the Federal Communications Commission, along with tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon, would be providing the framework needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to high-speed Internet over the next two years.
The move is a part of the ConnectED initiative that the President announced back in June, which pledged to connect 99% of students to next-generation, high-speed broadband within five years, at speeds no less than 100 Mbps and with a target of 1Gbps.
Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. Tonight I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we’ve got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit.
Apple also provided a statement to The Loop about its role in the ConnectED initiative:
“We are proud to join President Obama in this historic initiative to transform America’s schools,” Apple said in a statement provided to The Loop. “Apple has a long history in education, and we have pledged to contribute MacBooks, iPads, software and our expertise to support the ConnectED project. We look forward to announcing more details with the White House soon.”
An accompanying fact sheet to the State of the Union address [PDF link] also stated that the President will announce “new philanthropic partnerships” with the tech companies mentioned throughout the coming weeks. Apple was also mentioned during last year’s State of the Union, with the President lauding the company’s move to again build Macs in America.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Samsung opening 60 more brick-and-mortar stores across Europe
Nothing says that you’re a heavyweight tech brand like your own store, a flagship retail location that screams your brand from every wall and window. Samsung’s got a few of these already, but now it’s on a mission to conquer the shopping malls of Europe. The Korean giant has signed a deal with Carphone Warehouse, where the latter will open and operate 60 Samsung-branded shops within the next three months. Some of the locations will be new and the rest will be re-branded CPW stores, but either way — Samsung’s brand is about to get a lot more visible.
Via: The Verge
Source: Carphone Warehouse
Viber improves notifications and statuses in latest Windows Phone 8 update
Popular VoIP service Viber today released a new version of its Windows Phone 8 app. This update focuses on delivering smarter notifications and giving users more customization options for their statuses. For example, the application can now play a sound when a notification comes in, and it also gives you the ability to choose whether or not you want to hide these. In addition to that, Viber has added a “Seen” feature which shows when a contact has viewed a user’s status, while “Last online” keeps you better informed on who’s online and able to chat it up. And if you’re into Viber’s custom labels, like the ones seen above, then you’ll be happy to know the Sticker Market is now available on Microsoft’s mobile platform. We’re pretty into that “YES SIR!” one ourselves.
As for Viber CEO Talmon Marco, he’s pretty thrilled and had this to say about the refreshed Windows Phone 8 application:
Bringing the Viber Sticker Market to Windows Phone 8 is a very exciting step for us and we are sure that our users on the platform will love it. This is the first time we are bringing a monetization feature to Windows Phone 8 and it’s another part of our commitment to the platform. More importantly, this release is part of our commitment to our users who want to communicate with their contacts no matter what OS they use.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Windows Phone
Olympus launches 50x superzoom with unique ‘Eagle-Eye’ gun sight
Not only has Olympus unveiled the Stylus SP-100 with a whopping 50x optical zoom lens, it’s tackled one of the biggest issues in using such cameras: losing a moving subject. The new model is equipped with what the company calls its “eagle-eye” dot-sight located just above the viewfinder, which projects a target onto a semi-transparent mirror below the flash, as shown in the photo after the break. That way, you can keep a bead on your photographic prey (the tech is also used on gun-sights) without needing to zoom out, which could make the difference between nailing or losing a shot. The rest of the specs include a 1/2.3-inch 16-megapixel CMOS sensor with a TruePic VII processor, 7fps burst speed with a small 6 frame buffer, a 24-1200 (50mm equivalent) f/2.9-6.5 lens, a 3-inch, 460K-dot LCD, 920K-dot EVF and 1080/60p Full HD video. It’ll arrive in March for $400 or so and while it might not be the biggest superzoom out there, at least you may actually catch Junior’s winning goal.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Olympus
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