News Republic Updates to v4.0 & Wins Semifinalist for Mobile Apps Showdown [CES 2014]
News Republic is a tiled news reader app that personalizes your news experience. You pick your favorite topics and it learns what you read and fills your feed based on this. Full articles are pulled from hundreds of sources and are in real-time (when you refresh the feed). Well, this great app just got better.
Yesterday, News Republic received a revamped UI and new layout with its fourth release. Per the Play Store description regarding the changes:
-Discover a fresh new look for News Republic including a new icon and a revised layout with more space for browsing and reading the news.
-Experience the new “One Feed” view, a unique reading experience with all your topics and the latest important news in one place.
-Build your personal news profile and let the app learn from your reading history. It will recommend articles which are most likely to interest you.
Additionally, News Republic won as a Semifinalist for the Mobile Apps Showdown during CES this year. This means that it was in the top 25 apps as chosen by the judges.
The Mobile Apps Showdown is a fast-paced contest where you’re asked to weigh in on the apps you think have what it takes to make it… By the end of this year, nearly 50 billion apps will have been downloaded.
It’s quite the honor to be on this elite list considering how many apps there are out there.
If you haven’t checked out News Republic yet, try it out for yourself. News Republic’s new look and fluidity make it the perfect companion to feed anyone’s information addiction.
Adobe adds 3D printing tools to Photoshop CC, MakerBot support in tow
With the emergence of desktop 3D printing, a long-trusted name in creative software is looking to offer tools for the task. Adobe has announced an update to Photoshop CC that includes 3D printing capabilities as a means of “simplifying the 3D print process.” The new functionality allows you to refine, preview, prep and output those three-dimensional creations. Starting from scratch or using an existing model, Photoshop’s tools like automated mesh repair and support structure generation lend a hand with final production. When you’re ready for printing, Photoshop CC has built-in support for MakerBot hardware (more on that in a bit), Shapeways online community/marketplace for printing away from home and publishing models via Sketchfab. Using Sketchfab’s 3D viewer, projects can be posted to Behance for online portfolio purposes. Drivers for Makerbot’s printers are available for printing directly from Photoshop and support for “the most popular” 3D printer models — like the 3D Systems Cube — is slated for the near future. This means that, for now, you can only print directly from Adobe’s software to MakerBot’s hardware.
“Before today there was a gap between the content produced by 3D modeling tools and what 3D printers need in order to deliver high quality results. Now, by simply clicking ‘Print’ in Photoshop CC, creatives can bring 3D designs to the physical world,” said Winston Hendrickson, Adobe’s VP of products, Creative Media Solutions. What’s more, the outfit says that it expects current users to stay in Photoshop to 3D print items such as packaging mockups and more.
Don’t worry, tools for regular use are included in the update as well. Perspective Warp allows you to change an object’s viewpoint and Linked Smart Objects to improve collaborative efforts with automatic updating. All of the new tools and features are available now as a free update to Creative Cloud subscribers.
Filed under: Software
Huawei’s Richard Yu says octa-core HiSilicon chip is ready, will feature multi-mode LTE
It’s been a year since Huawei’s Richard Yu’s teased his company’s octa-core HiSilicon SoC, and according to the exec’s recent Sina Weibo post (screenshot after the break), said product is finally ready. In fact, Yu revealed that his company’s launched two new 28nm HPM chips. The octa-core model (likely the K3V3) features the usual quad Cortex-A15 plus quad Cortex-A7 big.LITTLE combo (as implemented by Samsung Exynos 5 Octa); and there’s also a new quad-core Cortex-A9 model (likely the K3V2 Pro), which succeeds the 40nm K3V2 that features the same architecture. What’s unclear is whether the octa-core chip will allow all eight cores to run simultaneously, but what we do know is that both chips come with a multi-mode LTE modem that will also handle both WCDMA and China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA radios.
Yu also made a separate post to say we’re entering the era of 64-bit octa-core processor (Cortex-A53 plus Cortex-A57) this year, but the message was deleted soon afterwards. What a tease. Anyhow, we have a feeling that Huawei will be showing off its first device powered by its own octa-core chip at MWC next month. That’s not to say Huawei’s saying goodbye to Qualcomm and MediaTek, though — Yu confirmed that he’ll have more “high-end” devices that will feature chips supplied by these two companies.
Via: Engadget Chinese
Source: Sina Weibo
Starbucks Admits It Stores Unencrypted User Passwords, Location Data in iPhone App [iOS Blog]
Starbucks has admitted that its mobile payment app for iPhone does not encrypt user passwords and location data, instead storing it in a clear text format, according to a report from Computerworld.
The credentials were stored in such a way that anyone with access to the phone can see the passwords and usernames by connecting the phone to a PC. No jailbreaking of the phone is necessary. And that clear text also displays an extensive list of geolocation tracking points (latitude, longitude), a treasure trove of security and privacy gems for anyone who steals the phone.
The vulnerability was first discovered by security researcher Daniel Wood, who published his findings online for the security community after repeatedly being not having success when attempting to contact Starbucks.
The coffee company tells Computerworld that it has “security measures in place now related to that”. However, Wood tells The Verge that anything Starbucks does on its end “would not matter” because the vulnerability lies within the app itself.
Potential criminals would still need to physically have the phone to attain any user information, and the only information available would be user names, passwords and location data, but users of the app who had the “auto replenish” feature on would enable criminals to continually add money to the app to make Starbucks purchases.
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Spotify Drops Listening Limits for Everybody
Spotify made a tasty little announcement via their blog today. While they technically made part of the announcement back in early December, they wanted to remind everyone and toss out a little more. In December they announced that tablets and phones could stream unlimited tunes and shuffle play it on Android and iOS. That was pretty awesome news. In their little poke on their blog today, they made it known that users on the PC have no time limit caps anymore either. Now you have Spotify FREE across all platforms and devices in your life.
That doesn’t mean that your $10 a month subscription is useless. While it doesn’t give you the unlimited special access like before, you are still gaining ad-free tunage and 320kbits sound quality. At least that is our understanding of it.
Via Spotify
Get Spotify in the Play Store
Google Expands Play Movies & TV to iOS
While we are all about and love our Android devices, there are still those friends and family members that just won’t fully pull the trigger. Google is in the business to make money, limiting how they make money and what devices can participate is pretty silly. Over the years we have seen various Android apps from Google make their way to iOS. It is good for them. After all, many iOS users still have Gmail accounts. Today Google made another move to assist iOS users in their abilities and ways of the Play Store by launching the Google Play Movies & TV to iTunes.
Go go losing it just yet. The app is free for those iOS users out there that wish to install it. However, it won’t do you much good. That is unless you login to the Play Store online to rent or buy movies or happen to be a dual wielding individual and already have some content through another Android device.
The new app for the iOS users among us is only available in the US, Japan and the united Kingdom. It does allow you to cast to a Chromecast device if you have one. Don’t even think about streaming on your mobile carrier though, Wi-Fi is required for all playback. Ouch!
Hopefully getting Play Movies & TV going on iOS will help boost sales, rentals and help the section expand for us all.
Source: 9to5Google
Moto G for Verizon Available on Amazon for $100
The Moto G has become a budget phone favorite since its release, and the buzz that surrounds the phone is pretty rocking. Many Android enthusiasts out there, got themselves, or contemplated getting themselves a Moto G, just to have a decent backup phone. The Moto G just made its way over to Verizon, and you can actually pick yourself up one for $100 on one of their prepaid plans.
- 4.5 inch 720p HD TFT display
- Quad-core 1.2GHz processor with 450MHz graphics processor
- UMTS HSPA+, CDMA EVDO Rev A
- 5MP rear camera, plus front facing camera
- 8GB Internal Memory
- NOTE: This phone is NOT compatible with Verizon contract plans. It is a designated no-contract phone and will not work as a replacement device on an existing Verizon contract
So if you feel like getting snatching one up for this nice low price, click the link below to grab one. Let us know if you did.
This Prototype was Almost the HTC One
The HTC One is on the top of the list on numerous tech websites for best designed phone of 2013. But that design almost wasn’t going to be what the HTC was going to go with for their beloved HTC One. Turns out, there was a whole other design for the One, and Engadget got their hands on a prototype HTC One, taking a slew of images of it.
Kind of resembled an HTC DROID DNA, but a little wider. No front-facing speakers, which ended up being a huge selling point in the actual design. So check out all the images, and let us know if you like this design more than the actual design.
Source: Engadget
BYU image algorithm can recognize objects without any human help
Even the smartest object recognition systems tend to require at least some human input to be effective, even if it’s just to get the ball rolling. Not a new system from Brigham Young University, however. A team led by Dah-Jye Lee has built a genetic algorithm that decides which features are important all on its own. The code doesn’t need to reset whenever it looks for a new object, and it’s accurate to the point where it can reliably pick out subtle differences — different varieties of fish, for instance. There’s no word on just when we might see this algorithm reach the real world, but Lee believes that it could spot invasive species and manufacturing defects without requiring constant human oversight. Let’s just hope it doesn’t decide that we’re the invasive species.
Filed under: Alt
Via: SlashGear
Source: Brigham Young University
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy VI, with all the Usually Blocking
Those that might have been too busy to keep up with things might have missed that Square Enix released Final Fantasy VI to the Play Store today. Chiming in at the tradition $15.99, the game is already racking up some serious downloads. Final Fantasy VI first made its debut in 1994 in Japan, but was Final Fantasy III in the states. At least, according to Wikipedia.
In this epic iteration of the gaming franchise, all the main characters from past come together in one epic story. You are able to play as all your favorites from the past in an intertwining story. FFVI, like all the rest, has been completely redone by Square Enix to recreate the magic that once was, on your mobile device. It received a complete overhaul to the battle interface to accommodate all our touch controls and even includes some magicites and events that were recreated in the 2006 remake.
Of course Square has high standards and higher prices. At $15.99 and 493MBs, it is up to you to decide if you want to continue where the storey left off. Be warned though, we are seeing some user complaints as always. The wonders of KitKat and ART seem to be a problem and so does the Xposed framwork (Need to disable all modules and reboot before playing). Interestingly enough there’s G+ sign-in, but no cloud back-up for gaming progress. We wonder if they will implement that at some point. Mind you, that is based on the comments on the Play Store, not personal experience.
If you want to pick it up, then just hit the link below.
Final Fantasy VI Play Store Link
AIVAnet 