Facebook buying WhatsApp for $16 billion
Facebook has today announced that it will be buying the popular cross-platform social messaging platform Whatsapp for around $16 billion.
The deal was announced today as both parties reached an agreement: Whatsapp receives $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in Facebook stock. If, for whatever reason the deal falls through, Facebook have agreed to pay a fee of $2 billion in a mixture between cash and stock to Whatsapp.
Facebook was interested in the social messaging platform due to the incredible amount of growth that the service received, with figures touting that Whatsapp was adding around a million users per month to its platform.
Whatsapp will continue to operate as an independant company and keep their own branding, but will have Facebook members on the board. With Facebook messenger a big part of their service, it makes sense that eventually Whatsapp will be obsorbed into their own platform.
The post Facebook buying WhatsApp for $16 billion appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Sony laser pico projector module beams out focus-free HD images
If your presentation audience is noticing pixels, then projector resolution may be the least of your problems. Nevertheless, Sony’s just introduced a new pico module that’ll allow manufacturers to build pocket-sized projectors with high-def, 16:9 images using laser beam scanning (1,920 x 720 with rectangular pixels). That’ll bring sharp focus regardless of screen distance, along with high contrast, wider color gamut and reduced laser “sparkle,” according to Sony. There’s also built-in screen distortion correction for off-kilter situations. If you’re now scheming about some kind of shark-mounted entertainment system, though, it’ll have to wait — the tech is only available to projector makers.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: Sony
CMT Artists is an iPhone app designed specially for country music lovers
Viacom knows it has to spread the love equally amongst its properties, as any great parent company would do. In this particular scenario, it means releasing a new music discovery app for Country Music Television, just like it did for MTV back in October of last year. With CMT Artists, it’s clear that Viacom took a complete cue from MTV’s version, offering easy access to in-depth artist pages, exclusive interviews, news and music videos. There are also a number of other useful tidbits, including the ability to easily identify unfamiliar songs, either by typing in lyrics or via the Sound ID feature. Naturally, CMT Artists focuses on country tunes and the musicians behind them, as opposed to the broader approach taken by MTV. And even though the application was designed with the iPhone’s screen in mind, there won’t be an issue installing it on larger iOS devices if you choose to do so.
Taylor seems pretty excited about it.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Mobile
Source: CMT
Waze navigation app now reads destinations from iOS and Android calendars
Google-owned Waze updated its navigation app for iOS and Android just before the new year, improving the user experience with all manner of tweaks. Evidently, it neglected to add one specific feature, hence another update dropping today that’ll allow Waze to talk to the calendar apps on both those platforms. It means that if you’re organized enough to associate locations with calendar appointments, you can ask Waze to take you there with but a single prod from inside the calendar app. The navigation list within Waze will also auto-populate with destination info poached from appointments. Waze is eager to highlight the feature is easily disabled from within your device’s settings — you know, if you’d rather that Miley Cyrus concert date be kept as discreet as possible.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google
Source: Waze (iOS), Waze (Android)
Broadcom’s new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery
Mobile World Congress kicks off next week, so it’s high time that the behind the scenes players showed off what’ll linger beneath the aluminum and Gorilla Glass of next-generation devices. Broadcom is unveiling the BCM4771 GNSS SoC, a wittily named slab of silicon that promises to make the GPS units of smartwatches less power-hungry and more accurate than before. Thanks to its 40-nanometer construction and a new sensor hub that integrates everything into one package, the chip also claims to be much cheaper than the existing tech. It’s pencilled in for a launch at the end of March, so hopefully we’ll see wearables in the Fall boasting of a battery life that’s longer than, say, an hour.
Valve’s ‘Free to Play’ is a documentary about pro-gaming’s first million-dollar tourney (video)
For many, words like “MOBA” and “Dota 2″ might sound more like random collections of letters than a massively popular gaming genre and game, respectively. Valve, Dota 2‘s developer, wants to educate the masses by putting the game and a trio of its international players under the microscope in Free to Play. One might find Valve’s efforts feel a tad self-serving when compared to, say, Indie Game: The Movie, but, based on the trailer, the documentary seems more like a look at the human side of professional gaming than it does an advertising puff piece. If checking the film out and sitting in on a Q-and-A session with its creators sounds like a good time, tickets to next month’s San Francisco premiere are $25 through Eventbrite. Can’t make it NorCal? The doc will be available for free on Steam, as well — just like the game that inspired it.
Source: Free to Play, Eventbrite
Fleksy ramps up iOS keyboard app integration as SDK exits private beta
Fleksy unveiled its first SDK for iOS in December of last year, finally bringing a third-party keyboard to iOS for the first time ever — as long as it was integrated into the app, of course. After a couple of months of testing and feedback, Fleksy announced today that the SDK has exited its private beta and is now ready for adoption on a much larger scale. Indeed, this means that Syntellia’s alternative predictive touch keyboard is now available for any developer to use for free, no sign-up required, which Fleksy COO Ioannis Verdelis hopes will translate to more apps jumping on the Fleksy bandwagon.
One of the reasons Verdelis is confident this will happen is because the new open SDK has been polished and streamlined so that integration is extremely easy, requiring “zero lines of code.” We should note, however, that you will need to have the standalone Fleksy app installed on the device as well. If you don’t already have Fleksy installed, the supported app links to the App Store and downloads it for you. This way, compatible apps hook up to the same Fleksy keyboard settings and dictionaries, so that your Fleksy experience is shared across all of them. You’ll know an app supports it when you notice a Fleksy button appear next to the cut, copy and paste options in a text field.
Other improvements to Fleksy include better accuracy, a more robust dictionary, new languages and additional color themes to match all the hues of the iPhone 5c. Some of the apps that have already signed on to the new SDK include You Doodle, Cotton Notes, Write for iOS, Tap Forms Organizer, SnapStatus, Vert 2 and MUDRammer, with more on the way. If you’re a developer keen on trying this out, hit the source link below. If you’re just curious about Fleksy, either download one of the listed apps or check out the demo video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Fleksy SDK
Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Camera 2 ships next month for $450
Looking to pick up Samsung’s much-improved Galaxy Camera 2? The 16-megapixel Android-powered shooter can be yours next month for $450. The device includes Jelly Bean under the hood, and unlike what we experienced with the original cam, this updated version felt quite snappy during our CES demo. There’s a 4.8-inch 720p display, WiFi connectivity (this model doesn’t support 3G/4G) and a boosted 2,000 mAh battery. The lens doesn’t appear to be improved, however, with a 21x zoom and an f/2.8-5.9 maximum aperture range. Samsung is also announcing pricing and availability for the NX30, which ships today for a whopping $1,000 with an 18-55mm kit lens. We think the company would benefit from a more aggressive MSRP there, given the competition in the mirrorless camera space, but if you aren’t turned off by the price, it does appear to be a solid option.
Fleksy’s Predictive Touch Keyboard with Gestures Now Available to All iOS Developers
Back in December, Fleksy announced a toolkit to allow iOS developers to <a href="“>incorporate the company’s popular predictive and gesture-based keyboard into their apps. The initial testing period involved a public launch in four third-party apps of varying types, with Fleksy noting that it would continue to expand the program and eventually open up its SDK to all interested developers.
Today, Fleksy is announcing that next step in its iOS development program, moving the SDK out of private beta and allowing all app developers to easily incorporate Fleksy as an alternative keyboard within their apps.
With its latest update, the Fleksy SDK is now completely free of charge, requires no sign up and allows any developer to implement it in minutes, with zero lines of code and without having to make any changes to their app at all. Switching between Fleksy and the iOS keyboard is also completely streamlined.
Fleksy is one of several alternative keyboard systems that have gained popularity on Android, but Apple’s rules preventing systemwide replacement of the default keyboard have greatly slowed growth of such tools on iOS. As a workaround, Fleksy and other keyboard developers are turning to SDKs that will allow developers to add support for their keyboards on an app-by-app basis. SwiftKey is another such company that launched its own note-taking app several weeks ago and is looking to bring an SDK to select developers initially and all developers over time.
Fleksy offers automated word suggestions while the user types to help improve typing speed, while also incorporating a sophisticated autocorrect engine to help correct typing errors on the fly. Layered on top of those features is a gesture system that allows users to insert spaces and punctuation by swiping to the right and delete words by swiping to the left anywhere on the keyboard rather than having to use dedicated keys. Up and down swipes allow users to cycle through suggested words or undo automatic corrections.
While the Fleksy SDK is now open to all developers, the company has also been working with a number of developers beyond the initial group of four to integrate the Fleksy keyboard into their apps. Several of those are ready to go live today with Fleksy support, including You Doodle, Write for iPhone, Tap Forms Organizer and Secure Database, and Remoter VNC – Remote Desktop.
Fleksy is free for users and developers, and hundreds of developers have already inquired about bringing Fleksy to their apps. As a result, the Fleksy team is optimistic that adoption will grow rapidly given developer interest and the simple integration offered through the company’s SDK.
     |
Google opens official Chromecast support forum
Trying to figure out how to get your Chromecast TV widget to play nice with your Android thingymabob, or how to hook it into your own app? The usual AV or developer forums might help, but there’s nothing like a dedicated support channel, right? Well if you saunter over to Google’s product forums (or click on the source link below) then you’ll find Chromecast now has a little corner to call its own. Our first question? Any chance of confirming its long overdue arrival in the UK?
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Google
Via: Android Police
Source: Google Product Forums
AIVAnet 