AT&T and Transit Wireless plan coverage in nearly 250 NYC subway stations
AT&T and Transit Wireless on Thursday confirmed intentions to expand wireless service in 242 New York City subway stations. Coverage is already available in 30 stations between midtown Manhattan and parts of the Chelsea neighborhood. A second phase is underway with service coming to another 40 stations (29 in Queens, 11 in Manhattan) before the end of the summer.
“Bringing wireless service into the New York City subway has been a big step forward for our customers, and we’re pleased that even more of them will be able to take advantage of it,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “The ability to make and receive phone calls underground is an important improvement for safety and security as well as convenience, and our customers will certainly appreciate it.”
Why is coverage so vital in subways, you ask? It’s not about keeping you connected to Reddit or Instagram, it’s about safety. Once enabled, New Yorkers and visitors will be able to dial 911 in emergency situations when on subway platforms underground. With that said, there’s nothing wrong with a little streaming radio to get you through the commute. Or you know, you can always check in with mom.
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Pushbullet update adds full image support on desktops and Tasker event support
A recent update to Pushbullet adds some well-requested features.
Users of the desktop notification app, listen up! You should be receiving an update regarding a few really useful features. With the update, you will now be able to see the full image preview when an image is pushed to the desktop. Before the update, the notification card would only show the image name, which wasn’t really the most functional way of getting the image.
What’s more is that Pushbullet now has Tasker event plugin support. Users are now able to have Tasker react to just about any message they receive on their mobile devices. Note that Tasker needs to be updated to version 4.3 in order to take advantage of this feature.
Download the update from the Play link below!
Source: Pushbullet
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ZTE Apollo rumored to boast new 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor
Qualcomm has recently announced their new Snapdragon 808 and 810 processors to be added to the top-tier of mobile processors. With the Snapdragon 801 just beginning to make its way into handsets, we thought it might be awhile until we see the new ones make their way into consumer hands. That may not be the case, thanks to a new leak from the Chinese source, CNMO.
The leak is specifically claiming that the ZTE Apollo, ZTE’s upcoming flagship, will be toting Qualcomm’s new 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor. It is also rumored that they will announce the phone along with the ZTE Athena in the second half of 2014, specifically September. If that is the case, the new processors will have to be on the fast track in order to get into our hands in time.
In the same release, Qualcomm outed that the processors won’t be in consumer devices until the first half of 2015. That being said, the folks over at Qualcomm must be working pretty hard to beat this 2014 release date.
Source: CNMO, Via: Pocketdroid
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Apple’s Recent Hires from Broadcom Boost Rumors of In-House Baseband Chip Development
Apple recently hired two high-level baseband hardware engineers who left their longtime positions at Broadcom to join the team at Apple, reports AppleInsider. The discovery of these recent hires follows a report earlier this week that suggests Apple is assembling a team of engineers to develop its own baseband chips for future iPhone models. This baseband hardware controls the radio functions of a device, handling cellular connectivity details such as signal generation, modulation and more.
The first hire in January 2014 was RF engineer Xiping Wang, who spent over ten years at Broadcom as a Design Engineer and manager of Hardware Development Engineering. Wang was followed by principal engineer and Chip Lead Paul Chang, who joined Apple in February 2014. At Broadcom, Chang was a hardware lead, overseeing the team that developed baseband transceivers for Nokia and Samsung mobile devices.
All together, Apple has assembled at least 30 mid- and senior-level baseband software and hardware engineers from Broadcom and current iPhone baseband vendor Qualcomm over the past three years. Apple is also advertising more than 50 additional openings related to RF chip design, an indication that the build-up is not yet complete.
Apple currently purchases its baseband hardware from Qualcomm, but has recently made acquisitions that would bring more of its chip development in-house. Last year, Apple acquired low-power wireless chip provider Passif Semiconductor and is ARM-based “A” series processor that powers its iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV. The A7 is the most recent processor in the series and is described as providing “desktop class” performance for Apple’s mobile devices.
Bizarrely, the next Borderlands game is for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
The hugely popular first-person shooter series Borderlands is getting a new entry in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a game set between the story of previous two games. Not exactly shocking, but neat nonetheless. What’s shocking is where we’ll play Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel when it arrives this fall: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Despite the Xbox One and PlayStation 4… ya know, existing, the next major Borderlands game apparently isn’t headed their way. That said, there’s one other platform that fans can snag it on: PC. And given the PC-like architecture of the new consoles, you’ll forgive us if we don’t feign surprise when the game eventually arrives on newer platforms.
The game’s development is being handled by both the series creators at Gearbox Software and 2K’s Australian arm. Thus far, the only footage available is pre-Alpha (read: early), but, well, it looks an awful lot like the Borderlands games you already know and love. Perhaps you don’t already know and love the series? We’ve got a trailer below the break that’ll help get you up to speed.
Dyson: ‘A company that doesn’t double its R&D every two years is in trouble’
Sir James Dyson just made a brief appearance in Japan, launching his series of high-end hand-dryers in a region where, according to the founder, people appear to appreciate the design and engineering involved. As the company continues to hone the vacuum cleaners and hand-dryers that made its name (meaning power and less noise, generally), it’s also pushing out in more unusual directions — like collaborating with Imperial College on robotic R&D. It’s also still substantially growing its development facilities. According to Sir Dyson: “We’re obviously expanding what we do, although we love vacuum cleaners and hand-dryers, surprisingly,” cracking a smile.
“We’re doubling the size [of R&D]… we already have within the last two years and we’re going to double again. Partly we want to make extra products, but in order to be competitive, globally, you have to have better technology than all your competitors.” He added that competition is global: Japan, Korea, the US, Germany, India, South America — it’s now “everywhere.” Many tech companies are similarly folding money into R&D, including Apple, Samsung, even those in tough times, like Nintendo. Dyson sees it in far stricter term: “A company that doesn’t double its R&D team every two years, I think, is in trouble.”
Filed under: Household
Richard Branson’s trying to track down the 80s kid who inspired Virgin Galactic
In 1988, a young chap by the name of Shihan Musafer rang BBC children’s show Going Live to ask Richard Branson if he’d ever thought about travelling to space. “I’d love to go into space, as I think pretty well everybody watching this show would love to go to space,” he eagerly replied. Turns out, that call 26 years ago served as the catalyst for Sir Richard to register the name Virgin Galactic, the company that’s now on course to take well-moneyed civilians into outerspace later this year. To thank Shihan “for helping to inspire the idea,” Branson’s hoping to use the power of social to help track down the now grown-up Brit, so that he can personally invite him to get the VIP treatment while “witnessing a spaceflight.” While that makes it sound like he’s getting a free return ticket to the heavens, in fact he just gets to watch the rich and famous take off. So close.
Filed under: Transportation, Alt
Source: Richard Branson’s Virgin Blog
T-Mobile rolls out $40 Simple Starter plan for people wary of overages
Oh, you thought T-Mobile might take a breather from continually overhauling its wireless plans? Not so, dear readers. The magenta-hued carrier just announced a new $40 Simple Starter plan that grants you unlimited talk, text and 500MB of high-speed data… and it turns out that’s just the beginning. T-Mobile CEO John Legere promised (in a feisty, pointed open letter to consumers) that the carrier has more to reveal over the next three days.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, as there are a few tidbits to keep in mind before jumping on this new deal. You won’t get throttled when you bump up against that 500MB bandwidth cap, for one — you’ll instead be prompted to buy a day pass for more data access… or to sign up for one of the carrier’s rejiggered Simple Choice plans instead. Perhaps that’s not the more friction-free approach to getting your web surfing on, but it at least removes the possibility of getting smacked with overage fees. Would-be Simple Starter customers can still get T-Mobile to pay those termination fees if they’re coming from another carrier, so those of you running on a budget may want to give this plan some thought.
Filed under: Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
Harvard students learn about Apple’s history through manga
There’s no doubt that Harvard’s Business School is serious business, but its students are surprisingly learning about the history of Apple’s two Steves through a non-traditional medium: manga. Professor Noam Wasserman has been teaching about Wozniak’s and Jobs’ friendship and eventual falling out for years as a cautionary tale. But, for the first time, he’s using a more visual medium that portrays the two tech titans as smooth, baby-faced young’uns with big anime eyes as a supplement to the course’s text. To be clear, it’s not that Jobs manga you’ve likely heard of in the past. This particular Japanese-style comics is actually an adaptation of Wasserman’s Harvard case study titled “Apple’s Core,” which tells the story of Apple’s early days.
The one responsible for turning the study into a graphic novel, however, is another professor named Thomas Alexander, who got the idea during a stint teaching at a business institute in the Philippines. He realized that the story would resonate more with his students (who were mainly from India, China, Korea, the Philippines and Europe) if it were a lot more visual.
He said:
None of them had English as a strong suit. So I knew that to give them a 30- to 50-page written text, they will not read this. The participation will not be there.
That’s why Alexander turned Apple’s Core into a 30-page script and hired an artist to bring Apple’s history to life. Wasserman, in turn, found it so intriguing, that he’s now giving it out as optional reading material. If you’re wondering, Harvard’s MBA students seem receptive to the idea of learning from a graphic novel — enough, at least, to grab all 20 copies Wasserman made last semester.
[Image credit: Apple Core, Harvard Business School]
Source: Harvard
Say “Hello” to hello sms for Android [App of the Day]
Tired of your boring stock messaging app? Perhaps you’re always on the lookout for the best looking SMS app. Whatever your dilemma, hello sms is here to save you!
Stock SMS messaging apps are often known for being boring, lacking options, and overall just providing a bland user experience. Hello sms aims to fix the drab look, as well as give you a more organized and streamlined inbox.
Hello sms organizes your conversations unlike any other messaging app, and does so by sorting conversations in tabs that run along the left side of the inbox. It’s a very beautiful design that is obviously inspired by simplicity and ease of use. Perfect for the on-the-go texter who prefers a clean and polished look.
The app does a great job at making picture messaging and group messaging easy as well. It also has a neat feature that applies a dark color scheme to the app as night sets in. Oh, and did I mention that the app is completely ad-free? That’s definitely a plus for anybody!
Hello sms is a stylish app that simplifies organization in the inbox, and features quick and easy ways to send messages and media. So if you’re looking for a new messaging app, or just want to test it out for the fun of it, download hello sms, and fulfill your texting needs!
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