Forget shots, Palcohol turns vodka into a powdered condiment
Why sip on a nice glass of scotch when you can get tipsy on salad instead? A new product called Palcohol takes the pesky liquid out of your favorite drinks; turning them into a potent powder you can just sprinkle on your hamburger for an extra “kick.” The company doesn’t recommend snorting it (be honest, we know that’s what you were thinking), but says it can be used most anywhere else. Powders are available in straight liquor form as well as premixes like Lemon Drop and Margarita, and if you’d rather drink your booze (as if!), Palcohol can be liquefied with water and consumed just like a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Sound too good to be true? US regulators have surprisingly already approved Palcohol for sale in the United States, but don’t expect the product at your corner liquor store anytime soon. Individual states still have to approve the powder. And while the original idea for the product was supposedly booze that could be easily carried around by hikers and other outdoors-types, it also seems like it would appeal to a younger crowd (a no-no for many state legislators).
Palcohol’s site originally suggested bringing your undercover “Pal” places like movie theaters where drinking isn’t allowed or sprinkling a little vodka on eggs in the morning to “start your day off right.” Neither sound like the most responsible of powdering (yes, we’re coining a new term) choices. The site has since been updated to suggest better habits, but it’s still pretty easy to see how something like powdered vodka could be misused.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had an opportunity to taste-test the wares, but we imagine Palcohol is more on-par with cheap hangover-inducing booze than something you’d want to sip slowly with a cigar by the fire. It’s unclear how much a package of tequila might run when it hits store shelves. However, the ability to have a margarita (no matter how bad) sprinkled on our nachos sounds priceless.
Via: The Verge
Source: Palcohol
[Download] Google Hangouts 2.1 on the way with SMS improvements and a widget
Google is starting the wonderful process of pushing out a new update to one of our most used apps, Hangouts. The Google Hangouts app hasn’t been updated since February when it received v2.0.303. The update that is rolling out this week will bring it to v2.1. A whole number update usually means there will be a lot of goodies inside. A G+ post from Mike Dodd gave a quick highlight of what is new.
– Merged conversations: SMS and Hangout conversations with the same recipient are now combined into a single conversation. You can control whether you want to send a message via Hangouts or SMS with the flip of a switch, and different message types will be easy to tell apart in the conversation. Of course, you can always merge and unmerge conversations if you’d like.
– Simplified contact list: now there’s two main sections in contacts — People you Hangout With, and Phone Contacts — making it simpler to navigate, and easier to use for SMS.
– Homescreen widget: add the Hangouts widget to your homescreen for quick access to your recent conversations.
– Performance improvements: today’s update includes better quality video calls, as well as improved SMS and MMS reliability.
The home screen widget is a 3×3 that can be resized to fit your screen and offers up a list view of your conversations. Tapping on one will open up the hangouts app into that conversation. It is also scrollable.
The merged SMS and Hangouts conversations that allow you to choose how you want to communicate with the recipient is definitely a feature many were really wanting.
I also see a much clearer view of my messages compared to one my friend sends with a color change so that not all text bubbles are the same color.
We will play about a bit more with it and let you know if we catch anything else. If you are super eager to get your hands on the new update, grab the APK from GappsEarly right now.
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Sony announces Wi-Fi Xperia Z2 Tablet pricing and availability for the U.S., Pre-orders start today
Sony has just announced the availability and pricing for the new Xperia Tablet Z2 for those of us here in the U.S. Sony first announced the new Xperia Z2 Tablet at Mobile World Congress in February of 2014. Right along side the Xperia Z2 phone. WE are still waiting on the announcement of the phone coming state side. Today, however, Sony has announced that the new 10.1-inch full HD TRILUMINOS display with Live Color LED with X-Reality will make its U.S. debut in stores May 4th and is available for Pre-Sale today.
The Xperia Z2 Tablet packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked to 2.3GHz. It sports 3GB of RAM and a 6,000 mAh battery (rated for 13 hours video playback/1420 hours standby). It packs a 8.1 MP rear camera with a 16x digital zoom and offers a 2.2MP front facing camera as well. If the power packed inside isn’t enough for you, it only weighs 15.49 ounces and measures in at 6.8 x 10.47 x 0.25 inches. Yes, that is just 1/4 inch thick. It is being touted as the worlds slimmest tablet. Perspective wise, the Google nexus 10 is 0.35 inches thick.
The new Xperia Z2 Tablet will come in a two colors, white and black, and be offered in a 16 and 32 GB storage size. The 16GB variant will start off at $499.99 and the 32GB will land for $599.99. Both offer SD card support as well. It will make its debut at select Sony stores on May 4th, but you can pre-order one today through Sony’s online store now with an expected shipping date of May 3rd.
Anyone considering this power house of a tablet?
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Flippypad, a Project Ara concept gamers could get behind
By now, everyone has probably heard about Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone that should arrive in January 2015.
While there are plenty of people talking about the potential to swap out components such as the display, camera, processor, battery, etc., one concept is making its way around the web that could bring an almost Nintendo DS/3DS gaming experience to the smartphone.
Designer Samuel Herb is sharing a concept he created called Flippypad for Project Ara, a hinged controller that turns the smartphone into “a neat little clamshell gaming device.”
The concept has L and R buttons, a D-Pad, two flat joysticks “and the familiar ABXY diamond.” The hinged component concept also connects into the back of Project Ara to power and integrate it.
This could be the perfect accessory for gamers who want to carry as little with them as possible and allow them to get great gaming experience out of their mobile device as well.
Herb said that if anyone wants to see something like this made, they should try and get the word out, then maybe it will find its way to the right people and he can start developing it for real.
Would you be interested in such an component/accessory? Are you excited for Project Ara?
The post Flippypad, a Project Ara concept gamers could get behind appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Continues Pursing Mobile Payment Solution, Seeking to Hire Industry Executives
Apple is continuing with its plans to introduce a mobile payments service and has began interviewing senior payments industry executives to take on roles within the company, reports Re/code.
Apple is looking to fill two new positions, focused on building an electronic payment service based on the company’s existing iTunes accounts. Millions of customers have personal accounts that already store credit card information, allowing them to make purchases within the Apple Store app, in retail stores, and through iTunes. Apple hopes to expand this to third-party avenues as well, both online and at retail locations.
The company has been meeting with potential applicants for two new positions at Apple focused exclusively on building a business around the hundreds of millions of credit cards it already has on file. Apple is seeking to fill head of product and head of business development positions, one of these people said.
“Their ambitions are very, very serious,” one of the sources said.
Apple’s interest in the mobile payment arena has been rumored for years but gained renewed attention in early 2014, when The Wall Street Journal announced the company was working on a new mobile payment service, hoping to allow people to use their iOS devices to make purchases for physical goods in apps and on the web as well as in retail stores using payment info stored in iTunes accounts.
Apple has also been in talks with Paypal about a possible partnership and reportedly mulled an acquisition of mobile payments company Square, though it appears an acquisition did not pan out.
The company’s mobile payment system will possibly be tied to Touch ID, the fingerprint scanning home button built into the iPhone 5s and reportedly slated for the upcoming iPhone 6 and future iPads. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in January that mobile payments were “one of the thoughts” behind Touch ID. He has also said that Apple is “intrigued” with mobile payments and noted there’s a “big opportunity on the platform.”
Apple has promised new hardware, software, and services across 2014, and it’s possible that a mobile payment solution could come later this year, though a set date is unclear as the company is clearly still in the hiring stages.
ROCKI: PLAY Review – Enable WiFi Streaming to any Speaker System
ROCKI: PLAY is a fantastic little product that was born as a result of a massively successful Kickstarter project, and I’m lucky enough to have gotten my hands on one courtesy of the lovely ROCKI team and their marketing partners.
Tech Specs
- Wifi 802.11b/g/n (AP / Hotspot mode supported)
- Music Formats Supported : MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF
- Music Streaming Services Supported : TBC pending licensing request with the respective music streaming services
- ROCKI App versions : Android, iOS, HTML5 (for Windows Phone, PC & Mac)
- Connectors : 3.5mm Stereo (Audio) / MicroUSB (Power/Charging)
- Included : 3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Cable, 3.5mm to RCA Audio Cable, USB Charging Cable, USB Charger
- Battery : 900mAH
- Dimensions: 92 x 54 x 17mm / 48g
Design
We’ll start off by looking at the design, and the standout feature when you first check the ROCKI out.
The device is simply beautiful!
With a polygon type feel to it, the ROCKI just screams to be looked at, and is not one of those devices you’ll want to hide away behind a cupboard or cabinet in your living room – you’ll want to put this on show for all to see.
It’s worth pointing out that I didn’t get 5 separate ROCKI devices, since the image below shows the removable covers that can be applied to the ROCKI unit – yes, that’s right, not only does it look fantastic, but you can also change the colour of it without too much effort at all. The covers are made of a rubbery material and feel very well made and solid, not like they’d easily rip in your hand when applying pressure.
The ROCKI easily fits in the palm of your hand and has a flat bottom so can be placed flat on a surface easily. There is an aux out as well as a micro-USB port for charging on the side of the device. There is also a boot pinhole button on the bottom of the device to reset everything should you wish to return the device back to factory settings.
Functionality
Not only does the ROCKI look the part but it brings a function to the market which currently is pretty much only achieved (well) by Apple’s AirPort express, and ROCKI even offers benefits over those too.
ROCKI will take any aux of phono feed from any set of speakers and will make itself a wireless receiver to enable music streaming to that once old and forgotten speaker system through the ROCKI iOS and Android app, or through a little workaround we documented using AllCast.
Once the ROCKI is all set up and connected to speakers, it works pretty much like any other AirPlay receiver for those that are used to that technology. The ROCKI app will locate the ROCKI unit on your wireless network and offer it as an option to stream your locally stored music to from your Android or iOS device.
Currently that’s really the only downside to ROCKI in that the app can only stream locally stored music content on your mobile device. Support for Spotify and Deezer is confirmed to be coming to the app, and that will really round off the functionality for the ROCKI device.
However, since I was using a rooted device paired with AllCast, the ROCKI just acted like another AirPlay speaker on my network and could receive audio from Spotify with no issues, outside of the ROCKI app. Since this isn’t native functionality, to maintain the full experience, you should wait for official support through the ROCKI app, but it’s a little workaround for the mean time.
Audio sent to the ROCKI is crystal clear, with no degradation from what I could hear anyway. The device performed extremely well and never failed to perform on demand when called upon. The battery has still only been charged a few times having survived several hours per day of being switched on.
Overall
The only issues I had with ROCKI is the initial setup where I came into a few issues with the device connecting to my WiFi network. For some reason it would not complete the initial setup when connecting to one of my wireless networks, and would tell me I had entered the incorrect password. ROCKI support was fantastic and offered their assistance immediately, but eventually it accepted my password and proceeded to complete the initial setup. I must stress that this is the only issue I’ve had with ROCKI and it has been super stable since, and a pleasure to use.
The ROCKI is deservant of one of our highest review scores yet, and really only is let down by the limitations of the accompanying app only being able to play local content since most people do rely on streaming services to retrieve their content. However, when Spotify and Deezer support is added, and here’s me hoping Google Music All Access, the ROCKI is undeniably a must have device.
The ROCKI: PLAY is now available to order from their website starting at only $49.00, and I definitely recommend everyone orders one!
The post ROCKI: PLAY Review – Enable WiFi Streaming to any Speaker System appeared first on AndroidGuys.
30 Moto X-inspired wallpapers for your Android
Looking to change up your Android home screen? It doesn’t get much easier than swapping out the wallpaper; it’s one of the quickest ways to breath new life into the mobile experience.
What you’ll find here is a collection of 30 images inspired by the Motorola blog and the Moto X. They’re not official wallpapers but you wouldn’t know it from looking at them. The designer, Alex Pasquarella, has done a tremendous job of putting together images that look and feel like something that would come pre-installed on anything out of Motorola’s camp. Be sure to follow him on Google+ and check out his blog.
Please note that we do not claim ownership of any of these images. If you see something here that should not belong or is your own work, please let us know. We don’t want to get anyone in trouble and will be happy to swap the image out for something else.
Click here to see our other wallpaper articles.
The post 30 Moto X-inspired wallpapers for your Android appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Highlights Video Detailing Environmental Friendliness of Campus 2 Project
As part of the “Better” environmental campaign that was initially unveiled this morning, Apple has posted a video of its Apple Campus 2 project, displaying a series of renderings of the building along with some details on the site from campus designer Norman Foster.
Foster speaks on Jobs’ inspiration for the campus, noting his love of both Stanford and the area that he grew up in. “The idea is to bring California back to Cupertino,” said Apple’s senior arborist David Muffly, who is in charge of the flora that will be added to Apple’s campus.
Along with the video, Apple outlines its plans to make its second campus more environmentally friendly. The site will be “the most energy-efficient building of its kind,” powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources, including a massive solar energy installation.
The company also plans to have huge amounts of open space, which will be accompanied by both fruit and shade trees, and commute alternatives will see 15,000 Cupertino employees using biofuel buses, public transit, bikes, and more instead of cars.
The building itself is just part of the story. Just under 80 percent of the site will be open space, populated by more than 7000 trees — including more than 6000 newly planted shade and fruit trees. Drought-tolerant plants will be used throughout the landscape to minimize water use.
While the Apple Campus 2 video shared by Apple was initially unveiled in October during a session with the City of Cupertino, this is the first time Apple has released the video in high quality to the public. Apple is hoping to complete its second campus by 2016.
NBA Game Time updates with extra special additions for select Samsung device owners
With the 2013-2014 NBA Playoffs underway sports fans will be keeping close tabs on things when mobile. Of course Google Now does a pretty good job of keeping you in the loop at all times, but there is also an ‘app for that’ as it were. The NBA Game Time app is a free app that is meant to keep you in the loop all things NBA related. Last week they pushed an update to the app that brought some special treats to Samsung Galaxy device owners.
The new Samsung Experience section is officially live for owners of the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 3. The new section brings you an exclusive lockscreen with live countdowns to your teams next game, live scoring updates during the game and quick access to playoff series scores all without unlocking your device. You also get some wallpapers to set of your favorite teams.
As a Galaxy owner you will also get special highlights from the playoffs like slow motion video content taken with the phantom camera, mini-movies from select games and segments from “NBA Inside Stuff”. As a famed Galaxy owner, you will get all that content before it is released to the general mobile community.
If you don’t have the app and ant to check it out feel free to hit the button below to go pick it up.
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The evolution of mortality in America, presented as beautiful graphs
While everyone (and everything) dies in time, just how and when they die has changed a lot in the past few decades; it’s not necessarily clear how you’re likely to kick the bucket. Thankfully, Bloomberg has used visual data to make sense of death trends in the US. Some trends aren’t surprising — medicine, science and societal factors have helped Americans both live longer and avoid unnatural ends, like murders. As of 2010, roughly a third of all deaths were of people 85 and older. That’s a big jump from 1968, when just 13 percent of people would live to become octogenarians.
However, there are a few notable quirks in the numbers. AIDS was the biggest killer among young people for several years until education and treatments took big strides forward. Also, there hasn’t been much progress in lowering deaths among middle-aged people in recent years — reductions in disease rates among the 45- to 54-year-old crowd have been countered by rises in drug-related fatalities and suicide. And there’s a downside to medical technology helping people survive further into old age, since successes in fighting cancer and heart disease have been partly offset by increases in slow-but-deadly conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia. The data may be an all too powerful reminder of your mortality, then, but it’s at least reassuring to know that the graphs are mostly moving in the right direction.
[Image credit: Louise Docker, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Source: Bloomberg
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