Prime-time TV enjoys its highest ratings since 2007
The drastic change in the way people consume media has stirred up the argument that TV as we knew it is dead. But while prime-time ratings have dipped since the rise of services like Netflix and solid programming from networks such as AMC and HBO, the first quarter of 2014 has been very kind to prime-time TV in the US. According to a report from MoffettNathanson, prime-time TV ratings saw a surge of four percent compared to the previous quarter, and in the process marked the first time TV has seen any sort of growth since over a year ago. As Re/code notes, researcher Michael Nathanson says this is television’s “best performance since the last quarter of 2007.”
But there’s a reason for this: Nathanson points out that the increase in TV ratings is largely due to major events that have taken place this year, including the Oscars, the Sochi Winter Olympics, playoff games from the NFL and, most recently, the NCAA’s March Madness tournament. We’ll see if ratings can keep up this momentum going forward, but, at least for the time being, it’s safe to say good ol’ TV is far from being put to rest
[Image credits: Lubs Mary, Flickr; Re/code (graph)]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Re/code
Google beats Facebook to acquisition of drone maker
Google has just agreed to buy Titan Aerospace, a maker of high-altitude solar-powered drones that was in acquisition talks with Facebook just a few months ago. The Mountain View company hopes to use these long-lasting autonomous vehicles to assist its Project Loon project, which aims to broadcast internet signals to parts of the world that can’t get online. Facebook, on the other hand, went ahead with another drone company called Ascenta for Internet.org, its own worldwide internet project. Titan drones could also work with Makani, a Google airborne wind turbine project. As the unmanned planes are also able to collect high-res images of earth and support voice and data services, they could also be of use in other Google divisions, such as Maps.
Filed under: Google
Source: WSJ
Google purchases drone company Titan Aerospace
Google announced today that they have agreed to buy Titan Aerospace, a drone making company. So far, there has been no information for how much Titan was purchased, but there will surely be a number given in due time.
The company is very small, only employing about 20 employees out of New Mexico. Titan will be working closely with Project Loon, Google’s ballon project.
A Google spokesman elaborates on the subject:
It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.
What’s more, is that Facebook has also been looking into buying Titan, but decided to opt against it, purchasing another company for 20 million.
This technology could host a drastic amount of changes to what we see coming from Google. A jumpstart on Project Loon, Google’s Makani (a wind turbine company), and anything else you can think of.
As more develops, check back to see more on the purchase.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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Amazon slashes Kindle Fire HD price to $119 for limited time
Looking to pick up an Amazon Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Fire HD X tablet? There’s no time like the present! Amazon has slashed the price of the 16GB Kindle Fire HD from $169.99 down to $129.99, a savings of $40 off the normal cost. For what it’s worth, the 8GB model is $119.99 today.
The newer 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX is only $199.99 right now, a discount of $30 off the normal $229.99 sticker. You can, of course, also grab the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 for as low as $339.99 right now, which is $40 less than a typical day.
- Kindle Fire HD as low as $119.99
- Kindle Fire HDX as low as $199.99
- Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 as low as $339.99
There’s no indication as to how long any of these prices will remain in effect. We’ve seen instances where one of the models will sell out so jump on the deal if you’re giving it any consideration.
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Windows Phone 8.1 Adds Support for Apple’s Passbook Passes
Microsoft has added support for Apple’s Passbook passes in Windows Phone 8.1, which was released today as a developer preview. Microsoft announced this latest version of Windows Phone earlier this month and equipped the mobile OS with digital assistant and Siri competitor, Cortana.
As noticed by Tom Warren of The Verge and reported by iMore, Microsoft has created a method that takes the data from a Passbook file and converts it into a card that is imported into Microsoft Wallet.
Passbook passes are just collection of data that get rendered into a card and displayed in Apple’s Passbook app. Think of the Passbook files like the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript data that makes up a webpage, and the Passbook app like the browser that renders the actual page. It looks like Windows Phone 8 is taking the same data and rendering a similar card out of it, and then pushing that card to Microsoft Wallet.
It is not known whether Microsoft’s system is operating independently of Apple or if the Redmond company has an agreement to convert the data to its own wallet. The service may not support iOS-specific features like Passbook updates and notifications, but the importing of data is apparently accurate.
Windows Phone 8.1 supports Apple's Passbook natively. I've been using it for flights. Works perfectly pic.twitter.com/MFScqvEVU7
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 14, 2014
Passbook debuted in 2011 and was one of the major new apps bundled in iOS 6. The digital wallet permitted companies to store tickets, loyalty cards, coupons, gift cards and more in a centralized location on a user’s iPhone and iPod touch. Apple has continued to update the service, allowing third-party apps to create Passbook passes and adding support for gift cards.
Swedish students cook up a way to pay with your hands
Big companies have been trying to make in-store payments with mobile devices a thing for years, which makes Frederik Leifland’s approach awfully refreshing by comparison. There’s no smartphone, no NFC chip, no apps involved here — all you need to pay for your Frosted Flakes and Nutella is the palm of your hand. You see, Leifland (of Sweden’s Lund University) has cooked up a way to identify shoppers by the unique branching pattern of veins in their hands.
Conceptually, it all sounds simple enough: you take your comestibles to the register, punch in the last four digits of your phone number, and plop your hand down on a scanner. Voilà — the amount gets deducted from your bank account and you’re on your merry way. That said, the process of getting it all set up is a bit hairier. You have to swing one of the scanner-enabled stores, give it your social security number, bank info and phone number, then scan your palm three times. After that’s all done, you then activate your service on its website and fill out another form. Leifland says that each subsequent payment transaction only takes about five seconds to complete though, so you’ll have to do that cost-benefit analysis on your own.
It should come as no surprise that Leifland is building a startup called Quixter (no relation to Netflix’s ill-fated DVD rental spinoff) around this palm-sensing tech, and the team has scanners set up at 15 stores and cafes around the campus. We’ve reached out to the Quixter team to see if they plan to (or even can) bring this tech to a deli near you, so stay tuned.
Source: YouTube
A total lunar eclipse is happening tonight, and here’s how you can watch
You may have a good excuse to stay up late tonight. A rare total lunar eclipse, where the Earth casts a shadow over the entire Moon, is due to start at 12:53AM Eastern. Our celestial neighbor should be completely enshrouded by 3:06AM, producing an eerie coppery glow as it’s bathed in refracted light from Earth’s atmosphere. And unlike a solar eclipse, there’s a good chance that you’ll get to see this event if you’re reading this — most of the Americas will get the full effect, while partial glimpses will be possible as far as Australia and western Africa.
If you want a better view of the proceedings than you’d get just by looking up, there will be a few options. NASA, Slooh and the Virtual Telescope Project are all running live webcasts during at least some of the eclipse. Some good binoculars or a telescope will also do the trick if you’d rather see the Moon first-hand, although you may want to get away from city lights for the best results. Don’t despair if you miss out entirely, for that matter. Total eclipses are usually years apart, but this year marks the start of a quartet of eclipses. You’ll get your next chance on October 8th, and repeat viewings will be possible on April 4th and September 28th of next year.
[Image credit: Rob Glover, Flickr]
Filed under: Science
Via: Space.com
Source: NASA, Slooh, Virtual Telescope Project
T-Mobile Ending All Overage Charges, Challenging Rivals to Follow [iOS Blog]
T-Mobile is kicking off a new campaign targeting overage fees as part of its ongoing Uncarrier initiative that aims to disrupt the wireless industry in the U.S. Starting in May, the U.S. carrier is eliminating overage charges for all its customers regardless of their cellular plan. The wireless carrier also challenges its competitors to do the same.
With this move, T-Mobile is abolishing those additional charges that are levied when a customer exceeds their available minutes or allotted data for their cellular plan. These extra calling minutes or gigabytes of data are charged at a much higher rate and can easily add hundreds of dollars on to a customer’s base monthly bill. Estimates cited by T-Mobile suggest consumers paid up to $1 billion in penalties last year for these punitive charges.
“Charging overage fees is a greedy, predatory practice that needs to go,” continued T-Mobile CEO John Legere. “Starting in May for bills arriving in June – regardless of whether you’re on Simple Choice, Simple Starter or an older plan, we’re abolishing overages for good. Period.”
Besides removing overage fees, T-Mobile’s Legere also started an online petition that asks AT&T, Verizon and Sprint to end overage fees, saying they are “no longer welcomed in this industry.”
This petition is part of a larger initiative by T-Mobile to shake up the cellular industry in the United States with a series of promotions and policy changes, including ETF buyouts for customers who switch from a rival carrier, early upgrades and no-contract cellular plans.
Moto X successor tipped with 25 backplate options, including leather choices
The recently leaked Moto X+1 is expected to be sold with more than two dozen backplate options, according to evleaks. Reportedly, the Moto X successor will have 25 different colors and designs spread across warm, neutral, cool, wood, and leather categories. Today’s model comes with 31 options though none of them are “leather”.
- Wood (Teak, Bamboo, Rosewood, Ebony)
- Leather (Black, Red, Grey, Blue)
- Warm (Red, Orange, Lemon Lime, Violet, Crimson, Raspberry, Cabernet)
- Neutral (Slate, Purple, Smoke, Black, Chalk)
- Cool (Navy, Turquoise, Olive, Royal Blue, Dark Teal)
We’re still in the dark as to what we should expect in the Moto X+1 but we assume faster processor, more memory, and a better camera are in order.
moto X+1 backplate options: pic.twitter.com/UIcDtDSLXO
— @evleaks (@evleaks) April 13, 2014
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HiRise Muzei brings high resolution images of Mars to your wallpaper [App of the Day]
Explore Mars, one giant image at a time.
In case you haven’t heard. we told you that Muzei is our favorite live wallpaper we’ve ever used. If you’ve ever used Muzei, you’d know that adding extensions are what really makes it great. There’s a relatively new extension orbiting the Play Store, and it’s downright beautiful.
It’s called HiRise Muzei, short for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment that’s orbiting Mars. The extension pulls high resolution images of Mars’ surface from NASA, JPL, and the University of Arizona. Images can automatically be changed every 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours, and there are a ton of different image resolutions to choose from.
HiRise Muzei is simple, subtle, and gorgeous. It’s a must-install for anyone who uses Muzei live wallpaper.
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