Google takes American ISPs to task over video buffering
You don’t like when YouTube videos pause during playback, and neither does Google. More often than not, your internet connection is to blame, shifting the responsibility to provide consistent performance from Google to your ISP. In an effort to increase transparency (and perhaps highlight your own service provider’s bandwidth limitations), Google’s making its Video Quality Report available in the US. The tool launched in Canada earlier this year, and should be making its way to other countries within the next few months, detailing streaming quality and local consumption trends, graphed by time of day. Google’s also endorsing certain providers as “HD Verified,” making it clear which ISPs meet YouTube’s standards, and which do not.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Google
Source: YouTube
Exploring the best of the best at this year’s White House Science Fair
The annual White House Science Fair is, above all else, an amazing public relations play. President Obama hangs out with a few dozen of America’s brightest students who show off their latest work and get celebrated for it. Everyone wins, right?
In this instance, yes: everyone wins. Regardless of the good publicity, the annual White House gathering — now in its fourth year — is one of the few events we attend that’s completely genuine. It’s hard to keep up a facade of bullshit when brilliant, driven, passionate kids are literally surrounding you with their accomplishments.
There were too many smart kids with neat projects for us to cover everything. And President Obama’s dog, Bo, was running around, so you’ll forgive me for getting distracted. Dogs, right? Here are a few standouts among the standouts:
Deidre Carillo’s project is an electric kit car that she drives. Carillo, 18, is part of the team that built the project, and she’s also its pilot. She’s pretty good at both, as not only is her team’s car, Dragon 1, a formidable competitor, but she took home first place in this year’s Emerald Coast Electrathon. Her team’s car was created from a Blue Sky Design kit, though as you can see above, it got plenty of custom work.
In the next room, what looked like a miniature, futuristic wrecking ball was attached to a machine resembling the Mars Curiosity rover. Rather than a destruction vehicle for martian structures, the rover is a remarkably easy to use rescue tool. How easy to use? So easy, I could pilot it. Heck, it uses a Logitech game controller for operation. Pretty easy! The idea is that the wrecking ball end — a ball with waterproof lights and two cameras — can be lowered into iced over waters to assist with search-and-rescue missions. Rather than sending human divers into dangerous conditions, the 120 pound device can be remotely operated. More than just a science project, the Natick, Mass-based team is working on patenting and licensing the tech.
Outside, while Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) and Mythbusters‘ Kari Byron goofed with student attendees on the White House livestream, 20-year-old Parker Owen represented Alabama by barely breaking a sweat while presenting his project: an amazing prosthetic leg made solely from bicycle parts.
Owen got the idea when speaking with a family friend who raises funds for prosthetic limb donations in Honduras. When Owen found out how much money each leg cost (around $2,500 apiece), he began work on a cheaper solution that could be made from materials found in developing nations. Rather than looking to natural resources, Owen looked to bicycles — a resource found in even the poorest countries. He got the cost of manufacturing down to just $30 per leg.
President Obama’s speech was the only element that rang hollow at the fair. He related a few stories from his own dalliances with science fairs in his youth, he celebrated a few of the participating students by name, and he announced a few new initiatives in his administration’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program. His speech, sadly, was nowhere near as passionate and impressive as the students themselves.
Of course, the White House Science Fair isn’t really about President Obama. It’s about the kids. As he said himself, “I want to make sure that every young person across America knows what their peers are doing to inspire even more work in science.” In that sense, mission accomplished.
Get “physical” with Fusion [App of the Day]
Aspiring physicist or just a student looking to learn more about astrophysics? Fusion is an addicting game that makes learning fun.
The game starts where you are in control of creating your own universe by colliding the elements together. These reactions create larger elements and raises the temperature of the core of the star. Be careful and move quickly because the star is constantly cooling. You goal is to get the temperature to the top of the thermometer to complete the level.
As the elements are flying across your screen be quick to pair them together to create the reaction. The game isn’t fantasy, it’s based upon real astrophysics. The reactions in the game are somewhat representative of how they happen in reality, building elements through fusion.
Some of the highlights of this fun, addicting, and challenging game are that you can create 110 different elements and isotopes from Hydrogen-1 to Uranium, unstable isotopes will decay into more stable isotopes, and create rare isotopes via neutron capture.
After creating your star, you get to play through a star’s full life cycle from birth until death. If you are lucky, you might even be able to die in a massive supernova. The route a star takes during life to death is different every time ensuring a fun game experience that will never get dull. When your star dies, new stars are formed.
The game doesn’t end there though, you are able to expand your universe. You can create up to 17 different star and remnant types including all types of dwarfs, giants, supergiants, nebulas, neutron stars, quark stars, and black holes. Fill up your galaxy and new galaxies will form. Be creative though because you can customize the name of each galaxy and star.
A future update will allow players to track which elements and isotopes they have made on an interaction periodic table of elements.
Fusion is a free app that is ad-based on the Google Play.
The post Get “physical” with Fusion [App of the Day] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Watch Edward Snowden’s interview with NBC right here
Did you miss last night’s epic Brian Williams interview with Edward Snowden? Well you can catch it in all its six-part glory after the break. We can’t say that anything particularly revelatory came out of the conversation, but it does give you a chance to get to know the world’s most famous whistle blower.
Filed under: Internet
Source: NBC News
With Beats, Apple faces the music
So the Apple/Beats deal is done. But, what most people really want to know is “why?” We got an official answer surprisingly quickly. But, let’s face it: Of course the execs are going to wax lyrical about how important music is to the brand and spew other such meaningless soundbites. The only reason a company buys another is to make more money. That could simply be through acquiring a profitable company, which Beats is believed to be by most estimations (if we consider the hardware and streaming entities as one). The bigger question is, with music streaming still largely unproven as a revenue stream, has Apple bought itself an expensive lesson in business?
When Rdio’s then-CEO Drew Larner told NPR his firm “will absolutely be profitable” once it gets to 25 million to 30 million subscribers, we got a small insight into the inner workings of your average music-streaming service. Larner actually added “wildly profitable,” suggesting the real figure to turn a profit is somewhere south of that.
We don’t know Rdio’s current subscriber numbers, but we do have a fairly good idea about Beats Music, if a recently leaked document is to be believed. As of March of this year, Beats Music only had around 110,000 paying subscribers. Although recent claims are more optimistic, putting that figure at around 250,000. Going by the current monthly subscription costs for regular and “Family” accounts, at best those 110,000 users would have been generating $16 million a year in revenue. That’d take a fair while for Apple to see a return on its investment if music streaming was its primary focus. This is the best-case scenario, as none of this accounts for the fact that many of those Family subscriptions are likely taking advantage of AT&T’s 90-day free trial.
Competition in this market is tough, and thanks to the multitude of different approaches, it’s nigh on impossible to make direct comparisons. What we do know, however, is that music streaming is on the rise (up 32 percent between 2012/2013). Music downloading (purchasing), on the other hand, actually declined to the tune of 6 percent over the same period. The uptick in streaming fits with the latest figures from Pandora and Spotify, which both claim a continued growth in users (75 million and 40 million, respectively, a quarter of Spotify’s being paying subscribers).
As for actually selling music, that isn’t something Apple struggles to do. Not too long ago, Apple claimed 15,000 tracks a minute were being downloaded through iTunes. Even a 6 percent drop in that figure still makes for an impressive number. It’s likely Apple hoped to balance out that small decline with iTunes Radio and its “listen free, but buy if you like” model. But that doesn’t appear to be working — no matter how close it puts that purchase button to the play icon — if recent reports are to be believed. The question, then, is: Will Apple merge iTunes Radio and Beats Music together in the hope that it can increase those conversions? Or will it axe iTunes Radio completely, installing Beats in its wake? A drastic measure perhaps, but with a reported 40 million users on iTunes Radio, if it can get even a fraction of those committed to Beats’ paid platform (no ad-supported option exists), then it certainly stands to make more than our estimated $16 million best-case scenario. If Apple could get 10 percent of its iTunes Radio users to sign up with Beats Music, then the numbers suddenly look a lot more promising. If it can convince just 4 million users to pay $10 a month, that annual subscription revenue jumps to a much healthier $480 million.
The same site that leaked Beats’ subscriber figures also points to another interesting figure — the low amount of royalties that Beats pays to songwriters (approximately $0.000126 per play). Beats has previously stated that its strategy is to make sure content owners get a good deal and to work with them more closely than other services. So, in many cases that content owner could well be the songwriter. But, this is, perhaps, a good indicator of where the purchase of Beats Music offers its best return, and where Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine’s reported industry sway could really pay off. Has it paid off to the tune of $3 billion? Well, that’s the million (billion?) dollar question.
Source: The Trichordist
Beats Tones Down the Bass With its New Solo2 Headphones
Following the announcement that Apple was acquiring Beats Electronics, the audio accessory company is not slowing down, announcing a new version of its most popular set of on-ear headphones. The new Beats Solo² offers a new physical design and improved acoustics that promise to deliver “a wider range of sound and enhanced clarity.”
An early review from Engadget suggests the new cans tone down the bass, providing a “more balanced” sound than other Beats headphone models that often are criticized for their bass-heavy sound.
Well, the best way I can describe the sound here is “more balanced.” Don’t get me wrong: There’s still plenty of bass when tunes call for it, but you can also clearly pick up other elements — things like hi-hats, snares and others all seem to stand out more when compared to previous releases.
Besides the improved audio quality, the Beats Solo² has a sleeker, more polished design that makes the headphones comfortable to wear, says The Wall Street Journal.
The new design, which echoes the more expensive, over-ear Beats Studio, is sleeker, with no visible screws and higher quality materials that offer a more premium feel than the predecessor. Acoustics have been improved, too. The ear cups now sit at an angle that’s far more comfortable on your ears—especially after hours of wear. The new ear-cup design also blocks out more background noise.
Now that Apple is acquiring Beats, these Solo² headphones may be among the last models released by Beats as a standalone company. Going forward, Apple will oversee the design and marketing of Beats’ future products. As part of this transition, Beats will sever its long-term relationship with design firm Ammunition, which is responsible for the design of the Beats’ current lineup of headphones and speakers.
The new Beats Solo² headphones are available now for pre-order from Beats’ website and will arrive in retail stores beginning June 1. Pricing for the model remains the same, with the Solo² costing $199. It is available in a variety of colors including pink, blue, gray, white or red.
Intel’s “Moorefield” 64-bit chip expected to be announced at Computex conference
We’ve previously seen 64-bit processors in phones, thanks to Apple’s iPhone 5S. The time is near for Android devices to follow this trend. At the upcoming Computex conference on June 4th, Intel is expected to unveil their new chip, codenamed “Moorefield”, a 64-bit chip designed to run devices 8-inches and smaller.
The chip is also known as the quad-core Atom Z3560/Z3580 and offers a leg over the competition. The main draw to this chip is that it takes up a smaller footprint, making it much easier to fit into smaller devices, and it runs much cooler than its competition. It also supports its own XMM 7260 LTE modem, which supports download speeds up to 300 Mbps.
We’ll most likely see this chip heading to smaller Android tablets with LTE support, but there could always be other options for the chip. Let’s wait and see what happens on June 4th!
Source: CNET
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Sunrise Calendar for Android exits Beta, brings new web view
You can now download Sunrise Calendar from the Google Play Store!
For those looking for a great calendar app for your Android, you’ve probably seen our recent coverage on Sunrise Calendar. It’s a relatively new calendar app for Android, and up until today, has only been available as a public Beta. Overtime, the Sunrise team has been incredibly helpful with feature requests and bug fixes. The time has finally come for the app to exit Beta and enter the Play Store.
If you’re unfamiliar with the app, Sunrise Calendar is a beautiful app that supports Gmail, iCloud, and Exchange accounts. It gives you a month view towards the top, an agenda view towards the bottom, and allows you to swipe over easily to get to the 3-day view. It also gives you weather information and Smart Icons, both of which adds a nice, unique touch to the interface.
Sunrise for the desktop
Along with the official release of the Android app, Sunrise is coming to the web. You can use the web view by visiting calendar.sunrise.am, or downloading the Chrome extension. The web view has basically the same look as the Android app, but includes a handy full-content view and different time zone support. The desktop and Android app will also sync automatically, making your life that much easier.
If you have yet to try Sunrise Calendar for Android, now is the perfect time. It’s beautiful, functional, and one of the best dang calendars we’ve ever used. With the new web interface paired with the official Android app, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better all-around calendar experience. Download it from the Play Store today!
Have you tried Sunrise Calendar? What did you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Sunrise
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Editor’s Picks: 15 of our favorite Android apps and games (May 28)
Welcome to the Editor’s Picks, where we have filed through various apps and games in an attempt to curate a list of 15 of the best to present to you! We find it to be our duty to help you determine what is worth downloading on to your precious device, and what will just waste your internal storage. We can’t get all the amazing apps into one story, but we hope that we’ve gotten the most useful/entertaining/etc in this list!
For a more comprehensive selection, we are constantly posting to our social media networks. So feel free to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ to keep up with our latest app suggestions!
PLEASE NOTE THIS ARTICLE IS SPREAD OVER THREE PAGES
Timely Alarm Clock
Timely is an alarm clock not just for one device, but another, and another! Unlike most alarm apps for Android you can sync Timely to several of your devices, and set the alarm form the device of your choice. When the alarm goes off, you simply press “snooze” on the device closest to you, and all the devices the alarm was set for will “snooze!”
The app is beautiful, and has a great sense of style. It will be a welcome addition to your device that you won’t want to get rid of! Its elegance only adds to its infinite usefulness. Trust us, you will always need an alarm clock, Timely just does it better than the rest.
Peek
Peek is an app that was originally derived from the custom build Paranoid Android. It is similar technology to Motorola’s Active Display in that it brings up notifications based on your movement. If the sensors pick up movement, the screen lights up to display whatever notification you may have.
This app is extremely helpful for those times you miss a notification, and take a quick peek (ha, get it?) at your phone to check it. It saves time and hassle! The only downside is that because it doesn’t use hardware specifically meant for the process, it does eat up a bit of battery utilizing the sensors. However, for such a handy app we can hardly count it down for such a thing!
You can find an article over the Paranoid Android version of this app here.
Monument Valley
Do you like a little optical illusion with your Android games? Well so do we, and luckily Monument Valley is here to provide! Monument Valley puts you in the character of Ida, a princess who has entered a dream-like world where she travels from point to point in an attempt to solve puzzles. Ida has no voice or face, so you are somewhat left to fill-in the blanks with her story!
The game has beautiful graphics, and an ethereal soundtrack that help to keep you entranced in the puzzle-solving levels. All of the stages are designed extremely well, and genuinely fun to play. Monument Valley does the puzzle genre justice, and is deserving of its $3.99 price tag!
Lux Auto Brightness
Most Android phones of today are equipped with an auto-brightness feature, but do they really work the way they should? Lux Auto Brightness would argue that they don’t! Lux brings a competent brightness control to your phone that, given the right adjustments, can really do your phone some good!
Stock auto-brightness can often be fidgity and unreliable, but Lux is not this way. Lux will effortlessly transition between light and dim situations, and go even beyond that. The creator even gives you the option to request a refund within a week of your purchase of the app if you don’t like it! Not to mention there’s also a “Lite” version for those who need it. Try it out and see the difference for yourself!
Fives
Flappy Bird seems to have become the new rating for how frustrating a game can be, and Fives comes through in the same vein. Modeled after the popular iOS game “Threes,” Fives uses the same basic concept. It is a puzzle game where you combine similar numbers. For example, you can combine 2 and 3, but not 2 and 2, or 3 and 3.
The basis sounds simple enough, but trust us it is not! The game can quickly become frustrating and confusing. It definitely fills the hole that Flappy Bird left in us as far as frustrating games go, therefore Fives makes a good substitute until it is brought back!
The post Editor’s Picks: 15 of our favorite Android apps and games (May 28) appeared first on AndroidGuys.
LG has a 6″ Quad HD phone display up its sleeve
LG announced its new flagship LG G3 just 2 days ago, a device sporting a beautiful 5.5″ QHD display 1440×2560 in resolution (cca 534ppi), marking the companies first phone with a QHD display. That apparently isn’t enough for them.
Head of LG for Display technology announced in an interview that 600 and 700ppi displays are within reach. He also said that it would take LG’s competition significant resources to catch them up, considering this would place them far ahead. LG will showcase its 6″ Quad HD display at the SID 2014 expo in San Francisco, a display whose pixel density will be around 491, which would still place them on top, considering it’s above any 1080p display on the market.
SID 2014 will take place in San Francisco June 1-6. If you’re a pixel junkie or you just like to see beautiful panels reach the market you’ll definitely appreciate this.
VIA: PhoneArena
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