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Drunk Dr. Dre, y’all. That’s where we’re at this morning, having witnessed the hilarity of him and Tyrese celebrating the still unannounced $3.2 billion purchase of Beats by Apple. We’re down one beirdo, but Ben (that’s me) and special guest star Joseph are here to talk through the past week: Nintendo’s dreary financials, New York City’s biggest construction project in a century, and the aforementioned hilarity/enormity of the Beats purchase. Grab a pair of comfy headphones, your favorite burrito bowl with extra pico de gallo, and saddle up for this week’s show.
Filed under: Podcasts
Solar Highways wants $1 million to turn the US’ roads into an energy farm
At some point, you’ve probably sat back and said “Couldn’t we solve climate change and the broader energy crisis just by sticking solar panels to everything?” It’s not a bad idea, mind, but the cost and resistance to such a scheme would make it a nightmare to implement. But what about if we turned the nation’s highways into solar farms that we could drive along? Scott and Julie Brusaw have been working on that idea, and after a decade of partially-successful flirting with the US Government, they’re taking to Indiegogo to ask us to fund the next phase of their solar roadway.
Each interlocking hexagonal segment is covered with toughened and textured glass that’s capable of withstanding 250,000 pounds. Beneath that, you’ve got a solar panel, a series of LED lights and a heating element that’ll keep the ice and snow off the hardware in winter. The lights are used to replace conventional traffic lights, offering constantly updating safety warnings and guide lines that can adapt to traffic conditions on the fly.
The system would require a trench running down one side, which would hold the power cables, but could also be used as the backbone for a potential new high-speed data network. As each panel would also be connected, it’d instantly report a fault back to a maintenance engineer, and also track its location, should someone decide to steal one for their own nefarious uses.
Naturally, a nationwide, decentralized power grid could potentially guarantee energy independence and provide near-limitless power for our EVs and homes. That’s why the couple is asking for a whopping $1 million required to hire the materials scientists, civil and structural engineers necessary to turn the panels from neat idea to workable project. There are plenty of pitfalls, and we’re wondering if heating the ground to keep the roadway clear wouldn’t in itself cause more climate change, but hopefully that’s another issue that your cash could fix.
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Via: Fast Company
Source: Indiegogo
Google now lets you use Chrome apps to open files on your Mac
Although Google has quietly been working to bring Chrome apps to the desktop, you’ve not been able click a file and have it open inside a browser extension. According to Chrome tinkerer François Beaufort, that’s all about to change, after the search giant launched a new beta version of its Mac browser, which just so happens to add this kind of support for various file types. As you can see in the screenshot above, the Chrome extension Text can be assigned to edit (you guessed it) documents. Images are also supported, though it’s not clear what other file types Google may allow extensions to access. Imagine a YouTube app that’ll let you edit videos saved on your Mac while uploading them to the site: not something you can do currently, but Google could help make apps like that a reality.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: François Beaufort
Apple’s Acquisition of Beats Met with Skepticism, but Jimmy Iovine May Be Key
Since the Financial Times broke the news yesterday, numerous publications are now claiming Apple is in the final stages of acquiring Beats Electronics, a headphone company and streaming music service created by hip hop star Dr. Dre and music industry veteran Jimmy Iovine. The response to the news is mixed, with some experts offering compelling reasons for the deal and other pundits questioning Apple’s rationale in pursuing what would be its biggest acquisition to date.
Iovine has strong ties to the music industry and a long history of working with Apple, having met with Steve Jobs to discuss a subscription music service in 2003 and more recently in talks with Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue about the Beats Music service before it launched earlier this year. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Iovine credits Apple as his inspiration for the idea of the Beats brand.
“The idea of Beats…to be very frank, I got from Apple,” he said, noting the “uniqueness of their blending of technology with popular culture.”
If the acquisition proceeds, Iovine may join Apple as a “special adviser” to Tim Cook on creative matters. Iovine would bring to Apple his knowledge of the music business as evidenced in a AllThingsD interview from last year embedded below, and his insider influence that Wall Street Journal sources predict could be used to boost advertising on Apple’s existing iTunes Radio.
Apple also would acquire Beats’ successful consumer electronics business selling high-margin headphones and its newly launched music streaming service. Apple could bring the Beats hardware brand under the guidance of Jony Ive and use it to create new music product lines and add new channels to sell Apple’s products, suggests Re/code. The Beats music service is likely a longer-term investment, allowing Apple to accelerate any plans to offer a streaming music service for its iTunes customers, which number in the hundreds of millions.
Analysts, however, are meeting the news of the high-priced acquisition with both contempt and confusion, noting that such an acquisition is out of character for the Cupertino company. One of the first to weigh in on the deal was Gene Munster, who called the acquisition a “bad idea” in an investor note.
We are struggling to see the rationale behind this move. Beats would of course bring a world class brand in music to Apple, but Apple already has a world class brand and has never acquired a brand for a brand’s sake (i.e., there are no non-Apple sub-brands under the company umbrella). Separately, we are not aware of any intellectual property within Beats that would drive the acquisition justification beyond the brand.
Apple pundit John Gruber of Daring Fireball was equally skeptical of the deal, saying “I don’t get it.”
On the surface, this doesn’t make any sense to me. I can’t see Apple keeping the “Beats” brand around for headphones. If Apple wanted to sell expensive high-end headphones, they don’t need to spend $3 billion. The Beats streaming service is interesting, but can’t Apple do that on its own, as an expansion of the iTunes Music Store and iTunes Radio?
According to the original Financial Times report, Apple’s acquisition of Beats could be announced as soon as next week. Negotiations are still ongoing with some final details yet to be ironed out, allowing for the possibility that “talks could still fall apart.”
LG announces global rollout of F70
Not long ago at Mobile World Congress 2014, we saw a glimpse of a new mid-ranger from LG called the F70. It’s plan is to bring 4G connectivity to “millions of users”, while offering some great LG software features. The time has finally come for that, as LG announces the F70′s global availability.
The F70 will be available in May starting in Europe, followed by Asia, Central and South America, and North America. There’s no telling the price in each respective market quite yet, but we’re sure that information will come soon enough. From the F70′s goal to LG’s “LTE expansion mission”, the F70 will most likely be pretty affordable.
If you need a refresher here are the specifications for the F70:
- Chipset: Qualcomm SnapdragonTM 400 (1.2 GHz Quad-Core)
- Display: 4.5-inch IPS (800 x 480)
- Memory: 1GB RAM / 4GB/8GB eMMC(depending on market) / microSD slot
- Camera: Rear 5.0MP / Front VGA(640 x 480)
- Battery: 2,440mAh (removable)
- Operating System: Android 4.4 KitKat
- Size: 127.5 x 66.4 x 9.9mm
- Weight: 129.6g
- Network: LTE/ HSPA+ 21 Mbps (3G)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0 / WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) / A-GPS / NFC (LTE only)
- Other: Knock CodeTM , Plug & Plop, Guest Mode
Source: LG
The post LG announces global rollout of F70 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
With Free, France shows the US what an open mobile market should be
If you hadn’t noticed, T-Mobile has been on a rampage lately in the US. It has offered cheaper contract-free plans, paid users cold hard cash to switch, and generally crashed other carriers’ parties. The result has been a wave of new customers for T-Mobile and cheaper, me-too plans from AT&T and Verizon — all a boon to US consumers. But over in France, an alternate-reality version of this scenario has been playing out. Until recently, old guard carriers like Orange and SFR have trundled along, milking customers while stifling innovation. Then, trampling over them on a white horse, came a Bizarro T-Mobile carrier called Free Mobile. It’s been a far greater competitive threat than T-Mo in the US and, thanks to its radical plans, France has become a wireless utopia with some of the cheapest rates in the world.
Let’s backtrack a bit to the bad old days of mobile in France, circa late 2011. The market was lorded over by Orange (the largest carrier with a 41 percent share), SFR and Bouygues Telecom. At that time, it was hard to find a plan under 40 euros (about $55) with 1GB of data or more. As shown here, when the iPhone 4S came out, a SIM-only contract could be had on SFR for 37 euros ($50) with 1GB of data, or 39 euros on Orange ($53). Calls weren’t unlimited on any of those plans, and tethering was strictly a non-non. 4G was nowhere in sight.
In early 2012, Free Mobile was launched by the French entrepreneur Xavier Niel (fun fact: he also owns the rights to the song “My Way”). The company hit the market with a revolutionary offering: 3GB for 20 euros ($28) with unlimited calls and texts, plus no fixed contract term. Though the company had limited infrastructure and leased spectrum from Orange to boost capacity, the offer struck a chord with consumers. That’s putting it mildly. Free grabbed four percent of the market, or about 854,000 subscribers in just three months.
Though the company has had teething problems with reports of slow download speeds, it has been on a constant growth curve since. (Full disclosure: I was on Free last year in France, but switched because I constantly had data issues.) As of the end of 2013, Free had 8 million customers, giving it a 12 percent share of the French market, just behind Bouygues. The company’s data plan is now even better, as well: 20 euros for unlimited texts and calling, with a borderline-ridiculous 20GB of 4G data included per month. To top it off, it’s about to start selling contracts and activated SIM cards directly from vending machines, as pictured below.
The benefits to the French public go way beyond Free. Rates are lower across the board, and Orange, SFR and Bouygues have all launched discount brands. Each offers 3GB of 4G data for the same 20 euros, a tempting offer for those who might be concerned about Free’s service (and don’t need 20 frigging GB). All four companies have aggressively built out their 4G networks as well, and have nearly as many antennas as permits issued, 11,890 — meaning most major centers in the nation now have high-speed LTE.
Whether or not this wireless paradise can carry on is another matter. SFR was just sold to broadband behemoth Numericable for 13.5 billion euros, pending regulatory approval. Other operators, like Orange and Bouygues, have seen steep revenue declines thanks to the price war, and may be looking at mergers or buyouts to stanch the bleeding. However, French consumers may be resistant to any resulting price hikes, having tasted some of the cheapest LTE in the world.
Back in the US, where comparable wireless plans are triple the price, there’s a critical auction coming up as a result of TV stations voluntarily giving up spectrum. If you’re all for competition, you may have mixed feelings. FCC chair Tom Wheeler has decided that the amount of frequency available to each company will be limited, so that Verizon and AT&T don’t use their much bigger war chests to buy it all up. That’ll help T-Mobile, Sprint and other smaller players address their main weakness: poor coverage, especially outside of big cities.
As you’d expect, AT&T and Verizon aren’t keen on this, with AT&T even threatening to pull out of the bidding (though it later backpedaled). They claim that the current rules will limit the auction’s revenues – and the purpose of the auction is to make money for the government. However, if the FCC caves in to their demands, the result could be far worse for consumers. AT&T and Verizon would strengthen their networks, making consumers even more likely to avoid T-Mobile, Sprint et. al. That could lead to even higher prices, and rates in the US are already some of the highest worldwide. Though that puts the Feds in a tricky position, they should take note of how quickly things changed in France with more competition. If similar consumer benefits can be had stateside, they’d make any billions gained at an auction look like chump change.
Vodafone pretends it’s doing you a favour by not upping prices mid-contract
Vodafone took to its blog today to affirm a commitment: customers on any pay-monthly plan will never see its cost increase mid-contract. Three saw this as an opportunity to tweet about its identical policy, but haven’t we heard all this before? But of course we have, when new Ofcom rules came into effect in January that meant anyone could dodge early termination fees and ditch their contract should prices go up during the agreed term. O2′s found something of a loophole by adding a clause to contracts that has you agree to price hikes in line with inflation, while EE’s simply played ball. Unlike Three, Vodafone’s never actually spoken out in agreement before, but the network isn’t doing you as much of a favour as it’d have you think. If prices were to shoot up mid-contract, it’d mean lost business, so the commitment is very much in Vodafone’s interest. Let’s be frank — if anyone’s really to thank for the carrier’s new honourable stance, it’s Ofcom.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Via: Pocket-lint
Source: Vodafone, Three (Twitter)
‘Moto G Cinema’ name appears on Motorola’s site
Yet another leak for @evleaks shows that not only did the Moto X+1 appear on the Motorola site, but now it seems Motorola have yet another product in the works, and it seems to be an evolution of the Moto G.
Dubbed the Moto G Cinema, the reference appeared on Motorola’s support site, appearing as a placeholder for upcoming information. Unfortunately no offer information was specified, other than it seems a product of that sort exists.
Whilst details are limited, it can be assumed the ‘Cinema’ naming for the Moto G does suggest a device with a larger screen aimed at viewing videos, but that’s pure speculation at this point.
SOURCE: @evleaks
The post ‘Moto G Cinema’ name appears on Motorola’s site appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung axes Mobile Design lead in wake of Galaxy S5
Samsung have just shaken up the design department at the company by replacing the head of mobile design amongst criticism of the Galaxy S5 design.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 was somewhat underwhelming and a ‘more of the same’ release by Samsung, much to the disappointment of consumers and in a market full of premium handsets, the Galaxy S5 stood out for its design.
The man responsible for the Galaxy S5 design, Chang Dong-hoon will be replaced by vice president for mobile design Lee Min-hyouk.
“The realignment will enable Chang to focus more on his role as head of the Design Strategy Team, the company’s corporate design center which is responsible for long-term design strategy across all of Samsung’s businesses, including Mobile Communications.”
Chang will continue to lead Samsung’s design center which overseas its overall design strategy, but perhaps the shakeup will mean we’ll see something different from Samsung for their Galaxy S6.
The post Samsung axes Mobile Design lead in wake of Galaxy S5 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
What does hip-hop’s ‘first billionaire’ have that Apple wants?
“Oh Shit, the Forbes list just changed.” The words come from Tyrese Gibson about a minute into a video posted to (and since pulled from) Facebook just a few hours ago. Gibson is talking about Dr. Dre, who stands behind him, arm draped over his shoulder. Dre himself then addresses the camera directly, boasting “The first billionaire in hip-hop, right here.” High spirits (and, be warned, very colorful language) pepper the video thanks to “all the Heinekens” that have evidently been drunk. Celebrations? If you’d just secured a $3.2 billion deal for your company, you’d probably splash out on a case of dutch courage or two, too. Sure, this is still not actual confirmation, but it’s the nearest thing to public acknowledgement of the buyout yet. Why, then, do many still feel like the deal makes no sense?
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Apple’s iTunes store and iPod were extremely influential to how we listen to music now. In not at all overstated terms, they almost certainly paved the way for a brand like Beats to even be able to happen. Other parallels aren’t hard to find, either. Many perceive both brands as “premium,” likely as many consider them overpriced/over hyped. They both owe a good amount of their success to strong, charismatic CEOs. Both brands have become icons, badges, labels to be worn, something to be seen with (or without!). Why then, would a company that has the capacity, brand equity and experience in making audio hardware and streaming software want to pay such a huge price ($3.2 billion, reportedly) for something it can already do?
Usually, at this point, the answer would be “users.” That’s really what Facebook was buying when it snapped up WhatsApp for $19 billion. Zuckerberg likely had more developers working on poke than WhatsApp did in its whole office, but the lure of an extra 450 million daily customers was evidently worth the price tag. The question is, what can Beats offer in terms of users? Its headphone sales are undoubtedly strong, and margins are very likely favorable, but enough to merit that $3.2 billion asking price? Unlikely. Especially compared to what it would cost Apple to develop its own extended range of headphones, that would likely overlap in terms of potential customer anyway. As for Beats music? The jury is largely still out on that. It’s certainly got some innovative features, and deals with AT&T etc. will have got people using it, but we still keep coming back to the question: why beats, why now?
What would a Beats and Apple collaboration even look like, anyway? Rebranded headphones? Unlikely. Co-branded? Probably not. At best, the headphones would remain as they are, it’s Beats music (and perhaps its recent moves with Chevrolet/ Chrysler) that would be higher up the list for absorption into the Apple tree. The fact is, iTunes Radio hasn’t really made the splash that the iTunes music store did a decade or so ago. Apple’s CarPlay is also still in its infancy. Therefore, these two arms of Beats, at first glance, seem the most viable candidates for Apple’s affection. In short, it arguably boils down to Apple buying Beats for a few of its ideas, and a lot of its cool-factor. Something Apple has arguably traded for market penetration over the last decade. Could Apple really do more with Dre’s empire than HTC did (at much less capital expense)? If nothing else, it would spruce up the much-maligned in-box headphones it sells, and prove a rare toe-dip into the world of Android (via Beats music), something it would desperately need to do for true streaming ubiquity.
For all amount of logical reasons why this shouldn’t happen (not least that Apple isn’t known for buying big brands), the noise behind this story is impossible to ignore. The rumors may remain just that right now, but the Financial Times is confident in its sources, and the Wall Street Journal isn’t folding in much skepticism with its reports, either. Not to mention Bloomberg and the New York Times also putting their name to the story. This latest video might not be the outright confirmation that we’re craving, but it is the first comment on it from either of the parties involved. It could also be a hilarious wind-up, an industry whisper that got out of hand, and landed back in Dre’s lap, with him taking full (fun) advantage. After all, if the ink were still wet on a deal, it would still likely be subject to intense terms and conditions, likely involving disclosure. But one thing’s for sure, he sure looks happy about something. And we doubt it’s the Heineken.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Mobile, Apple
Via: Facebook
Source: Instagram (Tyrese), Financial Times
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