HTC One M8 Gets a New Update. Android 4.4.2 Hits the T-Mobile LG G-Flex. – Device Updates
Monday is almost over my friends, so let’s see if your device is getting an update. Not too many updates this week. The unlocked and developer edition of the HTC One M8 gets a nice little update, while the T-Mobile LG G-Flex gets some tasty Android 4.4.2. So keep on a lookout for those.
Device Updates
Developer and unlocked HTC One M8 gets an update
T-Mobile LG G-Flex gets Android 4.4.2
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Engadget Daily: #AmazonCart, Oculus VR denies IP theft, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Add items to your #AmazonCart directly from Twitter
Remember that fresh new pair of kicks you just tweeted about? Well, thanks to Amazon, adding them to your virtual shopping cart can be as simple as sharing a link with the #AmazonCart hashtag.
Scientists can trace your ancestors to within 30 miles using DNA
Modern science opens new possibilities every day, including the ability to locate your ancestor’s village of origin. And thanks to researchers in the UK, all it takes is an Ancestry.com account and simple DNA test.
Oculus denies John Carmack stole VR tech from his former employer
After just recently being acquired by Facebook, Oculus VR is already under fire. Zenimax Media, John Carmack’s previous employer, says the Oculus CTO used stolen intellectual property to build the Oculus Rift. Obviously, the company is denying the assertion.
ESPN makes it easy for you to watch the World Cup anytime, anywhere
The FIFA World Cup begins in just over a month, and thanks to the WatchESPN and WatchABC apps, you can catch the action most anywhere. What’s more, the sports network is also launching a redesigned ESPN FC for mobile and desktop, making it much easier to keep track while at work. Amirite?
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Filed under: Misc
Lenovo outs two more Chromebooks, one has a folding, Yoga-like screen
When Lenovo gets into something, it really gets into it. Exhibit A: the company’s recent Chrome OS kick: it just announced two more Chromebooks, after having released two kid’s versions last month. Today’s new additions include the N20 and N20p, two 11.6-inch machines with basically the same specs. The difference? The N20 is a classic clamshell laptop with a non-touch display, whereas the N20p has a touchscreen that folds backward — yep, kind of like on the Yoga line. We say “kind of” because in this case, the screen only folds back 300 degrees, as opposed to the 360. That’s still fine for watching movies and such; just don’t expect to use this as a proper tablet replacement.
Under the hood, both models pack a quad-core Intel Celeron processor with an eight-hour battery, two USB ports, up to 4GB of RAM and an industry-standard 16GB of local storage. According to a Lenovo rep, it’s also possible the company will release a 3G model, though probably not in the US (sorry, dudes). Of the two, the non-touch model will arrive first — sometime in June, we’re told. That one will cost between $250 and $279, depending on how much RAM you get. The convertible version, meanwhile, will cost between $299 and $329, and will ship sometime in either late June or early July.
Filed under: Laptops
Google Hangouts Updates to Version 2.1.100 [Download]
Google Hangouts updates to version 2.1.100! Okay, too much excitement for a barely there update. Yeah a new update is rolling out for Google Hangouts, but there seems to be no major feature update, so most likely bug fixes and performance enhancements. If you haven’t received the update yet, we have the download for you over on our Gapps Early page. Hit the link, and let us know if you see anything significant with this update.
Download Google Hangouts 2.1.100
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Apple to Host iPhone Upgrade Event at Retail Stores
Apple is planning to hold an iPhone upgrade event at its stores this week in an effort to boost sales, a source told 9to5Mac. Starting this week, Apple will be emailing owners of older iPhone models who are upgrade eligible about the new event, and will apparently separate from Apple’s current iPhone trade-in program.
This event will be held in multiple states across the United States, and Apple is said to be preparing for an influx of visitors to its stores on the levels of traffic driven to stores for new product debuts. Apple will brief Apple Retail management on the initiative tomorrow, according to the source.
Apple will be launching other new marketing and sales initiatives to help increase iPhone sales as well. There’s no word on what types of marketing and initiatives Apple could use, but they will be tied to Apple’s retail stores.
New Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts, who officially joined the company on May 1 and began her first full week today, will oversee the program.
Apple once again noted that iPhone sales hit another record for Q2 2014, making up 57 percent of Apple’s sales for the quarter for all products. CEO Tim Cook also noted in the conference call that Apple has started selling iPhone 4′s in the “very, very low single digit percentage” and last year said he wanted to sell more iPhones in stores.
AT&T’s new fiber optic phone network could delay disaster response
AT&T wants to put its old copper-based telephone networks to rest and start testing its next-gen fiber optic cables in more locations outside the initial ones in Florida and Alabama. There’s just one not-so-tiny problem: this new high-speed technology doesn’t work with the government’s special telephone service for national emergencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security. High-level authorities access a priority line called Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) during, say, times of disaster or terrorist attacks when phone lines are usually clogged. Without that priority line, authorities would have to brave clogged phone networks to communicate with each other, and that could delay first responders and affect response or rescue operations as a whole.
If you’re wondering, GETS had been tremendously useful in the past: it was used to make 10,000 phone calls during 9/11 and 45,000 calls (in tandem with its mobile counterpart, the WPS) the year Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc. So, AT&T’s at least willing to work with the DHS to configure its fiber optic network to recognize priority calls. That could take some time, though, and there’s no word on whether Ma Bell’s putting its plans to test the new technology on hold until then.
Source: The Washington Post
AMD plays both sides of the CPU wars with chips that use the same socket
Typically, you can’t reuse many parts when you switch processor technologies; if you change chips, you change the entire motherboard at the same time. That won’t be true for AMD in the future, though. It’s working on a common chip framework, Project Skybridge, that will let 2015-era ARM and x86 system-on-chip processors share the same pin layout. In other words, a basic motherboard design could handle both CPU types.
This doesn’t mean that you’d get to walk into a computer store, buy a motherboard and use your choice of ARM or x86 hardware in your new desktop. Rather, Project Skybridge would be for mobile and embedded gadgets — neither AMD nor device makers will have to reinvent the wheel just because they’re thinking of building x86-based Android tablets or ARM-based industrial gear. It’s also a hedge against obsolescence. AMD sees the computing world shifting toward ARM, and it doesn’t want to be stuck supporting only Intel’s x86 technology in the long run.
That’s just the start of the semiconductor firm’s expanded ARM plans, too. A 2016 core, K12, will be AMD’s first 64-bit ARM design. Most of its details are a mystery, but AMD says that the new processor focuses on high frequencies (clock speeds) and expanding ARM’s sphere of influence. That suggests that K12 will target heavy-duty tasks. It may not wind up in your pocket, then, but it could handle more duties that were previously reserved for desktops.
Via: AnandTech (1), (2)
Source: AMD
TicketZen lets you pay off parking tickets with a smartphone
Getting a parking ticket sucks, but paying for it shouldn’t have to be. That’s what the folks at Boston’s Terrible Labs think anyway — they built an app called TicketZen to take the trouble out of giving the state your money, and we took at peek at TechCrunch Disrupt NY today. Here’s the gist of it: once you’ve installed the iOS or Android app, you can use it to scan a barcode on your parking ticket to import all the pertinent data and pay it off with a touch.
Don’t see a barcode? That’s fine, too. Not every town is that forward-thinking, so you can punch in the violation number instead. The process of actually paying the ticket from the app can be as short as a few moments once your credit card info is stored, and in the worst case founder Cort Johnson says payments will clear overnight. It all comes down to how often each municipality submits their tickets, which is why users get a push notification when the city gets around to processing it. Speaking of different municipalities, using TicketZen to wipe away your vehicular indiscretions comes at a price — you’ll be paying the startup a small fee (between $1 and $3) depending on where you are. Got a few tickets of your own to quietly get rid of? The iOS app is usable in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Boston, Cambridge, State College and now New York City. Alas, you Android fans can only use the app in Boston, so be careful where you park everywhere else.
Dana Wollman contributed to this report.
Cryptolocker ransomware on Android is the new face of malware Evil
Viruses and malware are a constant danger no matter what device platform you are on. Thankfully for Android, very few Windows-based threats are applicable to the mobile platform and in general are entirely avoidable. That doesn’t stop people thinking up malicious ways of trying to compromise your devices, however, and the latest threat appears to be cryptolocker ransomware on Android. The basis of this malware is that it encrypts some of your system files and requests payment to unlock them, hence the name ransomware. The source of this threat appears to be malware group Reveton Team who is selling the malware online.
If the infected malware Android app is installed on your device, you will be prompted by a window (like the one at the top of this page) which alleges that you have been viewing illegal material and is adorned by several well known governmental insignia. The window will inform you that your files have been encrypted and that a payment has to be made in order to unlock them. This window will continue to reappear on the device, even on reboot, and while your homescreen can be accessed, it will curb your access to any of your other existing apps.
Fortunately, this ransomware can be easily avoided completely; the malware app cannot be automatically installed though it often tries to trick users into installing the app. When installing, the app will ask for access to “phone status and identity, full network access, run at startup and prevent the phone from sleeping”.
Android anti-virus software may not have been updated to deal with this latest malware threat yet, but as it is easily avoidable, in general, it’s best to remember not to install apps that have shady origins. What do you think about this latest threat to Android? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: myce.com
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New Retail SVP Angela Ahrendts Receives Signing Bonus Worth $68 Million [Mac Blog]
New Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts has received a signing bonus potentially worth $68 million at current share prices, in the form of 113,334 restricted stock units that vest over the next four years.
Ahrendts will receive shares spread over several different vesting periods between June 1, 2014 and June 14, 2018, assuming Ahrendts stays with the company. Were Apple’s share price to rise, the RSUs could potentially be worth significantly more over that time.
A restricted stock unit is a standard form of stock compensation that reward employees for staying with the company. They are used as general compensation and for employee retention. Each RSU converts to one share of stock on its vesting date, typically set annually based on award date.
Because of Apple’s upcoming 7:1 stock split, awarded RSUs will be multiplied by seven to maintain value. Apple does award dividends to employee holders of RSUs as if they were standard shares, so the more than 110,000 shares that Ahrendts holds will be worth nearly $1.5 million in yearly dividend payments.
Angela Ahrendts officially joined Apple earlier this month.
AIVAnet 