Edward Snowden is giving his first American TV interview on May 28th
Edward Snowden has discussed his NSA surveillance leaks and their implications with magazines, foreign media and South by Southwest attendees, but a chat with an American TV outlet has proven elusive. However, that all changes next week: NBC has revealed that it’s airing a one-on-one interview between Snowden and news anchor Brian Williams on May 28th at 10PM Eastern. While the network isn’t saying exactly what came up in the pre-recorded conversation, it promises a “revealing” hour-long session that involves Snowden’s media ally Glenn Greenwald. There’s no telling whether or not we’ll hear anything new. Even if it’s just a rehash, though, the NBC interview promises to put the intelligence gathering debate in front of a very wide audience.
Filed under: Internet
Via: New York Times
Source: NBCUniversal
HP cuts 16,000 jobs, up to 5 percent of its workforce
It looks like HP’s layoff estimates were off again — according to the company’s latest financial report, it needs to cut an additional 11,000 to 16,000 employees from its payroll to make ends meet. This is the third (and largest) adjustment the company has made to its layoff numbers; HP originally planned to axe 27,000 employees in May of 2012, but increased the estimate to 29,000 the following september and to 34,000 in 2013. Now the restructuring plan could eliminate as many as 50,000 jobs in total. Harsh news for HP employees, particularly after CEO Meg Whitman said that the company was done eliminating positions. The president makes no such promises this time, but she’s at least optimistic about the restructuring. “I’m pleased to report that HP’s turnaround remains on track,” and said that increased layoffs “make sense in a turnaround of this scale.”
Filed under: HP
Source: HP
The man behind some of gaming’s most notorious rumors outs himself
Excited about Fallout 4? Well, cool it, because that’s not necessarily a real thing. You’re forgiven if you thought it was, and not just because we love you: rumors swirled about the supposed game for months. While at least one of them was true — and yes, Fallout 4 is assuredly a possibility — some of the most widely reported rumors were total bullshit. And not just any ol’ poop, but carefully crafted lies from a single man — that’s according to a profile piece by Kotaku‘s Jason Schreier. The alleged fake leaker also promulgated false rumors of Watch Dogs and Call of Duty, both of which were widely reported among gaming sites. It’s a fascinating tale, and we suggest heading over to Kotaku for the full piece.
[Image credit: Karin Dreyer, Getty Creative]
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD
Source: Kotaku
T-Mobile rolls out next-gen voice calls, starting with Seattle
Even though your voice is magically being transported through the air, cellular phone calls actually work more or less the same as their land-line counterparts. T-Mobile is finally ditching the old-school circuit-switched method for Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which sends your sweet lyrical words via IP (Internet Protocol), just like Skype. The carrier will still be able to deliver its HD Voice feature, but it’ll do so over the same airwaves that it’s also pushing high speed data. That should eliminate any issues with using data while on a phone call and will actually mean your calls will connect faster. And calls should transition seamlessly if you lose LTE coverage, but still have access to T-Mobile’s HSPA.
Moving to VoLTE is an important step for T-Mobile as it continues to merge its network with Metro PCS, which debuted the technology back in 2012. Initially it will only be available in Seattle to customers carrying either the LG G Flex, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or Galaxy Light. More cities will be lighting up soon, though. And T-Mobile has big plans for things like Wi-Fi calling which will see enhancements over the next few months.
Filed under: Wireless, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
$20 FreedomPop ‘Unlimited Everything’ plan includes 1GB of Sprint LTE, limits
FreedomPop’s been signing up customers with the promise of free mobile phone service since last year, but once you’re hooked, you’ll need to shell out a bit of dough to keep things going. The basic plan, which does in fact come with a $0.00 monthly fee, gets you 200 minutes, 500 text messages and 500 megs of data. Once you reach those caps, you’ll pay one cent per minute or 2.5 cents per MB, or you can step up to the new “Unlimited Everything” plan, which will run you $20 monthly for all-you-can-eat voice, text messages and data, with a catch: You’ll only get 1GB of LTE, after which you’ll drop down to Sprint’s 3G network. Assuming you’ll consume that gig of data in far less than 30 days, FreedomPop’s four LTE smartphones, including three from Samsung and Apple’s iPhone 5, may not be the best fit. Still, $20 is a relative steal for unlimited smartphone service, and if you can live with 3G speeds after that first gig is up, FreedomPop’s ready to start saving you cash.
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: CNET
Source: FreedomPop
Philips is turning one of Germany’s biggest stadiums into a huge LED display
Germany’s Allianz Arena is already covered with color-changing plastic panels, but they can only currently display the red of Bayern Munich, the blue of TSV 1860 and the white of the national team. Philips is planning to swap out the old system in favor of 8,000 of its ColorGraze units, coating the stadium in 380,000 LEDs that can display 16 million colors. That way, the venue can play dynamic light shows and animations, keeping the fans entertained, and advertised-to, on their way in to watch the Bundesliga. We’re hoping that some canny engineer can hijack the wiring and get video playing, because we’d love to watch soccer games on the world’s biggest big-screen TV.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Philips Germany
Office for iPad Design Manager Talks About Design Process
Microsoft’s design manager for Office for iPad has posted an interesting piece discussing the company’s design philosophy behind the software.
The software, released back in March, has been well received by both users and critics. It’s seen more than 27 million downloads and has already seen a significant update to add features that weren’t ready for launch.
Han-Yi Shaw writes about the scenarios that the team imagined Office for iPad users would find themselves in, as well as the user experience goals they had:
– Familiar Office experience, with no learning curve
– Unmistakably Office, optimized for iPad
– Immersive and removes distractions
– Document content, not UI, takes center stage
– Experience is always beautiful, fast, and fluid
The purpose of a familiar Office experience is simple: a low learning curve and high user confidence. However, it’s just as important to strike a balance between “unmistakably Office” and “platform optimization,” which means optimizing for iOS platform conventions and touch-first user expectations. The most important, yet challenging, goal was finding the sweet spot between the essence of Office and iOS. Fortunately, since the Office for iPad and Mac team (formally known as the Macintosh Business Unit) is made up of Apple platform specialists, we were able to apply our deep knowledge of Apple platforms to the task.
The piece talks about how Microsoft redesigned The Ribbon — the control strip at the top of all Office programs — to mesh with Apple’s design philosophies following the release of iOS 7. “That meant stripping out extraneous detail,” said Shaw. “If there was a visual treatment or text label that wasn’t absolutely necessary, we stripped it away.”
The full piece is an interesting peek behind the curtain for designers and anyone interested in how software used by millions of people gets built.
Office for iPad is available from the App Store. [Direct Link: Word, Excel, PowerPoint]
LG G3 specs all but official thanks to new leak
With but a few days to go before its debut nearly every specification imaginable has been spilled for the LG G3. This week we get more confirmation of previously rumored hardware details via leaked presentation slides.
As you can make out from the accompanying image, the G3 figures to include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, and 3,000mAh battery. Powered by Android 4.4 KitKat, the phone also looks to offer a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, and support for LTE/LTE-A.
Let’s not forget that this will be the first handset from a major smartphone maker to employ a 5.5-inch QHD display. Yes, that’s 2,560 x 1,440 pixels!
The LG G3 should be offered in three color options, white, black, and gold, and will likely have a home across many major wireless providers.
The post LG G3 specs all but official thanks to new leak appeared first on AndroidGuys.
T-Mobile kicks off its VoLTE service in Seattle
T-Mobile, not to be outdone by some of the bigger carriers, has announced its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service. Chief Technology Officer, Neville Ray, advised in a blog post today that T-Mobile has started offering the LTE Advanced-capable VoLTE in Seattle for select models. Specifically, those who own the LG G Flex, Samsung Galaxy Light, and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 customers can get in on the feature. Looking ahead, T-Mobile anticipates bringing VoLTE to addition customers across the year.
The post T-Mobile kicks off its VoLTE service in Seattle appeared first on AndroidGuys.
FreedomPop calls up trio of LTE-equipped Samsung smartphones
FreedomPop on Thursday announced that it has added three new Samsung smartphones with 4G LTE capabilities. Available today, customers can now also choose from the Samsung Galaxy Victory, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S III to pull down LTE speeds.
Pricing breaks down as so:
- Samsung Galaxy Victory – $119
- Samsung Galaxy S4 – $349
- Samsung Galaxy S III – $189
FreedomPop, an MVNO which piggybacks off of Sprint’s network, is also kicking off a new $20 rate plan. For your money you’ll get unlimited text and voice as well as 1GB of 4G LTE data (throttled to 3G after).
Lastly, FreedomPop has debuted a FreedomPop Free Voice and Text app for Android-powered devices.
The app allows any android user to take advantage of FreedomPop’s free voice and text services, while providing a new phone number, voice calls and texts – free. It is also the first OTT app that will allow users to port an existing number.
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