Spotify finally adds Android and iOS staples to its Windows Phone app
Windows Phone users sometimes get left behind when it comes to new apps and freshly updated software. Unfortunately, Spotify is no exception. Today, the music streaming service finally added three core features to the WP offering that have long been key pieces for Android and iOS — ones that it promised back in February, in fact. Browse, Discover and Radio sections are now included in version 3.0, allowing you to hunt for tracks by mood, easily access new releases, create Pandora-like stations and more, all from the comfort of your handset’s touchscreen. In addition to the add-ons, a tweaked interface is the app’s first since it launched back in 2011, but it’s still a far cry from the new coat of paint that’s been applied elsewhere. Let’s hope this bit of attention paid to Windows Phone is a sign of things to come, especially in terms of adding the service’s new features as they arrive.
Source: Spotify, Windows Phone Store
Windows Store now helps you find apps faster, even if they’re for your phone
Although Windows 8.1′s store has a healthy stock of apps, actually finding those apps has been a pain at times. Much of the store’s interface has been hidden, and it hasn’t always been clear where to go if you’re just getting started. Starting today, it’s considerably easier to get around: Microsoft is pushing out a Windows Store update that puts more content front and center. The navigation bar is now a permanent fixture on the screen, and points you to popular areas like the categories and top app charts. You’ll also see themed collections (such as music apps) and multiple featured selections right on the first store page.
The improved shop takes better advantage of Windows’ increasing cross-platform app support, too. Developers can link their desktop software to its Windows Phone equivalent, making it clear that you’ll get both titles — handy if you didn’t realize that there was a pocket-sized version of a hot new release. The store tweaks are rolling out gradually to Windows users, so don’t be dismayed if you don’t see the new portal right away. However, the wait might be worth it if it helps you discover a hidden gem or two.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Via: WPCentral
Source: Windows Experience Blog
Volkswagen introduces 10-speed transmission for better fuel efficiency
When it comes to gas mileage, Volkswagen’s always had a competitive lineup of vehicles. Even still, the company wants to improve its fuel economy by 15 percent across the board come 2020. As part of said initiative, VW Group development boss Hans-Jakob Neusser announced plans to introduce the world’s first 10-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Yes, we said 10-speed. Set to arrive in a variety of 2015 FWD and RWD models, the transmission is capable of handling up to 369 pound-feet or torque (which would be enough to power the rumored Golf R400 super-GTI seen above). Such a gearbox would save you some dollars by better optimizing the engine’s RPMs, so basically, you get better gas mileage without sacrificing power. That’s a win-win, right?
Filed under: Transportation
Via: Wired
Source: Autocar
Logic Pro X Updated With Improved 12-Core Mac Pro Support, App Enhancements and Fixes [Mac Blog]
Apple today updated its professional audio software Logic Pro X to version 10.0.7, adding support for 24 processing threads on 12-core Mac Pro models along with several new features to enhance the functionality of the app and an array of bug fixes.
What’s new
– Now supports 24 processing threads on 12-core Mac Pro models
– The current volume, pan, and send values for all selected tracks can now be inserted at the playhead position
– Enabling Low Latency Mode no longer creates sync issues for Drummer, Ultrabeat, Native Instruments Machine and other plug-ins with integrated step sequencers
– Automation can now be copied and pasted to any location using the Marquee tool
– Adds an option for MIDI volume and pan data to control the instrument plug-in instead of the channel strip
– Resolves several snap and alignment guide issues
– Various fixes that improve XML import and export with Final Cut Pro X
– Contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility
Logic Pro X 10.0.7 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $199.99. [Direct Link]
Tim Cook Charity Lunch Action Ends, Earning $330,001 for RFK Center
Tim Cook’s second CharityBuzz auction, for a one hour lunch meeting with Cook at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, ended today at $330,001. Bids for this year’s auction were quite a bit more reserved than the coffee charity meeting Cook auctioned last year, which brought in $610,000.
The money earned from the auction will benefit the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, a charity that aims to achieve “a just and peaceful world by partnering with human rights leaders, teaching social justice and advancing corporate responsibility.”
The winner of the auction will be able to meet with Tim Cook for approximately one hour at Apple’s Cupertino campus, on a “mutually agreed upon date.” The cost of the meal is included, but travel to Cupertino must be paid by the auction winner.
On May 10, Tim Cook added an additional benefit for the auction winner — a VIP guest spot at an upcoming Apple event, announced on Twitter.
Join me for lunch and advance human rights @rfkcenter.You can also be my VIP guest at an Apple event. https://t.co/02aONVPQM9 #RFKauction— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 10, 2014
Following multiple shill bids last year, CharityBuzz implemented a credit card authorization requirement for all bidding customers, a policy that may explain why this year’s auction was ultimately less popular with bidders.
Plex for Android updates and brings in automatic photo backup Support
Plex is one of our favorite media streaming server applications available. Sure, there are plenty of others out there, but the Plex app, the support and the updates that Plex works to bring keeps them on our top favorite must haves list. Today Plex has started rolling out another update to the Android app that is sure be welcomed by the thousands out there that use it. The new update adds in an auto backup option for your camera photos.
This is pretty great for a number of reasons, mainly because they are backing up to your personal storage on your server vs some cloud somewhere. I have yet to give it a whirl, but I also imagine that it also means you can view those photos through Chromecast as well.
If you don’t have Plex yet, it is a pretty simple app to use and understand. The real question you will need to ask yourself is if you want to buy the app or sign up for a Plex Pass subscription. Personally, a Plex Pass subscription is the way to go in my book, especially since this feature requires Plex Pass to use, for now. Hit the link below to go grab the update, or to learn about it for the first time.
Plex for Android on the Play Store
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The Boyfriend Log merges data obsession with your love life
If we can log our exercise and eating data to get recommendations on how to improve our health, who’s to say we can’t apply the same concept to our love life? After all, with every day comes 1,440 minutes in which your relationship will live, breath and — gasp — change. Sometimes those fluctuations can be a lot to digest, and an app called The Boyfriend Log is here to help. Currently available on iOS, it does exactly what you’d think: monitor satisfaction with your S.O. on a day-to-day basis, showing you mood patterns to help you decide whether or not you’ve found “the one.”
With The Boyfriend Log, you answer the question “How was your relationship today?” with one of several color-coded responses, including romantic, flat, sad, happy and angry. A calendar view lets you see which moods are the most predominant; a lot of blue days might mean you have some reevaluating to do. If you’re dating multiple people at once, comparing your calendars for each suitor could provide some additional clarity. According to the app’s website, you might even use the data as a jumping-off point for a “loving, truthful discussion about what’s really going on.”
Hey, if it helps you to keep a diary of your relationship’s ups and downs, more power to you. And, interestingly, one of the App Store reviewers notes that she’s used it to rate her success at work each day. (Talk about dating yourself!) That said, not every boyfriend (or girlfriend) would be thrilled to learn they’re being treated like the subject of a study. And while the app is protected by a PIN of your choosing, if your partner does crack the code, you could no longer have a relationship to analyze.
Filed under: Software
Google’s voice-activated Spell Up game hones your speling skills
We’ve seen charming and freaky in Google’s games, but the search giant has a nobler aim with its latest experiment: improving your English skills. Spell Up is a mishmash of a spelling bee, Wheel of Fortune and Jumble, with voice recognition thrown in for good measure. You can launch it in any Chrome browser on a desktop, Android or iOS device, though you can only use a keyboard on an iPhone or iPad. Once you’re in, you’ll be able select a difficulty level and build a tower of words, until a wrong move crashes the whole thing down. It worked great for me on Android, but using it on my desktop was a F-A-I-L for some reason, as letters like ‘G’ and ‘S” couldn’t be recognized. Perhaps you’ll have better luck, though — you can try it here.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Google
Source: Google
New smart glasses warn when you’re fatigued
Many people know that they should take breaks when they’re fatigued, but actually recognizing that worn-down state is tricky; it’s all too easy to push past the breaking point. If JINS’ upcoming Meme smart glasses live up to their billing, though, you’ll always know when it’s time to relax. The Bluetooth wearable includes both eye and motion sensors that can tell when you’re close to nodding off. If it gets to that point, a companion smartphone app will give you a heads-up. The eyewear is useful even when you’re fully alert, as it can handle basic fitness duties like step counting and calorie tracking.
While the Meme glasses won’t ship until spring 2015, JINS will offer a programming kit this fall so that third-party apps can make use of its head tracking skills. Pricing also hasn’t been nailed down, but the company plans to release three styles (including the sunglasses you see above) in its native Japan for somewhere between ¥70,000 to ¥100,000, or $685 to $979. There’s no word on a US launch, unfortunately, but we’re hoping they’ll be available for import — they’d be perfect for dealing with that mid-day slump.
Filed under: Wearables
Via: Engadget Japanese (translated)
Source: JINS (translated)
Flower Power review: Can technology give you a green thumb?
Sure, you’ve heard of the connected home, but what about the connected garden? If you’re someone who manages to always kill your plants, Flower Power, a new gadget from Parrot, might sound like just the thing. The $60 Bluetooth-connected device aims to turn your black thumb green by sending you daily push notifications about your garden’s health. The small sensor can provide up-to-the-minute reports that can ensure everything from your potatoes to your petunias are getting exactly the right amount of sunlight, water and even fertilizer. So, is the tiny gadget what your garden needs?
Hardware
The Flower Power measures roughly eight inches long, with most of the hardware taking the form of a thin, spiked sensor that lives underground. The top section looks a bit like a sprout with two branches, the longest of which houses a sunlight sensor to measure how much light your plant is getting each day. There’s also a temperature sensor in both the top and bottom of the device, allowing you to track the temperature in both the soil and the surrounding air. As for power, the device runs on a single AAA battery that lives inside the smaller branch.
All told, I really dig the design here. The bottom of the Flower Power is sharp enough that it was able to push through some fairly hard soil in the azalea bush where I did much of my testing. At the same time, it’s durable enough that I wasn’t concerned about breaking it while placing it in the soil. Although the plant monitor definitely stood out a bit in my home, the above-ground portion of the device will probably blend in more often than not, especially with larger bushes and vines there to help mask the hardware.
Setup
Setting up the Flower Power takes just a few minutes, and follows roughly the same process as pairing any other Bluetooth device. The plant sensor requires the use of Parrot’s specific Flower Power iOS app (Android support is on the way), which takes you step by step through the setup process for your specific plant. The experience is somewhat like preparing a social networking profile — you’ll identify its species, tell the device where your plant lives, give it a name and even choose a profile pic for it.
I used the Flower Power with a potted, indoor azalea, which is where I ran into my first issue. Though I knew my plant was an azalea, I didn’t know quite what kind of azalea it was (and there are thousands). The app has colorful photos you can flip through to try and find the type you’re looking for (and I was indeed able to find a match), but if you pick the wrong one, you could be setting yourself up for failure.
Software
Flower Power is designed so that you receive push notifications on your phone when your plant is in need of something. In addition, you can customize the app so that you get alerts only at specific times. I actually programmed the app to send notifications all day, which didn’t quite work out according to plan. During my month with Flower Power, I didn’t receive consistent push notifications from my plant. Which is a shame, since that’s the feature that makes the device useful in the first place. Occasionally, notifications would come in overnight and be buried amid all my other alerts, but more often than not I didn’t hear from Flower Power unless I launched the app. And that’s despite the fact that I was within range of the plant much of my day, both while sleeping and when I was working from home.
When I did launch the app on my own, Flower Power was quick to let me know what (if anything) my plant needed. Over a month of testing the device indoors, the plant asked for water, more sun and a little fertilizer. When you complete a task, you have to manually confirm in the app that you’ve done it, at which point the notification goes away.
One issue I had with this is that while you can dismiss the notification manually, I wasn’t always sure I resolved the problem. Yes, I watered the plant, but did I water it enough? Beats me. The sunlight issue was a particularly big one for my azalea, which was unhappy in my dining room with just a few blinds open during the day, producing “need more sunlight” alerts every day for almost a week. I attempted to provide more sun by opening blinds, but there wasn’t really a way to figure out if I had achieved enough for the plant until I stopped receiving notifications after several days of trials.
On the other end of the spectrum, I randomly got an add fertilizer alert one day on the plant. Since I didn’t have any around, I just dismissed it for the time being. Now, several weeks later, the alert has yet to return. So maybe it didn’t need fertilizer after all?
The experience was much different when I tried Flower Power with an outdoor plant. After several weeks of use (and plant-friendly weather), I received just one “needs water” notification. Having tried both scenarios, the device seems much more useful outdoors. I could see walking up to a vegetable garden a few days a week and launching the app to see how everything is doing quickly. Using Flower Power for just one plant indoors (or out) isn’t quite as helpful. A mildly educated gardener can probably tell their pea plant needs a little H2O faster than they can launch the app to get the same info. If you’re looking at a whole garden’s worth of data at once, however, the message is a lot more powerful.
Wrap-up
Despite my good intentions, I’m notorious for killing plants — and I’m not sure Flower Power is going to be the device to change that. While it sounds like a good idea on paper, I had trouble figuring out if I had adequately satisfied my plant’s needs. (I had trouble getting notifications from it in the first place, which is a different issue altogether.) While the device could be useful for a more experienced gardener, someone who kills plants on the regular isn’t going to be much better off with this sensor guiding their way.
I’m also not convinced that Bluetooth is the best technology for Flower Power. While it seems like a good idea, receiving Bluetooth notifications means you need to be somewhat close to your plant to find out it needs something. By the time you’ve walked outside to look at your plant, you should be able to see that it needs water or a little more sun on your own, without the help of technology. If you’re working with a whole garden of Flower Power-connected plants, however, the gadget will definitely help highlight those plants in your collection that could use a little more TLC.
AIVAnet 