Apple Introduces New ‘Browse by Category’ Collection in App Store [iOS Blog]
Apple has introduced a new “Browse by Category” section in the featured section of both the desktop and iOS App Store, allowing users to easily browse the store via categories in a more visually appealing way than before. Previously, users had to click on “Categories” in the upper-left corner of the App Store and choose from a drop-down list.
The new collection is yet another move by Apple to increase the discoverability of apps in the App Store. For instance, searches in the App Store were altered to compensate for misspellings, making it easier for users to find what they could be looking for. At WWDC, the company also announced that the App Store would be getting a new “Explore” tab, trending searches and related searches in iOS 8.
Samsung Announces Galaxy Tab S With Super AMOLED Display, Multi-User Fingerprint Sensor
Samsung today introduced a new version of its Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy Tab S, at an event in New York entitled “Tab Into Color.” Available in both 8.4 and 10.5-inch sizes, the Galaxy Tab S includes a high-resolution (2560 x 1600) Super AMOLED display. According to Samsung, the Tab S’s display has a more accurate color range, better contrast, and higher outdoor visibility than an LCD display.
Billed as the company’s new flagship tablet, the Galaxy Tab S is Samsung’s “best tablet yet,” according to the company, and also its thinnest and lightest at 6.6mm. “Tab S is guaranteed to turn heads wherever you go, and to give it a more premium look, we trimmed it in gold to give it an aura of luxury,” said Michael Abary, senior VP of marketing for Samsung Electronics America.
Along with a built-in fingerprint sensor, the Galaxy Tab S includes a “Sidesync” feature that mirrors one of the Handoff features that Apple announced with iOS 8. Sidesync allows the Galaxy Tab S to answer phone calls routed through a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone if both devices are on the same WiFi network. The Tab S is also able to remotely access a PC and multiple Tab S tablets in the same room can connect with one another.
Samsung’s fingerprint sensor allows multiple users to share a tablet, accommodating up to eight different users. A fingerprint scan loads different users based on fingerprint, and also integrates with a new Kids Mode, allowing children unable to enter a password to unlock the Galaxy Tab S using a finger.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S will run Android 4.4 (KitKat) and with its efficient display, it offers 11 hours of battery life. It will come pre-loaded with a slew of apps like Papergarden, an interactive magazine viewer, and the Galaxy Gifts widget, which will provide various offers like 90 days of free Google Music. Accessories for the Tab S include a Book Cover with multiple viewing angles and a bluetooth keyboard.
Available in brown and white, the WiFi versions of the tablets will be available in the U.S. in July, with LTE versions following shortly thereafter. The 10.5-inch version will retail for $499, while the 8.4-inch version will retail for $399, pricing on par with Apple’s iPad lineup.
Apple is said to be working new versions of the iPad Air and the Retina iPad mini, but those are not expected to launch until the fall. The tablets are expected to include an A8 processor, an upgraded camera, and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Watch a paraplegic in an exoskeleton open the World Cup — with a kick
As promised, a paralyzed man did indeed kick off today’s World Cup festivities by wearing a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton. Juliana Pinto, a 29-year-old paraplegic, was one of eight patients chosen for the opening ceremony after extensive training in a lab in Sao Paulo. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist from Duke University who’s the leader of the Walk Again Project, was ecstatic, proclaiming on Twitter “We did it!!!” Though the kick, as you can see above, was just a simple nudge to the ball, it’s actually extremely complicated. Nicolelis told the AFP news agency that it’s “the first time an exoskeleton has been controlled by brain activity and offered feedback to the patients,” and that “doing a demonstration in a stadium” has never been done before. Unfortunately, it seems this momentous occasion wasn’t captured on as many television networks as the rest of the opening ceremony, which strikes us as a crying shame. Hit the source links for more information on this miraculous innovation and have a peek at a fan-captured video of the event after the break.
We did it!!!!
– Miguel Nicolelis (@MiguelNicolelis) June 12, 2014
Source: BBC
Samsung sticks more colorful screens in its new Galaxy Tab S family
Thanks to the internet, we’ve already seen leaked images of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab S. So when the company announced a press event for June 12th, we had a pretty good idea of what was in store. Sure enough, the company just unveiled the Tab S family, which includes models with 8.4- and 10.5-inch screens.
The rumors were true, folks. After what seemed like ages of keeping them solely in smartphones, Samsung has made more tablets that use Super AMOLED screens. They’re only 6.6mm thick too, which is pretty staggering… if not quite as thin as Sony’s Xperia Z2 Tablet. We’re live at Samsung’s event in New York, and right now the topic of conversation is software — a new app called Photogarden delivers digital versions of magazines to your Tab S, and Netflix just got a shout-out for bringing full hi-definition content to the 2560 x 1600 screens on both Tab S models.
These things are lookers, too. Both Tab S size models are available in white and a very subdued bronze, but the real draw here are those displays — Samsung thinks they deliver the “ultimate viewing experience.” The benefits of a Super AMOLED screen have been thrown around for years: you get richer colors and deeper blacks, and a boost in detail thanks to that heightened contrast.
Developing…
Ex-Microsoft employee who leaked company secrets sentenced to three months in prison
Remember that time Microsoft rifled through someone’s Hotmail account and then claimed it was totally OK? The incident — and Microsoft’s response — was disturbing enough that it was easy to forget why the company accessed someone’s account in the first place. The reason: That inbox belonged to a French blogger who had posted Windows 8 screenshots. As a result of that email probe, Microsoft was able to identify the leaker he had been corresponding with, a former employee named Alex Kibkalo who was then arrested for stealing trade secrets. Kibkalo plead guilty and now, three months later, he’s been sentenced: he will spend three months in prison (full ruling embedded below) Since the incident, Microsoft has vowed to follow stricter policies during investigations, though it stands by its actions in this particular case.Filed under: Internet, Microsoft
Via: GeekWire
Grumpy Cat’s upcoming Christmas special could be the death of cinema
Scene: a theater full of people, laughing at images of butts with farting noises played as a soundtrack. It’s satire from the world of Idiocracy, but we may not be that far off — Lifetime has decided to make a actual motion picture out of a cat-meme. Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever, due out this holiday, is ushering us into an era of cinema where image-macros and animals with comical bone structure are considered legitimate foundations for motion pictures. It’s bound to be a terrible age, but we shouldn’t be surprised: we live in a world where crypto-currencies and media empires are born from similar beginnings. Lifetime president Arturo Interian expects the film to bring a “fun and irreverence” to the channel that its heartfelt programming typically lacks, explaining the film will a mash up between “Home Alone” and “Die Hard.” Oh, and the script is being penned by one of the names behind Spongebob Squarepants: the Movie. Joy.
Via: The Telegraph, NY Times
How I got stabbed in the chest at E3 2014 (an Oculus Rift tale)
There I was, impaled by an alien. I was carefully walking around a space station, with nothing more than my (admittedly dim) wits and a motion tracker, watching a large, terrifying alien stamp about. My only direction was to survive. “You had one job!” I failed at it.
The tech demos are over: Oculus Rift’s second development kit at E3 2014 isn’t running any dalliances aimed at proving the tech. It’s running real-ass games. Alien: Isolation was the third game I played, and it was by far the most terrifying. You’re not a space marine, and you’re not named Ripley. You’re just some unwitting sheep running from assured death at the hands/tentacles/teeth of an H.R. Giger-designed alien. Delightful.
ALIEN: ISOLATION
Alien: Isolation is being made by Sega’s recently acquired game studio The Creative Assembly. Hell, it’s coming out this year on game consoles and PC. Again, the demos are over — there are entire game dev teams dedicating time to virtual reality at this point. Isolation is proof of that, and it’s a great first example. It’s not even clear how people will be able to play Isolation‘s VR mode at this point; the game’s headed to PC, but there’s no VR headset to buy just yet enabling said functionality. Sure, you could buy a dev kit and stuff, but that’s pretty far from ideal.
Anyway, Alien: Isolation is meant to terrify you. You’re stuck in a confined area of a space station while the aforementioned alien stomps about. If it sees you, you’re done. Not, “Oh, I’ll turn and run.” Not, “Shoot her! Shoooooooot herrrrr!”, Jurassic Park-style. It comes right at you and the motion sensor in your hand doesn’t offer any defense. So while I snuck from room to room looking for an out, I was able to avoid interacting with the hulking beast a few times. About three minutes in, though, he spotted me dead on. I turned to run. He caught up quickly and stuck me through with a vicious-looking appendage. I looked down and saw said appendage sticking out of my chest, blood dripping from it. The future of gaming is pretty messed up, y’all.
LUCKY’S TALE
Do you like Super Mario 64? How about Super Mario 3D World? Or Ratchet & Clank? Well you should be super pumped about Lucky’s Tale, the second game being published directly by Oculus VR. It’s being made by the folks behind Words with Friends and, before that, they were Ensemble Studios alums (Age of Empires, Halo Wars, etc.). It’s a colorful, cutesy third-person platformer. You feel a bit like god, looking down on a cartoony world filled with stars to grab and platforms to bounce on. “So what, it’s a platformer!” you say. Okay, okay — cool it.
What makes Lucky’s Tale especially cool is the gameplay implications of wearing a head-tracking VR headset. Lucky has to throw bombs occasionally; simply look at your target and push a button. Boom! How about hidden secrets? Just look around the level; having a VR headset on means the 3D platforming world of Lucky’s Tale is a physical platform just a few feet away from your gaze, able to be explored more deeply than ever before. What’s that next to the ledge? Just bend your head around the corner and take a look, why don’tcha? While the game at first feels like little more than a pretty 3D platformer, it quickly becomes a whole new experience in VR.
SUPERHOT
First and foremost, you can play Superhot right now. And you absolutely should, because it’s super boss. Check it out right here.
That aside, playing Superhot in VR is bananas. The conceit of the game is that time moves forward as your character moves. So it’s a first-person shooter, but the bullets only move toward you as you move your character. It’s kind of like living in The Matrix‘s bullet-time sequences; you can literally watch a bullet as it whizzes past your head, slowly moving forward as the bullet slowly creeps past you. It makes the whole shooting experience far more personal. One bullet takes you down, and there are many bullets. Playing Superhot feels like a game of virtual reality Twister. I found myself moving in short bursts, advancing time and carefully moving my head as to avoid the bullets flying my way.
Forget Team Fortress 2‘s VR support — Superhot is where it’s at for first-person shooting in virtual reality.
Samsung Galaxy F to come with a QHD screen? Poses next to a Galaxy S5
Samsung’s rumoured premium device called the Galaxy F has been leaked a few times before but now a new image shows it next to a Galaxy S5 to give some perspective about the size, and most importantly screen quality.
The Samsung Galaxy F seems to share the same physical aesthetic from the front, but features slimmer bezels to pack a 5.3-inch display into a frame that looks no wider or taller than the Galaxy S5′s 5.1-inch body.
Whilst the Galaxy F is rumoured to be a more premium device than the Galaxy S5, it is still unknown if it will be made of actual metal or just metallic-looking plastic. Coupled with the design, it is expected to have a QHD display with a Snapdragon 805 processor and a 16-Megapixel camera, which is likely to launch later in the year.
SOURCE: PhoneArena
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