SoundCloud’s iOS app gets simplified controls as it focuses on listeners
SoundCloud’s tune-sharing prowess continues to drawn the eye of musicians looking to distribute their tracks around the web and social channels. Today, the audio outfit’s iOS app got a major redesign that makes access to tracks you fancy a breeze. In addition to the simplicity-focused aesthetic overhaul, the software now sports “one thumb” controls: tapping anywhere toggles play/pause, swiping skips tracks and sliding along the tune’s waveform moves around the song and its corresponding artwork. There’s also a new You tab that compiles tracks, artists and playlists that you’ve both liked and created from scratch in one place so that you can get at them quickly. Songs found on the Search page can be played from that section in addition to giving a quick follow to users of note. Since SoundCloud took a listening focus with this version of the app, the recording function is no longer built in, so you’ll have to look elsewhere to capture on the go.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: iTunes, SoundCloud
LG partners with Google’s Project Tango to make consumer product next year
Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division has been hard at work on its 3D-mapping project, known as Tango, since early 2013. In this time, we’ve seen the team rapidly progress its efforts by introducing a smartphone and tablet specifically for developers to construct their own apps that take advantage of the cameras and sensors inside. That said, we weren’t expecting to hear about a consumer-facing Tango product for quite a while, so it came as a surprise when Google announced that it’s working with LG on a device that will be available to the public sometime next year. There were no details about whether this product will be a smartphone, tablet or neither, but the partnership is likely still in the early stages.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google, LG
TWOW: Introducing The World Of Widgets
Much like Cliff Wade’s addiction for icons, I too, have an addiction. Widgets. I am addicted to trying out any type of widgets that appear either in the Play Store or throughout my travels on Google+ and Twitter. I’m not sure exactly why I have an obsession with the ability to add widgets to my home screens, but I always have, and I’m always on the lookout for something else new and different. Usually, I try to find the minimally styled widgets, but even then, some of the “busier” styled widgets look better overall.
Without further adieu, I bring you the first edition of The World Of Widgets.
Phoenix Zooper Mega Skin Pack by djskarpia
The first widget that we’ll take a look at today, is Phoenix Zooper Mega Skin pack by djskarpia. With a total of 80 different widgets, yes, I said EIGHTY, different widgets, there is a widget for just about everyone here. Ranging from simple Google Search widgets, to more complex, and detailed time/battery/weather widgets, djskarpia thought about all the different use-cases for the different home screen setups. As a bonus, in celebration of the World Cup, djskarpia has added 11 different country widgets for those who are looking to celebrate their country on their devices.
Obviously, being from the good ole’ USA, I’ve been using the USA widget with a US wallpaper that I found on Google. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other countries available if you support those other places, (cough Cliff cough). If you aren’t in the mood for World Cup soccer, there are still plenty of other widgets to choose from, including widgets styled to look similar to the HTC Sense stock widgets. You can pick up Phoenix Zooper Mega Skin Pack on the Play Store for a crisp $1 bill via the Play Store widget below.
LYTE Zooper Skin by AXT
Next up today, we have LYTE Zooper Skin by AXT. LYTE is a set of 12 different Zooper skins that are designed to literally connect together once you have the zooper skins inserted onto your home screen. There is a set of light skins, and a matching set of dark Zooper skins, catering to whatever kind of home screen setup you are trying to achieve.
With widgets ranging from an analog clock with an alarm to a music widget with spinning coverart and the progression of a song, AXT has included plenty of information to be seen with LYTE. There are also widgets for the System information for your device, which includes the model number, CPU Frequency, how much RAM has been used, and others. AXT definitely thought of all the bells and whistles for this set of Zooper skins. If you hit the Play Store widget below, you can grab LYTE for only $1.28.
Aeolus Zooper Skin by DIEHLC
The final widget that we are going to take a look at today is Aeolus Zooper Skin by DIEHLC. Aelous was created in the spirit of cLock, the popular Cyanogenmod clock widget, Crius, and Chronus. For those who like Greek history and folklore, Aeolus was the Greek God of the Winds. Aeolus contains 19 different Zooper widget skins for users to set and move around on their various home screens, and since Aeolus is in the style of cLock and Chronus, this is a very nice set for those who like minimal widgets.
You have your basic analog and digital clock widgets, by DIEHLC also included the ability to have multiple pieces of information within one widget. You can also set individual widgets, and place them in different areas, similar to what you see in the screenshot above. Aeolus is also available via the Play Store widget below, for only $0.99 on the Play Store, and you should definitely head on over and pick it up.
This wraps up the first edition of The World Of Widgets, and while today I only featured three different widgets, don’t be surprised if there are weeks where five or six, or maybe even seven widgets are featured. If you’d like to see your Zooper or UCCW widgets featured here, feel free to contact me via Hangouts or any way that is convenient for you.
As always, if you choose to purchase and install any of these widgets, we hope that you leave a rating and a few words of encouragement for the developers, so that they will keep making awesome stuff.
Let us know in the comments below what your favorite Zooper or UCCW widgets that you use on your various devices, and maybe those will be featured as well.
Keep Customizing!
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Apple Said to Be Developing Smart Home Products for HomeKit Integration
Following a report from The Information yesterday claiming that Apple is building hardware to work with the new HomeKit home automation standard announced for iOS 8, a follow-up report from 9to5Mac is making similar claims.
Details on the devices under consideration are scant, although the company is said to be beyond the exploratory stage of product development. Apple already sells one household product in the form of the Apple TV, which Macworld‘s Chris Breen argues is the logical hub for HomeKit, but Apple’s smart home ambitions allegedly extend beyond the living room.
The sources say that Apple is unlikely to move forward with devices to compete directly with Google’s Nest as the Cupertino-company feels it can build products that can gain usage wider than that of thermostats and smoke detectors. It is likely that Apple is building advanced speaker systems or control panels for homes, the sources say. It is possible that Apple’s recent acquisition of Beats Electronics and the audio company’s existing speaker systems play into this vision.
While Apple is expected to expand its product lineup with the iWatch, perhaps a 12-inch Retina MacBook Air and possibly a revamped Apple TV this year, the company’s HomeKit-integrated hardware is thought to be further down the roadmap in Apple’s future product lineup.
POM Tracking Tags Keep Tabs on Objects, People via Bluetooth and GPS [iOS Blog]
POM, short for Peace of Mind, is a new Kickstarter project offering Bluetooth and GPS-based tracking tag solutions. The basic POM is a tracking device that connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth LE and attaches to all manner of things — pets, kids, valuables, and more.
Much like similar tracking products such as Tile and Duet, the small, square-shaped Bluetooth POM tag tracks people, pets, and objects over short distances up to 300 feet. For tracking things over longer distances, there’s also the Total POM, which utilizes Bluetooth, Cellular, and GPS.
POM and Total POM is a small, square tracking tag, smaller than a key fob that attaches to your dog’s collar, can be worn on the wrist, or attached to your key ring or handbag. Hide it inside your purse, your computer case, your golf club bag, your suitcase, your guitar. Wear it as a bracelet for children and at-risk adults.
Both the POM and the Total POM use replaceable batteries, with the POM offering a three year battery life expectancy and the Total POM offering up to one year of battery life depending on how frequently it is used. The trackers connect to a complementary iPhone app, which offers features like sound alerts when a tagged item goes out of range and a “Last Location” option that marks the last known location of an object. The tags also include functions like leashing, an accelerometer to know if an item moves, and a temperature gauge.
There’s also a POM Link, which connects to home or office internet and acts as a constant monitoring beacon to create a “protection zone” letting users know when an item goes out of range, which is particularly useful for the shorter-range Bluetooth tags.
The standard Bluetooth-based POM will retail for $25, but is available at $15 for the first 250 Kickstarter backers, and $20 for the first 500 backers. Total POM, with GPS, is available to the first 500 Kickstarter backers for $99, with one year of service included, or $120 with two years included. After the free service has ended, Total POM costs $20 per year to use.
POM Link, the base station able to keep track of POM tags, is available to backers for $249. A bracelet will also be available if a stretch goal of $250,000 is reached.
A limited number of POMs are expected to ship in December of 2014, with the rest shipping in March of 2015. The POM Link will ship in April of 2015.
$17 million research prize will go towards drug-resistant bacteria studies
Antibiotic resistant bacteria is one of the greatest public health threats of our age, because we’re heading for a world where common maladies can overcome any drug that we throw at them. That’s why it’s been chosen as the goal for this year’s Longitude Prize. Like the original, awarded in 1765 to a carpenter who built the first chronometer, a £10 million ($17 million) bounty will be offered to anyone who believes that they can come up with a solution to the problem.
The prize is being co-funded by the UK Government and innovation charity Nesta, and is open to members of the general public as well as businesses and research institutions. According to the prize’s managers, the challenge will center around being able to build a cheap, accurate and rapid diagnostic system for bacterial infections. That way, medical professionals around the world will be able to use specific antibiotics, but only in cases where they’d actually be of use, rather than firing drugs blindly into our bodies. The challenge will run over the next five years, with the specific criteria for a successful test to be worked out over the summer. Participants will then be able to submit their ideas, with the first review taking place in the fall of 2015.
Filed under: Science
Via: BBC News
Source: Nesta, Longitude Prize
LG’s G Watch: designing a blank canvas for Android Wear
The G Watch is minimal. The shape aims to bring Android Wear front and center. “The content floats.” The lack of toggles, buttons and periphery is all intentional. “A lack of ornamentation,” is how Chul Bae Lee, VP of mobile design puts it. But it didn’t start out that way. Lee gestures at a soft sheet where there are roughly 10 prototypes of varying shapes and profiles. It’s the “What If…” of LG wearable design, but because these designs are still in LG’s collective brain for possible future use, we’re not allowed to take photos, although it doesn’t stop us from using our words.
We pore over the early prototypes, which are built and machine-finished to seem like the real thing. They intentionally have a slight weight to them, even if there are no electronics inside. One has a brushed-steel finish along a thick bottom bezel, while some jarring LG branding in the corner made another look a tiny wrist-mounted version of the company’s TVs. Several prototypes pack landscape screens, while another, with its curved sides and soft vertices, veers close to Samsung’s Gear 2, or Neo… or Live.
The G Watch has two primary features: commands and notifications — and not, Lee specifies, interaction. This, in a way, explains the lack of buttons (or cameras), as well as the inclusion of a touchscreen that, while accessible, certainly does do as much as your smartphone. “Commands” is an interesting way to put it too, because the primary way of getting information from the G Watch is by barking orders at it.
Circles and squares
The biggest difference between the LG G Watch and Motorola’s 360 is their faces. LG’s product goes for the smartwatch staple, a square LCD, in an aim to maximize usable screen space, while Motorola’s chosen to display Google’s latest project on a circular screen. Lee says. “A circular face? Well, we like it, but it’ll lead to a more classical watch experience.” The exec wouldn’t admit that his company would be bringing out a similarly shaped timepiece, but told us that LG is trying a whole load of things — and it probably helps when you have a display-making companion company.
“A circular face? Well, we like it, but it’ll lead to a more classical watch experience.”
While it’s the first effort, the G Watch is still borderline chunky (just like the rest of the Android Wear gang) and it’s due to what Lee calls the smartwatch’s biggest challenge: battery life. As the LG VP tells it: “I prefer to have high picture quality with (LCD or OLED).” He offers two options: a smartwatch with a low-grade display that will last a week on a charge, or one that has a high-quality screen, but lasts around a day. “[The battery life] could have been very different. It’s the mix of design, hardware, chipsets and display. Some people wanted a 15mm-thick watch face. Well, that’s crazy … but it’s all part of the compromise.”
The sales pitch for Android Wear is a notification-heavy one. This editor wants it to do more — what’s a watch doing that my smartphone doesn’t do already? How does it make my life better? “The point of the G Watch isn’t that we are wearing it, but that we are accessing information instantly — especially compared to a phone,” Lee says. “If I get a call or notification there, I have to drag it out of my pocket, check it, unlock it, answer it. Instant accessibility is the core value here.” But is it worth $229?
Does one size fit all?
The G Watch will arrive on July 7th in black and white options, but it’s a uniform, relatively unisex shape and size. LG’s stance is that smartwatches, at least for now, are nascent. Admittedly, there’s something regressive about gender-specific technology, but these watches and wearables will be compared to “dumber” male and female fashion accessories, whether they want to or not.
There’s something regressive about gender-specific technology, but these watches and wearables will be compared to “dumber” male and female fashion accessories
Lee recalls those heady feature phone days, where companies like LG used to market teenage, feminine and even “silver” phones to different customer segments. “As the smartphone era matured, [these segments] disappeared.” (There was the HTC Rhyme: never forget). Lee says it ties into another trade-off: Change the specification, like increasing the screen size, and you’re going to make the entire thing bigger. “The smartwatch has potential … but there’s still room for refinement.”
Google Glass to get Android Wear notifications
With Android Wear getting its first official outing at Google I/O and the hype of which Smartwatches will be available, there was little mention of Google Glass and where it fits in with Android Wear’s plans. No need to worry, Google haven’t forgotten about all the Glass explorers out there, Google still reminded us that… Read more »
The post Google Glass to get Android Wear notifications appeared first on SmarterWatching.
Read the rest at the source, SmarterWatching.com
The post Google Glass to get Android Wear notifications appeared first on AndroidGuys.
MobileBeat 2014 returns to San Francisco July 8-9
MobileBeat, the annual VentureBeat conference centered around the future of mobile, returns to San Francisco in but a few week’s time. Taking place on July 8-9, some of the themes this year focus on fostering attention and engagement, advertising technology, and turning engagement into revenue. If you’ve not been to one of these conferences, you can expect a lot of networking and interaction with brands, service providers, developers, and other mobile-minded media members.
Those of you looking to register are advised to use our discount code AG15 to save 15% on your ticket!
Driving growth with mobile
MobileBeat — VentureBeat’s seventh annual event on the future of mobile — is gathering the industry’s biggest names to uncover new case studies, insights, and strategies designed to help you leverage mobile to increase profitability for your company.
2014 will be the year where key elements of the mobile tech ecosystem align to accelerate growth. Costs are falling and performance is reaching new heights at every level of the stack: storage and cloud backends, developer tools, analytics and data-crunching solutions, marketing automation software, targeting optimization, and payment platforms.
Add to that the fact that U.S. adults are, for the first time, spending more time on their mobile devices than on their desktops and laptops.
Our friends at VentureBeat are offering our network a 15% discount on tickets.[Register now using code AG15.]
Featured Speakers include:
- Jason Spero, Global Head of Performance Media, Google
- Gibu Thomas, SVP, Mobile & Digital, Walmart
- Keith Rabois, Partner, Khosla Ventures
- Kira Wampler, Chief Marketing Officer, Trulia
- Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree
- Brian Mead, Director of Product Management, Yahoo Sports
- Nicolas Franchet, Head of Retail & e-Commerce, Facebook
- Frank Weishaupt, Chief Revenue Officer, Millennial Media
- Bridget Dolan, VP, Interactive Media, Sephora
- Mike Bidgoli, VP of Product, LivingSocial
- Heidi Browning, SVP, Strategic Solutions, Pandora
- Richard Alfonsi, VP of Online Sales & Operations, Twitter
- See the full list here.
Join 1000+ influential mobile execs for two days packed with high-value discussions, actionable lessons, exclusive announcements, an innovation showdown and lots of networking.
Make sure to grab your tickets before they sell out! [Save 15% with code AG15.]
We hope to see you in July!
The post MobileBeat 2014 returns to San Francisco July 8-9 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Watch this walkthrough of Samsung’s Android Wear device
Android Wear, Google’s new platform for wearables, is fascinating stuff. We got to see a lot of it yesterday, but we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with the user interface itself because the watches were on retail mode — a limited version of the firmware. This is no longer a problem, as Samsung demoed its brand new Wear-laden smartwatch, known as the Gear Live, for Engadget. Once you’re done checking out our walkthrough of the UI below, we recommend you also take a closer look at our other coverage of Android Wear devices from yesterday. In the meantime, however, head below for a photo gallery and five-minute tour of Google’s new platform.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Mobile, Samsung, Google
AIVAnet 