Galaxy S5 Mini images and specs leak
Ever since Samsung introduced its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone we’ve been wondering when the “mini” version of the device will come out. We haven’t seen any leaks of the phone, at least not legitimate ones. This leak will make up for it though.
By the looks of the phone you probably can’t tell it apart from its bigger sibling, but the hardware is where the two differentiate. Unlike the S5, the S5 Mini is rumored to feature a 4.5″ 720p Super AMOLED display along with a 1.4 GHz Samsung Exynos 3 (3470) Quad processor and 1.5GB of RAM. The phone is rumored to have 16GB of on-board storage and an 8MP main shooter along with a 2.1MP front facing one. Fingerprint reader and a heartrate sensor should also be a part of the package. The device should also get IP67 certification which would make it water and dust resistent like its bigger sibling.
This leak comes from SamMobile and there’s no mention of when the device might be announced. Samsung’s “Galaxy Premiere 2014” event on Thursday is always a possibility though.
VIA: Android Authority
SOURCE: SamMobile
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Create simple yet gorgeous gradient wallpapers with Mixt [App of the Day]
Looking to add a nice, minimal wallpaper to your Android and really dig the gradient effect? Today’s app recommendation makes that drop dead simple. No, we’re not talking about a bundle of predesigned wallpapers that somebody else put together. This free app lets you pick and choose the exact color combination you love most and set it as your own wallpaper.
Using Mixt is as about as straightforward as it gets: tap a circle and pick a color and then repeat. Set as wallpaper and you’re done! You won’t find the wallpapers in your normal setting; the app is accessed through your app tray.
Mix and match some of these designs with some fantastic minimal icon packs (like KooGoo, for example) and you’ll have an instant refresh for your home screen.
It’s free, easy as pie, and works wonders.
The post Create simple yet gorgeous gradient wallpapers with Mixt [App of the Day] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Verizon to carry LG G3 on July 17, report says
Verizon will offer the LG G3 starting from July 17, or so says a source close to @evleaks. Reportedly, the device will be made available for pre-orders one week earlier, on June 10. It’s unclear whether other carriers are expecting to carry the flagship device on or around the same time but we’d be surprised if any provider had an exclusive for more than a few days. So there you have it, put aside your money or start selling your stuff!
The post Verizon to carry LG G3 on July 17, report says appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Intel and San Jose’s smart city will use real-time data to monitor air quality and more
Today Intel announced a partnership with the city of San Jose, with the goal of improving quality of life through real-time data tracking of air quality, traffic flow and more. The six-month pilot program is Intel’s first “smart city” implementation in the US, and it’s being presented today as part of the White House SmartAmerica Challenge in Washington, DC.
Working with San Jose, Intel’s developed a platform — including plenty of sensors, of course — for collecting data on traffic, air and water quality and many other stats. In terms of what’s being monitored, the program doesn’t sound terribly different from the Hudson Yards “smart neighborhood” we toured earlier this year, but Intel’s program is currently more focused on getting a grip on an entire city’s vital stats than improving particular residential areas.
The collected data will be shared with government officials through mobile apps and APIs to help inform decision-making. San Jose residents will also have access to statistics, with the hope that being informed will make them more involved in the well-being of their city. Another potential benefit of the program: the addition of about 25,000 clean-tech jobs, fueled by the new infrastructure for monitoring and collecting data.
San Jose is just a starting point for Intel’s vision. The company cites growing urbanization as an urgent reason for implementing smart city technology across the globe. (Outside the US, Intel is currently running a pilot in San Jose’s sister city of Dublin.) With the San Jose pilot program, Intel will be refining its platform for collecting and analyzing city data. VP of Ton Steenman also said that as the initiative matures, it will be able to tackle additional issues such as street light quality. Further down the line, privacy concerns could be an issue if a city collects data on particular neighborhoods or houses, but for now Intel stresses that its efforts are on the large scale.
Other projects featured at the SmartAmerica Challenge showcase include concepts for smarter emergency response systems, new energy solutions and the use of robotics for installations and base operations. A “closed-loop” healthcare system, which we covered back in April, will also be discussed. For anyone wondering about the next step for the Internet of Things, Intel and others clearly have — pretty exciting — answers.
Source: Intel
Like it or not, your Comcast Xfinity router may now be a WiFi hotspot
Comcast has just transformed part of Houston into a WiFi commune by activating 50,000 residential Xfinity routers, according to the Houston Chronicle. The new service will give any Comcast client free WiFi access via those “xfinitywifi” hotspots, and is just the beginning of a larger rollout. As revealed earlier, the unloved cable outfit may eventually launch a mobile network using WiFi from subscribers’ modems along with leased cellular capacity, possibly from Verizon. A lot of customers now broadcasting WiFi may not actually know they’re doing so, however, since Comcast opted them in by default — though it did warn users by mail. It added that the changes won’t expose home networks or affect your internet connection speeds thanks to added capacity. There’s another 100,000 routers coming on line in the city soon as well, but you can opt out by following the rather convoluted procedure right here.
Filed under: Wireless, Internet
Source: Houston Chronicle
PlayStation TV coming to the UK this autumn for £85
You may have heard that Sony is finally launching the PlayStation TV (or Vita TV as it was previously known) outside of Japan. We know that the mini-console will be priced at $99/€99 in North America and Europe respectively, but we were left in the dark over how much it would cost in the UK. Until now. Eurogamer reports that when it arrives in the autumn, the PlayStation TV will retail for £84.99. That’s a significant bump over the £60 (plus taxes) it would set you back if you went out to the US and bought one direct. To make matters worse, Sony won’t offer UK customers the PS3 DualShock controller bundle like it does in the US and Asia. That said, it’ll still mirror your PlayStation 4 screen and you’ll still be able to play lots of Vita games, PlayStation games and stream video content, as well as music and video from Sony’s own store.
Source: Eurogamer
Greener fridges will keep cool using magnets instead of chemicals
Though modern refrigerators are getting fancy and connected, they’re still just a jumble of pipes, pumps and hazardous fluids. Scientists from Canada and Bulgaria have made a discovery in the field of so-called magnetic cooling that may change their core functionality, however. Such systems work when ferromagnetic materials are removed from a magnetic field, causing them to cool down. That cooling energy can be recaptured using water as a heat transfer fluid instead of environmentally harmful hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants. Previous experiments have yielded inefficient systems, but researchers found a compound that could create a so-called giant magnetocaloric effect merely by rotating in a magnetic field. That drastically reduces the required input energy, and could one day result in simpler, more efficient fridges — or anything else that needs to chill.
Via: PhysOrg
Source: Applied Physics Letters
A quick guide to following World Cup 2014 on Google, Facebook and Twitter
Like a trio of vuvuzelas, the three big internet platforms became a significant part of the World Cup’s background noise in 2010. They have even more to offer this time around: Not just a multitude of ways to follow scores and other stats, but also places to go if you want to trumpet your opinions and listen to those of others. So, we’ve rounded up some of the best advice from Twitter, Facebook and Google on how to get the most out of the new features they’re dishing out for Brazil 2014.
If you’re already au fait with the Twittersphere’s workings, you’ll want to begin your journey at the #WorldCup2014 hashtag page. This main timeline will show you relevant tweets from celebs, teams, pundits and people in your network. On the right-hand side you’ll see quick access to a Teams page, so you can easily find and follow your home nation. There’s also a handy bar down the left that shows the latest scores and upcoming games.
Oh, and remember the three-letter hashtag for your team! Just like in 2010, using this hashtag inside a tweet will magically cause the appearance of your national flag (“hashflag”) to bring some color to your tweet. For example, it’s #URU for all of you Uruguayans.
If you’re not already on Twitter, then you’ll want to start by signing up and saying “yes” at the bit where you’re offered some extra World Cup excitement. This will take you through a couple of easy steps to choose your favorite team and set your wallpaper accordingly. If you’re a true patriot, you’ll keep that wallpaper forever. Forever, dammit.
This all starts at the Trending World Cup page, which works in a similar manner to Twitter’s hub — albeit with a bit less detail. You can view upcoming matches, but there’s no obvious shortcut to find your official team page — you just have to search for it (e.g., “U.S. Soccer“) and look for the blue tick to highlight the official site. There is, however, a “Fan Map” that shows the locations of millions of footy fans around the world and what, exactly, they’re fans of. It’s a gimmick, perhaps, but it has already proven itself useful in showing that England’s Wayne Rooney is widely detested across mainland Europe.
Compared to the other two, there’s a distinct lack of structure and effort from Google at the #WorldCup2014 page. In fact, there isn’t even one official hashtag — people are just using whatever tag comes to mind, resulting in something of a mess.
Then again, Google has other assets at its disposal that World Cup fans might find useful. Firstly, there’s a straightforward search, which will show up-to-the-minute scores and stats when you search for relevant terms like “world cup” or “world cup uruguay.” There’s also Google Trends, which shows all manner of strange observations about upcoming matches, based on what people are searching for.
If you load up Google Now on your phone or browser, you should automatically be asked if you’re interested in match update cards, and then be asked to select your favorite team(s). And finally, if you haven’t already, check out Google’s amazing Street View tours of the Brazilian stadiums that are about to play host to the angst, happiness and sporting talent of an entire planet.
[Lead image credit: AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo]
A shampoo tycoon is offering cellphone service with built-in music streaming
John Paul DeJoria has a knack for business success in areas as diverse as haircare products and tequila, and he’s now ready to dip his toes into yet another industry: cellphone service. The magnate (along with ROK Entertainment’s Johnathan Kendrick) is about to launch ROK Mobile, a US wireless carrier with music as its hook. Paying $50 per month will get you both all-unlimited phone service as well as ‘free’ streaming from a catalog of 20 million songs, saving you a lot of cash if you tend to splurge on music providers like Rdio or Spotify. DeJoria sees this as doing Americans a favor — he tells Forbes that it could save the country billions by lowering the costs of both cellular access and music in one fell swoop.
Is that hyperbolic? Absolutely. Still, ROK Mobile could be compelling even if you’re not an avid listener. Everything will be contract-free, and it’s launching with service that piggybacks on both T-Mobile’s network (as of June 16th) and Sprint’s (July 4th). There’s no guarantees that DeJoria’s effort will fare any better than Solavei, Ting and other virtual operators that are stuck with small customer bases. However, this is potentially a disruptive strategy — much like Free’s service in France, it could raise the competitive bar and force carriers to offer you a better deal.
[Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Celebrity Fight Night]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile
Via: Forbes
Source: ROK Mobile
Mac Pro Ship Times Improve to 24 Hours as Some Retail Stores Begin Carrying Stock [Mac Blog]
Nearly six months post launch, base configurations of the new Mac Pro are now available to ship within 24 hours from Apple’s online store for its North American and Asia Pacific regions. Base models in other countries are still listed at 3-5 business days, but those should also move to 24 hours soon. Custom-configured models are listed as available to ship in 1 -2 weeks in most countries.
In addition to orders for shipment, base Mac Pro systems are now also available for same-day Personal Pickup in select U.S. Apple retail stores.
Apple’s latest Mac Pro model is assembled in the U.S. at an Austin, Texas facility run by Flextronics. Tim Cook and Eddy Cue recently visited the factory, which has been receiving praise for bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. The plant is approximately a mile away from Apple’s expanding Northwest Austin campus that has added more than 700 workers with the recent first expansion phase and eventually will add 3,600 employees to the previous 3,100 employee campus by the end of 2021.
Since the Mac Pro debuted at the end of 2013, Apple has been quiet on the hardware front in 2014, pushing out a small upgrade to the MacBook Air and a new 8 GB iPhone 5c for some markets. Apple is rumored to be working on a Retina MacBook Air and new iMac models, perhaps including a more affordable iMac that will address growth in foreign markets.
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