Tesla can resume New Jersey sales after ban is overturned
Tesla needn’t be furious with New Jersey anymore, a new bill has passed lifting a ban on direct-to-customer sales in the state. After Governor Chris Christie assisted the Motor Vehicle Commission in putting the kibosh on its electric cars over a month ago, NJ.com reports that a review committee has done something about the decades-old law that allowed them to do so. In a unanimous vote, the state’s Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee passed a bill that not only gives Tesla the right to resume sales in its two existing New Jersey showrooms, but also allow it to open two more. It’s a big win for electric car makers in general, as it allows any company that sells zero-emission vehicles directly to customers to open up to four stores in the Garden State. It effectively puts the 1970 law that requires cars to be sold through dealerships on notice, but there were also calls for the state to better protect the dealer “status quo.” The FTC has already said such amendments hurt competition, but has no real power to enact change. It must rely on lawmakers, like those in New Jersey, to draw their own conclusions and restore the sales rights Tesla believes it deserves.
Source: NJ.com
Apple Making Big Push to Attract Chinese App Developers
China has become a major focus for Apple in recent years, with the company seeing tremendous opportunities for growth in the region and working to build out China-specific software features to help attract users. These features occasionally also receive brief stage time at Apple’s media events, as with iOS 8 at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, highlighting the country’s importance in Apple’s eyes.
Apple software chief Craig Federighi highlighting China-specific improvements in iOS 8
Apple is also working hard to attract Chinese app developers to its ecosystem, increasing its staff in the country and streamlining the customer experience, according to Bloomberg.
Since 2011, Apple has steadily beefed up its developer-relations team in China so new apps can be approved in the country, and it has opened a new office in downtown Beijing where the China App Store is operated. Apple has also smoothed the process for how customers buy apps in China, and built new Chinese-language-specific software to benefit developers.
The report highlights Apple’s fifth-place market position for smartphones in China as motivation for Apple’s initiative. Apple’s ecosystem in China has also been challenged by the fact that many apps designed for Westerners don’t translate well to the Chinese audience, with many developers not even making their apps available in the country. As a result, Apple’s Chinese App Store includes just 150,000 applications, far fewer than the over one million apps available in the U.S. store.
“On a scale of one to 10 in terms of importance in China, it ranks at about 11,” Ramon Llamas, an analyst for IDC who tracks the mobile industry, said of Apple’s app development. “Nobody buys a smartphone just for it to be a phone — the value of your device goes up with the more applications that you download on to it.”
Apple’s efforts to attract more Chinese developers do appear to be paying off, with the country now ranking number two behind the United States in App Store download volume and the number of registered developers in China doubling over the past year. Still, it’s clear there is much more potential left in the Chinese market for Apple, and the company is working hard to capture developers and users alike to boost its standing.
Moto X+1 gets confirmed by accident
Motorola’s Moto X smartphone was one of last year’s biggest surprises. It didn’t have the top specs, but it ran buttery smooth and it had some of Motorola’s really useful features. Moto X+1 should be Moto X’s successor and it has leaked several times thus far. First it made a brief appearance on Motorola’s website and then its specifications leaked.
This time around Motorola’s VP of Product Management, Punit Soni, may have accidentally confirmed Moto X+1. He tried to prove that Moto G’s permanent label that is displaying carrier name will be fixed in the future update. He took a screenshot to do so, but he did it on a 1080p screen while Moto X and Moto G both have a 720p screens.
Moto X’s successor is expected to arrive late this summer, as Motorola tweeted in February. Do you own a Moto X smartphone and are you looking forward to Moto X+1 or whatever they decide to call it?
SOURCE: Google+
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20 Android apps for dads and grads
As many of you know we are right in the middle of graduation season, and Father’s Day is just around the corner. Instead of the annual tie or cliche’ socks from aunt Margaret, why not treat your beloved dads and grads to something they can really use. An app! Or a game!
Introduce them to this handpicked collection of 20 noteworthy apps that are guaranteed to make life after school, college, or a dad’s fatherly duties easier than ever.
NOTE THAT THIS POST IS SPLIT INTO TWO PAGES
Weber Grills
From the guys behind the familiar backyard cooking tool themselves comes the official app for Weber Grills. Features include nearly 100 recipes, dozens of guides, techniques, and grilling tips; pictures and videos make it a breeze. Headed to the store to prep for a big barbecue?
This app also includes grocery lists that pull together all of your recipes into one handy buying list. Pull off a killer meal? Share it via email and let the world know how awesome that rack of ribs tastes.
MLB.com Home Run Derby
Scratch that baseball itch with MLB.com Home Run Derby, the only official Home Run Derby game from Major League Baseball. Play with 8 Allstars from 2010 to 2013 and try to win it all.
The game has great graphics and 2 modes. Arcade Mode puts you in a race to beat the clock as you have to hit as many home runs as you can before time runs out. In Derby Mode, you can battle your Facebook friends or the world in an authentic derby. Play and see if you can beat your friends and become a champion.
Cars.com
The Cars.com app is designed to make it easy to find new and used cars in your area or around the nation. With the app, you can conduct car comparisons, research car models, and get dealership info so that you are better equipped during your auto hunt.
Leery about purchasing a particular vehicle, the app also has consumer and experts reviews on automobiles. The app even has dealership reviews by customers so you know the car dealers to avoid. Use this app to buy the perfect college car for you grad or to buy the vintage roadster of your dad’s dreams.
SofaScore
You like sports? Well, then you want to keep up with the latest scores, statistics, rankings, etc. You can do all that with SofaScore. Football, Basketball, Tennis, Hockey, Volleyball, Handball and even Water polo and Darts for example, you can track all that via SofaScore. There’s a huge array of sports within the app itself so just set it to keep you up to date with whatever you want and enjoy.
Just Helping My Dad
From Oceanhouse Media comes another solid read-along book for fathers of younger children. Have your wee one (ages 2-5) follow along as the book reads the Little Critter story or let them take things at their own pace.
Words light up as they are read, pictures pan and zoom, and images associate with words; background audio brings pages to life.
Monster Job Search
Put that diploma to work and get yourself started on a new career! Monster is one of the more trusted names in the job searching space and the Android app can help make the hunt less tedious. Details include the ability to create and edit cover letters, save searches, create job alerts, and push notifications. Thanks to GPS integration you can find jobs available near you.
Venmo
Gathering up money for rent, utilities, pizza, and beer has never been easier. This app lets users securely transfer money to their bank account, collect money from others, and pay with your debit card without pesky fees. Perfect for those of you moving in with a handful of roomies this fall; you’ll have no problem getting everyone to chip in on that keg. Just tell mom you’re using the money for books and stuff.
BenchPrep
You might have wanted this one during the school year as it helps prepare you for some of those big, stress-inducing tests like the MCAT, LSAT, SAT, and ACT. Nevertheless, we suggest you add this one to your Android phones and tablets as it could prove invaluable down the road.
With more than 200 courses to choose from, you’ll have access to videos, books, and other resources to help increase your scores. Award-winning stuff praised by multiple news outlets, it reportedly raises scores by an average of 15%.
Life360
An app for dads that I find useful is called Life360. Its essentially a location sharing app but its a bit different than the rest and its great for keeping track of my kids when they’re out and about which is the main reason I use it.
Life360 is a kind of a closed user group family location sharing app which you can keep personal to your family members only and share info between a trusted circle. It has some great features for keeping in touch with your children, like auto checking-in so your kids don’t have to send that ” I got here OK” text message, group messaging to all the or one of your family members in the circle so that your child can always get a message to one of the parents or older siblings.
Another really nice function that we particularly like is the built-in Panic Feature. This feature will automatically send a phone call, email, text message, and your GPS tracking coordinates to everyone in your trusted family circle, this is real handy knowing that your kids can call for help at the touch of a button.
Mint
Get a handle on your finances before things spiral out of control. Mint ties in nicely with its website and services and lets users keep a close eye on where money comes from. More importantly, it can help you understand where it’s going.
Colorful and easy on the eyes, charts and graphs really put things into perspective. The sooner you do this one, the better.
NOTE THAT THIS POST IS SPLIT INTO TWO PAGES
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12-inch Samsung tablet with 4k spotted in the wild
Samsung seems to already have a 4K display on a tablet as a prototype has been spotted in the wild at the French Open. The tablet that was spotted is 12-inches in size and was being used to demonstrate an LTE broadcast at the French Open where Techradar was informed that it was running a Snapdragon 801 processor.
Despite that, any 4K device is expected to have the next-gen Snapdragon 805 which is optimised for 4K displays, giving a pixel density greater than anything we’ve seen yet on a tablet.
Would you buy a 4K tablet?
SOURCE: Techradar
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T-Mobile unveils ‘Underground’ portal with limited-stock devices for true enthusiasts
Are you the type of smartphone enthusiast that likes to hunt down rare and unique models? Maybe you were one of the first people on the block to have a white smartphone – back when that was tough to come by. T-Mobile knows there are plenty of folks like you so that’s why they unveiled their new “Underground” storefront.
According to the Un-Carrier, T-Mobile Underground is a website for “true enthusiasts” looking for “limited-stock devices and accessories”. While it appears to only offer the limited-edition Samsung Galaxy S5 Gold and some Samsung accessories, T-Mobile does promise plus “news and reviews from the tech literati” for the Underground.
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Engadget UK giveaway: win an iPad Air courtesy of Misco
You lucky devils, you. Last week you were in with a chance of winning a free Galaxy S5, and today we’ve only gone and got ourselves an iPad Air to send someone’s way. It wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our pals over at Misco, an IT service provider and online retailer of all things computing. They’ve supplied us with a “Space Grey,” 16GB WiFi version of Apple’s latest full-fat tablet, meaning you can potentially save yourself £400 with a couple of clicks. Anyone can submit up to three entries via the Rafflecopter widget below, and we’d recommend you give the rules a quick scan while you’re down there. Godspeed.
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the UK, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) iPad Air.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Apple, Misco and Engadget / AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until June 9th at 11:59PM BST. Good luck!
Source: Misco
When a meme goes too far, someone makes a Hodor keyboard
It was Shakespeare who said “brevity is the soul of wit,” and you won’t find a better champion of that statement than Hodor. The gentle giant from Game of Thrones can express seemingly anything using only his name, and now you can be just as concise with the Hodor Keyboard. The Android keyboard replacement swaps the usual line-up of cumbersome characters out for a simple Hodor button, all for a mere $0.99 (or £0.59) — practically a gift from the gods. In other GoT-related news, the show’s officially overtaken The Sopranos as HBO’s most successful, with an average of 18.4 million viewers this season. And, they’re just the ones that watch it legally.
Raise a glass of Arbor Gold. #GameofThrones is the most popular series in @HBO history. Thanks to the worldwide realm for all your support.
– Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) June 5, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Software, Mobile
Source: Google Play (Hodor Keyboard)
Watch a man jump off a 45-story building, thankfully wearing a jetpack
Testing a jetpack is one thing. Testing it by jumping off a 45-story building, way up above the zero-bounce concrete streets of Denver, Colorado — well, that requires some rock-hard fuel tanks.
Filed under: Transportation
The world’s largest video game collection just went up for auction
Meet Michael Thomasson. He’s a 31-year-old video game historian who holds the Guinness World Record for the largest video game archive. Now he wants someone else to have it. Thomasson admits that he’d rather not sell his 11,000+ game collection, which includes full catalogues for platforms including Dreamcast, Saturn, Virtual Boy and Lynx, but due to family commitments he’s decided to offer it up to the highest bidder. It went up on auction site Game Gavel a couple of days ago with a starting bid of $1, and it’s already reached $50,000 ahead of the June 15th deadline. If you’re dying to become a world record holder and have the necessary space to store it all, the collection is said to be worth somewhere between $700,000 and $800,000. We wonder if he’ll accept installments.
[Image credit: Techspot]
Via: Kotaku
Source: Game Gavel
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