Tim Cook Visits Apple’s New Austin Campus, Says ‘Exciting’ Products Coming
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Apple’s brand new campus in Austin, Texas today at its opening celebration, according to various Apple employees. Cook recapped the announcements Apple made at WWDC earlier this week and teased that “exciting” new products are on the way, reports 9to5Mac.
Image via Spencer O’Dell
Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue was also in attendance, commenting about Beats Music and Beats Electronics. Cook also reportedly talked about new hires, mentioning how new retail head Angela Ahrendts was the best person for the job.
Many Apple employees took to Twitter and Instagram to share Cook’s visit to the campus, which is similar in style to the current Cupertino headquarters and complete with advanced facilities for Apple support, engineering and operations. Only part of the first phase of construction has been completed, with the complete first phase expected to finish by the end of 2015 and the entire project to be completed by 2021.
Healthcare.gov revamp promises simpler sign-ups
It’s almost universally accepted that Healthcare.gov’s launch was an absolute nightmare. The next iteration may very well not be, thanks to the new blood that’s been working tirelessly on a redesign since last November. As Wired tells it, once the revamped site launches this November 15th, it will employ something that was missing the first go ’round at all levels: common sense. That means the site will use Amazon’s cloud services as a back-end (just like Netflix and Instagram), which should help avoid the black-outs from overloaded servers version 1.0 suffered. What’s more, the sign-in system has been vastly simplified. Instead of using a login requiring a special character like an underscore or a dollar sign, your email address acts as a username. A new option to sample plans without inputting any personal info will be implemented as well, and the entire process has been optimized for those scoping out plans on a mobile device. If you weren’t among the initial 5.4 million insured under the Affordable Care Act, this fall might be the time to start a new application.
[Image credit: Alex E. Proimos/Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Source: Wired
Engadget Daily: LG G3 review, Xbox One performance and more!
Today, we review LG’s latest handset, gain insight into how significantly the Kinect affects the Xbox One’s performance, go hands-on with Google’s secretive 3D-mapping tablet and learned about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
LG G3 review: the company’s best phone yet
The G3 may only look like it’s made of metal, but we’re not holding any grudges. LG’s 5.5-inch handset has 10-hour battery life and top-shelf specs, not to mention the nicest display on the market. Assuming it’s not too pricey, the G3 could be one of the best Android phones available.
Microsoft admits the Xbox One performs better without Kinect features
Despite the fact that the One’s Kinect has its own onboard processor, it apparently does weigh the console down to some degree. Thanks to the June update, however, developers can access “up to 10 percent additional GPU performance by re-allocating a few resources.
Google’s secretive 3D-mapping project now has a tablet: here it is
Remember Google’s sensor-loaded, 3D-mapping smartphone called Project Tango? Well, today we went hands-on with its new tablet counterpart. And yes, the slate is also replete with sensors and high-spec cameras.
Barnes & Noble teams up with Samsung for its newest Nook tablet
We knew that Barnes & Noble was working with someone else to develop future Nook devices, we just didn’t know who. But today, the company announced that it partnered with none other than Samsung to develop the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, which will launch in August.
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Richard Dawkins blames fairy tales for making kids unscientific
What sort of grumpy academic would pick a fight with Santa Claus? Well, actually, not Richard Dawkins. The prominent zoologist, atheist and skeptic is no stranger to controversy, but his recent, widely quoted comments at a UK science festival run much deeper than just hating on one specific fairy-tale character. Rather, he’s worried about the entire tradition of promoting make-believe to children, and he makes a decent argument. His real concern is that kids are being guided away from a scientific way of thinking before they’ve had much of a chance to look at the world for themselves. “It’s pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism,” he says, because they already “get enough of that anyway.” Dawkins suggests that rather than going along with “magical fantasies,” adults should be “fostering a spirit of skepticism” instead. Check out fuller coverage at the Daily Telegraph if you think you can handle some of the other negative things he says about frogs and princesses.
Filed under: Science
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Tinder takes on Snapchat with self-destructing photo feature Moments
Tinder figured out a way to make casual, location-based hookups a little less creepy. But apparently connecting you with someone 30 feet away who just happens to like the cut of your jib isn’t enough. Now the service is getting in to the so-called “ephemeral photo” game. Moments is a new feature being added to the matchmaking app for posting self-destructing photos. But this isn’t exactly a Snapchat killer. The idea is less about sharing photos of your private parts and more about letting your matches get to know you a bit better. When you view your matches you’ll see a new button allowing you to share a photo, then people either swipe left or right for “like” or “nope,” just like they do with a person’s profile photo. Plus, rather than a matter of seconds, images survive in Moments for a full 24 hours. (Oh, and you’re sending them to all your matches… not just the ones that happen to enjoy the fine art of sexting.)
The moments you share allow people to get to know you a little better, but also allow you to see who is really interested. Maybe that cute blonde that popped up on your commute one morning isn’t one for instigating conversation, but she might like every photo of your cat to express her interest. You aren’t limited to straight snapshots either. You can scribble all over your pics with the integrated drawing tools to add a bit of whimsy, add text or an Instagram-esque filter. For Tinder it’s about moving beyond just dating and becoming more of a true social network. There are additional features on deck too that are designed to ensure that Tinder isn’t viewed as just a hookup app. Though the company is being pretty guarded about the details at the moment. The update with Moments is available now if you hit your app store of choice.
Filed under: Software
Source: Tinder, TechCrunch
GOG is launching its own PC game platform and client, but it’s optional
Anyone who’s ever bought a game on Steam or Origin is familiar with the concept of a desktop client, but what if managing your game library through a piece of software was merely an option instead of a necessity? That’s the question GOG is exploring: the retro PC game seller just announced GOG Galaxy: a new PC gaming platform that promises to provide customers with auto-updating games, a player communication portal and the ability to play multiplayer games with both GOG Galaxy friends and users on other platforms. Oh, and like everything else in GOG’s library, the client and every game that uses it will be completely DRM free.
GOG touts the new platform as completely optional — you won’t need to be online to launch or play your games, and you don’t even need to use it if you prefer downloading games from the company’s website — but there are a few restrictions. Naturally, gamers who want to play online will need to be connected, and tracking achievements or chatting with friends will of course require a profile, but the company stresses that those are optional features. You’ll never need it to play your games, but if you want it, it’s coming. Check out the teaser video below and stay tuned: GOG says it will announce more details later this year.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: GOG
Canon serves up its own cloud-based image repository
We’re shooting images with DLSRs, point-and-shoots, GoPros and smartphone cameras these days, so keeping all of those snaps in one place can be a chore. Looking to help ease the workflow, Canon has introduced irista: its own cloud-based storage service for wrangling all of those photos in a similar fashion as Dropbox’s Carousel. As you might expect, the interface is driven by search and tag features alongside a customizable timeline and tiled UI. Details like lens type, location and more can be tacked on to each image for easy sorting. There aren’t any dedicated mobile apps, but you can automatically sync files with a desktop app, manually through a web interface and directly from both Facebook and Flickr libraries. In terms of space, you’ll get 10GB for free — which can fill up quickly if you’re taking a ton of photographs at larger sizes. 50GB and 100GB tiers are available too, at £4.49/€4.99 per month (£45.00/€49.00 per year) and £9.99/€10.99 per month (£99.00/€109.00 per year) respectively. In comparison with Dropbox, that’s 8GB more space before shelling out funds, but it’s 5GB less than Google Drive’s no-cost option.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Canon
Source: irista
Turn your Galaxy Note 2 into an Android 4.4.2 Toting Galaxy Note 3 / Galaxy S5 Hybrid with ezKAT
Hardware has a lifespan. That lifespan is something we try to prolong as long as possible. Nobody like spending money if there’s another way to prevents needing to do so. The manufacturers try to persuade us that we should simply scrap our old technology and upgrade to the latest and greatest and pour out a long list of enhancements that will make our life better. Generally all they do add some pretty cool upgrades to their devices from the latest and greatest processor and camera optics to finger print scanners and larger batteries. The question is; if you just upgraded your software to the latest and greatest versions, would that leap to a new device be significant enough to persuade you? Maybe ezKAT for the Samsung Galaxy Note II will help you decide.
This is especially so for cell phone manufacturers who want us to upgrade our devices a maximum of every two years. The normal cycle nowadays seems to be more around 12 months if we are lucky.
Enter the Android community!
So when the community gets together and takes the new features and ports them back into our older devices so they can last a little longer, we all smile and say a big thanks.
Head over to XDA-Developers and you’ll find an overwhelming resource of updates, modifications and tweaks for almost every phone on the planet.
I spend half my life on XDA and that’s where my latest upgrade to my aging Samsung Galaxy Note II came from.
My Note II is now more of a hybrid of Samsung Galaxy Note II and Samsung Galaxy S5 with features galore. It’s running Android 4.4.2 Kitkat and it has a completely new lease of life that makes me question upgrading my faithful Note II.
If you have a Samsung Galaxy Note II from AT&T, T-Mobile or the N7105, then you should read on.
Where did this all come from you may ask? well, XDA-Developers is simply a hub of information and only exists due to the rapidly expanding community of developers and users. The developer of this particular firmware is eZdubzitmk4. One of the top developers I’ve had the pleasure of following. his work is meticulous and the support he provides is as good as it can possibly get.
eZdubzitmk4 has put together a custom ROM by the name of ezKAT which is based off the official n7105 Android kitkat 4.4.2 release. He took the base, various applications, settings and tweaks from the Samsung Galaxy Note III and the Samsung Galaxy S5 and combines them into this piece of art.
When release it had the following feature list:
- All n3 features including Air Command
- S5 apps including settings
- Quick reply text option. (Go to sms settings then notifications)
- Status bar gradient colors, clock mods, gesture controls, and battery bar (SEE THIS THREAD FOR INSTRUCTIONS)
- Clock mods – see above link
- Network Speed
- CPU status in notification pulldown
- MIUI battery bar customizable
- Some tweaks for speed, more to come also
- Added lots of themes for the launcher, already installed
The ROM is currently at version 2.0 and a 2.5 release is due any day.
This is only the beginning as more and more add-ons and tweaks are provided in the thread on XDA and as downloads added by eZdubzitmk4 himself.
Installation is fairly simple with only a couple of learnt lessons to deal with, but once you’re done, you’ll never look back.
You need to be flash savvy to perform any procedures like this. Your phone needs to be rooted and have a modified recovery installed. You can find lots of help on XDA to achieve this.
All the files required for this firmware and add-ons can be found on XDA. Most of the main ones can be found in the ezKAT thread.
The steps for installation are: ( Sorry if I missed anything )
- Download the ROM ZIP and other suggested files and copy them your SD card
- Reboot into your recovery program.
- Backup your existing ROM.
- Wipe everything you can. Dalvik, Cache, System, Data, etc. Multiple wipes can sometimes help you out too.
- Flash the ROM ZIP file using your recovery program.
- Flash the provided Keyboard Fix OR Galaxy S5 Keyboard
- Flash a new modem image if required.
- Reboot your phone and let it boot completely.
- At this point, you may or may not have a keyboard to type with. It’s possible you’ll only have Google Voice Typing available.
If you only have Google Voice Typing, skip through the initial setup, as you won’t be able to sign into your WiFi.
Once you’re completely booted, go into Settings –> Language and Input and enable a real keyboard. - Now you need to go and set up your APN to get connected to your mobile network.
- Reboot into recovery once more and flash Super SU 1.99 to give you root access.
If you encounter any other issues along the way, be sure to go check in at the thread on XDA and you’ll normally find answers to most of the questions and problems that you may encounter.
Here are the recommended AT&T LTE APN Settings:
- Name: ATT Phone
- APN: Phone
- MMSC: HTTP://mmsc.mobile.att.net
- MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
- MMS port: 80
- MCC: 310
- MNC: 410
- APN type: default,mms,supl
- APN protocol: IPv4
- Enable/disable APN: APN enabled
- Bearer: Unspecified
If you have issues connecting to your Mobile network, you can find plenty of other resources around for setting up your APN.
Now your phone is running Android 4.4.2 Kitkat in the form of ezKAT and you’ll have awesome performance and battery life and your phone will feel like it has a new lease on life.
Once your up and running, head back to XDA and check out all the add-ons you can flash on top of ezKAT and continue to personalize your phone just the way you want it. There are other S5 applications you can install, one of my favorites being the Galaxy S5 email client. It has all the whiz bang new features like being able to slide your emails to delete them.
The possibilities are endless. There’s also a new kernel from AGNi that solves various issues with some devices not getting good or any Wifi at all. The other big added benefit is even more battery life and tweaking.
There are also many caveats that go along with customizing your phone with new Recovery images, Firmware and Kernels. All I can say is “Read, read and read again”. Make sure you’re clear about the path you want to take. Make sure you understand what you are doing. Doing some of these steps incorrectly can result in bricked devices that are no good for anything, but that doesn’t happen very often anymore.
If you’re not sure about something and you can’t find an answer reading through the forums, ask questions and wait for the answers. The support you’ll get from the community and from eZdubzitmk4, the developer of this ROM, is nothing short of outstanding. You’ll get more support from the community and these guys than you ever will get from your carriers.
Always remember that these guys and gals do this for free and out of the passion for the community. Remember to thank people and even donate a few dollars to buy them a beer if you really love their work.
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Apple Managers Didn’t Know How Spotify Worked, Engineers Used Pandora Over iTunes Radio
Engineers working on iTunes Radio prefer to listen to Spotify and Pandora because they were better platforms, according to a new report from Buzzfeed. It claims that not only did those employees prefer Apple’s competitors over its own radio service, but it says middle management was willfully ignorant about how Spotify worked, thinking it was just another streaming service.
It’s “why they thought iTunes Radio would be a Spotify killer,” said one employee. The piece alleges that Apple has been overly focused on driving downloads on iTunes and slow to adapt to a shift in user listening preferences towards subscription-based services.
Past and current employees in the company with direct knowledge of iTunes and Apple’s services Ping and iTunes Radio told BuzzFeed that Apple engineers involved with those products often preferred to use Spotify and Pandora. “Everyone’s excuse was it’s because we work on iTunes, running and closing the app after every code change,” one source said. “But it’s really because Spotify has all the free music with a real social platform.” In their personal time, sources said, employees used Spotify and Pandora.
Apple employees confirmed that management actively ignored iTunes’ streaming competitors, with some managers refusing to open or use Spotify. One source said that as recently “as last year,” some members of management didn’t even know that Spotify was an on-demand streaming service, assuming it was just a radio service.
The disconnect between employees, along with a belief that Spotify and Pandora weren’t real threats to iTunes, may have been a significant contributing factor to Apple’s slowness to embrace streaming music. A reluctance to cut into its iTunes sales was also likely a factor, as it was the platform that revolutionized the music industry back in 2003.
According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple’s main goal with iTunes Radio was boosting both device sales and sales of iTunes music, which largely ignored the real problem — the growing popularity of on-demand streaming music and the products being offered by competitors. iTunes Radio was viewed as a “baby step” into the streaming music industry when what Apple really needed was a leap.
Apple had a similar issue back in 2010 when it launched Ping. Designed as a social networking and music recommendation service, Ping was created to push users to purchase songs rather than as a true effort towards improving recommendations, which ultimately led to its failure in 2012. “The biggest reason why Ping failed was because Apple was not interested in making a network — they were interested in making a purchase pusher,” said one of Buzzfeed‘s sources.
With the purchase of Beats, it appears that Apple is finally ready to make a significant leap into the streaming music industry, though a cautious one. The company reportedly plans to keep Beats as a standalone brand rather than integrating it directly into iTunes, which gives it a safety net should the service ultimately fail.
Along with the streaming music service itself, Apple is also gaining fresh blood for its music endeavors. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, both of whom are set to join Apple as employees, both have extensive experience in the music industry and an invaluable rapport with a younger generation of listeners.
Angry owl is angry: ASUS does a badass gaming headset
When ASUS announced its new mainstream gaming sub-brand Strix two weeks ago, it also unveiled the Strix Pro gaming headset which, to be frank, didn’t look that good in the official renders. Luckily, we stumbled across the real deal at Computex, and its glowing orange owl eyes immediately got us fixated on them. These cans feature a “thunderous” 60mm neodymium-magnet driver in each side, and they’re further enhanced by noise cancellation — enabled by the USB control box — that’s apparently over 90 percent effective. Conveniently, the microphone boom is detachable, so that you can use the headset as a normal pair of headphones.
Alas, we weren’t able to test the headset properly at the booth, but it did feel comfortable thanks to the hexagonal ear cushions and the top cushioned elastic band. If you want one, we’ve been told that the Strix Pro will be priced around $100 when it gradually rolls out globally starting in July.
Hands-on photos by Zach Honig.
AIVAnet 