Privacy-focused Blackphone starts shipping for $630
If you missed our coverage during Mobile World Congress, then here’s what you need to know about Blackphone: it’s a mid-spec Android smartphone that comes pre-subscribed to (and pre-installed with) a bunch of privacy and anti-surveillance services, for a price of $629 off-contract. It’s the offspring of a joint venture between Silent Circle and Geeksphone, who together have just announced that the first batch of devices is now shipping to customers who pre-ordered during the initial publicity rush. Everyone else will have the opportunity to place an order once general sales start on July 14th. Check out our hands-on video from MWC below, but bear in mind that the device was only at prototype stage back then, and it wasn’t entirely stable.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Blackphone (PR Newsire)
Record-breaking magnet crams three tons of force into the size of a golf ball
University of Cambridge scientists have broken a decade-old superconducting record by packing a 17.6 Tesla magnetic field into a golf ball-sized hunk of crystal — equivalent to about three tons of force. The team used high temperature superconductors that work at -320 degrees F or so — not exactly balmy, but less frigid than the -460 degrees F needed for regular superconductors. With zero resistance, superconducting materials can carry up to 100 times more current than copper wires, but the resulting magnetic fields create huge internal forces. Since the cuprate materials used for the record are as fragile as dried pasta, they can actually explode under the strain. To get around it, the team modified the material’s microstructure and “shrink-wrapped” it in stainless steel. That produced the largest magnetic field ever trapped in a standalone material at any temperature, according to the team. The research might eventually lead to more secure and efficient power transmission, better scanners and yes, levitating monorails.
[Image credit: University of Cambridge]
Filed under: Science
Via: Science Daily
Source: University of Cambridge
Download all the Android L Apps [APK]
We’ve already seen a lot of Android L goodness, from wallpapers to keyboards, but now thanks to the guys over at XDA, you can download all the apps that come with Android L all at once.
The list is pretty extensive and contains all the Android L app .APK’s, some of which will be more useful to you than others.
Nonetheless, hit the link here to download them all in bulk, or here to download each app individually.
The post Download all the Android L Apps [APK] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
LA school officials shift from free iPads to laptops and hybrids
An iPad for every student was the plan. Then, some students were too smart for their own good, quickly enabling their for-learnin’ iPads to access to anything on the web, including Twitter, Facebook and all that other fun stuff. LA’s school district now plans to differentiate what it offers its students, authorizing purchases for one of six different devices, including laptops and hybrids such as Chromebooks, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 2 and Lenovo’s Yoga Touch. This fall, teachers and students will test these laptops to see if they fit. “The benefit of the new approach is clear,” said Los Angeles school board member Monica Ratliff, talking to the LA Times. “Why would we treat all our students – whether they are a first-grader or a high school freshman – as if they all had the same technology needs? They don’t.”
Last year’s iPad scheme rolled out to 47 schools, but alongside those aforementioned security filter woes, distribution of the tablets soon fell behind schedule. Worse still, educational materials were apparently often incomplete. (In the new scheme, materials from three different publishers are also being trialled) Given the touchscreen keyboards, iPads were apparently difficult to use while sometimes exam problems were often obscured due to the screen size. iPad distribution across LA’s school district remains on hold, although some school are still scheduled to receive them later this year.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Apple, Microsoft
Source: LA Times
A piece about a smart pelvic floor exerciser, written by someone totally out of their depth
The quantified self movement is all about strapping gadgets to our bodies to tell us that we don’t get enough exercise. The trend may have neglected certain parts of the body, which is something that adult toy manufacturer Minna Life wants to fix. At least, that’s the idea behind the — wait for it — kGoal pelvic floor trainer. The hardware tells users how strong their pelvic floor muscles are, offering real-time feedback on strength as well as enabling people to track their performance.
Consisting of a squeezable, air-filled pillow and wireless dongle, the kGoal pairs with your smartphone to give you a strength rating and show you how you can improve, and the company is even working on games to try and make the experience more, erm, entertaining. Bedroom matters aside, the pelvic floor also contributes to a healthy bladder, and women frequently struggle to maintain it, according to UCSF Medical Center Professor Liz Miracle. Her patients frequently say that they’ve been unable to keep up their exercises, since there’s a lack of feedback to let them know how well they’re doing. The kGoal is designed to remedy that, as well as improving performance in more intimate scenarios. Obviously, the product is on Kickstarter, and $99 will you get an early-bird discount, while the Johnny-come-latelys will be asked to spend $125.
Filed under: Wearables
Via: The Daily Dot
Source: Kickstarter
Google drops Quickoffice now that its own apps can handle your work
Google bought Quickoffice to boost the productivity of its Apps suite, and it clearly accomplished that mission when it released a slew of mobile editing tools that merge Quickoffice’s file tech with Google Drive. Accordingly, the search firm is pulling the plug on the earlier software; it’s going to remove Quickoffice from both Apple’s App Store and Google Play “in the coming weeks.” You can still download it after that if you’re an existing fan, but newcomers will have no choice but to use either Google’s apps or their rough equivalents.
The move isn’t surprising, since there’s no need for Google to keep a redundant app hanging around. However, it marks the end to a long, long chapter in cellphone history. Quickoffice was a mainstay of mobile workers before smartphones took off, and it has run on most major (and not-so-major) platforms over the span of roughly 12 years — it’s sad to see the name go, even if the technology will live on.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Apps
HTC Volantis Nexus 9 “Flounder” leaks yet again
Having seen no reference of a new Nexus tablet mentioned at Google I/O, hope was deflated that the various leaks we’d seen about the Nexus 9, or even the Nexus 6 and Nexus 8, were false claims.
However, it seems the codename of what is believed to be the Nexus 9 is still cropping up. Courtesy of @evleaks, a document has been leaked showing off the codename “Flounder”. Unfortunately, much of the screenshot is blurred out, presumably hiding information which is too revealing about the Nexus 9.
Previous leaks have indicated that the Nexus 9 will feature a 8.9-inch display running a 2048 x 1440 (281ppi) resolution, powered by a Tegra K1 64-bit processor with 2GB of RAM.
Although the leaked screenshot doesn’t give much away, it could be summarised that so much information being blocked out means some pretty juicy details under there, indicating that the Nexus 9 and Flounder does exist; the question is more a matter of when than if.
The post HTC Volantis Nexus 9 “Flounder” leaks yet again appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Engadget Japan’s #egfes: drone races, robots, dry ice and a Dyson fan
Just north of Akihabara, Tokyo’s tech epicenter, our Japanese colleagues took over an art gallery (and cafe and basement…) for its premier Engadget Fes. As well as the chance to play with Microsoft’s newest console and Surface Pro 3 (both still not yet on sale in Japan), there was a surfeit of robots, hobbyist gadgets, toys and 3D printers. Oh and a Google X Lunar Prize-winning drone, which heads to the moon next year. Given the price of flights to Tokyo (and despite the weather: torrential rain), we’ve pulled together the best bits below.
Google Voice plans to make transcriptions better with your help
What’s the silliest Google Voice transcription you’ve gotten? That question might have come up during a meet-up with tech-loving friends before — after all, you’re not the only user who’s ever received garbled voicemail-to-text messages. In fact, even Google Tech Lead Manager Alex Wiesen admits they can be “unintentionally hilarious,” to the point that the company’s now asking for your help to make transcriptions better. Now, when you log into Google Voice on the web, you’ll be given the choice to share your voicemail messages (anonymously, thank goodness) to be analyzed for accuracy by automated systems. While you can already submit individual messages for analysis, you’ll automatically be sending the system all your messages, all the time, if you decide to participate in this project. Don’t worry, though: you can always disable it through Google Voice’s settings page in case you change your mind later on.
Source: Alex Wiesen (Google+)
‘Pangu’ Jailbreak for iOS 7.1.x Updated with Support for OS X and English [iOS Blog]
The Pangu development team today updated its jailbreak for iOS 7.1.x bringing support for the English language and OS X systems, as well as a fix for a bug that caused boot loops on iOS devices.
The jailbreak was originally released last week and marked the first time that users were able to deploy an untethered jailbreak on any device running iOS 7.1.1 and below. However, the release was only available for Windows systems and installed “25PP”, which is a third party app store for Chinese users. Pangu’s newest release now disables installation of 25PP for English users by default.
Pangu’s jailbreak tool follows an updated version of the popular Evasi0n jailbreak that was released last year for iOS 7.0 to iOS 7.0.4. However, Evasi0n was also the subject of controversy after Cydia administrator Jay Freeman revealed that evasi0n did not include an official version of Cydia and installed a third party app store called Taig for Chinese users. In response to Freeman’s statement, the evad3rs development team announced the removal of the Taig app store from the jailbreak and apologized for the issues caused by its inclusion.
The updated Pangu jailbreak for iOS 7.1.x can be downloaded directly from the project’s official website.
AIVAnet 