Instragrams Brings Us ‘Bolt’ that will Compete with Snapchat
So many social media outlets…so little time to download and use them all. Instagram took the world by storm, because everyone loves to take pictures of themselves or what they are currently doing. I think most of us were satisfied by Instagram’s features of just posting filtered pictures, but of course that is never enough for the people who develop these apps. Instagram has introduced a new app called “Bolt”, that will compete with Snapchat, because it pretty much is Snapchat Instagramified.
- One tap takes a photo or records a video. As soon as you lift your finger, it sends.
- Photos and videos are always unedited so people can see the world as you do.
- Easily caption photos and videos.
- Go back and forth by replying to your friends with text, photos or videos.
- Swipe photos away and they’re gone.
- Organize your 20 Favorites in whatever order works for you.
- Sign up with your phone number, no email address needed.
Those are just a few features you will find with Bolt, but don’t get too excited Americans. This app is not available for us quite yet, but you people living outside the States should be fine. This app should most likely do better than Facebook’s Slingshot app, that tried to bring the same kind of concept to Facebook Messenger. Facebook should just stop trying to be what it’s not. So click the link below to try out Bolt. Let us know how it is.
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Samsung’s phone market share takes a bruising as Chinese rivals surge
Samsung warned that its smartphone sales weren’t that great this spring, and now we have the numbers to show just what the company meant. IDC estimates that Samsung’s smartphone shipments saw a rare year-over-year drop in the second quarter, taking it from a lofty 32.3 percent market share down to 25.2 percent. That’s still enough to give it a comfortable lead, but a shock for a company which is used to growth. The cause, analysts say, is the rapid rise of Chinese brands that cut directly into Samsung’s low-end business. Huawei claimed 6.9 percent of the smartphone space after doubling its shipments, thanks in part to heavy discounts on phones like the Ascend P7; Lenovo jumped to 5.4 percent on the back of both budget phones at home as well as rapid expansion abroad.
Both Apple (11.9 percent) and LG (4.9 percent) lost share, although IDC notes that their shipments were up. Also, neither firm was expected to have a stellar season. LG only just launched its hot-selling G3 flagship at the tail end of the spring, while many expect Apple to jumpstart sales with at least one new iPhone in September. It may be trickier for Samsung to bounce back, however. The spring was supposed to represent a big spike in sales as the Galaxy S5 arrived, but that didn’t materialize. The company is pinning its hopes on both a new Galaxy Note and a mountain of budget phones. However, historically, neither has sold as well as the Galaxy S series.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, LG, Lenovo
Via: AppleInsider
Source: IDC
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Verizon’s FiOS Xbox apps now let you watch ‘The Walking Dead,’ er, live
Verizon’s FiOS app has been leading the way on the Xbox One live-TV front, and now it’s getting a handful more channels in its stable. If you’re a subscriber, you now have access to the likes of AMC HD, Showtime, Encore, Bloomberg TV and ten others. As Verizon tells it, this brings the total channel count to 88 across both the Xbox 360 and its younger brother, the Xbox One. Whether you’re going to use them to keep up with the exploits of the Ricktatorship or Homeland, however, is up to you.
var bc_params = “api”:”hybrid”,”playerId”:”83327935001″,”playerKey”:”AQ~~,AAAAAAuyCbQ~,-gfAmfm8njJ8S-9E4q2UfzG931rvkxuP”;
brightcove.createExperiences();
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Verizon
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Follow-up Amazon Kindle Fire HDX may carry a Snapdragon 805
Last year’s Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 was a pretty impressive piece of kit, if you could forgive the forked Android operating system that was on it. It looks like Amazon may be readying a follow-up Amazon Kindle Fire HDX tablet after an incriminating benchmark was spotted on the AnTuTu database. With an identical screen-size of 8.9-inches, the new HDX tablet looks like it will be powered by the fastest Qualcomm processor on the market right now, the Snapdragon 805, 2GB RAM and have a screen resolution of 2560×1600.
The benchmark also suggests that the HDX will have Android 4.4.4, but that is certain to be Amazon’s own forked operating system. If this benchmark is true, it definitely looks like an impressive piece of kit, particularly if you’re invested in the Amazon ecosystem. As always though, we’ll be taking this benchmark with a grain of salt since we haven’t heard any official word, but we definitely wouldn’t complain if this device were to be released later this year.
What do you think about a possible follow-up Amazon Kindle Fire HDX? Did you like last year’s version? Let us know your opinion.
Source: AnTuTu via Phone Arena
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Facebook is killing its Gifts service, still wants you to buy stuff
Mark Zuckerberg’s experiment in social network retail has finally come to an end: on August 12th, Facebook Gifts will close forever. The company’s gift feature grew from its acquisition of the social gifting app Karma, selling teddy bears, socks and chocolates drop shipped directly to your Facebook friends. Eventually Facebook discovered that gift cards took the lion’s share of sales and discontinued physical gifts altogether. Now the company says it’s refocusing its resources on programs that help businesses increase sales through Facebook, rather than selling product themselves. So, in short, the “Buy” button is here to stay, but you’ll have to enable your friends’ Starbucks habit elsewhere.
Filed under: Networking, Internet, Facebook
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Google now shows what you can do near your hotel
When you land in a strange new city, your first instinct may be to see what there is to do near your hotel. However, searching Google for nearby attractions can be a hassle if you don’t remember your hotel’s name or address by heart. That memorization is no longer necessary after today, though — Google has updated its search engine to use the booking confirmation in your Gmail as a locator. If you want to look for a late-night diner, all you have to do is ask Google to “show restaurants around my hotel.” You can also get directions to or from your accommodations, so you should reach a welcoming bed (or your flight) just a little bit faster. The addition makes the most sense if you’re using voice search in one of Google’s mobile apps, but any traveler can give it a spin.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google
Source: Google+
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Engadget Daily: EA Access, upgrading your dumb home on a budget and more!
Today, we review LG’s Heart Rate Monitor earphones, learn how to upgrade your dumb home on a budget, check out Apple’s new Retina Macbook Pros and learn about a new Xbox game-streaming service called EA Access. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
How to make your dumb home smarter without spending a fortune
Want to make your home smarter, but can’t afford premium services like ADT Smart Home or Vivint? Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a list of the best (and more importantly, affordable) gadgets that can upgrade you abode.
‘EA Access’ subscription on Xbox One brings all-you-can-eat gaming for $5 per month
Look out PlayStation Now. Earlier today, Microsoft and EA announced their own game subscription service called EA Access. For only $5 per month, users get unlimited access to a vault of games, including Peggle 2 and Battlefield 4.
Apple gives Retina MacBook Pros a speed boost ahead of Yosemite rollout
OS X Yosemite is reportedly due sometime this October, but Apple’s not waiting around to revamp its line of Retina Macbook Pros. As of today, both the 15- and 13-inch models received a few upgrades in preparation for the upcoming OS.
LG Heart Rate Monitor Earphone review: good fitness gadget, poor earphones
LG’s Heart Rate Monitor Earphones (which do exactly what you’d expect) mean you need one less gadget to track your workout. The only problem? These Bluetooth buds sound pretty bad.
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Filed under: Misc
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Skullcandy’s Method sports buds will get tunes stuck in your head
If you’ve ever gone running with earbuds, you’ll be familiar with the condition “pushem-backin-itis.” It’s an affliction that troubles many music-loving joggers once they break a sweat. Some companies prescribe over-ear hooks, or “wing tips” to combat this; Skullcandy is taking a different approach. Its new “Method” and “The Chops” in-ear lines come with sensual “Stickygel” technology. No points for figuring out what that is. Skullcandy claims their proprietary bud gels are 30 percent more loving to your earlobes (well, the skin at least) than standard tips. We mean loving in the attachment sense of the word. The sensual part? The adhesive action only kicks in once you work up a sweat, so you’ve got to earn that affection. As per always with Skullcandy, there’s a choice of colors and styles — and at $30 for the Methods, the grabby part doesn’t extend to your wallet, either.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Source: Skullcandy
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Xiaomi leapfrogs Apple for number 2 spot in China, Samsung next in Sights
Xiaomi is a name that is still very foreign in the Western smartphone market, though they have recently been on the radar courtesy of their bold “Hunger Marketing” campaigns which generally result in thousands of devices being sold in not much time at all. While that in itself may not be impressive news to you, you may need to start paying a bit more attention to to the Chinese manufacturer as Xiaomi leapfrogs Apple for the number two spot in the Chinese smartphone market. From January, 2014 to May, 2014, a Kantar WorldPanel report says that Xiaomi has comfortably overtaken Apple, capturing a 21% market share compared to Apple’s 16% in the rapidly expanding market. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, Samsung‘s share in China sits at 23% which may eventually start getting eaten into by Xiaomi.
There is a small amount of irony in Xiaomi leapfrogging Apple when the Chinese manufacturer was often referred to as the “Apple of China”. Though where Apple aims for the premium market, Xiaomi’s products offer flagship performance for ridiculously low prices; case in point, Xiaomi’s latest flagship, the Mi4, costs only $320 USD for a device powered by a Snapdragon 801. In fact, so impressive are Xiaomi’s products that Kantar is reporting that 70% of its buyers are switching from a device made by a different manufacturer (mostly Samsung), with another 20% upgrading from an older Xiaomi device.
What do you think about Xiaomi’s success in China? Do you think they could do well in the Western markets? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
Source: Kantar via Phone Arena
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OWC Shares Mid-2014 Retina MacBook Pro Unboxing, SSD Tests [Mac Blog]
Following this morning’s release of Retina MacBook Pros with improved Haswell processors, OWC has procured both the entry-level 13-inch and and the entry-level 15-inch 2014 Retina MacBook Pro and provided a gallery of unboxing photos featuring the new devices.
As expected, the packaging on the updated versions is the same as previous-generation Retina MacBook Pros. The site did a quick teardown as well, revealing the internals of the new machines, which also appear unchanged.
Internal view of the mid-2014 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro
OWC also conducted some speed tests on the solid state drives of the two machines, testing the 128 GB drive of the entry-level 13-inch version and the 256 GB drive of the entry-level 15-inch model using QuickBench 4.0.
The 15-inch machine (equipped with a Samsung SSD) saw random read/write speeds much higher than that of the 13-inch version, averaging in at 194 MB/s for random reads and 322 MB/s for random writes and 262/245 MB/s for sequential read/writes.
The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, meanwhile, saw average random read/write speeds of 165/131 MB/s and average sequential read/write speeds of 263/244 MB/s with its Marvell-controlled SanDisk SSD.
Launched earlier today, the new Retina MacBook Pros feature upgraded Haswell processors, more standard RAM for entry-level machines (8 GB for the 13-inch model, 16 GB for the 15-inch model) and a $100 price cut for the high-end 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The refreshed Retina MacBook Pros are available at Apple retail stores and in its online store.
For the full array of unboxing and teardown images, make sure to check out OWC’s blog post.
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AIVAnet 