Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone update expands Cortana to more countries
More than three months after the first builds of Windows Phone 8.1 hit the scene, Microsoft is ready to tick more features off the to-do list with the OS’s first refresh. Known aptly as Update 1, the download will be available as a developer preview starting next week. Understandably, Cortana is on the top of the release notes, because the beta program will officially expand to the UK and China as promised in April. This means users in both countries can enjoy different voices and more localized options, such as air quality info (in China specifically), local celebrities, specialized suggestions and commute times. Additionally, the Chinese version supports Mandarin and comes with unique animations, sounds and other visual features.
Fortunately, the expansion efforts don’t stop here: Users in Canada, Australia or India will be treated to an alpha English version of the personal assistant, which means it’ll be a bit rough around the edges for now. It’s all opt-in, however, so there’s no pressure if you’d rather wait for the finished product. Finally, Cortana fans in the US also get a few new goodies: In addition to snooze times for reminders, extra natural language scenarios and more Easter Eggs (“do an impersonation”), she can also integrate with your Bluetooth car kit (provided that kit comes with support for phone contacts). While driving, initiate voice prompts and say “Call Cortana” to start doing voice commands. Admittedly, this process can be streamlined even more, but it’s at least a way to let you use the voice assistant safely on the road.
Update 1 also includes folder support, which Microsoft is calling Live Folders. Drag one Live Tile over another and let the magic happen; you can now expand the folders to show the tiles inside, or keep them collapsed for a tile-within-a-tile view. The Windows Phone Store also got a Live Tile which refreshes updates and new titles on your Start screen, and you can also now select multiple SMS messages for faster merging, forwarding and deleting.
Microsoft’s added a new mode called Apps Corner, which makes it possible to give guests access to specific apps and keep them out of the rest of your device. Much like Kids Corner, the feature brings up a sandboxed Start screen with only the apps you want other people to see; you can, however, boot straight into one particular app. This will be most useful for developers who are showing their app to testers, investors and other interested parties; it could also come in handy for retail demos, among other things. There are a few other small improvements thrown into the new update, so check out Microsoft’s blog post for more information.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
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It’s time to crowdfund the first step towards giant car-juggling robots
A robot that can juggle cars. And without any involvement from Michael Bay. That’s the dream. Well, maybe it’s just our dream, but a new Kickstarter project is trying to make it happen. It’s (giant robot-sized) baby-steps to start with with: the initial prototype, costing $50,000, will only be juggling weights up to a 235lb (107kg) cannonball. This early model will use the same controls and hydraulic components as the car-juggling final model, just scaled down. The robot’s interface is a wearable sleeve and glove, which will control the robot through user movement and provide haptic feedback, offering a “proportional force” when the robot catches heavy weights. If you want an idea of what Dan Granett’s BugJuggler will eventually look like, there’s a car-hurling render video right after the Kickstarter pitch — both are right after the break. And if you’re willing to stump up more than $5,000 you’ll even get the chance to through cannonball hoops with the early prototype.
Filed under: Robots
Via: Gizmodo
Source: BugJuggler (Kickstarter)
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Motorola Nexus 6 is Huge! Galaxy S4 Catches Fire! – ManDroid Quickie
It is Tuesday, so time to talk Android with you quick status. The Motorola Nexus 6 speculation has increased, but man is that phone going to be huge. Hopefully there will be a smaller version when they announce it. Another Galaxy S4 catches fire, but you can’t fully blame the phone for that. Enjoy the video!
Android News
Motorola Nexus 6
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Snapdragon 805
Galaxy S4 catches fire
Instagram’s Bolt
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Illinois woman perishes after trying to save her smartphone from a burning Home
A lot has been made of our current generation and the fact that many of us cannot survive without a smartphone. You can see it anywhere you go, people who cannot put their phones down, perhaps in fear that they will miss something in their virtual life as real life passes by around them. While that doesn’t have consequences for us on a daily basis, one woman in Illinois has paid the ultimate price for that link to her phone after she tried to save her smartphone from a burning home.
Wendy Rybolt of Bartonville, Illinois, actually escaped with her daughter from her burning home initially, however, it was at this point that Wendy decided to re-enter the home to retrieve her phone. Police and firefighters who arrived on the scene tried to reach her in time, but it is believed the smoke overcame her. As a grim reminder to us all, Chief Brian Fengel of the Bartonville Police Department said:
“Material things can be replaced. You never want to go back in to retrieve anything. In this, there was heavy smoke. Carbon monoxide will get you, and you may not even know it.”
Source: CINewsNow.com via Phone Arena
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Making an indie game for Xbox One costs just over $5,000
So let’s say that you want to quit your day job and start making indie games. It’s a noble pursuit to to be sure, and with Microsoft’s Independent Developers @ Xbox program for Xbox One, it’s supposedly pretty easy. What Redmond doesn’t tell you, however, is just how much it’ll cost you. That’s where Jamie Fristrom, the developer behind Sixty Second Shooter Prime comes in. On his blog, Fristrom breaks how much everything from URL registration and maintenance ($19) to paying to have the game rated in foreign markets ($2,042) costs, with the total coming in at $5,143 — a stark contrast to something like Destiny‘s $140 million price-tag. He notes that even with Redmond giving away free development kits, Xbox isn’t the cheapest indie platform around but that the costs to publish there were “absolutely worth it.” What’s more, he says that if you choose to skip stuff like releasing in other territories, making a game for under $3,000 could be totally feasible. Good to know.
And even though he’s yet to see Prime‘s first sales report, Fristrom estimates that given the game’s leaderboard population he’s more than covered the cost of development and even made a living wage. How’s that two-week notice looking now?
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Happion Laboratories
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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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AIVAnet 