Google Camera lends shutter control to Android Wear smartwatches
If you’re the type that fancies snapping selfies or group shots from a distance, a pending update to Google’s Camera app should lend a hand. The new version of the software allows Android Wear smartwatches to work as remote shutter controls. What’s more, on top of tapping the watch face to snap a picture, the wearable’s screen will display a countdown with an image preview to follow. Unfortunately, that G Watch or Gear Live won’t act as a viewfinder, so you’ll need to sort the composition beforehand. The update might not show up for you in Google Play just yet, but those eager to implement the function can grab the APK over at Droid Life.
Filed under: Wearables, Software, Mobile
Source: Droid Life, Google Camera (Google Play)
Engadget Daily: Samsung’s NX mini, the world’s first video arcade machine and more!
Today, we review the Samsung NX mini, go hands-on with the world’s first video arcade machine, take a look at Acton’s RocketSkates and learn about visual effects techniques used in the Game of Thrones. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Samsung NX mini review: a $450 mirrorless cam that fits in your pocket
Samsung’s latest mirrorless shooter, the NX mini, is cheap ($450), lightweight and has a flip-up LCD that’s perfect for selfies. This camera’s compact size makes it extremely pocketable, but those with larger hands be warned — it has very petite controls.
The world’s first video game arcade machine is a glittery fiberglass wonder
They may look like Teletubbies, but these colorful contraptions are actually a few of the world’s first video arcade machines. Produced in 1971 by the minds behind the Atari, these devices had plenty of glitter and diodes, but weirdly no RAM, processor or ROM.
RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12MPH
Tired of simply promenading the sidewalk? Strap on Acton’s new RocketSkates and you’ll get 45 minutes of effortless cruising, at 12 miles per hour. Contrary to the name, however, these skates aren’t really powered by rockets.
See how digital effects put the spectacle into ‘Game of Thrones’
Even the incredibly deep pockets of HBO can’t make dragons real or build 700-foot tall ice walls. So Game of Thrones relies on effects house Mackevision to bring its creatures and vistas to life.
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Uber driver takes passengers on a 10-minute car chase through Washington D.C.
We’ve had enough trips in taxis, buses, shuttles, Ubers and Lyfts to last a lifetime, but none like the one Ryan Simonetti apparently went on yesterday. The Washington Post reports that Simonetti is the CEO of Convene and was in town on business, preparing to head back to a company office in the area Tuesday afternoon. A self-described “diehard Uber fan,” he booked a trip but when they went to the car there was a D.C. Taxi Inspector discussing something with the driver. As the ride started, the inspector followed, and turned on his lights. The driver told Simonetti “I’m sorry, we’re going to have to run this red light” before take off down I-395, resisting the rider’s calls to stop, saying he would get a $2,000 fine. After an eight to ten-minute chase at “well above the speed limit,” Simonetti’s threats finally convinced the driver to let them off at an exit ramp, before he took off the wrong way on that ramp and escaped into Virginia.
The inspector stayed with Simonetti and the other passengers before taking a regular taxi the rest of the way. D.C. Taxicab Commission spokesman Neville Waters told the Post it is investigating the matter, and in a statement, Uber said it has deactivated the driver pending the outcome. According to Waters, the inspector was checking to make sure the pickup was done through Uber’s app and not as a street hail, which would be illegal.
Uber statement:
Uber became aware of a potential incident involving an UberBLACK trip in Washington, DC yesterday afternoon. Rider safety is our #1 priority. We will cooperate with authorities in their investigation and have deactivated the driver pending the outcome.
Was just kidnapped by an @uber driver in DC, held against my will, and involved in a high speed chase across state lines with police #Crazy
– Ryan W Simonetti (@rwsimonetti) July 8, 2014
Thanks everyone for the concern. We’re safe. @uber and law enforcement are dealing with it now.
– Ryan W Simonetti (@rwsimonetti) July 8, 2014
Filed under: Transportation
Via: The Verge
Source: Washington Post
Nexus 8 (Nexus 9/Flounder/Volantis) gets leaked on a shipping manifest
Last time we spotted a leak of a new Nexus tablet we were quite shocked, considering it said that the tablet will sport 5GB of RAM along with some other pretty nice specs. Even the source of that leak is usually spot on. This device keeps on leaking.
This time it leaked on a shipping database in India (image down below). It showed a listing for two “NEXUS8 PROTOTYPE TABLET SIMILAR TO NEXUS(7)” which landed in India about a week ago via Bangalore Air Cargo. The value listed for each of those was INR$16,484, which is approximately $275. This is probably not the retail price though, but we’re not sure. This might be the best evidence this thing exists thus far.
This time around we don’t get any specifications or anything of the sort. As far as we know @evleaks’ information might be spot on.
Source: GSM Insider
Via: TechnoBuffalo
The post Nexus 8 (Nexus 9/Flounder/Volantis) gets leaked on a shipping manifest appeared first on AndroidGuys.
‘Watch Dogs’ web app turns real data into a virtual surveillance state
It seems like there’s even more truth to developer Ubisoft’s ode-to-hackers, Watch Dogs, than we first thought. Like we’ve previously reported, the game’s depiction of a smart city that connects drawbridges, traffic lights and its population’s smartphones (among other things) all to a single operating system is closer to fact than science-fiction, but the game studio has taken the notion one step further. With the We Are Data web app, you can wade through maps of publicly available geo-location information like tweets, Foursquare check-ins and even traffic light and CCTV camera placement — all stuff you can find in the game’s Chicago. As of now, you can only live out your Aiden Pearce fantasies with info from neighborhoods in London, Berlin and Paris, but there’s quite a bit to click on should you be so inclined. The available datasets aren’t nearly as extensive as, say, something like Urban Observatory’s, but it’s pretty neat nonetheless. If searching for public restroom-locations from your desk isn’t quite your cup of tea, you could always leave the browser tab open in the background — its ambient city sounds are oddly calming.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, HD
Source: We Are Data
What to expect at Engadget Live Seattle
We’re bringing our Engadget Live event series to Seattle’s Showbox SODO on Friday, July 18th, 7PM sharp! We also decided that we really enjoy making our readers happy, so effective immediately, all Engadget Live events this year will be free! (If you bought a ticket already, we’ll pay it back).
What can you expect at this crazy night of hands-on geekery? We’ve already announced some of the brands who will join us on July 18th, but there’s many more. Vapshot (which was a hit at Engadget Live Austin) will bring its vaporized alcohol technology to Seattle. To be clear — alcohol will be vaporized — nothing else.
Ministry of Supply will show off its tech-infused dress clothes that fight sweat, body odor and feel like your favorite sweatpants. You’ll also get to go hands-on with Exo Labs‘ cameras, which connect to any microscope and stream petri dish goodness to an iPad. Corning will show off Fibrance, a flexible fiber optic light source that lets designers add a pop color almost anywhere.
Now that you’re as excited as we are (hopefully), don’t delay, get your free ticket today! We’ll also bring Engadget Live to Boston in August and Los Angeles in October. If you’re in New York on November 7th and 8th, join us for our Engadget Expand flagship event, tickets for which you can purchase right here.
Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile, Alt
Source: Engadget Live (Seattle)
Lenovo Passes Apple in U.S. PC Shipments As Worldwide Market Flatlines
Apple saw its U.S. PC marketshare decline to 10.6 percent in the second quarter of 2014, down from 11.5 percent in the year-ago quarter, according to new data released from Gartner. With 1.6 million shipments, it trailed behind HP, Dell, and Lenovo, ranking fourth for the first time in several years.
Lenovo saw the most significant growth at 20.3 percent, while HP and Dell also saw high growth rates of 15.5 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively. Toshiba, with just over a million shipments, also saw growth of 18.5 percent.
Gartner’s Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q14 (In Thousands)
“The consumer PC market also started picking up in the U.S. The availability of affordable, thin and light notebooks have drawn consumers’ attention,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “Touch enable devices are also widely available with decreasing price premiums compared to a year ago. The price premium is low enough for mainstream consumers to spend the extra money for the additional functionalities,
such as touch.”Four of the top five vendors in the U.S. market experienced double-digit growth. HP was the market leader, accounting for 27.7 percent of PC shipments.
Overall, U.S. PC shipments totaled 15.9 million, up 7.4 percent year over year, while worldwide PC shipments saw flat growth compared to the year-ago quarter. Shipments totaled 75.8 million units, a 0.1 increase. Though worldwide PC shipments have ceased to decline in 2Q14, interest in low-cost tablets continues to eat into the traditional PC market.
Apple’s U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-2Q14 (Gartner)
IDC has also released its own estimates of PC shipments for the second quarter of 2014, painting a similar picture. IDC puts Apple’s shipments at 1.6 million and its market share at 10 percent, down from 10.9 percent, a 1.7 percent decline. IDC’s numbers also rank HP, Dell, and Lenovo as the top three vendors in the United States, with all three seeing growth of 15.6, 12.9, and 24.7 percent, respectively.
Unlike Gartner, IDC suggests worldwide PC sales totaled just 74.4 million, a year-over-year decline of 1.7 percent, with U.S. sales up 6.9 percent.
IDC and Gartner did not list Apple’s worldwide market share for the quarter, as usual, because the company does not rank among the top five vendors on a worldwide basis. Apple’s U.S. decline comes even as the company dropped the prices on two of its flagship products in 2014 — both the MacBook Air and the iMac saw price drops, with the former gaining a small spec boost and the latter seeing the introduction of a new low-cost version.
Remote Shutter and Revamped Panorama UI in Google Camera Update [APK Download]
Continuing on with Google app update Wednesday, we have one more small, but awesome, app to add to the list. The Google Camera app has been pushed up a little bit. It jumped from v2.2.024 to v2.3.017. The file size went up nearly a whole MB, which is pretty decent and means a little more than just some bug fixes. The new update offers a couple of things that are notable. If you happen to be an Android Wear owner this update will give you shutter control on your device. Not only can you snap a photo from your wrist, but you can also view the said image as well.
The other change comes to light in the panorama option. Google has enlarged the data points as well as the centering ring. It makes it quite a bit easier to spin around for those shots without needing glasses to line them up.
Per the norm, the update is rolling out in stages to all users of the app. We are about as impatient as anyone else is, so we have the apk for your downloading enjoyment. Don’t forget though, this app is only supported on Android 4.4+ devices and even some of those can’t use the app. If you can and already have it, then have at it.
Google Camera v2.3.017 apk download
Don;t forget about the Chromecast update and the Gmail update either.
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The post Remote Shutter and Revamped Panorama UI in Google Camera Update [APK Download] appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Get a little Android L look and feel on your Xperia device with the L Theme from Candl Design
Android L is all the rage. We all want the Material Design look and feel today, not this fall. For many, this fall doesn’t mean a thing since we know carriers and OEM’s tend to be much further behind than Google. That doesn’t mean you can’t have bits and pieces of the what Android L looks like, minus the fancy little animations of course. If you happen to own an Xperia device then you are in luck. Candl Design recently released a theme specifically for us to use with the Xperia theme engine on our devices.
The theme comes with quite a few graphical changes for your device.
– Navigation bar icons
– Launcher and Lockscreen Wallpaper
– System colors
– Xperia™ Home components (require full version to get full experience)
– Platform Components: button, checkbox, dropdown list,… (require full version)
– Up to 270 graphical assets
The basic theme is free and gives you a few changes like the softkey changes at the bottom. The images above are from the basic free version of the theme. Where as the image below are of the paid version ($0.99). You can quickly see a number of changes like how the folders look, the radio button colors/looks and the slide out in the app drawer.
If you are on Android 4.4+ you are all set, install the theme from the Play Store and then head to Settings > Personalization > Xperia themes and check the box. However, if you are on Android 4.3 you will need root and Supermod. Links to both version are provided below.
Xperia theme: L $0.99
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The post Get a little Android L look and feel on your Xperia device with the L Theme from Candl Design appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Refusing to decrypt data for investigators gets student 6 months in jail
Christopher Wilson is a 22-year-old computer science student with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s also facing six months in prison for refusing to hand over the encryption keys to police during the course of an investigation. Wilson first found himself on the wrong side of the long arm of the law in October of 2012. At the time, he was suspected of emailing threats to the vice chancellor of Newcastle University, where he was working towards a master’s degree, in which he promised to shoot members of the school’s staff. The messages were able to be traced to servers that were connected to Wilson, but the allegations could never be substantiated and the charges were eventually dropped. But not before police confiscated several pieces of computer equipment from his home.
Wilson’s legal troubles continued. Although charges were dropped in the Newcastle case, he became a suspect in a second set of threats made against the Northumbria police. In particular, he was suspected of calling and warning of an impending cyber attack, of attempting to break into the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s website and of encouraging people to deface a Facebook memorial page set up for a pair of officers shot in Manchester.
As part of the investigation, police wanted to look at encrypted data stored on Wilson’s computer. But the password he gave them didn’t work. In fact, he provided investigators with 50 passwords, none of which turned out to be correct. So police turned to the courts, which compelled him to provide the correct key to decrypt the data in the interest of national security. Since Wilson refused to comply, he was sentenced to six months in prison under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, or RIPA, the UK’s wiretapping law. Of course, it would seem a stretch that such threats would fall under the guise of terrorism and national security, which the particular provisions of RIPA are meant to investigate.
Filed under: Internet
Source: The Register
AIVAnet 