LG’s G3 A is a stripped-down model of its flagship smartphone
LG has to be pleased by the overall reception to the G3, from press and consumers alike. That said, perhaps in an effort to keep the momentum going, the electronics company just launched the G3 A, a smaller and slightly lower-specced version of its popular flagship handset, the G3. This isn’t to say LG’s new, 5.2-inch G3 A, which will be available in South Korea through SK telecom, is by any means a dud, as it does sport some pretty good features of its own. The smartphone comes with a 1080p screen, a Snapdragon 800 processor (2.6GHz) alongside 2GB RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, Android KitKat and, best of all, the same 13-megapixel camera found on the G3. Of course, introducing a different model to the G3 family is nothing novel to LG — the company announced the G3 Beat recently and, apparently, there’s also a G3 Stylus on the way.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Via: Phone Arena
Source: LG
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‘Siri for Mac’ Virtual Assistant Described in New Apple Patent Application
Rumors suggesting Siri will make its way into OS X have been circulating for years, but the personal assistant has yet to debut on the Mac. A new patent application published by the U.S. patent and Trademark Office and spotted by AppleInsider revives these rumors with the description of an intelligent assistant for the desktop that provides features far beyond the current dictation available in OS X.
The patent application, which was filed in February of this year and based on a provisional application from a year earlier, describes a system that in one iteration can sit in the dock, waiting for touch input or voice commands to activate a personal assistant in a manner similar to Siri in iOS. The assistant would then perform tasks based on input by the user. The same system can function as a third hand, allowing users to interact physically with a mouse and keyboard while simultaneously performing a secondary task using their voice.
Methods and systems related to interfaces for interacting with a digital assistant in a desktop environment are disclosed. In some embodiments, a digital assistant is invoked on a user device by a gesture following a predetermined motion pattern on a touch-sensitive surface of the user device. In some embodiments, a user device selectively invokes a dictation mode or a command mode to process a speech input depending on whether an input focus of the user device is within a text input area displayed on the user device. In some embodiments, a digital assistant performs various operations in response to one or more objects being dragged and dropped onto an iconic representation of the digital assistant displayed on a graphical user interface. In some embodiments, a digital assistant is invoked to cooperate with the user to complete a task that the user has already started on a user device.
Though Apple is bringing some aspects of iOS to OS X such as Reminders, Apple has yet to integrate Siri into its desktop platform. The feature was not mentioned when Apple unveiled OS X Yosemite, and there is no known evidence in the current beta version of Yosemite that suggests Apple may integrate its personal assistant into future versions of the desktop OS. Still, it is clear Apple is thinking about ways to bring Siri-like features to OS X.
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Fleksy Keyboard launches Arabic beta, demos typing in Chinese, and brings four new themes!
The folks over at Fleksy are always working hard to bring you the next big thing when it comes to typing. The app is updated just about every month with what seems like 1,000 improvements every time. We’ve got another one here, and if you’re at all interested in Arabic or Chinese, you should take… Read more »
The post Fleksy Keyboard launches Arabic beta, demos typing in Chinese, and brings four new themes! appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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Microsoft’s idea of severance pay is a free Lumia 630
If your firm, like Microsoft, was preparing huge layoffs, you’d expect a sweet incentive to leave, like a fat check, or the right to rob the stationery cupboard guilt-free. For workers at a former Nokia factory in China, however, the reward on offer’s a little less than spectacular. MarketWatch is reporting that Microsoft is offering workers in a former Nokia factory a free Lumia 630 if they apply for the company’s voluntary resignation scheme. The handsets are being handed out on a first come, first served basis, with the first 300 employees to leave each day bagging one of the phones. Of course, given that the low-end handset retails for the equivalent of $130, it’s hardly the gold watch and golf club membership you’d expect to leave your job with.
Filed under: Cellphones, Microsoft, Nokia
Source: MarketWatch
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HTC lets One M8 users share their camera tricks with the rest of the world
Thanks to its depth-sensing Duo Camera setup, the new HTC One M8 lets you take picture post-production way beyond adding a simple sepia filter. There’s only so long you can expect friends to huddle round while you play with the advanced editing features, though, but with the new version of HTC’s Gallery app, you can let them get creative too. By sharing your photos to the web from the updated app, others can toy with the depth of field and bokeh, add effects and filters to parts of the image, and manipulate picture point-of-view from within a browser window. The Duo Camera is doing the hard work of capturing the scene, after all, so HTC’s simply ported the fancy editing features to the web for those without access to their latest and greatest phone to enjoy, which is pretty cool by anyone’s standards.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, HTC
Source: HTC Gallery (Google Play store)
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Edward Snowden gets a three-year extension on his stay in Russia
After leaking details of questionable surveillance programs being conducted by the NSA and others, self-titled government spy Edward Snowden fled the US last year and was granted temporary asylum in Russia. The leaks have continued and he allegedly found gainful employment in tech support, but as his year of asylum was up a few days ago, he’s now been upgraded to a three-year residence permit. This apparently gives Snowden a bit more freedom to move around and even travel internationally, though his lawyer said at a press conference that “in the future Edward will have to decide whether to live in Russia and become a citizen or to return to the United States.” Fat chance of the latter happening, seeming as Snowden’s a bona fide fugitive as far as the US is concerned. Looks like the government will have to keep itself busy tracking down his sidekick for now.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet
Source: AFP (Channel NewsAsia)
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Google Purchases Smart Messaging Service Emu!
Google has purchased the smart messaging application Emu. There is very little news on the details of the purchase, such as selling price or what Google plans to do with Emu. Emu did confirm on their website that they were indeed purchased by Google. If you are not familiar with the smart chat service Emu than you… Read more »
The post Google Purchases Smart Messaging Service Emu! appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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Barnes & Noble looks to Google to rival Amazon’s same-day book deliveries
Need that yoga for dogs book yesterday? You can now get it “today” at least from Barnes & Noble, who have joined Amazon with same-day book deliveries. It’s enlisting an odd partner for the service: Google, one if its competitors in the e-book space. With Shopping Express, Google has been delivering goods for a while, and the NYT says it wants to take on Amazon’s same-day book deliveries by working with Barnes & Noble. The service will be free for Shopping Express subscribers (Amazon Prime members pay $5.99 per same-day delivery), and will cost $4.99 for non-members, compared to $9.98 on Amazon. Instead of ordering through Barnes & Noble’s website, you’ll need to go directly through a participating outlet, which will pass the delivery on to Google. You can do so at stores in Manhattan, West Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, with expansion coming soon to Queens and Brooklyn.
Source: The New York Times
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What to expect from NFL Now, the league’s new video network
It’s been roughly six months since the National Football League announced NFL Now, a digital network designed from the ground up to, hopefully, fit the needs of fans on the internet. Today, the video service is finally scheduled to launch, just in time for the ongoing preseason and, soon, the start of the regular season. At first glance, it’s easy to see that NFL Now has a lot of great attributes, but some that quickly stand out are its worldwide availability and the fact it doesn’t require any sort of authentication, pay-TV and the like, in exchange for content access. Better yet, it will be available in a vast number of platforms and services from day one, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, Roku, Yahoo Screen, Yahoo Sports and on the NFL Now website. That’s not all, however, since the NFL’s new service is expected to come to Xbox One, Kindle Fire and Fire TV soon, with the Apple TV reportedly in the same boat as those devices.
At the heart of it, NFL Now is all about personalization and giving its users a way to watch videos they’re interested in, from teams and players they actually care about. Naturally, it made sense for the NFL to integrate the product with its own Fantasy Football service, allowing you to see up-to-the-minute highlights and other valuable content related to your squad and the leagues you’re a part of. But highlights aren’t the only thing NFL Now is focused on delivering to you on game day and beyond — it offers news, analysis and live events, like press conferences, as well. The NFL also wanted to make sure the content wasn’t just being pulled from its other properties (NFL Network, for example), so it built a studio in Los Angeles to create original programming specifically for NFL Now, which is in addition to the videos that each team will be producing on their own and putting up on the newly minted online network.
NFL Now Plus
Even though NFL Now is completely free for anyone to use, NFL does plan to offer a premium tier, one without ads showing up very four videos or so. For $2 per month, NFL Now Plus will give you everything we’ve mentioned plus access to the NFL Films vault: Hard Knocks, America’s Game, A Football Life and more popular productions. In addition, the NFL says Plus subscribers can expect “the most robust in-game highlights experience” it’s ever offered, alongside the ability to go into each game and watch stand-out plays shortly after they took place, whether it be on Sunday, Monday or Thursday games. Still, the league wants to make it clear that this doesn’t mean NFL Now won’t be solid as a free service, but it does want you to be aware of what the paid version has to offer.
In hopes of luring you into NFL Now Plus, short clips from NFL Films shows are going to hit your free, ad-supported feed from time to time. That personalized stream of yours, by the way, has a SportsCenter-esque rundown menu, allowing you to easily see what video is due to show up next and skip it if you so choose.
A network built for football fans
“We’ve never built a digital video platform like NFL Now.”
“We’ve never built a digital video platform like NFL Now,” Chris Halpin, NFL VP of media strategy and business development, told Engadget. “With Now, the NFL wants to keep producing more content people want on their devices.” That’s why it was important to make the network available on as many platforms as possible from the very beginning. The idea isn’t to stop there, though — Halpin told us NFL Now will keep evolving and come to additional devices in the future, such as smart TVs and the aforementioned streaming boxes and game consoles.
“Right now, we are focused on getting launched, but NFL Now is a long-term investment by our owners. The plan is to continue to grow it and invest in it, both in content and functionality,” said Halpin. “Our goal is to build a robust platform that fits with our [entertainment] landscape. NFL Now is another way for us to connect football fans through internet-connected devices.”
Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile
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Tesco’s prototype Glass app lets you order milk by looking at the barcode
While supermarkets have gone mobile to help you order bread and milk while on the go, wearable tech has remained largely unexplored. Not wanting to be left in the chilled section, Tesco gave its R&D boffins Google Glass and tasked them with helping customers order their groceries while barely lifting a finger. The result was a new prototype Glass app that lets the wearer scan a barcode to quickly add products to their virtual basket or find out their nutritional information. Tesco admits that it would struggle with the rigors of a weekly shop, but says the app perfect for “micro interactions” — i.e. that time when you realise you’ve just used the last piece of toilet roll.
Filed under: Wearables, Google
Via: Glass App Source
Source: Tesco Labs
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AIVAnet 