Sky Sports to go free for the first day of the Premier League
As if launching two new channels wasn’t enough, Sky Sports has another piece of programming-related news to share today. The company has shared that it’s going to open all seven of its Sky Sports channels to Sky, Virgin Media and Talk Talk TV customers this Saturday (August 16th), allowing a potential 15 million viewers to to watch one of the first matches of the 2014/15 Premiership season. Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace will be just one of the key contests shown on Sky Sports’ channels on that day, with England’s 5th Test against India, Australia vs. New Zealand in the rugby, live PGA Golf and dutch football coverage also in the lineup. Once you’ve got a taste, Sky hopes you’ll sign up to its Sports package, subscribe to its free two-year broadband deal and deliver a fresh blow to BT in the process.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Sky Sports
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Here’s a closer look at the white Xbox One and its Call of Duty-themed brother
Want to get really intimate with the two new Xbox Ones announced at Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 press conference? Well, unless you’re here in Cologne, you probably can’t get that close quite yet, but we did find said consoles hanging out behind glass. Good news: the white Xbox One completely delivers on its promise. It’s got white plastic! As for the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare-themed Xbox One, well, it’s absolutely what it promises: Call of Duty symbols are plastered all over the outside. Of course, that COD-themed box also has a 1TB internal hard drive while the white Xbox One is simply bundled with Sunset Overdrive. Neither box was paired with a similarly-themed Kinect, which tells us not to expect a Kinect in the box when both arrive later this year.
Head into the gallery below for a closer look, and we’ve dropped a couple of Vines of both consoles after the break.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
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Verizon’s first phones with LTE-only calling will arrive in 2016
Verizon has largely finished rolling out its LTE network, but that only raises a new question: when is it going to phase out its long-running CDMA phone service? As it turns out, the transition may start sooner than you think. The carrier’s Fran Shammo has revealed at an investor conference that the first phones to rely solely on LTE for calls will be available in the first half of 2016, or just under two years after the launch of LTE voice service in late 2014. He didn’t say when Big Red would turn the lights out on CDMA, but it’s safe to presume that this won’t happen until the majority of devices in use can handle the newer technology. In short, you shouldn’t worry about buying a Verizon phone today — just don’t expect to keep it for several years.
[Image credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon
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Engadget giveaway: win an iPhone 5s and AirPort Express courtesy of Tempo AI!
The smartphone has become a one-stop-shop for organizing our daily lives. We use it to find our way around, stay on schedule and keep in touch with friends, co-workers and clients. But skipping around through all those apps lacks efficiency and wastes time. That’s why Tempo AI developed the Smart Calendar app. It helps combat confusion and increase productivity by centralizing all the necessary info into one place. The Tempo Smart Calendar handles scheduling duties with aplomb, but also offers an array of social insights about your contacts, quick navigational tools and even helps you dial into conference calls without digging for passcodes. In order to help one lucky Engadget reader achieve this level of organizational zen, the company has provided an iPhone 5s and and AirPort Express. Simply head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning. With all these enterprise-level tools at hand, you’ll be prepared for everything the world can throw at you and you won’t even break a sweat.
- Entries are handled through the Rafflecopter widget above. Comments are no longer accepted as valid methods of entry. You may enter without any obligation to social media accounts, though we may offer them as opportunities for extra entries. Your email address is required so we can get in touch with you if you win, but it will not be given to third parties.
- Contest is open to all residents of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
- Winners will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) Apple iPhone 5s (ME323LL/A, 16GB, Space Gray, unlocked GSM) and one (1) Apple Airport Express Base Station (MC414LL/A).
- If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Make sure that the account you use to enter the contest includes your real name and a contact email or Facebook login. We do not track any of this information for marketing or third-party purposes.
- This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Tempo AI, Apple and Engadget / AOL are not held liable to honor warranties, exchanges or customer service.
- The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
- Entries can be submitted until August 13th at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Filed under: Announcements, Apple
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Toys that let you send voice messages to your kids are coming to the UK
Anyone that has kids, or regularly interacts with kids, knows that getting them to talk on the phone is a nightmare at the best of times. Brooklyn-based studio Toymail knows this, so it’s bringing “The Mailmen” to the UK to make things a little easier for friends and family to interact with the little people in their lives. You see, The Mailmen are small battery-powered toys that allow anyone with the free companion app to send voice messages to kids. You record a message, it gets sent to one of five animal-themed characters (including Rochester, Buck, Milksop, Fairfax and Snort) your child owns and they can immediately send one back.
Toymail originally started life as a Kickstarter project, before enjoying wider success in the US. The toys are easy to set up and connect to your home Wi-Fi network in order to deliver the messages, which can be read back in a funny voice or your own. Currently, it only works on iOS devices but its makers say an Android app isn’t too far off. To get your hands on one of these remote parenting toys, Firebox the exclusive UK stockist and has them up for pre-order at £49.99.
Filed under: Household
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Seminal game publisher Sierra returns from obscurity with Geometry Wars
Ready to blast some pinwheels again? Hallowed ’90s game publisher Sierra is back as an Activision subsidiary with an upcoming sequel to King’s Quest and, yes, Geometry Wars. The latter game will be called Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, and Venture Beat reports that Sierra is in talks with independent developers to produce new content as well. In case you’ve forgotten (or not played the mobile versions), Geometry Wars is about avoiding and blasting an ever-thickening pile of graphically-shaped enemies. It first came out on the original Xbox platform through Project Gotham Racing 2, while the sequel arrived on Xbox Live Arcade — leaving Xbox One gamers in the lurch. There’s no word on which platforms it’ll hit when it arrives this Christmas, but Sierra did say that King’s Quest will come to Xbox Live, Playstation Network and Steam in 2015 — a good sign for Geometry Wars.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Venture Beat
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‘Goat Simulator’ is coming to Xbox One (yes, that’s a real game)
You may not have heard of Goat Simulator, but yes, it’s really a game. And hey, it’s apparently coming to Xbox One! The bizarre “game” has you piloting a goat, causing trouble all over town. Chris Charla, head of the Microsoft indie game program at Xbox, introduced the game among a lengthy list of other indies that are “coming to console first on Xbox One.” Among them is hit mobile game Threes, innovative and insane first-person shooter Super Hot, and Worms studio Team 17′s latest work, The Escapists.
But when will all these games arrive? It looks like at least a few will arrive this year, though no specific dates were given out at Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 presser (which is where we are right now, in case that wasn’t clear). We’ll have more from Microsoft’s event as the day goes on!
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
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‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ is getting a custom Xbox One with 1TB of storage
The long-running relationship between Microsoft’s Xbox consoles and the Call of Duty brand is expanding into hardware: a custom Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Xbox One is in the works for this holiday. Better yet, it comes ready for all that downloadable content you’re going to buy, packing a one terabyte hard drive internally. And what about Kinect? No Kinect, sadly. We say “sadly” because the bundle costs $500. Which is to say, “It costs the same amount as an Xbox One with a 500GB hard drive and a Kinect.” Sure, you get Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and you get a custom Xbox One with a larger HDD, but will $500 still be too much for mainstream folks who haven’t picked up an Xbox One just yet? We’ll see when it arrives on November 4th.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
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‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ is a 2015 exclusive for Xbox One
Hoping for some Xbox One exclusives to be announced at Gamescom? You’re in the right place. Phil Harrison, corporate VP at Microsoft, just announced Rise of Tomb Raider will be coming to the platform some time “holiday” next year (though we’re not sure which). It’ll be the latest instalment of the legendary franchise, one that’s probably older than many of the people who will play it. Even if it isn’t the “definitive version.”
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
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Vodafone targets data-sharing families with its new Red+ plan
Family mobile plans might be big in the US, but they haven’t really got going in the UK. However, that isn’t stopping Vodafone from trying to change people’s minds with the launch of its new Red+ plan. Instead of equipping a family with individual tariffs, Vodafone aims to supply each member of the household with their own SIM, allowing the “plan leader” to distribute monthly data limits depending on how data thirsty they are. These so-called leader plans are basically upgraded Red plans that come with a 2GB, 4GB, 7GB, 10GB or 13GB data allowance, which can then be shared with a family member in 500MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB amounts.
Red+ plans come with tools to restrict or expand the data allowance for each member, which may come in useful if the teenager in the family is pushing their quota with Netflix streaming or excessive Snapchatting. Vodafone says you’ll pay less than you would on individual plan and throws in unlimited calls and texts for each member to sweeten the deal. The Red+ plan certainly seems like fine idea on the surface, making sure to rival EE’s Shared 4GEE plans, but it’s pretty hard to argue with the unlimited data Three offers to all of its customers.
[Image credit: kake_pugh, Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Mobile
Via: Vodafone Blog
Source: Vodafone Red+
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