Selfie cameras that look like perfume bottles are going to be a thing
It’s no secret that girls in China are obsessed with taking selfies, but there’s also a local trend of slapping a Chanel perfume bottle case onto their phones. No, we don’t understand, either. Nevertheless, Sony is seizing this opportunity by releasing a new Cyber-shot camera that not only looks like a perfume bottle, but its big lens — encased in a clear brick with a gold accent — can also be flipped around to suit your needs. While it seems that Sony’s seeded this bizarre device to several Chinese female influencers and models, they’re remaining tight-lipped about the specs, but all will be revealed in China on August 22nd.
Via: G 4 Games
Source: Sony, Digi-wo (Sina Weibo)
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New Lego Minecraft sets turn minifig Steve into a farmer and a miner
Those old Lego Minecraft sets are cute, but the construction toy company’s finally gearing up to release new ones that look much more like standard Lego sets — and yes, they come with mini figures. Lego fans on the Eurobricks forum have recently spotted images of two of the six sets to be available later this year. Pictured above is The Farm, which features a standard player farm with Steve, a sheep, a skeleton, a jack-o-lantern-like brick and fake vegetables, because, well, it’s a farm. The other one’s called The Cave (see after the break) where Steve’s equipped with a pickaxe, is buddies with a zombie and is scarily missing a hard hat despite that TNT brick looming behind him.
Both sets were listed for £20 to £25 on the London-based Hamleys Toy Shop website for a very short time, along with their descriptions, which you can read below. If you’re wondering what else is in store for the collection, the other pieces’ names should give you an idea: they’re called Creative Box, The Ender Dragon, The First Night and The Mine.
The Cave
Venture into The Cave on a dangerous quest for vital resources! Wield the iron pickaxe to dig and battle against hostile zombie and spider mobs. Blast out valuable ores and minerals with the TNT and combine the flowing water and lava to create precious obsidian! When you’re done battling and mining, restore your energy levels with the chest of bread. Proceed with caution! Rebuild the set for more LEGO Minecraft creations! Includes 2 minifigures with assorted accessories: Steve and a zombie, plus a spider
The Farm
Yield renewable resources with The Farm! You’ll need food to survive, so fence in the livestock and channel the flowing water to nurture the crops. Harvest pumpkins, wheat, sugar cane and carrots. Use the crafting table to create a pumpkin helmet or jack-o-lantern. But watch out for the skeleton with his bow and arrow after nightfall! Rebuild the set for more LEGO Minecraft creations or combine with 21115 The First Night and other sets in the series for an even bigger Minecraft adventure! Includes a Steve minifigure with an accessory, plus a skeleton, cow and a sheep.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: Geek, The Brick Fan
Source: Eurobricks
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ASUS smartwatch teased in invite to IFA 2014 announcement event
We’ve heard rumours that ASUS is preparing a smartwatch for announcement at IFA 2014, but now it has been all but confirmed. The teaser seen above shows the very shadowy outline of what can only be the ASUS smartwatch as well as telling us to save the date, September 3rd. The teaser is rounded out by a quote from Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran, who says “Time has been transformed, and we have changed,” presumably referring to ASUS’ new direction with wearables as well as the time keeping properties of a smartwatch.
Something #Incredible is going to happen at #IFA2014, see you there! pic.twitter.com/1Dr2zAo06I
— ASUS (@ASUS) August 19, 2014
Running Android Wear, the only additional information we can glean from the teaser is that the ASUS smartwatch will be a slightly form factor to the other Android Wear wearables launched this year. Not quite square, but not quite round, it looks like it will be of plastic construction. Despite this, ASUS has done amazing things with ‘cheap’ materials in the past, so we can’t wait to see the device when September 3rd rolls by.
Are you interested in what the ASUS smartwatch has to offer? Let us know your thoughts on it in the comments below.
Source: ASUS via Droid-life
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The post ASUS smartwatch teased in invite to IFA 2014 announcement event appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Navy drone plays well with manned aircraft, caps it with a carrier landing
The unmanned X-47B drone has proven itself carrier-capable, but can it fit into normal flight operations? The Navy aimed to find out recently in some joint maneuvers alongside an F/A-18 Super Hornet aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The X-47B model was tweaked with faster tailhook retraction and new software so that it could be parked more quickly after flights. It then flew carrier patterns along with an F/A-18, including a catapult launch, eight-minute flight, tailhook landing, taxiing and parking. As shown in the video below, crews were able to get the X-47B out of the way quickly after touchdown, letting the manned Super Hornet land shortly afterwards. It’ll soon perform night-flying tests and other maneuvers, toward the Navy’s ultimate goal of a Skynet-ish sounding UCLASS (unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike system).
Filed under: Transportation
Via: DoD Buzz
Source: US Navy
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Snapchat’s bringing disappearing news to your vanishing selfie stream
Snapchat might be the go-to app for firing off self-destructing selfies, but there’s still one little issue CEO Evan Spiegel doesn’t seem to have locked up yet: how is it actually going to make money? In-app purchases? Location-centric stories? The Wall Street Journal just offered up an unsurprising possibility with a bit of a twist — the startup is apparently gearing up to launch a service called Snapchat Discovery that’ll bring ads and news to its users.
Yeah, really. Running ads seem like a no-brainer, but disappearing news is a curious twist on the original, dead-simple Snapchat formula. The Journal reports that the startup has been in talks with at least 12 content providers (including the Daily Mail’s Mail Online, for all your trashy gossip needs) to deliver articles and video news to the service, which could launch as soon as this November. If all this seems awfully unlike the Snapchat we know, well, that’s probably the point.
The app launched three years ago and was almost immediately derided — accurately or not — as a tool for scurrilous sexting. Along the way, though, Snapchat’s userbase continued to swell beyond the ranks of the young and bored to the point where even parents of original users were jumping on it. How does a startup keep growing when its core audience starts changing this dramatically? By doing exactly what Snapchat is reportedly doing now: giving us all other reasons to use it. Whether or not this crazy plan actually works is a totally different story, but we may not have to wait long to see how it all pans out.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Engadget Live Boston is this Friday!
Our third Engadget Live event of 2014 hits Boston this Friday, August 22nd. At 7PM on the dot, we’ll transform Royale into a scene that even Stefon would consider worthy of being Boston’s hottest club. Tap your way through the gallery below to find out what you can expect when you come out to our free event.
Ready to party with us? Get your free tickets right here. We’ll make our way to Los Angeles on October 3rd for one more Engadget Live event before we switch gears towards Engadget Expand. That’s our free event taking place November 7th and 8th at the Javits Center in New York City. Find out more about Expand and get your free tickets right here.
Filed under: Announcements
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Twitter is officially putting tweets from strangers in your timeline
You know how Twitter started inserting others’ favorites and follows into your timeline? As it turns out, it’s not an experiment — it’s official policy. We now know that the social network recently updated its timeline explanation to confirm that it’s adding tweets from strangers, new accounts to follow and other “popular” content to your feed. Like you might have suspected, the company is trying to make your stream “even more relevant and interesting” by showing you material you might not otherwise have seen.
It’s reassuring that Twitter isn’t simply broadcasting everything you do. However, as Quartz notes, it still represents a big change to the way the service behaves. Outside of ads, the timeline has always focused on showing you the latest content from people you meant to follow. Now, it’s a more Facebook-like experience where the company chooses a bit of what you see in an attempt to get more active users and boost its ad revenue. You shouldn’t miss out on any of the action, but you may have to wade through some clutter (and become some of the clutter) to get what you want.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Quartz
Source: Twitter
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Engadget Daily: HTC One M8 for Windows, choosing a 4K TV, and more!
Today, we go hands-on with HTC’s One M8 for Windows, shop for 4K TVs, ponder an ASUS-made smartwatch, and more! Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Filed under: Misc
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Time Warner Cable is charging Netflix for a direct connection too
Comcast, then Verizon, AT&T and now Time Warner Cable. That’s the list of ISPs that have less-than-politely declined Netflix’s free OpenConnect setup, and instead decided they’ll take a payment from the streaming service in exchange for connecting its network directly to theirs. Time Warner cable confirmed the deal to Gigaom, saying it was reached in June and implemented this month. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings just published an essay today in Wired as a part of its ‘Save the Net” series railing against just this sort of pay-to-play system, which he’s previously said undermines the possibility of strong net neutrality. The FCC has said it’s looking into the deals and Hastings has mentioned that if the Comcast/TWC merger goes through, he hopes it comes with a condition blocking the combo from charging for interconnections.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Gigaom
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AT&T plans to sell the HTC One M8 for Windows soon
Feeling blue that the HTC One M8 for Windows is exclusive to Big Red? Good news: AT&T just confirmed that it’ll carry the flagship Windows Phone… eventually. The carrier can’t openly discuss details like pricing or availability yet — likely because it can’t sell the phone until the terms of the exclusive contract expire — but at least we can rest a little more easily knowing that this top-of-the-line Windows Phone will expand its reach to more than just one carrier. Who knows: Since a GSM version will be available, that may open the door for the device to go to other parts of the world as well. While you wait, check out our hands-on coverage of the device here.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft, HTC, AT&T
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AIVAnet 