Engadget Daily: Lumia 930 review, remote-controlled moths and more!
Today, we visit Seattle’s Living Computer Museum, go hands-on with the Lumia 930, ponder remote-controlled moths, learn about Sony’s plan to reclaim “20 lost years,” and more. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Filed under: Misc
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Estimote’s stickers let you add tiny sensors to just about anything
The problem with the internet of things is that you often have to buy expensive add-ons or replacements to get all those clever sensors; you may not want to buy a bike computer just to track your rides. If Estimote has its way, you won’t have to. Its new Sticker beacons let you graft wireless sensors on to nearly any object, giving it location, motion and temperature data that you can check through apps. You can figure out the length of your last bike trip just by slapping a sticker on the frame, or find out when your flowers need watering by using an augmented pot. Estimote even pictures stores using the tags to automatically cue up product info on a nearby screen, so you could find out whether some hot new shoes come in your size just by taking them off the shelf.
Right now, you have to be a tinkerer to make use of the stickers. Estimote is taking pre-orders for a $99 Dev Kit that includes 10 beacons, and you can’t exactly run out and find supporting apps; you’ll have to write your own in the short term. You should see them in the wild soon after testing wraps up, though, as the company is already partnering with big names like Behance (Adobe), Cisco and the Guggenheim Museum to make the Sticker technology a practical reality. It may not be long before you can add some smarts to many of your belongings without breaking the bank.
Filed under: Household, Peripherals
Source: Estimote
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U-Verse app gets more live TV channels, launches on Amazon devices
AT&T is making U-Verse more appealing with each passing day. After the carrier revealed it would beat Google to the punch on bringing gigabit internet to Silicon Valley, now U-Verse is getting a great deal of fresh content and making its way to additional mobile devices. Aside from launching on Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Fire HDX, as well as the Fire phone, the U-Verse app today also welcomed over 50 new channels to its catalog of live TV streaming channels. This includes Cartoon Network, CNN, EPIX, ESPN, GolTV, HBO, HGTV, TBS, TNT and Travel Channel, plus many others — most of which you can watch even if you’re away from your home network. All in all, definitely a boost for U-Verse subscribers, and if you aren’t, it’s at least good to know that U-Verse looks to be a solid choice, especially now that DirecTV is joining AT&T’s ranks.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Software, HD, Mobile, Amazon, AT&T
Source: AT&T
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Motorola’s Moto X sequel spotted
Want a good, clear look at one of the devices Motorola is expected to unveil at its September 4th event? You’ve got it. As a parting shot, retiring leaker Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) has posted press images for Motorola’s next big flagship smartphone, frequently known as the X+1. It largely confirms what previously appeared in some dimly-lit photos, including dual camera flashes, a wooden back option and Moto E-style front-facing speakers. There are a couple of new tidbits, though. The Verizon logo leaves no doubts about one of the supporting US carriers, and we’re curious about those dots on the top and bottom bezels — are they Fire phone-like face tracking cameras, plain old screws or something else? You’ll get the full scoop in a couple of weeks, but this serves as a nice (if very unofficial) teaser.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, Verizon, Lenovo
Source: @evleaks (Twitter)
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Next stop for Ouya Everywhere: China
Now that everyone from Google to Amazon is getting into the Android gaming set-top box business, Ouya is going to have to get creative. It’s already announced plans for “Ouya Everywhere” to extend its sizable library of 900+ TV and game controller-ready games to other platforms, and now the company tells Reuters it’s working out a deal with China’s Xiaomi. CEO Julie Uhrmann says the arrangement will see an Ouya channel added to devices like the Mi TV and MiBox, where users can shop for and download games, and with Xiaomi “likely” committing to marketing the games. On the backend, Xiaomi, Ouya and the game’s developers split the money. The $99 console has gone through a number of changes (both hardware and software) since it arrived on the scene as a Kickstarter hit, now we’ll see if Asia can help provide a second wind for the platform.
Source: Reuters
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Acer announces new Chromebox CXI series of devices
Acer has certainly been making headlines lately. Just a little over a week ago they announced the new Acer Chromebook 13 CB5. The first Chromebook to bring the new NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor to a Chromebook and to consumers. Granted, the device is only up for pre-orders right now, but at least it is coming. Today Acer has announced another device in the Chrome OS line, but this time not a Chromebook. Instead, they have announced a new Chromebox line dubbed the CXI series.
“The Acer Chromebook CXI is an excellent fit for schools and any other institution or business where conserving costs and space are high priorities,” said Simon Hwang, president of Acer Stationary Computing and Display Business Group. “Due to the ease of management, the Chromebox can significantly reduce technical support and consequently lower the total cost of ownership.”
On a hardware standpoint the Chromebox CXI series packs an Intel Celeron 2957U processor, that is the Haswell version. As for RAM, you have that choice at purchase with either 2GB or 4GB. Beyond that choice, everything else remains identical with a 16GB SSD, 4X USB 3.0 ports (two of which can be powered off to just charge phones and tablets), SD card reader, WI-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.o, A HDMI and a DisplayPort. Yes, that last bit does mean that you can run a dual display setup.
Price wise you are looking at spending $179.99 for the 2GB RAM variant an $219.99 for the 4GB RAM variant. Feel free to start saving now as neither of these are available just yet. Acer pegs them for release ‘late next month’. So, sometime in late September.
Source: Acer
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The post Acer announces new Chromebox CXI series of devices appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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OnePlus posts job listing which confirms their plan to enter Indian smartphone market
Following an impressive response of its debut smartphone in India, OnePlus is all set to expand its business in the world’s second largest smartphone market. The Chinese manufacturer intends to look for an executive to lead OnePlus’s operations from the India. The job listing is for the post of a General Manager – India, Operations. The primary responsibility would that be to capture the Indian smartphone market by creating brand visibility and consumer awareness. Other responsibilities include liaising with the media for planning and arranging events to spread awareness about the OnePlus brand and co-ordinate with the departments in the home office to carry out smooth operations.
OnePlus has listed the following requirements for anyone who will be interesting in taking up this job
- Fluency in English, Hindi, Tamil. Intimate understanding of India’s unique geographies and cultures
- Degree from a top school, PMP certification preferred
- 6+ years of general management experience working for a tier-1 company
- Deep understanding of operations, finance, marketing, and logistics
- Expertise/Experience in: ecommerce, logistics, customer service, marketing, mobile products
- Proven leader with vision, resourcefulness, intellect, and humility
- Tech enthusiast, intimately familiar with mobile trends, industry and competitive dynamics
- Strong analytical ability; data-driven approach to understanding and solving problems
- Entrepreneurial mind-set, independent thinker, can manage effectively under stress
Interested in applying? Head over to the OnePlus career page.
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The post OnePlus posts job listing which confirms their plan to enter Indian smartphone market appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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Xbox One pre-loading begins with ‘Madden NFL 15’
Just days ago at Gamescom, Microsoft announced that game pre-loading was coming to the Xbox One in September alongside for nabbing Forza Horizon 2 and FIFA 15 in advance of their arrival. It seems that the new feature has gone live a bit early though, as Madden NFL 15 is currently available for download ahead of its launch at the end of the month. Forking over the requisite $60 now will allow you to outfit your console with the title, so you’ll be able to open the playbook immediately on August 26th. This also means that the Xbox faithful are now privy to the pre-loading option that PC and PS4 gamers have enjoyed for some time now.
Source: Xbox Store
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Google’s ‘Knowledge Vault’ seeks the answer to life, the universe and everything
Google’s Knowledge Graph is pretty good at telling you who was the 37th president of the US, or what the square root of 342345 is. Ask it more complex questions, like “why does the sun set at night?” and it’ll still send you off to find the answer yourself. Next week in New York, Google researchers will present a paper on its “Knowledge Vault,” which Kevin Murphy of Google Research, describes as “the largest repository of automatically extracted structured knowledge on the planet.” Knowledge Vault applies machine learning (unlike Knowledge Graph which is an extension of community supported tools) to automatically trawl webpages, assimilating their facts, information and connections therein. Not only does this mean it’s faster, it can continually grow and update itself. The net result will be a huge database of knowledge, the likes of which would have been unimaginable just years ago.
The real-world implications are that services like Google Now (or Siri et al) could get a huge boost in smarts — tapping into a much deeper well of understanding, knowing what, how and why things are related. This could lead to much more intelligent web services, or truly explode any limits of augmented reality (“ah, you’re in Berlin, and sent an email last week about museums, perhaps you want to visit the Museum Berggruen“). Unsurprisingly this comes at a privacy cost; analysts are expecting Google to leverage services like Gmail that contain your data (plus the data that’s public/online) bundled in with the rest of the world wide web. While there are no timelines on when we might see this implemented in live services, don’t be surprised when it’s not just your proximity to Sir Bacon that freaks you out, but how and why you’re so close, plus favorite films you have in common, and where you can go and see them locally.
Filed under: Science, Software, Google
Via: New Scientist
Source: CIKM
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Pebble smartwatches get ESPN app just in time for football season
We’re a week away from the start of college football season, and to prep for the action, ESPN released a score-tracking app for Pebble smartwatches. The software beams game info from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL alongside both NCAA football and basketball action to your wrist for easy viewing. Should you find yourself some place other than the living room during the big game, the wearable will vibrate to alert you to game update and score changes, keeping an eye on multiple games simultaneously. Sports fans who already have the gadget can outfit it with the ESPN watchapp via the Pebble’s library for both iOS and Android now.
Filed under: Wearables, Software
Via: ESPN
Source: Pebble App Store
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AIVAnet 