Plex Pass Android app updates with Play Queues, Post-Play screen and UI Enhancements
Just yesterday we alerted everyone that Plex would be raising their monthly, yearly and lifetime rates on Plex Pass. I am sure at least some of you went out and grabbed the lifetime subscription immediately. If not, you only have a week left before prices go up. Today the Plex team has pushed out an update for the Plex Pass app for Android that offers a ton of stuff for us subscribing members to try out long before it goes to the standard paid for Plex app.
The big feature addition is currently called Play Queues. Similar to playlists, but distinctively different as playlists aren’t supported as of yet. A Play List would allow you to save it for future watching or listening. Play Queues will let you queue up, say the first season of your favorite show, and play them one after the other without needing to select the next episode manually after the current one ends. What tickles my fancy on this update is that Play Queues are supported on Chromecast.
Along with Play Queues there is also a new Post-Play screen that will grace your Chromecast screen or Plex Web App to let you know what is next on your list. It will only appear in certain situations, like if the video was less than 5 minutes the post-play screen won’t appear, it will just move on. If the video was less than 20 minutes long the Post=Play screen will appear and then automatically advance to the next video.
These considerations are designed to try and make things work smoothly for users in as many scenarios as possible. For instance, these considerations should help:
- avoid post-plays between very short clips, such as short home movies
- allow easy playback of a Play Queue of music videos
- allow continuous playback of a children’s television show to keep the kids occupied
- prevent having a whole television season get played through if you fall asleep
Along with Play Queues and the Post-Play screen there have been a number of fairly large UI enhancements. Plex redesigned the item grids and added larger art work, included a new toolbar for item actions, re-accented the entire app with orange vs the blue that was currently used, a new style for tabs and short-lived activities now appear as dialog on tablets.
As with all updates to the Plex Pass app, it only pertains to those that are Plex Pass subscribers. Generally a few weeks or months after things have been ironed out features and changes make it to the more standard paid app version of Plex. If you are a Plex Pass member, you might want to pick up the new update and see what you think. It does look pretty stellar, although I am not to sure how I feel about the larger media posters just yet.
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Charge your phone with a miniature Flux Capacitor
After surfacing on April Fools’ Day, ThinkGeek made its gadget-charging Flux Capacitor into an actual product. Sporting all of the details of the full-sized power plant, this diminutive option leverages your car’s cigarette lighter to juice up a pair of devices via two USB ports. Of course, those 1.21 gigawatts of power are reduced to 2.1 amps, and there’s an on/off switch for the $25 time-traveling accessory’s lights. And yes, they actually pulse just like you hoped. Of course, if you’re looking to splurge for the real deal, you’ll need to shell out a bit more dough.
Source: ThinkGeek
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Rescue teams will soon have access to global aircraft tracking data
The disappearance of flight MH370 taught the general public one thing: that flight tracking technology isn’t as comprehensive as many might have thought. Current radar doesn’t have global coverage, and if a transponder fails (as was the case with the Malaysia Airlines flight) there’s little that can be done. Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) promises to improve things, but still won’t cover the whole planet. Aireon (a subsidiary of Iridium Satellite) has an implementation of ADS-B that promises global reach (a leap from 10- to 100 percent coverage according to its claims). It uses 66 of Iridium’s “Next” Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites which is what allows it to cover remote, or oceanic regions out of reach by current systems. “Aireon Alert” has been in development for some time, and is scheduled to launch in 2017. What’s new, is that Aireon has announced it’ll be providing the it’s Alert data to emergency services and the aviation community free of charge. Soon after launch, approved search and rescue teams will then be able to get the location of any ADS-B enabled flight without needing extra avionics.
Filed under: Misc, Transportation
Via: AINonline
Source: Aireon
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In time for Ryder Cup, Samsung lets golf fans in on new TV app
This year’s Ryder Cup won’t have Tiger Woods representing the US, although some people argue that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Regardless, the tournament, which begins today, must go on. To make the experience better for golf enthusiasts, Samsung has teamed up with the PGA and Turner Sports to release a Ryder Cup app for its smart TVs, allowing viewers to switch between live video feeds (provided by NBC and the Golf Channel), see an up-to-the-minute leaderboard right on the screen and easily keep up with either Team USA or the European Team.
There are also second-screen features in tow, thanks to a companion Android app that lets users do things like watch different streams on their smartphone or tablet. The Ryder Cup application is friendly with most 2013 and 2014 models of Samsung’s smart televisions, and it will continue to work even after the tournament ends on September 28th. Which is to say, you can keep watching highlights over and over, as is the case with the PGA Championship app the company released last month.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Samsung
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Apple TV Gains New FXNOW Channel
Apple today added the FXNOW channel to the Apple TV, providing users with content from the FXNOW network. Previously rumored in July, the new FXNOW channel is the on-demand portion of the FX, FXX, and FXM television channels, all of which are owned by the Fox Entertainment Group.
Rumors suggested the FXNOW Apple TV channel would include content from The Simpsons, branded Simpsons World, which includes all 552 episodes of The Simpsons. Early reports on the channel suggested users would be able to create playlists of episodes and share favorite scenes. Currently, however, the channel offers a variety of content from FX, including episodes of The Strain and Sons of Anarchy.
Like many cable-based channels on the Apple TV, much of the FXNOW content require cable authentication. Supported cable providers for the FXNOW channel include AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, and Time-Warner.
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Mobile Cloth Z5: Erase fingerprints with this 5-pack of microfiber cloths $11.99 [Deal of the Day]
With such bigger and beautiful screens coming down the pipeline everyday, there’s that much more surface area to get mucked up with smudges and fingerprints. Nobody wants to walk around with a dirty screen but wiping with your t-shirt can often lead to just moving the oils and dirt around.
The Mobile Cloth Z5 is a pack of 5 microfiber cleaning cloths to eliminate the grit and grime without scratching or knicking your sensitive screen. Not only are they washable and durable, they also remove up to 98% of germs without the use of liquid chemicals. These cloths can be used wet or dry and would be a perfect accessory addition to that brand new Note or Galaxy Tab. For only $11.99 for the pack of 5, this is a deal worth checking out!
Check this deal out, and many others at deals.androidguys.com!
Deals, Discounts, Freebies, and More! Click here to save today!
The post Mobile Cloth Z5: Erase fingerprints with this 5-pack of microfiber cloths $11.99 [Deal of the Day] appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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HTC Desire 816G officially announced in India for INR 18,990
HTC has officially announced the Desire 816G in India which is a cut-down variant of the original Desire 816. Priced at INR 18,990, this dual-SIM Android smartphone will go on sale in the country by early October.
The smartphone comes with almost the same features as the Desire 816 but is priced lower. The HTC Desire 816G features a 5.5-inch HD display, 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front camera, dual front-facing BoomSound speakers, dual SIM card slots and has 3G HSPA+ connectivity. It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense 6.0 UI on top.
The device differs from Desire 816 in two aspects, firstly, it is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor instead of a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC and features 1GB of RAM instead of 1.5GB of RAM as on the Desire 816. The HTC Desire 816G comes in Black, White, Red, Green and Purple colors and is expected to go on sale early October.
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New device to device charging cable announced by Samsung
Samsung announced the release of a new accessory and companion app today that looks to be pretty useful. The idea behind it isn’t new, however the execution is, at least to me. The new cable is called the Power Sharing Cable. Basically it is a cable that sports a micro USB tip on both sides. It will allow you to plug your Galaxy S 5, Galaxy Tab S or other select Galaxy devices into another micro-USB compatible device to charge it from your phone or tablets battery.
As I said before, the idea behind using your phone to tablet to charge up another device isn’t all that new. There have been a number of devices that allow that same operation. However, Samsung has also created a free companion app that takes the sharing of power from a compatible device and manages it a little. The Power Sharing app will give you control over how much power to transfer. Essentially letting you boost your smartwatch power, or any other device, by the amount you need to get you through the rest of your day without sucking the life out of your phones own battery.
You can use the cable without the app, but you do lose out on the power transfer control and it will continuously pull power. Not a huge issue if you unplug it obviously, but setting it and forgetting it could potential be a problem. The full list of supporting devices according to Samsung include the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Galaxy Tab S 8.4, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy Avant and Galaxy Note 4. The new Power Sharing Cable is available to order from Samsung today for $19.99.
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Square’s new cash register will take Bitcoin, Apple Pay and much more
Every now and again, a conspiracy theorist will tell us that the illuminati will abandon national currencies in favor of a single, worldwide form of payment. Given the myriad ways that we currently use to empty our bank account, we’re not sure how a single, all-purpose payment system would be a bad thing. That’s why Square is hoping to aid our plight by building a new cash register that’ll accept as many new-fangled forms of payment as possible, including Bitcoin and Apple Pay. In an interview with CBC, CEO Jack Dorsey said that he hopes Square’s new hardware will take “any form of payment that comes across the counter,” before mentioning the cryptocurrency and Apple’s new commerce platform by name. When asked if he was concerned about Apple taking his business, the executive responded that since the iPhone maker isn’t building a terminal (i.e. a cash register), there’s no threat to Square’s immediate future. There’s no word on when exactly this new swiss army knife of buying will start appearing in small businesses across the country, but we doubt it’ll be long before you can buy coffee with Bitcoin without having to use a third-party exchange.
Via: Wired
Source: CBC
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Xbox One UK pricing drops again to £330
Wherever you look, the PlayStation 4 is outselling the Xbox One by a considerable margin. In fact, Sony sold twice as many consoles in the UK as Microsoft in Destiny’s launch week, leaving its rival with another considerable hill to climb. One way Microsoft could claw back some of its lost market share is to drop the price of the Xbox One, again, which is something it’s decided to do today. To little fanfare, Microsoft slashed £20 off the price of the Kinectless Xbox One on its official store, meaning you’ll now pay only £329.99. Amazon has reacted to the price cut too, but has gone one better by offering Sunset Overdrive White Xbox One bundle pre-orders for the exactly the same price. It means that in the space of 10 months, the console has undergone three price reductions, saving late-adopters at least £100 in the process. For the time being, the Xbox One is officially cheaper than the £349.99 PlayStation 4 (which is also the subject of some seriously good deals), but as both consoles have already dipped below the £300 mark, we’re pretty sure Sony won’t be too worried by today’s discount.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Microsoft Store, Amazon
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AIVAnet 