Where in the world is your iPhone 6?
If you checked your iPhone 6 (or 6 Plus)’s shipping status before making coffee, walking the dog or catching up on your favorite tech site this morning, you’re definitely not alone. With a record number of pre-orders this year, there are thousands of soon-to-be iOS 8 users doing exactly the same thing. If you want to take your obsession to new heights, however, the aircraft tracking service FlightAware is eager to help. Once you receive a UPS tracking number for your precious cargo, you can head on over and track the exact location of your phone, be it in China, Anchorage (for a re-fueling stop), the Louisville (Kentucky) distribution center, or somewhere in between. Or you could just wait patiently for the doorbell to ring.
[Photo credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Apple, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile
Source: FlightAware
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Apple Receives One Out of Two Licenses Needed to Begin iPhone 6 Sales in China [iOS Blog]
Apple has received one out of the two regulatory licenses it needs to sell the iPhone 6 in China, reports state-run news agency Xinhua (via Reuters). The handset is currently being reviewed by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which also examined the the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c before its launch in China last year. According to the news agency, Apple now needs a critical network access license before it can begin selling the device.
The news follows a report yesterday which stated that the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China may be pushed back to 2015 due to the need for regulatory licenses. Currently, it is unclear as to whether Apple will secure the licenses in time for a late 2014 launch, although talks are said to be ongoing. A delayed launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China would hinder Apple’s presence in the country, which has been expanding rapidly throughout the past few years.
Apple began iPhone sales on China Mobile last year, which is the country’s biggest wireless service provider and the last major carrier in the region to partner with the company. Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in January that he was “incredibly optimistic” about partnering with the carrier, stating that it would allow the company to sell the iPhone in 3,000 more locations and advertise to its over 760 million customers.
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Music fan tries to raise $40,000 to make kitty hip-hop ‘meowlbum’
Guys, GUYS, this Kickstarter campaign’s giving you a chance to make your cat-rap dreams a reality. Hip-hop artists El-P and Killer Mike jokingly wrote on their website that they’ll release a remix of their latest album, Run The Jewels 2, featuring cat sounds if someone pays them $40,000. So, what’s an avid fan (and cat person) to do but try to raise that money, eh? Even better, one of the artists went on Twitter and promised to do it if the campaign reaches its goal. The duo didn’t exactly clarify what kind of cat sounds those are, but we’re hoping it’s a mixture of meowing, hissing, caterwauling and relentless scratching on furniture.
someone made a kickstarter to fund the “MEOW THE JEWELS PACKAGE”. if this gets funded i will make this album.https://t.co/6tvzp2Z3rF
– el-p (@therealelp) September 17, 2014
by the way if meow the jewels gets funded i will donate all money to charity. true story.
– el-p (@therealelp) September 17, 2014
Filed under: Misc
Via: Pitchfork
Source: Kickstarter
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OnePlus kills its unique swappable covers before they had the chance to live
Although more people have been able to get their hands the OnePlus One than ever before, new handset owners won’t be able to accessorize them as thoroughly as was first thought. After two months of teasing its bamboo, silk white and sandstone black “StyleSwap” covers, the company has been forced to kill its custom backplates before they got the chance to go on sale. According to a company blog post, “technical difficulties” during mass production meant that covers suffered from creaks or became slightly loose, risking damage to the non-removable battery that it was meant to protect.
Mirroring its catchphrase, OnePlus says it didn’t settle, but instead arrived at a “complicated decision.” If you were dead set on getting a bamboo cover for your One, the company has some good news — a “small number” of wooden backplates did pass the grade, and they’ll soon go up on its online store. The company is also exploring the idea of outfitting special limited edition handsets with kevlar or denim, but says it’ll put everything it’s learned into practice for the eventual launch of the OnePlus 2.
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: Android Guys
Source: OnePlus
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Com1 seeks crowd funding for Android Wear smartwatch
You like Android Wear operating system but you simply dislike every smartwatch that has been launched so far? Well, maybe you can help a new one reach the market. Com1 is currently accepting donations in order to reach $75,000 goal and make this smartwatch a reality. The company has currently managed to collect around $22,000 and… Read more »
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Long Lines Forming for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Launch in Australia
With Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus going on sale in the first group of launch countries beginning on Friday, September 19, long lines have already started to form across the world as many anticipate the release of both devices. Apple retail customers in Australia will have the first opportunity to purchase the new handsets at 8 AM on Friday, as some have already begun lining up outside of the company’s various retail locations. Currently, it is 7:10 PM on Thursday, September 18 throughout many parts of Australia.
Image credit: @beth_blanchard
One photo taken by Guardian Australia writer Bethanie Blanchard shows many customers lining up outside the Apple Store Doncaster, as the line is said to have started at 6 AM and stretches around the entire length of the shopping center.
Image credit: @rodgerrodger
Meanwhile, a photo shared by Twitter user @rodgerodger shows the line surrounding an Apple Store in Brisbane. The image shows numerous customers setting up chairs and laying down supplies in preparation to stay the night ahead of the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the morning.
In addition to Australia, Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK starting Friday, with Apple Retail Stores beginning sales at 8 AM. The company is also implementing a reservation pass system at its retail stores for those who line up, which will keep track of the line position of each customer and ensure that those waiting receive a device.
The first batch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus pre-orders will also be delivered starting this Friday, as some devices have already begun shipping to customers. Shipping estimates for new iPhone 6 pre-orders remain at 7 to 10 days, while estimates for iPhone 6 Plus pre-orders are at 3 to 4 weeks. Apple announced this past Monday that it processed more than four million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus pre-orders during the first day of its pre-launch sales on September 12.
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YouTube now has unreleased stand-up from Dave Chapelle, Louis CK and more
Stand-up comedians don’t get to just walk onto the set of Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show and start telling jokes. Nope, like just about every other creative field they start small and work their way up — often for free at first. Yes, even the likes of Tracy Morgan and Sarah Silverman. The Just For Laughs (JFL) comedy festival in Montreal has filmed the countless names that’ve graced its stage since 1987 and has teamed with YouTube juggernaut Maker Studios to start releasing unseen footage from the fest’s archives, according to Variety. Right now its channel only has a handful of clips (including Dave Chapelle, Chris Rock (above) and the late Bill Hicks), but JFL promises three-time-per-week updates are en route. All told, there’ll be some 500 hours of performances and when that well runs dry, the outfit plans to add footage from more recent shows. For now, at least, you’ll have something funny to sprinkle between Woodstock clips.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Via: AV Club
Source: Variety, Just For Laughs (YouTube)
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OnePlus One StyleSwap covers have been canceled
The OnePlus One came into the game claiming to be a flagship killer, and it packed some beastly specs into an unbeatable pricepoint. However, OnePlus did not stop there. They also promised amazing customization options from a product dubbed StyleSwap covers. These covers were interchangable replacement back plates that could be changed by the user. StyleSwap covers were said to be coming in a variety of covers and even some wood options. This peeked many people’s interest as such a feature is not available from many other companies.
Unfortunately, today OnePlus announced that it would be discontinuing the StyleSwap covers before they even began. They claimed that there had been many snags in finding a way to mass produce the covers and still maintain a high quality of workmanship. Also, OnePlus discovered that the covers had not been implemented as well as they had thought. Changing the covers was proving to be very difficult and the replacements would often be loose and creaky. The loose covers could also result in battery damage. We have to commend OnePlus on not wanting to release a product that is half baked and could damage their phone, but we are still disappointed. Maybe OnePlus can iron out the problems that arose and add StyleSwap covers as a feature for the OnePlus Two.
If you still want a StyleSwap cover, OnePlus says that there is a limited number of bamboo versions that have already been produced and they will be selling the entire stock. But once they are gone, there will be no more produced.
If you were planning on purchasing a OnePlus One, does this news change you mind? Tell us in the comments!
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The post OnePlus One StyleSwap covers have been canceled appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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How a massive black hole looks in an ultra-dense dwarf galaxy
The M60-UCD1 is a dwarf galaxy that’s so dense, you’d see 1 million stars at night if you lived in it instead of the 4,000 we typically see on Earth. Now, thanks to data from Hubble, NASA found that the galaxy, which is only 1/500th the diameter of Milky Way, has a humongous black hole that takes up 15 percent of its mass. Compared to the black hole in our galaxy, which has a mass of 4 million suns, M60-UCD1’s has the mass of 21 million suns. Just take a look at the artist rendering above to see how a huge black hole would look amidst a super dense collection of stars. NASA, by the way, describes black holes as “a great amount of matter packed into a very small area” with “a gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.”
According to the agency, this discovery suggests that dwarf galaxies are actually remnants of larger ones, which collided with other galaxies in the past. Anil Seth, the lead author of the M60-UCD1 study recently published in Nature, says they “don’t know of any other way you could make a black hole so big in an object this small.” That could change over time, as Hawking and other great minds work to figure out how black holes actually work, because as entertaining as it is to think that they’re portals to hell, they’re (probably) not.
[Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI-RCC14-41a]
Filed under: Misc
Source: NASA
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We just played with Nintendo’s New 3DS: Finally, an extra analog stick
You might have heard: Nintendo’s refreshing its 3DS family with two new models. Both the New 3DS as well as the larger New 3DS XL will arrive with a diddly analog stick just above the action buttons. (Throw away your Circle Pad Pros!) Plus, there’s built-in NFC for those incoming Nintendo figurines and a new microSD card reader. Unfortunately, in my fly-by Monster Hunter 4G gaming test, I didn’t have the chance to try either of those features — readers love SD slot close-ups — but it does offer an estimation of what Japanese gamers will get in less than a month when both handhelds launch. There’s still no word on an overseas release for either model, but for now, watch me prove how poor I am at Monster Hunter in our video after the break. No, far worse than that.
http://www.engadget.com/embed-5min/?sid=577&playList=518421120&responsive=false&ratio=1
This time, I was handling the big-screened New 3DS LL (That’s the Japanese version of the 3DS XL), and if we’re honest, there really wasn’t much difference from my now-obsolete 3DS XL at home on initial handling: the corners are still curved, making it, once again, far more comfortable than the OG 3DS, while both screens are bright and vivid — perfect for the palette of Nintendo’s gaming oeuvre. Now, there’s no games that appropriately make the most of the analog stick (at least, not yet). Here at TGS 2014, with Monster Hunter 4G , the right stick was assigned to camera duties, a role it shared with the d-pad and, er, about a third of the touchscreen too. Understandably, the tiny stick was the better option, as it was easier to access and offered a better degree of control.
That’s because the new stick has a rubbery finish, while its location means it’s easy to nudge a little and then swiftly return to the X, Y, A and B buttons. Then there’s those secondary shoulder trigger buttons (which should work nicely with that stick once games arrive): they’re a little smaller but they’re appropriately spaced enough that you’re not going to hit ZR instead of the primary R trigger. It’ll be interesting to see how Nintendo handles transitioning between existing 3DS hardware and these new models, which will likely require completely different controller layouts to make those new buttons worthwhile. Both models launch in Japan on October 11th — and I bravely vow to waste hours and hours on Smash Bros. in the ensuing days to bring you Engadget’s official verdict. (You’re welcome.)
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AIVAnet 