ZBoard’s back in your future with a hoverboard and high top bundle
Remember when we told you about HalloweenCostumes.com’s officially-licensed light-up high tops from Back To The Future Part II? We joked that the kicks would have gone great with ZBoard’s limited-edition Hoverboard that it produced for the Michael J. Fox foundation last year. Unfortunately, only 50 decks and 25 full boards were created for the auction, so it looks as if that (time-traveling) train has sailed. Well, until now, that is, since the company has now produced a general-sale run of its bright pink electric skateboard, and will even sell you the high tops in a single bundle. The board on its own will set you back $600, while a set with the futuristic kicks is priced at $700, plus one lucky competition winner will win a complete replica of Marty McFly’s future outfit from the movie. Be warned, however, as you’ve only got 14 days to scrounge together the cash, or else you’ll be outtatime (geddit?).
Filed under: Transportation
Source: ZBoard (StackSocial), Zboard Giveaway
Apple really doesn’t want you to upgrade the Mac Mini
After the new-but-not-very-fresh iPad mini 3, the most disappointing part of Apple’s recent show-and-tell was the $499 Mac mini — the RAM is now soldered in, making it impossible to upgrade. iFixit has just revealed that the model has other user-unfriendly features as well. While access to the RAM used to be dead simple, it’s now guarded by a metal cover held in place by Torx TR6 Security screws, which require an exotic tool. Adding a second hard drive is also, er, harder, since unlike past models, there’s just a single SATA port (though you may be able to install a PCIe SSD). Finally, as mentioned, both the RAM and Intel Core-i5 CPU are soldered in permanently. That’s not very cricket on Apple’s part, considering that past Mac minis were a breeze to access and update. Still, thanks to a lack of glue and easy disassembly with the right tools, the iMac eked a passing repairability grade of 6 out of 10.
Source: iFixit
Google 5.0 for Android will also support Exchange and absorbing stock Email app functions
Yesterday, we got our first taste of Google 5.0 for Android, featuring the expected Material Design visual makeover and most surprisingly, the knowledge that Google intends to make the new Gmail capable as serving as the inbox for Yahoo and Outlook emails too. As it turns out, it’s much more than even that. According today’s information courtesy of Android Police, the new Gmail won’t stop at just allowing you to manage Yahoo and Outlook accounts, but also Exchange accounts and essentially absorbs all functions of the stock Email app.
This doesn’t come particularly as a surprise given that Google has made a habit of combining apps with common purposes, a la Hangouts. This latest change puts Gmail in a realm with all the other email curating apps, though we’ll have to wait for the official app to drop before we can see exactly how good this turns out to be.
What do you think about Google combining the stock Email app functions into the new Gmail 5.0 app? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Android Police
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Nexus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comparison video points out the selling points of these titanic phablets
Finding it hard to decide which of the latest phablets is best to get. Assuming that you aren’t considering the iPhone 6 Plus at all, you’re left with a Nexus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comparison and to help make light of each phone’s strong points, Carphone Warehouse has decided to put together a nice video that not only compares the features, but gives us our first good look at the Nexus 6 in real life. Check it out:
As you might expect, courtesy of its 5.9-inch screen, the Nexus 6 is ever so much taller and wider than the 5.7-inch endowed Note 4. Both carry a Quad HD display, and both have the latest Snapdragon 805 processor. Where the Nexus 6 probably starts to win out, for Android purists that is, is the fact it will have Android Lollipop available to it out of the box – no doubt the Note 4 will eventually get the update too, but it’s hard to beat being first in line to get the update like Google’s latest flagship smartphone.
As is always the case, however, the final choice is down to your preference, and it’s hard to imagine that you’ll be disappointed by either of these devices for a very long time.
What do you think of this Nexus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comparison? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Amazon and Simon & Schuster reach a deal on internet book sales
Amazon just found a way to put further pressure on Hachette in its ongoing pricing war: strike a deal with another publisher. The online retailer has forged a new agreement with Simon & Schuster that will keep the book giant’s digital and physical titles on Amazon for multiple years. The full terms of the deal aren’t available, but the Wall Street Journal claims that it reaches a middle ground; Simon & Schuster will normally set prices, while Amazon will have the right to discount books in some situations. However it works, both sides are claiming it as a victory. Amazon argues that it gives the publisher a “financial incentive” to drop prices, while a letter from Simon & Schuster describes the pact as “economically advantageous” for both itself and authors.
While this is good news if you’re shopping for the latest Colm Toibin novel, the deal comes across as an iron fist in a velvet glove — it’s a reminder for Hachette about the consequences of refusing to fall in line. Simon & Schuster is keen to tout “continuous availability” of books as a perk of the deal, and the WSJ adds that Amazon will make sure those titles are “well promoted.” If Hachette doesn’t compromise, it won’t have either the reliable inventory levels or product positioning needed to thrive this holiday shopping season. Hachette hasn’t commented on the Simon & Schuster contract, but the odds are that it isn’t happy about being backed into a corner.
Source: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times
Premium Tinder features will help you find love before hitting a new city
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
Will Digital Wallets or Credit Cards Reign Supreme?
A lot of different payment options besides cash have sprung up in recent years. While credit and debit cards have been around for quite a while, they are far from the new kids on the block now. The most recent developments in payment options are digital wallets and contactless payment.
The term “digital wallet” is actually a rather broad and all-encompassing term that enfolds a number of disparate payment options. The term digital wallet can include ID verification and multiple payment options that can cover purchasing with multiple different credit cards, according to Credit Cards. However, it’s important to note that digital payment options are still in their infancy. Credit cards, on the other hand, are a staple of the world economy and of people making purchases. For digital wallets and other contactless payments to take over from credit cards, some serious changes in economic infrastructure and consumer opinions will need to take place.
Digital Wallets
There are a number of different options available when looking for a digital wallet, otherwise known as an e-wallet, or other contactless payment method. For the most part, digital wallets are all smartphone apps available through various companies for both Android phones and iPhones. In fact, Hong Kiat provides a list of ten potential digital wallets anyone can download and use. Some of the companies that offer these services include Google, Apple, PayPal, and Square.
These apps don’t just hold on to your payment information, they can also store data from loyalty programs and member cards so you can continue accruing your earning rewards and the like even without the physical card. To use these digital wallets, all you ever have to do is swipe your phone across a reader. Of course, this means the business you’re shopping at needs to have a device capable of reading the unique wallet signals. If the store has the proper reader, then customers have an even easier and more convenient check out experience.
On the business side of things, there are expectations of digital wallets becoming the next big thing and taking over the world of payments. In an interview about digital wallets with CNet, Mario Shiliashki, the senior vice president of emerging payments for MasterCard said of the rise of e-wallets; “It’s absolutely an opportunity for us; we see it as what will help our business grow for the next 10, 20, 30 years, even faster than we’ve grown in past decades.”
The Odd Case of Contactless Payment Cards
“But I thought digital payment options were supposed to avoid the need for cards?” Some of you might ask, well, that’s why contactless payment cards are an odd mixture of both digital wallets and regular credit and debit cards. They can be considered in the group of digital wallets since you just need to swipe them pass a sensor to pay, but they’re a plastic card that still sits in your actual wallet and holds all your credit and debit card info. However, contactless payment cards don’t necessarily have to be cards; according to Transport for London, contactless payments might be made with key fobs and stickers as well.
In an article discussing the new San Francisco startup, Coin, Slate discusses the new idea of another type of payment card. This card, which Coin states will “simplify, improve, and fit seamlessly into your life,” is another plastic card with a changeable magnetic strip that can mimic the attributes of up to eight different credit cards. The card syncs up to an app on your smartphone via Bluetooth where you can designate which card it is to mimic at that particular moment. But like a regular credit or debit card, you swipe this one
Credit Cards
There’s not too much to say about credit cards. They’ve been around for a number of decades, a ton of people have them, or multiples of them, and just about every business has a card reader. Of course these generalizations aren’t entirely true, but the fact is that credit cards are all over. And with mobile card readers and POS systems like those by Shopify becoming more and more popular, credit cards don’t really look like they’re going away any time soon. Although, during the CNet interview, when discussing global payment usage, Shiliashki stated, “This gives us a lot of runway to truly revolutionize the world and digitize payments, both in the 15 percent that is already using credit card networks, but also in the 85 percent that is still using cash.” Time will tell what Shiliashki and Mastercard will do.
Who Will Win?
As you can see, digital wallets, contactless payments and credit cards aren’t really disparate payment methods. All three are intertwined with credit cards as the primary foundation. The other methods are really just different ways to store your credit card info to make it easier to pay. Perhaps something major and different will be developed in the future at some point. However, until then, credit cards could technically be called the winner since the other payment methods stand on the back of the little plastic cards.
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You can now take Lyft and UberX cars to San Francisco’s main airport
It was only a matter of time before San Francisco International Airport allowed direct visits from app-based ridesharing services besides Sidecar, and those floodgates have officially opened. Both Lyft and Uber (specifically, UberX and UberXL) now have the all-clear to stop at SFO’s terminals. If you need a ride to your hotel, you no longer have to pay for an expensive taxi or else brave the mass transit system. It’s difficult to know how this increased competition will work in practice, but a successful rollout could get other airports following suit.
[Image credit: Angelo DeSantis, Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation, Internet
Via: The Next Web
iOS 8.1: ‘Text Message Forwarding’ Activation Requires iMessage Email Address [iOS Blog]
Earlier today, Apple released iOS 8.1 which introduced number of new features to iOS and Yosemite. One of the anticipated features was SMS Text Message Forwarding, which allows SMS messages received by your iPhone to be mirrored on your iPad or Mac running OS X Yosemite.
Several of our forum members had difficulty activating the feature, as the required activation code would never appear on their Macs or iPads.
MacRumors reader Michael wrote in with this solution which requires an email address to be activated in iMessage:
…you need to have your email address turned on for iMessage on your iPhone in order to enable Text Message Forwarding. If you don’t, the numeric access code will not appear on your iPad or Mac during the setup process. As soon as you enable your email address for iMessage (you only need to do this on your iPhone) the numeric access codes appear as expected. Once you have text message forwarding setup you can disable your email address again in iMessage as it seems to only be necessary for the numeric access code setup step, not the actual text message forwarding itself.
MacRumors was able to verify this scenario and found that an email address does indeed have to be active on your iPhone for the activation message to properly be sent. In our testing, SMS messages were still received after the email address was removed from iMessage. The setting to add your email address to iMessage is under Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive. Note, you may have to wait a few moments after adding an email address before the activation code will send.
‘Lucky Lucy’ special edition Halloween Android figurine on sale tomorow
Lucky Lucy, Android’s latest Halloween-inspired black cat is due to be sold on the DeadZebra starting October 21st. Lucy is reminiscent of TrickerTreat, the pumpkin-designed figurine from 2013. The black cat has a double-sided head, featuring a snarl or a smile, depending on which way it’s facing. Lucky Lucy goes on sale tomorrow morning at 11:00 am. Dead Zebra has a limit of one per household.
Source: Dead Zebra
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