Somehow the internet hasn’t killed off ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’
The internet’s been blamed for making a lot of things redundant, and you’d be justified in assuming that that extended to America’s Funniest Home Videos too. Except, surprisingly, the wealth of cat videos and stripper-pole-fail clips online hasn’t had a fatal effect on the long-running show, according to Bloomberg. How the series has managed to survive is apparently been by embracing the internet and creating a trio of YouTube channels, a Facebook page that, according to AFV‘s Vin Di Bona, gets an average 5,000 to 10,000 shares per post and a partnership with online video giant Maker Studios. Di Bona also says that the wealth of AFV digital content is driving viewers back to its traditional broadcasts too.
Bloomberg reports that, according to Nielsen numbers, this month’s season premiere actually increased in ratings by five percent compared to 2013’s. Perhaps even more impressive? That 93 percent of the show’s audience is watching live on a given Sunday night. Somewhere, we’re imagining Bob Saget has a smile on his incredibly dirty mouth.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek
Honda’s pedestrian-detecting technology is coming to cars this year
Loyal Honda fans, crisis averted. You don’t have to switch to Subaru, Volvo or Ford if you want their anti-collision technology, now that the Japanese automaker has officially announced its own. The company has just launched a new and enhanced driver-assistive system called “Sensing,” which, true to its name, can sense vehicles and pedestrians that might be blocking your way. Using a radar hidden in the front grille coupled with a camera on the windshield, the system can detect whether you’re in danger of colliding with another vehicle or a person crossing the street. It then gives you both audio and visual warnings if so, gently applies the break if you still haven’t after a while, and then brakes hard in your stead if you’re thisclose to running somebody over or smashing against another car.
Other than that, the system can also make sure you’re driving in the middle of the lane, as well as recognize traffic signs and show them on the infotainment display. Honda’s Sensing technology will launch alongside the newest Legend luxury sedan (known in the US as the Acura) before the year ends, though the company promises to load it onto more models in the future.
Source: Honda
LG announces the LG G3 Screen and new in-house NUCLUN octa-core Processor
Looks like LG had another announcement up their sleeves today. You might remember earlier in the day LG announced global availability of the LG G Watch R. Now they have announced a new phone that will follow in the G3 branding. To make things even a little more interesting, they also announced their own in-house processor packed inside too. First, the device. Meet the LG G3 Screen. Cause, it has a big screen?
The LG G3 Screen packs in the following specs:
- 5.9-inch Full HD IPS display
- 2GB of RAM
- 32GB of internal storage
- 13MP rear camera
- 2.1MP front camera
- 3,000 mAh battery
- Android 4.4
I left the processor off the list because it needs to be explained a little. The processor in the G3 Screen is an in-house creation by LG. THat just means that it is chip that LG has made instead of using a Qualcomm, Intel or what have you. The processor carries the name NUCLUN, pronounced NOO-klun. The NUCLUN is designed based on the ARM big.LITTLE technology. Odd sounding and looking, right? That is how it is though. The processor is an octa-core chipset that carries four 1.5GHz ARM Cortex A15 processors for high-performance and four 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A7’s for less intense processing.
“NUCLUN opens up a new chapter in LG’s history of innovation in the mobile industry,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “With this in-house solution, we will be able to achieve better vertical integration and further diversity our product strategy against stronger competition. NUCLUN will give us greater flexibility in our mobile strategy going forward.”
The LG G3 Screen will carry along a lot of the same UX features of the current G3 devices on the market. As an added bounus to the news though, the G3 Screen is the largest smartphone designed for LTE-A Cat. 6 networks. That will deliver download speeds three times faster than regular 4G LTE. All capable, but theoretical, speeds of 225Mbps. That is all well and good, but now we are intrigued to see when and where this device ends up and just how well those processors perform in the real world.
Source: LG
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Engadget Daily: Facebook Rooms, real-life laser bullets and more!
Does the topic of laser guns intrigue you? Perhaps you’re more interested to learn about Facebook’s new anonymous chat app? Read on for all our news highlights from the last 24 hours, including Google’s Android Wear update, CERN’s mysterious photos, our very own gamer’s shopping list, and more.
Judge formally bans Aereo from streaming live TV to devices
Aereo can no longer relay TV shows to its customers using its teeny-tiny antennas (for now, that is), according to US District Judge Alison Nathan. It’s been a while since the Supreme Court decided that the service violates the law by “transmitting performances of copyrighted work to the public,” but it’s only now that a judge has issued a temporary ban order. For those who’ve forgotten what it is: Aereo used to stream live or nearly-live programming to its subscribers’ phones, laptops or tablets for $8 a month. Each customer is assigned a minuscule antenna of his own (pictured above), which captures shows from the airwaves, as well as a DVR that stores recordings for a later time. Now, though, it’s no longer allowed to beam on-air TV shows to people’s devices anymore. Even worse, Judge Nathan has refused to acknowledge it as a cable service, which means it can’t reinvent itself as one — even if it’s now willing to pay those licensing fees.
Wondering what’s next for Aereo? Well, the jury’s still out on whether it can record and store programs to be aired at a later time. The judge didn’t grant TV networks their request to stop the company from doing so, since they didn’t include it as part of their demands when they first filed a lawsuit. She’s currently investigating whether she should grant that request, though — and whether to order a final, permanent ban against Aereo. If you want to know more about the temporary injunction, prepare to pore over 17 pages of legalese before checking out the official court documents.
[Image credit: AP]
Source: Scotusblog, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, Injunction (Scribd)
TalkAndroid Daily Dose for October 23, 2014
With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!
Android Wear
Android Wear now has GPS and offline music support
Android TV
Developer brings Android TV to Ouya gaming console
Apps
SwiftKey introduces two new Material Design keyboard skins
Carriers
Famigo coming pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 through AT&T
AT&T to offer Kindle Fire HDX 7″ for just $49.99 with every Fire Phone purchase
Sony SmartWatch 3 now available for pre-order from Verizon Wireless
Gaming
Phones
Amazon takes $170 million hit “primarily related” to the Fire Phone
LG Liger shows up in benchmarks with mid-range hardware
Why did Samsung “ditch the stitch” and other design questions answered
ZTE officially launches the budget-minded ZTE V5 Max
Set-top boxes
Amazon Fire TV now available in the UK
Smartwatches
LG G Watch R will be available in the UK starting tomorrow
LG finally announces global release plans for the G Watch R, but still murky
Next Pebble smartwatch aims to be “more everything,” might feature modular components
Sony SmartWatch 3 now available for pre-order from Verizon Wireless
Tablets
AT&T to offer Kindle Fire HDX 7″ for just $49.99 with every Fire Phone purchase
Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for October 23, 2014
Could the Nexus 6 release in other major markets be further away than we expected?
With the October 29th pre-order window of the Nexus 6 bearing down on us, for everybody not in the US, we’re left wondering when Google is going to allow us to purchase their most powerful smartphone to date. Google has previously said the Nexus 6 release in markets like Australia will begin sometime in November, but MoDaCo’s Paul O’Brien has suggested that the UK might not even see the 6-inch device till December.
Think you’re getting a Nexus 6 in the UK before December? Think again!
— Paul O’Brien (@PaulOBrien) October 22, 2014
This doesn’t immediately imply that the pre-order window in the UK, or indeed in other markets, will only open in December – it could easily open in November. But what it does do is give some insight as to how long buyers of the Nexus 6 may have to wait before getting a hold of their devices after pre-ordering. We’d suggest taking this news with a grain of salt, but this isn’t the first time O’Brien has weighed into the Nexus 6’s future, so perhaps he knows something that we don’t.
What do you think about the Nexus 6 release in other markets like the UK and Australia? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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‘Duke Nukem’ and ‘Wolfenstein’ gaming house 3D Realms is back
The early ’90s were a simpler time: Mullets were acceptable, everyone was wearing Zubaz pants and rocking your dad’s flannel didn’t make you a hipster. In an effort to bring us back to the era when grunge ruled the earth, the folks at formerly-defunct 3D Realms has bundled 32 of its classic games into one package and is selling ‘em DRM-free over at its website. What’s in the collection of almost everything the company produced? A killaton of games (and a remastered soundtrack, apparently), that’s what; including, but not limited to: Duke Nukem 3D, Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy, Wolfenstein 3D and Wacky Wheels. The anthology will set you back $40, but if you act within the next two days you can get it for half of that. There’s a video after the break if you need a refresher course on who the company is, too. 3D Realms also promises that in the coming months it’ll have much more to talk about including its in-development games. Come get some, indeed.
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD
Source: 3D Realms
LG’s next phone will be the first with one of its own CPUs inside
LG has been trying to catch up to competition like Apple and Samsung with its phones for years, and its next step on that path is to build one with its own CPU inside. The G3 Screen phone that it’s releasing this week in Korea will have an eight-core “NUCLUN” (pronounced NOO-klun) processor, based off of an ARM big.LITTLE design similar to Samsung’s octacore Exynos chips. NUCLUN has for 1.5GHz cores for the tough tasks, and for 1.2GHz cores for easier stuff that save on battery life. The G3 Screen is a 5.9-inch phone with a 10808p screen and support for the new, faster LTE-A networks that download at up to 225Mbps.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: LG Newsroom
Bitcasa drops its unlimited cloud storage due to underuse (and abuse)
If you were thinking of milking Bitcasa’s unlimited cloud storage for all it’s worth, you’d better have an alternative lined up. The company is dropping its signature Infinite storage option after November 15th, in tandem with an upgrade to new infrastructure. You’ll have to migrate to a limited tier (such as the new 10TB, $999 per year Pro plan) if you want to keep all your content. Why the sudden clampdown? According to Bitcasa, you probably weren’t using it — only 0.1 percent of its accounts chew through more than 10TB. Moreover, some of those that are consuming that much space are reportedly abusing it at a level which “seems impossible” for any one person. The company hasn’t elaborated on what these nogoodniks are doing beyond violating the terms of service, but it’s easy to see a company trying to use Bitcasa as a makeshift storage server.
While it makes sense for Bitcasa to cut little-used services that cost a lot of money to run, the transition risks rubbing a lot of Infinite subscribers the wrong way. In addition to forcing users to cut back on cloud storage, there aren’t any planned refunds for customers who want to stay — if you just paid for a year’s worth of unlimited capacity, you’re probably going to feel shortchanged. It won’t be surprising if the company eventually extends an olive branch, but this still means that you’ll have to drop dreams of storing all your digital belongings online.
[Thanks, Sean]
Filed under: Storage, Internet
Source: Bitcasa Blog
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