Ello’s charter makes it legally impossible for it to display ads
Ello debuted with a big, idealistic promise: to be a different kind of social network unswayed by the influence of advertisers or corporate overlords. The notion was immediately questioned by just about everyone, but the startup is sticking to the idea. Today it announced that its advertiser-free status will be permanent, since it’s becoming a Public Benefit Corporation. Under Delaware law, a PBC is a special kind of for-profit entity that is legally obligated to consider the public impact of its actions. As such, the company has drawn up a company charter that bars the firm from ever selling user data or displaying ads from a third-party entity — and the company isn’t allowed to sell itself unless the buyer agrees to abide by these rules, too. It’s still not clear if Ello will last the in the long run, but if it does, at least there won’t be any ads.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Ello
Powerful Image Editing App ‘Pixelmator’ Comes to the iPad [iOS Blog]
Pixelmator, a popular Photoshop replacement on the Mac, was released for the iPad today. The image editing iOS app is similar to the Mac app, incorporating many of the same tools to allow users to retouch and enhance photos and images.
The app includes a complete set of painting tools and a painting engine that can take advantage of a range of brushes from crayon and marker to pencil and paintbrush to create works of art from scratch or improve photos.
It offers several photo editing tools, including advanced retouching tools that let users remove unwanted objects from images in just a few minutes. There are color adjustment tools (including levels, brightness/contrast, curves, white balance, and more) to improve the look of photos, and a selection of more than 14 pre-created effects can be applied to images.
Pixelmator for iOS supports non-destructive layer styles and it includes powerful selection tools along with image straightening and cropping tools. There are also built-in shape and text tools.
Pixelmator comes with a set of top-quality retouching tools so you can easily make every picture absolutely stunning. With the innovative repair tool, quickly and easily get rid of unwanted image elements simply by painting on them or, with just a simple tap fix red eyes, brush away blemishes, smudge to smooth out hard lines, paint to boost the colors, bring in some light and so much more. Advanced technologies used in retouching tools make them incredibly fast and accurate, so that you can seamlessly bring an image to perfection.
Loaded with dozens of breathtaking effects, Pixelmator for iPad gives even more ways to enhance pictures. Add gorgeous effects like blur, vignette, vintage, black & white, light leak, bokeh, miniaturize and many more — in an instant. You can even combine different effects for unique, near-effortless artistic creations and see the stunning results in real time.
The app has been designed from the ground up for iOS 8 and it fully supports several different iOS 8 features. It uses iCloud Drive to store images, for example, and with Handoff, it’s possible to start editing an image on the iPad and pick it up on the Mac.
There’s Document Picker support to allow users to edit images in other apps, and there’s a Pixelmator Photo Editing extension designed for the Photos app. It’s also possible to share images with other apps with Share extensions.
When Apple unveiled the new iPad Air 2 on October 16, it invited the Pixelmator team to take the stage to demo the Pixelmator app for the iPad Air 2, as it is designed to take advantage of the tablet’s powerful 64-bit processor. Though created to utilize a 64-bit processor, Pixelmator for iPad is compatible with iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3. iPad 4 or later is recommended for the best performance, however.
Pixelmator can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]
Bizarre: when in Japan, use a live rabbit as a phone case
There are some pretty weird things in our world, but this is definitely one of the more bemusing. The above image was apparently tweeted in Japan earlier this month and was retweeted over 37,000 times. As you can see, the person in the photo is using a live rabbit as a phone case, something which has now apparently become an internet meme and spawned a whole series of other photos of people emulating the same unusual feat. Why you would even do this is incredibly confusing, but using adorable rabbits was a nice touch regardless.
Now, I know that rabbits have long ears that look like antennas, but I’m pretty sure they serve no practical purpose if you put your phone into their bellies. Amusement aside, this feat is actually pretty easy to do as a rabbit lying on their back will almost always obediently lie there without moving, something referred to as the “bunny trance” (though the jury is still out on whether you should be doing it to them all the time). Now excuse me while I try and find a rabbit for no apparent reason.
What do you think about this latest craze in Japan with using a live rabbit as a phone case? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Kotaku via Phone Arena
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The post Bizarre: when in Japan, use a live rabbit as a phone case appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
LG Liger shows up in benchmarks with mid-range hardware
It looks like LG is planning on launching a new device in the G3 family called the LG Liger. The oddly named smartphone looks extremely similar to the G3, but LG has lowered the specs a bit, so this one effectively falls in the mid-range category of smartphones.
The device features LG’s in-house Odin CPU with four Cortex-A15 cores and four Cortex-A7 cores, similar to many newer pseudo-octacore processors. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it an extremely high-end CPU, as the benchmarks for the device put it well below the Snapdragon 801 found in the G3. To make up for the lower speed, LG has decreased the screen resolution to 1080p instead of the extremely high resolution seen on the G3. The screen itself is also a bit bigger, coming in at 5.9-inches. Other specs include 2 GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel camera.
It’s crazy to think that an octa-core device with a 1080p screen is “mid-range,” but compared to other high-end offerings on the market, this device can’t compete with the best available. It’ll still very likely be an excellent device that won’t cost much, so keep an ear for it as we get closer to the holidays.
source: GSM Arena
Come comment on this article: LG Liger shows up in benchmarks with mid-range hardware
Etsy takes a stab at real world sales with free credit card readers
Etsy is best known for being an online marketplace of folksy gewgaws and crocheted everythings, but it’s making moves to help its sellers do more out in the real world. Case in point: The company just took a page out of Square and PayPal’s playbooks by offering free, smartphone-friendly credit/debit card readers to its users. The idea’s simple enough: Etsy crafters hawking their wares in public can use the reader just like any of the other ones out there, but once they swipe a card, those products automatically get deducted from their online Etsy inventory. Buyers who already have Etsy accounts can leave reviews too, just to make sure everyone knows how rad their new minimalist wallets are. Voilà: sellers get to make money and build deeper connections with actual, physical people, and Etsy gets a sweet (if tiny, think 2.75 percent) cut of each transaction to help fuel its growth.
Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got some funky brass steampunk corsets to prep for the big craft show next week.
Via: Re/code
Source: Etsy
Microsoft is doing great, and so are Surface Pro 3 and Office 365
The cloud has been a solid source of income for Microsoft in recent times, and while the company is still in the middle of a huge transition, the future is looking bright under recently appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Today, Microsoft released its earnings for the first fiscal 2015 quarter, with the main takeaway being the growth of its Devices and Consumer revenue by 47 percent, to $10.96 billion, and a total of $23.20 billion in overall revenue, a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year. In other words, business is superb over in Redmond.
Part of the reason for this is how successful its productivity suite, Office 365, has been — there are now over 7 million subscribers to the Home and Personal software. What’s more, Microsoft revealed that the Surface Pro 3 drove the momentum of its Surface line to a revenue $908 million, doubling the amount of the previous quarter; meanwhile, 2.4 million Xbox units were sold during the term, though the company didn’t specify how many of those were for its newest console, the Xbox One.
Beyond that, its smartphone efforts continues to be on the rise. The phone hardware business totaled $2.6 billion and 9.3 million Lumias were sold, which is an even better figure than the record 8.8 million sales reported within the same timeframe last year. “We delivered a strong start to the year, with continued cloud momentum and meaningful progress across our device businesses,” Amy Hood, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and CFO, Amy Hood, said in a statement from the company. “We will continue to invest in high-growth opportunities and drive efficiencies across the organization to deliver long-term shareholder value.”
Developing…
[Image credit: Michael Kappel/Flickr]
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Software, Microsoft
Amazon’s acquisitions and experiments are erasing its profits
In case you didn’t know, here’s the crazy thing about Amazon: it isn’t really known for turning a profit. Just think about that for a second. The company that wants to you sell everything, get it to you by any means necessary and serves as the backbone for a considerable chunk of the internet doesn’t usually make money at the end of the day. And even with that financial truth entered into the record, people — from Wall Street types to armchair prognosticators — cheer whenever Amazon avoids losing as much money in a quarter as they expect it to. Today is not one of those days.
Amazon’s Q3 results dropped not too long ago, and it packs some big numbers. While the Everything Store raked in $20.58 billion in revenue (which is more than most small countries make in a year) it just wasn’t enough to please to please those pesky shareholders — the company’s stock price is down nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading. Amazon’s business model is the epitome of spending money to make money, except what operating profits they do post are pretty meager and big losses like today’s (think $437 million) aren’t rare. In fairness, this quarter has been a really busy one for the folks in Seattle. After all, Amazon snapped up Twitch for a billion dollars, expanded its same-day delivery service in six cities across the United States, and launched a phone that no one actually seems to want (if you’re reading, Bezos, we’d like still like hard sales numbers for that thing). The question is, how much longer can Amazon afford to spend and spend and acquire and expand and create before shareholders — the people who back the company with their own money — decide that enough is enough?
Source: Amazon
Facebook Announces Anonymous Chat App ‘Rooms’ [iOS Blog]
Facebook today announced the release of a new anonymous sharing app called Rooms, which will allow users to create an anonymous invite-only chat room based around any theme.
Rooms is a standalone app that is not integrated with Facebook and does not require a Facebook login. No personally identifiable information is required within chat rooms and users are identified by nicknames. A user can join a chat room via a QR code that can be shared online, offline, privately, or publicly. While Rooms does not monitor user location, it does store messages on Facebook’s servers.
Rooms will be using the same community standards used by Facebook, so content flagged for bullying, threats, spam, and more can be deleted by Facebook. The site can also ban members or disable entire chat rooms, and each Room moderator has the power to ban users who join.
Chat rooms, which can be created on any topic, are also customizable with different colors, emojis, and more. According to Facebook Product Manager Josh Miller, who spoke to Re/code, Rooms is not designed to emulate anonymous sharing apps like Secret or Whisper, instead aiming to provide people with a place to chat with others who “care about the same stuff you do.”
Rooms lets you create places for the things you’re passionate about. Pick a topic, customize the look and feel, be whoever you want to be and share with others. It’s perfect for the things you love and interests that make you unique.
– Pick a topic: Create a home for people who are as into the topic as you are.
– Customize the look and feel: Pick a color, choose an emoji for your like button, and more!
– Be whoever you want to be: Choose nicknames for yourself, real or made up.
– Share with others: Invite other people so you can share photos, videos, and notes with them.
Rooms was created by Facebook’s Creative Labs branch, which has also created Paper and Slingshot. While news reader Paper has enjoyed success in the App Store, video and photo messaging app Slingshot has not been as popular.
Rooms is an iPhone-only app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
LG finally announces global release plans for the G Watch R, but still murky
LG released the G Watch R in South Korea last week, and it will be available in the UK starting tomorrow, but what about the rest of the world? LG sent out a presser with a little information, but unfortunately it’s still a little cloudy. According to the presser, the full round smartwatch will be available at retail sites throughout Europe in the beginning of November. This includes France, Italy, Spain, and the UK. Now as far as the UK is concerned, Clove will have it starting tomorrow.
As for North America, Asia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), they only mentioned that they would follow the European launch soon after, but no timetable. This could mean the following week or even a few weeks. Either way, I guess it’s safe to say that the G Watch R won’t hit the U.S. until at least the week of November 10th. I am sure it will be here by the holidays though. I doubt LG wants to miss that opportunity.
Full Press Release:
LG G WATCH R, NEW BENCHMARK FOR WEARABLES, BEGINS GLOBAL ROLLOUT
The LG G Watch R made its world debut at IFA 2014 to much interest and with its stylish looks and smooth, speedy performance, became one of the show’s most mentioned new products. The world’s first watch-style wearable to feature a fully circular Plastic OLED (P-OLED) display, the G Watch R was inspired by classical and premium timepieces. The 1.3-inch circular P-OLED display takes advantage of every pixel, producing images with stunning color and accurate viewing at all angles even under bright sunlight.
Designed and built to last, the LG G Watch R features a classic design encased in durable stainless steel and aluminum powered by a 410mAh battery, the largest in an Android Wearable to date. Like the original LG G Watch, the G Watch R delivers optimal performance through its powerful but efficient 1.2GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor with 4GB of storage and 512MB of RAM. With an Ingress Protection rating of IP67, the device is completely protected from dust and water resistant for up to 30 minutes at a maximum depth of one meter. The G Watch R, designed with personalization in mind, is compatible with any 22mm wide watch strap.
The LG G Watch R offers six new pre-loaded watch faces and improved power savings in ambient mode. The update to Android WearTM OS will add even more features and functionality to G Watch R such as offline music playback. Updates will be performed seamlessly through the smartphone with the owner’s permission.
“While the original G Watch was designed to be a no-nonsense, pure Android Wear device, the G Watch R was developed with a more aesthetic eye,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The G Watch R represents LG’s commitment to meld form and functionality together in perfect harmony and to create a device that not only looks great but more importantly, offers technology that makes life more convenient.”
Prices and additional purchase details will be announced locally at time of availability. For more product images and videos, please visit www.lg.com/global/gwatch/r.
Key Specifications:
- Chipset: 1.2GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400
- Display: 1.3-inch P-OLED Display (320 x 320)
- Memory: 4GB eMMC / 512MB RAM
- Battery: 410mAh
- Operating System: Android Wear™
- (compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 and above)
- Sensors: 9-Axis (Gyro / Accelerometer / Compass)
- Barometer
- PPG (Heart Rate Monitor)
- Color: Black
- Other: Dust and Water Resistant (IP67)
Come comment on this article: LG finally announces global release plans for the G Watch R, but still murky
Sony SmartWatch 3 now available for pre-order from Verizon Wireless
The Sony SmartWatch 3 is finally available for pre-order, but from only one place. And that place is quite surprising. If you want to be the first to get your hands on Sony’s first Android Wear smartwatch, you will have to order it through Verizon Wireless.
They are taking pre-orders for it now for $249. Shipments start on October 30. The Sony SmartWatch is the only Android Wear smartwatch with a built in GPS so it can take advantage of the new features that Google officially announced today. On top of that, it has the best ambient display in the business.
The SmartWatch 3 is on Google Play, but you can’t order it just yet. We suspect that will commence late next week when Verizon starts their shipments. Hit the source link to get our order in.
source: Verizon
Come comment on this article: Sony SmartWatch 3 now available for pre-order from Verizon Wireless
AIVAnet 