CBS launches its own TV subscription platform for $6 a month
Less than a day after HBO finally promised to let users cut out the middle man, CBS has decided to do the same. The company is launching CBS All Access, which charges $6 a month to stream new episodes of its shows the day after broadcast. You’ll be able to stream 15 of its prime-time shows in this way, including big hits like NCIS and The Big Bang Theory as well as 6,500 episodes of classic TV from the CBS back catalog as a sweetener. That’ll enable you to binge down on classic shows like, uhm, MacGyver and I Love Lucy whenever and wherever you want. The platform will also enable you to watch the live streams from the Big Brother house when that show returns next year, which seems like an adequate apology after CBS helped kill off Aereo.
There are a few caveats that we probably should mention. First up, you won’t be able to live stream the Sunday and Thursday NFL games, as CBS doesn’t own the rights to those games. Second, you’ll only be able to view the streams if you live in an area where CBS owns the local affiliate, like in New York and Los Angeles. Thirdly, even though you’re actually paying for the service, you’re still going to have to sit through commercial breaks, because, guys, this is CBS we’re talking about here. Still, if you like your shows to feature lots of people who used to be big names staring glumly at corpses, or the adventures of the boyfriend from Roseanne now that he’s a scientist, or Magnum PI as a policeman, then you can snag a week’s free trial down at the source.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: CBS
Check out the Nexus 9 hands-on video running Android 5.0 Lollipop
The Nexus 9 may have only been announced yesterday, and doesn’t even go up for pre-order until tomorrow 17th October, but it seems someone has managed to get early access to the device and has posted a lengthy hands-on video.
Courtesy of YouTube channel SChannel, we are able to get an early peek at the Nexus 9, it’s hardware, software, and just how responsive it is. Be sure to turn on the English subtitles, unless you speak Vietnamese of course…
The Nexus 9 goes up for pre-order tomorrow, 17th October, and will be released on 3rd November.
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Accessory of the Day: The Friendly Swede premium stylus bundle $7.99
Grab a set of 3 extra-long stainless steel stylus pens at a great deal. This bundle comes with two 15″ lanyards and a microfiber cleaning cloth. With 5-star reviews and an attractive price of just $7.99 (Prime eligible), jump on this right away — especially as we approach the gift-giving season.
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Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: The battle of the phablets
So Google have now announced their new flagship device, we can finally see their response to Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus. For most, the decision on which device to get is simple as it is the platform that dictates the buying decision, but for some, platform doesn’t play as an important part in the decision.
We’ve stacked up the Nexus 6 against the iPhone 6 Plus in a pure spec comparison to see how the two compare, since the size profile of the two devices are very similar.
One of the main observations of the Nexus 6 is the sheer size of the screen, but despite it having a larger screen than the iPhone 6 Plus, the height of the two devices is almost identical – to give some perspective on the size of the Nexus 6.
The Nexus 6 wins on pretty much every other front, having more RAM, higher clocked CPU, higher PPI, better rear camera, and bigger battery.
So if you’re in the market for a phablet-sized device and don’t mind about OS, then there’s a clear winner here, and that’s the Nexus 6. But even if you’re set on iOS and you’re just here to check out the competition, with the sheer specs of the Nexus 6, combined with Android Lollipop, the competition is looking far more appealing than it was back in the days of Gingerbread, which is probably the last time iOS users dabbled in Android when it was a new platform.
So avid Android users and curious iOS users, the Nexus 6 is the device to buy if you’re in the market for a plus-sized device and pre-orders go live tomorrow, 17th October.
Let us know in the comments if you’re buying the Nexus 6, and if so what device you’re coming from.
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Lenovo to launch Chinese direct-to-consumer smartphone company
Not long after acquiring Motorola, Lenovo have announced big plans to establish a new brand of smartphones for the Chinese Market on April 1, 2015. The tech giant is looking to take on companies like Xiaomi and Meizu by focusing on direct-to-consumer sales and an internet-based business model. They also plan to put a strong focus on app development.
Lenovo will not be discontinuing their own line of phones, but will instead continue selling those through carriers. The new brand’s direct-to-market focus will allow them to sell these devices for prices similar to Xiaomi’s offerings. Definitely an interesting move on Lenovo’s part, but with other companies already dominating the rapidly-growing Chinese market, is an April launch too late for Lenovo to get their footing? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: GSM Arena
Come comment on this article: Lenovo to launch Chinese direct-to-consumer smartphone company
Microsoft wants to make it easier to build Windows Phone apps
Last year, Microsoft created Windows App Studio to get more Windows Phone apps into its Store, and it worked — developers added almost 50,000 new apps in 14 months. Redmond has just updated the beta web app with a feature that should help even more: Windows 8.1 sideloading. All you have to do is scan a certificate when generating a universal 8.1 app, and it’ll install it automatically on your Windows Phone 8.1 device. The update also lets you generate apps in nine extra languages and brings new layouts and templates, among other tweaks. If you want to sign up, the requirements aren’t strict — you just need a Microsoft account and an uncontrollable urge to build Windows Phone apps. Give it a whirl right here.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
NASA’s Messenger captures first photos of ice on Mercury
It’s easy to assume, that finding ice on the first rock from the sun, would be like finding a snowflake in a furnace (it can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit after all). But, you’d be wrong. And NASA’s long had radar and photographic proof (just nothing in the visual range) that water ice did exist on the planet. Now, we have the first optical evidence — after pictures snapped by the NASA’s Messenger spacecraft managed to snag enough sunlight inside the 70 mile-wide, permanently-shadowed Prokofiev crater on the north pole of the planet for a photo. The images might not look like much to the untrained eye (though still wonderfully otherworldly), but they provide those that know with enough information to suggest that the ice deposits are relatively recent (and not from when the planet was being formed). No doubt, more revelations will come as the images get scrutinized fruther, and Messenger continues the good work.
Filed under: Science
Via: Space
Source: Geology Journal
You can now get a 7-inch 3G Android phablet for just $54 in China
No, that’s not a bulk purchasing price. According to the folks at Beijing chip designer NuFront, some Chinese retailers are now selling 7-inch 3G phablets — powered by NuFront’s TL7689 chipset — to consumers for as low as CN¥330 or about $54 per piece (the prices pictured above are for distributors). That converts to a mere $6 profit for every device sold, which is apparently the norm in the affordable market. On paper, though, it’s still a seemingly complete package: you get a 1,024 x 600 LCD screen, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, 0.3MP/2MP cameras, a 1,800mAh battery and even HSPA+ connectivity.
As you’d expect, the build quality, screen and cameras leave a lot to be desired, and likewise with the 1.2GHz, 40nm quad-core processor — it’s dual Cortex-A9 and dual Cortex-M3. For an extra $20, you get a version with a bigger 2,800mAh cell plus a slightly better screen quality. While most of us here won’t be using one of these as our main tablet and let alone our main phone, we can at least appreciate how far we’ve come: just five years ago a 7-inch Android tablet — the WiFi-only kind as well — would cost you $399! Looking ahead, NuFront is already working on its own 4G-enabled 28nm octa-core solution for next year, which is key to delivering the 4G experience to the entry markets.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile
Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ Allows Users to Notify Others of Safety During Disasters [iOS Blog]
Facebook has launched a new feature called Safety Check that allows users to inform their friends and family about their safety in the event of a disaster or crisis using a check-in system.
For Facebook on iOS, Safety Check automatically sends users a Facebook push notification if they are in the area of a disaster and prompts them to answer if they’re safe. From there, users can select an “I’m Safe” option which will automatically generate a notification and a story in the News Feed. Friends that are marked safe will also show up in the News Feed with a list of their most recent updates.
To determine your location, Facebook looks at the city listed on your profile and recognizes the city where internet services are being used. The company will also use data from the Nearby Friends feature if a user has turned it on. Safety Check’s sign-in feature is similar in nature to the Safe and Well website created by the American Red Cross which also allows individuals to register themselves as safe and inform their loved ones of their current conditions.
Facebook’s new Safety Check feature comes after the company launched an update to its iOS app yesterday that added support for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. Facebook for iOS is a free app and can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Apple Temporarily Removing Blood Glucose Tracking from Health App After Reported Issues [iOS Blog]
Apple will remove the ability to enter and monitor blood glucose data in its Health app because of reported issues with measurement from users in the UK and Australia, reports CNET.
Currently, the app allows users to manually enter view blood glucose values in mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) or mmol/L (millimoles per liter). However, Apple notes that the Health app has an issue with devices that display mmol/L, as those values cannot be entered or displayed in the Heath app.
An Apple support page published on the matter states that the company will soon release a software updated that will temporarily remove the ability and states that data will not be deleted:
If you have previously entered values manually in the Health app, you’ll no longer see this data in the Health app after the update. However, your data won’t be deleted, and other apps with permission to read health data will still have access to blood glucose values that you previously entered.
Third-party apps will continue to be able to support both units of measurement and can continue to use HealthKit APIs to store blood glucose data.
It is unknown if a fix will come Apple’s forthcoming iOS 8.1 software update or through a potential iOS 8.0.3 update. Before the public launch of iOS 8, Apple confirmed that it had discovered a “bug” in HealthKit and pulled HealthKit-related apps from the App Store. Apple eventually released iOS 8.0.1 with fixes for HealthKit, and once again allowed HealthKit-enabled apps to be on the App Store.
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