Next Wave of Apple Pay Bank Launches Begins With Navy Federal, USAA, US Bank, PNC
Apple’s October 20 debut for Apple Pay included support from many of the biggest banks in the United States, including Chase, Citi, Capital One, and Bank of America, but the company has said it has over 500 other banks working to roll out support for the mobile payments service. A few of the larger ones are listed on Apple’s site as launching Apple Pay support “later this year”, and it appears that this next wave is now beginning to roll out.
Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the United States with over 5 million members, today announced the immediate launch of Apple Pay support.
“We’re excited to make this new service available to our members starting today,” said Randy Hopper, vice president of credit cards and business optimization at Navy Federal. “Our members live fast-paced and mobile lives. And, they have enthusiastically adopted our mobile banking solutions. Now, with Apple Pay, they’ll be able to save time when shopping while having a safe and easy payment experience.”
USAA, another of Apple’s key partners for the second wave, had previously announced plans to launch Apple Pay support this Friday, November 7, but several Reddit posters have noticed that support appears to have arrived a bit early.
A third partner for the second wave, US Bank, has also apparently flipped the switch, as several posters on Twitter have reported Apple Pay support going live today.
PNC Bank has also been telling customers it will launch Apple Pay support in the “next several weeks”, with one Reddit poster being given a date of November 7, but again posters on Twitter are reporting support going live today.
Update: According to a MacRumors poster, Barclaycard is also working today. M&T Bank is also working.
Digital Audio Veteran Peter Eastty Joins Apple as Director of SoC Audio Processing
Audio expert Peter Eastty of Oxford Digital Limited has left the company he co-founded to work for Apple. According to his LinkedIn profile, Eastty joined Apple in September of this year as the Director of SoC (System on Chip) Audio Processing.
Eastty’s career in digital audio spans more than 40 years, including oversight of a pioneering digital audio team at Solid State Logic, a 13-year stint at Sony as a chief consultant engineer, and more than eight years as CTO at Oxford Digital. Most of his work has focused on digital audio and digital signal processing for audio equipment.
“I’ve worked in the application of digital and computer technology to audio since I graduated from college and I still find the problems fascinating as well as the answers.”
Details on Eastty’s role as Director of SoC Audio Processing are unknown, but he likely is using his DSP expertise to improve the audio quality of Apple’s hardware. Earlier rumors suggested Apple was working to add support for 24-bit audio files in iOS 8 and create a new 24-bit capable version of its In-Ear headphones, but those reports have not yet panned out.
Eastty is not the only audio pioneer hired by Apple in recent years. Back in 2011, Apple hired THX pioneer Tomlinson Holman to help “provide technical direction for the company in audio” as he reports on his LinkedIn profile.
(Thanks, Manu!)
Southwest Airlines Adds Beats Music to In-Flight Entertainment Systems
Starting this week, travelers on select Southwest Airlines flights will be able to listen to music streamed via Apple’s Beats Music service. The airline today announced this new Beats Music option and provided a live demonstration onboard a 737 emblazoned with the Beats Music logo.
Southwest adopted Beats Music in response to growing consumer interest in streaming music.
“Southwest connects our Customers to what is important in their lives and in this case, it’s music,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Chief Marketing Officer. “We continue to enhance our onboard offerings to remain current as our Customers’ needs evolve, and with the addition of Beats Music on our entertainment portal, we’re doing just that.”
The in-flight service is free and includes hundreds of music lists compiled by Beats’ own expert curators. It is available on WiFi-enabled Southwest flights and is compatible with iOS, Android, and other devices.
Apple purchased Beats Music and Beats Electronics in a $3 billion deal that was finalized earlier this year. As part of the deal, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined Apple and are reportedly using their music contacts and Apple’s clout help make inroads in the streaming music market. Rumors suggest Apple is working to lower Beats’ pricing and revamp the service early next year.
Original Apple-1 Sold by Steve Jobs Headed to Auction in December with $600,000 Estimate [Mac Blog]
On December 11th, a fully functional original Apple-1 Personal Computer will go up for auction, reports Reuters. The rare machine, which Steve Jobs sold out of his parents’ garage in 1976 for $600, is expected to sell for over half a million dollars. This particular Apple-1 is the only documented machine to have been sold directly by Jobs himself.
Back in 1999, the computer was purchased by Bruce Waldack, an entrepreneur who had just sold his company DigitalNation. After Waldack’s death in 2007, the Apple-1 was auctioned at a self-storage facility in Virginia, where Robert Luther purchased it, along with the original buyer’s canceled check from 1976, knowing few details of its history.
The computer will be sold alongside that original canceled check for $600 from July 27, 1976. The check was made out to Apple Computer by Charles Ricketts, who later labeled it as “Purchased July 1976 from Steve Jobs in his parents’ garage in Los Altos.” A second canceled check for $193 from August of 1976 reads “Software NA Programmed by Steve Jobs August 1976.” These two canceled checks were used as evidence in convincing the city of Los Altos to designate the Jobs family home on Crist Drive eligible for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Apple-1 was tested by having an expert run the standard original software program, Microsoft BASIC, along with an original Apple-1 Star Trek game.
Just a few weeks ago, the Henry Ford Museum paid $905,000 for an original working Apple-1, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate of the computer. And just last year, German auction house Breker sold two Apple-1 computers, complete with their original boxes. One sold for $330,000, while the second doubled that price to $671,400 because of the inclusion of a letter written by Steve Jobs intended for the original owner. Of the few hundred originally produced, fewer than fifty Apple-1 computers are believed to still be around today.
Engadget decides the Best of CES 2015: Here’s how it goes down
Repeating the events of CES 2014, Engadget’s once again in charge of the Best of CES awards. A cocktail of trepidation and adrenaline, we love exploring the country’s biggest tech convention and hunting down the best on show. AS CES 2015 happens, and we reveal the nominees and eventual winners, we’ll be giving you, our passionate readers, the chance to decide our Peoples’ Choice winner. But before even get to that, let’s talk submissions. Whether you’re a company (from tech giant to scrappy start-up) with something amazing to show us, or a reader simply curious about the rules, you’ll find all the info you need at our newly-christened awards hub. We’ve honed and tweaked the categories (and even created some new ones) this time — let’s take a closer look at them.
- Best Startup: The startup showing great sophistication and innovation while also demonstrating a clear path to real-world availability. Eureka Park will be a focus.
- Best Digital Health and Fitness Product: A product exhibiting the most innovative use of technology to improve users’ health and well-being. Example products include smart scales and activity monitors.
- (New for 2015) Best Wearable: The best gadget at the show that can be worn on your person. Examples include smart watches, augmented reality glasses and any piece of wearable item (be it socks or shorts) that have sensors in them.
- Best Automotive Technology: Technology related to the ever-advancing science of getting from here to there. Example products include infotainment systems and advances in self-driving technology.
- (New for 2015) Best Home Theater Product: This award is all about home entertainment. Example products include set top boxes, streaming players, tuners, audio systems and more.
- Best (Connected) Home Product: A product that belongs in the connected home. Example includes smart refrigerators, connected thermostats and smart lighting.
- Best Software/App: A piece of software that stands out from the rest.
- Best Innovation (Disruptive Tech): The product or service that challenges the status quo with its innovative twist on technology.
- Best Mobile Device: The smartphone or tablet that most impresses with its combination of specifications, design and overall ability.
- (New for 2015) Best TV product: The television that is deemed the best in terms of display, design and overall quality, or the product that might most revolutionize your use of that screen.
- Best Gaming Product: The product that best moves forward the broad field of gaming. Example products include game-specific tablets and PCs, videogame consoles, controllers and gaming services.
- Best Offbeat Product: The product that turns heads on the International CES showfloor without necessarily fitting into any defined product category. This product may not be the best of the best at the show, but it will be one of the most talked-about.
- Best Maker-Friendly Technology: This product is geared toward the DIY/maker community. Examples include 3D printers and Arduino-like processing units.
- Best PC: The best laptop or desktop, judged based on its design and specifications.
- (New for 2015) Best Robot or Drone: A drone or robot that is deemed the best of this unique category.
- Best of the Best Award: The device, service or technology in any category that stands clearly above the rest, judged based on its innovation and design quality.
- People’s Choice Award: The product from this year’s show that most captured the hearts and minds of our readers. The winner will be determined by viewers and readers.
Now, if you’re looking to submit something for consideration, check that you meet our eligibility requirements, and then send your submission email to bestofces@engadget.com with your full pitch. Submissions will stay open until 11:59pm PT on the evening of Sunday, January 4th, before Press Day kicks off on January 5th. Please include the following required items for a product to be considered:
- Product name
- Company name
- Product description
- Which of the 14 Awards category/categories your nomination should be considered for — companies can submit their products for more than one category.
Whenever possible, companies should submit the following materials as well:
- Photos
- Spec sheet(s)
- Press release(s)
- Release date
- Price
Good luck!
Dash takes the hassle and guesswork out of barhopping
Sure, you might be able to make reservations at your favorite dinner spot (or tip your barista) via mobile app, but that won’t tell you how busy it’ll be once you get there. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what mobile payment outfit Dash is hoping to solve with its new trick, Venue Vibes. By meshing with a bar or restaurant’s existing point of sale system, it’s able to glean real-time info on just how hopping a place is based on the number of open tabs compared against its maximum capacity. Looking for a bar that isn’t too crowded, but still has some life to it? Aim for a watering hole with a “relaxed” rating. Want someplace rowdy? Shoot for a “lively” venue. The app is currently only available in New York and Chicago for now, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 different bars and restaurants on board.
We’re told that more markets are en route and that additional eateries and taverns will be added each week, too. The ultimate goal, Dash says, is to use data to make for a better night out and about. Of course, just how helpful this is hinges on the amount of places that actually use it. Hopefully it hits mass adoption, because we’re going to guess that no one likes going through the hassle of finding parking only to walk in the bar to discover that there aren’t enough open seats.
[Image credit: jpalinsad360/Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Dash
Samsung’s curvy Galaxy Note Edge reaches the US November 14th
If you’ve been jonesing to get Samsung’s one-of-a-kind Galaxy Note Edge in the US, you now have a date to mark on your calendar. The bent-screen Android smartphone will be available in the US starting November 14th, with the five biggest carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and US Cellular) all on tap either on the 14th or in the weeks afterward. You’ll be paying an extravagant sum for that eye-catching display, however. Sprint is offering the Edge on a $35 per month payment plan ($840 total), while AT&T will sell it for $400 on contract, or an eye-watering $950 up front — you’d better really, really like curved screens. Other carriers haven’t divulged pricing just yet, but it’s safe to say that they’ll charge similar amounts. Who knew that the Galaxy Note 4 would seem like a bargain?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile
Source: Samsung
UK museums want copyright changes so they can display WWI documents
Thanks to overly severe copyright laws, museums, libraries and other UK institutions have been unable to show important historical documents to the public. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 is currently stopping an estimated 1.74 million ‘orphan works’ from the Great War, such as diaries and letters, from being displayed until 2039. To mark the centenary of World War One, a group including the Imperial War Museums, National Library of Scotland and the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance want the law rewritten to make these artefacts publicly accessible for the first time. Normally, the CDPA awards copyright protection for 70 years after the author’s lifetime. However, unpublished works remain protected for 50 years after the 1989 Act, regardless of when they were written. The new campaign, centered around a Change.org petition, requests that the same rules be applied to both published and unpublished texts, ensuring that museums won’t have to display blanks signs with “there would have been a letter from a First World War soldier in this display” inside their exhibits.
[Image credit: Horia Varlan, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Via: TorrentFreak
Source: Free Our History, (2)
The Desire Eye and the RE will join AT&T’s network Nov. 7
AT&T first announced in October that the RE and the Desire EYE would be available prior to the start of the holidays, and it looks like they’re making good on that. Starting on Nov. 7, the HTC Desire EYE and RE will be available on AT&T. You’ll be able to purchase the device in retail stores and att.com. For those interested, the phone will retail for $149.99 with a two-year agreement. If that isn’t your thing, the device will go for $22.92 a month on AT&T Next 18 or $27.50 on AT&T Next 12. The phone outright is $549.99.
Customers will also be able to save some cash on the RE if they purchase it with the phone. That’s right you’ll save $50 dollars if you purchase both at the same time. So if you’re interested in picking up one or both, you’ll be able to do so this Friday.
source: AT&T
Come comment on this article: The Desire Eye and the RE will join AT&T’s network Nov. 7
Limited Edition Code Black Drone: Own the sky with last-chance pricing $69 [Deal of the Day]
Quite possibly one of the best holiday gifts we’ve come across, the Limited Edition Code Black Drone is a perfect item for video enthusiasts, gadget-lovers, aviation fanatics, kids, Batman fans (chicks dig the drone), and just about everyone else.
An inexpensive alternative to higher-priced quadcopters, this drone is fun and customize-able with beginner and expert flight modes. With its USB charging design and 6-axis control system, you’ll be the hit of the party when you break this out and take to the skies. The controller takes 4 AAA batteries (not included) and there is a limit of 3 units per customer.
For just $69, you can knock out your holiday shopping have the perfect gift delivered in December. Available with an SD or HD camera, and with a price jump coming soon, we will absolutely be sold-out in short order. Order now, while you still can.
Check this deal out, and many others at deals.androidguys.com!
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AIVAnet 