Court rules that Sky must offer Sky Sports channels to BT YouView customers
Sky and BT may now be locked in a battle over sports broadcast rights for their own services, but for more than four years, the two have also been fighting over Sky Sports broadcasts. Today, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) finally brought things closer to a resolution, after it ruled that BT must be allowed to offer its rival’s sports channels to YouView customers for the first time. Ofcom had previously ruled that Sky must offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 at a 23 percent wholesale discount, but the case dragged on through the courts while BT readied its own sports TV service. Sky says it will fight the interim ruling, noting that BT is now in a significantly stronger position than it was four years ago. It also hopes that the landscape will shift once again when Ofcom concludes a new review on how companies offer wholesale channels. BT says it “looks forward” to offering the channels to YouView customers “very shortly,” allowing it to join Virgin Media in broadcasting all of the remaining live Premiership football matches this season.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Ofcom
Source: Competition Appeal Tribunal
Sharp shows off extremely battery-friendly smartwatch
It seems like just about every technology manufacturer is throwing their hat in the smartwatch ring, and Sharp is no exception. They’ve recently showed off their take on a wearable device, and it takes a much more conservative approach to what we’ve been seeing lately. Instead of offering tons of bells and whistles, the Sharp watch tries to give you something with extraordinarily long battery life.
The smartwatch uses a reflective layer instead of a backlight for its LCD display. The reflective layer uses light that hits the face of the watch to illuminate the screen, drastically cutting power consumption. There’s a pretty big drawback here, though; a reflective layer means the watch can’t be used in the dark. It would have excellent viewing angles in direct sunlight, however.
The LCD is pretty lackluster for the sake of saving battery, too. It’s an LTPS display, or low temperature polysilicon, and it only displays 8 colors. It definitely wouldn’t be the prettiest screen to look at it, but it would barely use any battery.
If this device ever makes it to the market, would you be interested in one? Is extreme battery life worth sacrificing so many features and display qualities?
source: Padnews
via: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Sharp shows off extremely battery-friendly smartwatch
Google Glass being used in hospitals to treat stroke victims
Every so often we hear about a new doctor or hospital integrating Google Glass into their routine to help patients, and today we have a hospital in Texas using Google’s smart glass technology to speed up treatment of stroke victims.
Dr. James Grotta at the Stroke Research at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center has begun using Glass while treating stroke victims by sharing critical information with other doctors with Glass, completely hands free. While in the field, doctors at the hospital use their phones as mobile hotspots to keep Glass constantly connected and sharing information. This makes it easier for doctors to diagnose and treat victims much quicker, which is critical to effective stroke treatment.
The hospital is investing into cost-effectiveness research to see if the $1500 wearable could make treatment cheaper for patients and the hospital in the long run.
source: Houston Chronicle
via: 9 to 5 Google
Come comment on this article: Google Glass being used in hospitals to treat stroke victims
Binaries for the Nexus 9 are being included in factory image build
Google recently released a factory image for the Nexus 9 tablet, but we were still waiting for binaries to be made officially available. Well, it turns out Google already released those binaries and most people didn’t even notice. The binaries for the Nexus 9 have been included on the LRX21L factory image on a separate vendor partition, which also explains why the factory image is a pretty large download.
Now that we’ve got everything cleared up for the Nexus 9, we’re just waiting on Lollipop images for other devices.
source: Android Police
Come comment on this article: Binaries for the Nexus 9 are being included in factory image build
Legendary developer Chainfire roots Nexus 9 mere hours after the source code is made public
It was only a matter of time before the Nexus 9 was rooted, and thanks to veteran developer Chainfire, that time is now. Less than a few hours after the source code for the HTC-designed tablet was released, Chainfire has come up with a root method that will be familiar to anyone who has used ADB and FastBoot in the past. If you’re looking to get down and dirty with your new tablet, hit the source for instructions on how to get started.
Source: XDA
Come comment on this article: Legendary developer Chainfire roots Nexus 9 mere hours after the source code is made public
Motorola Moto Maxx Official, Headed to Brazil and Mexico First
The newest Motorola device to grace the globe has been announced today via the Motorola Blog. As expected, the Moto Maxx is the Droid Turbo minus all the Verizon and Droid branding.
Users can expect to find the same great 5.2-inch Quad-HD 2560×1440 screen, Quad-Core Qualcomm 805 processor at 2.7 Ghz, 3 GB of RAM, 21MP camera, 64GB internal storage and fast charging ability for the massive 3,900 mAh battery. The Moto Maxx incorporates the stock Android experience with the same custom software found on the Moto X 2014.
The new Moto Maxx will make its first international appearance in Brazil starting today and will find its way to Mexico later this month. Motorola makes mention that other Latin American locales will be coming soon. If you are in Brazil, head to Motorola.com now to take a look at this beast of a device.
Source: Motorola Blog
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Google Wallet Sees Surge in Usage Alongside Apple Pay Launch
Increased consumer interest in NFC mobile payments related to Apple’s recent launch of its Apple Pay mobile payment service appears to be having benefits for other services as well, reports Ars Technica. A major beneficiary of this new consumer awareness of mobile transactions is Google Wallet, which reportedly has seen a marked increase in usage over the past few months.
NFC-based mobile payments have had a boost in recent months, possibly thanks to the launch of Apple Pay, which was announced in September. Now, a person with knowledge of the matter tells Ars that Google Wallet, which launched back in 2011 and saw tepid success in the ensuing three years, has had considerable growth in the last couple of months. According to our source, weekly transactions have increased by 50 percent, and in the recent couple of months, new users have nearly doubled compared to the previous month.
Apple launched its mobile payment service in October with the support of major retailers and credit card companies. The service logged over 1 million card activations in the first three days of usage with overall positive reviews.
The Apple Pay launch was not without controversy with both CVS and Rite Aid suspending their mobile payments shortly after the service made its official debut, moves that affected not only Apple Pay but all NFC-based payment services including Google Wallet.
The two pharmacy chains, along with a number of other major retailers, are developing a competing service, CurrentC, which as currently implemented uses QR codes and an app to process transactions. The shutting down of NFC at these retailers has even resulted in an alliance between Android and iOS users on Reddit to boycott retailers involved in the CurrentC effort.
Drift’s latest action camera is half the size of its ancestor
Drift Innovation is a seasoned veteran of the action camera world, but there’s no question that it’s facing a lot of pressure lately; models like the Ghost S are huge next to rivals like the GoPro Hero4. The company’s newly launched Stealth 2 camera might just come to the rescue, though. While it captures 1080p video at 30 frames per second instead of 60 like its Ghost S predecessor, it’s also just half the size and 40 percent lighter — rather important when you may be strapping this device to your head. However you use it, the new Stealth should last for a respectable three hours of recording. It also comes with modern conveniences like WiFi remote control and a 300-degree rotatable lens that adapts to difficult shooting positions. This shooter doesn’t tout 4K video or other luxuries, but you’re also paying $249. That’s a solid bargain for a tiny adventure cam that makes relatively few compromises.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Drift Innovation
Tinder’s paid tier will let you undo costly dating mistakes
So you’re furiously swiping left in Tinder to get rid of bad matches, only to realize that you accidentally dismissed a total dreamboat. Are you going to be stuck lamenting the romance that might have been? Not if you’re using Tinder’s upcoming paid tier. The dating firm tells TechCrunch that its Plus service will include an “undo” feature that lets you revisit date candidates you’d previously ruled out. Just how much this (and the previously mentioned away-from-home browsing) will cost you is up in the air. Tinder will test Plus with a portion of its users in the UK, Brazil and Germany, with prices ranging anywhere from 99 cents to $20; the official rollout will depend on what customers are willing to pay. Either way, you won’t have to risk spending the night at home just because you were too quick to skip a potential partner.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Source: TechCrunch
Google bringing SD card support back to Android in 5.0 Lollipop
It was long thought that Google wanted to phase out external storage in Android, opting for cloud-based solutions, not including SD card slots in Nexus devices and slowly removing SD card functionality in AOSP Android. However, Google is adding some new APIs to Android 5.0 to allow easy access to SD cards after bringing back limited SD functionality in Android 4.4. The new APIs will grant developers access to SD card directories and files after the user grants the application permission once.
Many manufacturers include SD support in their devices by default, but its nice to see Google listening to users and adding native support. Cloud storage is great but traditional expandable storage is nowhere near obsoletion and Google has made a wise move by supporting SD cards in their upcoming version of Android. Do you still use an SD card? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Android Developers
Via: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Google bringing SD card support back to Android in 5.0 Lollipop
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