Yo gets reinvented into a true notifications app for 150 sources
If you downloaded Yo last year, chances are it’s now collecting dust in one of your app folders — after all, how many times can you send the word “yo” to a friend before it becomes annoying? Now, its developers are attempting to entice people to use it again by turning it into an app that notifies you of the newest and most relevant content from a number of websites. The idea behind this redesigned Yo is to give people a way to get notified of new articles, videos or images from its partner websites without having to download standalone apps. All you have to do is subscribe to the channels you like via the brand new “Yo Store.”
We’re talking about notifications or “Yos” from Buzzfeed, TechCrunch, NBA, Cosmopolitan, Beyonce’s Instagram and even internet feline celeb Lil Bub, among many others. What’s great is that the app wasn’t designed to flood you with Yos for every new post. For instance, you’ll only get a Yo from TechCrunch for every article that gets 250 retweets, from Lonely Planet Local for places near your location, and from Huffington Post for its daily good news. Some services, like Coinbase, even send you notifications (the current bitcoin price, in its case) only if you ping it first. It could also be used as an Internet of Things button, sort of like IFTTT. You can access the Yo Store from within the now-more-useful app, or you can visit its website if you want to give Yo a second chance.
Filed under: Misc
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Yo
Moto G and Moto X receiving Android Lollipop in Canada
Motorola users in Canada are getting to take part in a sweet update, bringing them from Kitkat into the world of Lollipop. The update is currently available for users of the Moto G and the 2nd Gen Moto X on Virgin, TELUS, Koodo, Videotron, WIND, and unlocked devices. The Moto G is getting 5.0.2 specifically, and the Moto X is getting 5.0.1.
Now all Motorola has to do is get Lollipop out to the Moto X 1st Gen and the Moto E, which it seems to be in the process of doing. Motorola has an enormous wealth of information about the updates, so if you’re not quite sure how to use your new f=software, give its website a visit and learn how to better use your phone.
Source: Phone Arena
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Android sees uptick in market share in 2014 after one billion device sales
Market research firm IDC’s latest numbers showcase the continued rise of Android, which now commands an 81.3 percent market share, up from 78.7 percent in 2013. The entry-level segment was seen as the major growth driver in 2014 as device sales crossed a billion units for the first time. The firm noted that Android and iOS now account for 96.3 percent of all smartphone shipments, a slight increase from the 95.6 percent commanded by the two leading mobile platforms in 2013.
Apple ordered to pay $533 million for infringing on gaming-related patents
A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay $533 million in damages after it found that the company’s digital media distribution services – including the iTunes Store – infringed on three patents owned by Smartflash LLC. The patents in question were allegedly used without permission in third-party games that were available from iTunes.
According to Bloomberg:
The dispute is over digital rights management and inventions related to data storage and managing access through payment systems. Smartflash claimed that iTunes used the inventions in applications such as Game Circus LLC’s Coin Dozer and 4 Pics 1 Movie.
The game companies settled out of court with Smartflash, with Apple deciding to go to court on grounds that the patents in question “were invalid.” Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, said:
Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented. We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.
Smartflash does not sell products itself, with its only source of income coming from the seven patents it holds, all of which are attributed to its co-founder Patrick Racz. The company sought $852 million in damages from Apple, a number arrived at calculating a portion of iPhone, iPad and Mac device sales. Apple said that the patents were worth $4.5 million at most, with general counsel Eric Albritton arguing that there was no valid reason for the hardware giant to pay royalties on device sales when the patent dispute is over a single feature. According to the lawyer:
It doesn’t make a lick of sense that one person would buy an iPhone and not make calls. People do not buy cell phones for the sole purpose of using apps.
Apple failed in its attempts to persuade the jury that the patents in question were not directly used by iTunes. The Cupertino giant also failed in its bid to get Smartflash’s patents invalidated.
With the Apple case coming to a close, Smartflash is going after Samsung next. The company also sued Google and Amazon over the usage of the same patents in their respective digital distribution services. You can view Smartflash’s court filing against Apple in its entirety here.
Source: Bloomberg
HTC One M7, Moto X (2014), Moto G (2013) now receiving Lollipop updates in Canada
We’re now in full swing for OTA updates of Android 5.0 Lollipop for a number of popular devices. But the majority of updates we’re hearing about are based out of either the US or Europe, and not too many out of Canada. A few weeks ago, we heard the HTC One M8 in Canada was receiving the update, and now it’s rolling out to a few more devices in the region. Starting today, the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop is rolling out to Canadian variants of the HTC One M7, Motorola Moto X (2014) and Moto G (2013) devices.
HTC Canada says that all Canadian carriers are rolling out the update to the M7 beginning today. If you have yet to see the update hit your phone, head to Settings>About device>Software update>Update to check manually.
Motorola is also sending out an update to their Moto X (2nd Gen.) and Moto G (1st Gen.) devices in Canada. Moto G (1st Gen.) users on Virgin, TELUS, Koodo, Videotron and WIND should be seeing the update to Android 5.0.2 later today. Unlocked Moto G devices should get the update today as well. Additionally, Moto X (2nd Gen.) users on WIND will get the update to Android version 5.0.1. The Lollipop update has yet to roll out on the Moto X (1st Gen.) and Moto E, but we can’t imagine it will take too much longer.
Are there any Canadian users out there getting the update? Let us know if you get it today!
Google is Adding Hangouts Chat with Businesses from Search Results
If you’ve ever wanted to contact an establishment from a Google search result, but didn’t have the time to wait for an email or the attention for a phone call, then Google has just what you need: Hangouts. Granted, Hangouts has been around for a while, but it has yet to be implemented in this way. Google has been testing the new feature with certain establishments, and thus far, the results look promising. The feature also comes with a estimated response time for each business so you can know when you can expect a reply.
Messaging businesses isn’t unheard of in 2015, but if Google starts to really pursue this feature, we can expect to see it really take off, especially if it ties-in well with Google Maps. Since it’s still in testing, we can’t know if it is a serious venture or not, but keep your eyes peeled for updates about Google’s progress on TalkAndroid.com
Source: TechCrunch
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Android snags 81% of the market in 2014 with over 1 billion units shipped
With 2014 in the books, we’re finally getting the numbers to see how each manufacturer and OS did over the past year. The good news for Google and Apple (and bad news for the likes of Microsoft and BlackBerry) Android and iOS accounted for a whopping 96.3% of all smartphones shipped. That leaves a very small 3.7% for Windows Phone and everything else that’s competing for scraps.
When you break the numbers down between Android and iOS, though, Android came out a clear victor in the market share battle. Android devices accounted for 81.5% of all phones shipped, finally breaking the 1 billion mark for smartphones. Compared to those 1 billion Android smartphones, Apple shipped 192 million phones for 14.8% of the market.
In the Android camp, Samsung still pulled in the most market share among Android OEMs. Samsung actually shipped more than the next five vendors combined, which is a phenomenal amount of devices. However, growth year-over-year was nearly non-existent, while smaller manufacturers saw quite a bit of growth.
It’s nearly set in stone that Android is going to stay the top dog, at least when it comes to global market share. The next big battle will be between Samsung and everyone else in 2015.
source: IDC
Come comment on this article: Android snags 81% of the market in 2014 with over 1 billion units shipped
AMD’s next laptop processor is mostly about battery life
Intel isn’t the only chip giant championing battery life over performance this year. AMD has revealed Carrizo, a processor range that’s focused heavily on extending the running time of performance-oriented laptops. While there will be double-digit boosts to speed, there’s no doubt that efficiency is the bigger deal here. The new core architecture (Excavator) is just 5 percent faster than its Kaveri ancestor, but it chews up 40 percent less energy at the same clock rate — even the graphics cores use 20 percent less juice.
Not that this is the only real trick up AMD’s sleeve. Carrizo is the first processor to meet the completed Heterogeneous System Architecture spec, which lets both the CPU and its integrated graphics share memory. That lets some tasks finish faster than they would otherwise (since you don’t need as many instructions), and it could provide a swift kick to both performance and battery life in the right conditions. You’ll also find dedicated H.265 video decoding, so this should be a good match for all the low-bandwidth 4K videos you’ll stream in the future.
The new chip is pretty promising as a result. With that said, its creator will undoubtedly be racing against time. Carrizo is expected to reach shipping PCs in the second quarter of the year, or close to Intel’s mid-year target for its quad-core Broadwell processors. You may find shiny new AMD and Intel chips in PCs at around the same time — that’s good news if you’re a speed junkie, but it’s not much help to AMD’s bottom line.
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, AMD
Via: PCWorld
Source: AMD
How Upcoming ‘Modern Family’ Episode Was Shot Entirely on iPhone and iPad Cameras [iOS Blog]
Last week, it was announced that the February 25 episode of Emmy-winning sitcom “Modern Family” would take place solely on a MacBook screen and only be shot with cameras from iPhones and iPads. BuzzFeed News got in touch with the episode’s director and series co-creator Steven Levitan to find out how they shot the episode.
In a video originally provided to BuzzFeed News, and now available for download on iTunes [Direct Link], Levitan explains that all of the iPhones were kept in holsters held by cameramen. To avoid making the shot look like it was being filmed by a floating device, the actors were told to hold their arm near the cameramen’s arm.
Initially, Levitan and the crew wanted the actors to hold the phone throughout film, but they found it wasn’t as east to control and that actors would misplace the devices as well as shoot off-set.
The episode took over three months to complete, with a lot of time dedicated to post production as the special effects team had to rebuild OS X Yosemite from the ground up, mimicking its animations and art style while also taking artistic license to make certain things better suited for the story they wanted to tell.
While the episode’s format isn’t the same as the standard “Modern Family” format, Levitan says there have been other instances during the show’s six year run where they’ve used iPhones to shoot certain scenes. For instance, instead of staging a basketball game for a scene where a character dresses as a mascot, Levitan shot his son’s basketball game on his iPhone and used special effects to splice the character into that basketball game.
The episode, which is called “Connection Lost” airs Wednesday, February 25 on ABC.
LG G Flex 2 commences global rollout
Ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, LG announced that its latest curved screen phone, the G Flex 2, is rolling out globally. The handset will be available from major carriers in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Germany and the U.K.initially, with other markets across Asia, North and South Americas and Europe getting access to the device in the weeks following MWC.
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