NVIDIA Shield Android TV console hands-on
At GDC 2015 NVIDIA took their wraps off another Shield product, only this one is built for TV. The Shield console will fully leverage Grid, a service whereby NVIDIA will host games on their servers and beam them to your home for playing. The real MVP of the show is NVIDIA’s new Tegra X1 processor, which will sling 4K video about willy nilly and handle graphics twice as well as the K1 chip found in their Shield Tablet.
The creators of ‘Monument Valley’ are redesigning your car dash
The developer of Monument Valley, Ustwo, isn’t just content with designing beautiful puzzle games and tablet software — it wants to rethink your car’s dashboard, too. The company has partnered with Car Design Research to build a prototype for an instrument cluster display that tosses out much of what you know today. Instead of fixed gauges, it uses an adaptive screen that shows what you need when you need it. When you’re stopped, it tells you whether or not you have enough fuel or electricity to reach your destination. Hit the accelerator and it shifts focus to speed and gears, while reversing automatically brings up the rear-view camera. It’s even aware enough to notify you about slippery roads, school zones and other situations where you may need to drive with caution.
It’s a clever (if still rough) idea, and Ustwo isn’t simply showing off. It’s posting both the design and related code on GitHub in the hopes that you’ll tinker with the concept and offer feedback. You probably won’t see visuals like this in your dash for a long while as a result, but the hope is that there will be a “constructive discussion” that improves the technology on a broader level. If you step into your next car and see something much like this when you start the engine, you’ll know where it came from.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/119123983?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Filed under: Displays, Transportation
Via: The Verge
Apple May Include USB 3.0 Ports on Upcoming 12.9-Inch ‘iPad Pro’
Following up on a report from earlier today claiming Apple has pushed back its plans for the so-called “iPad Pro”, asking suppliers to begin production in September rather than this quarter, The Wall Street Journal weighs in with its own claim that Apple is indeed now targeting the second half of this year for the mass production of the device.
Mockup of iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini
Beyond timing, the report also claims Apple is still tweaking plans for the iPad Pro’s design and feature set, with the company considering including USB 3.0 ports to accommodate data transfer and peripherals connectivity.
“Apple has continued to rework some of the features of the larger iPad. It is now considering the faster technology for data synchronization between the larger iPad and other computing devices,” said the person. [..]
The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.
Apple is reportedly also looking into ways to speed up charging time for the iPad Pro, as the device will almost certainly come with an even higher-capacity battery than the iPad Air family.
Finally, The Wall Street Journal‘s sources indicate the iPad Pro’s display does indeed measure 12.9 inches diagonally, marking a substantial increase over the iPad Air family’s 9.7-inch display. Rumors have been split between 12.9 inches and 12.2 inches for the iPad Pro’s display.
Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge confirmed to be MirrorLink-enabled
The CCC (Car Connectivity Consortium) has officially confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones will be MirrorLink compatible. For those unaware, MirrorLink allows for a bridge between mobile devices and automobile.
This technology allows a seamless network to be created between the smartphone and the car using the steering wheel controls or a touchscreen console. The technology was conceived back in 2011 and has since grown enormously with the support of a handful of car and mobile OEMs. We’ve already seen MirrorLink being used through Glympse on Volkswagen and Peugeot cars.
MirrorLink prides itself in being one of the very few OS agnostic car-mobile solutions out there with the likes of Android Auto and CarPlay requiring an Android or iOS device to function. Future owners of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge will be glad to know that this technology is supported by default on the handsets.
Alan Ewing who is the president and executive director of the CCC said – “Distribution on the world’s most popular Samsung devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S5, Note 4, Note Edge, and now the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, reaffirm that MirrorLink is real and in the hands of millions of consumers today. For consumers, the variety of MirrorLink-enabled handsets and vehicles has turned the promise of the connected car into a reality. And with deployments taking place on such a large scale, developers can focus on what they do best – creating innovative apps to redefine the connected driving experience”
Update: The HTC One M9 has also been confirmed to be MirrorLink-enabled.
Source: Business Wire
Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge confirmed to be MirrorLink-enabled
Smart Kapp: Hands-on with the reinvented dry-erase board
If your office or school frequently uses dry-erase boards, then you need to check out Smart kapp. All your ideas and notes can be saved directly to your device. Just scan the QR code or tap the NFC sign at the bottom of the board to connect your phone. You can also share your notes in real time by sharing a link to other users.
The 4-inch version of the SMART kapp is now available in North America and several countries in Western Europe for 799 Euros. A new 84-inch version will be available later this spring for 1099 Euros but can be preordered for 899 Euros.
The SMART kapp app is available on the App Store.
Hillary Clinton: ‘I want the public to see my email’
Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a self-hosted email address has been at the center of controversy over the last few days, and now the former Secretary of State tweets that she wants those emails released to the public. Her tweets came after a congressional committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attack on a US compound in Benghazi, Libya, issued a subpoena “for all communications of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton related to Libya and to the State Department.” An New York Times article closely accompanying the tweet fills in some of the holes of the story about how her account worked, referring to it as a “mark of status within the family’s inner circle.” The clintonemail.com domain name was registered by an aide back in the 90s, and eventually connected to a server registered by another former aide, Eric Hothem.
[Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images]
I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.
– Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 5, 2015
Filed under: Internet
Source: Hillary Clinton (Twitter), New York Times
Sony provides statistics on users of the Lifelog activity tracking platform
Sony announced the Lifelog activity tracking platform last year at CES, which aimed to provide much more than the standard fitness tracking app. Lifelog tracks your physical, social and entertainment activities, like how active you are, what photos you take, or how you communicate with friends. Sony’s SmartWatch 3 even gained support for Lifelog, integrating all of the social and communication tracking technology with your Android Wear device. Since it’s been over a year since the platform was announced, Sony thought they’d give us some statistics as to how people are using the platform.
All in all, “Lifeloggers” are generally very healthy. On average, more than 40% of users of the platform get up before 6am after only six or fewer hours of sleep. Lifeloggers have also walked a total of more than 39 million miles collectively, and have run more than 6.5 billion steps. In turn, all of this exercising resulted in burning upwards of 354 million calories since April 2014. Not bad at all!
If you’re interested in checking out more statistics from Lifelog users, take a look at the graphic below:
Have you used the Lifelog platform? If so, how have you enjoyed it so far? Let us know your opinions in the comments below.
Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and HTC One M9 are all MirrorLink-enabled
Three handsets from top hardware manufacturers, each to be released over the coming months, are MirrorLink-enabled for consumers seeking a connected driving experience. The devices are the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge from Samsung and the HTC One M9. The Car Connectivity Consortium announced today that owners of those devices will be able to have information transferred between them and the vehicle for an optimal experience.
MirrorLink is another connected driving experience platform like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Many developers, such as Glympse, are making their apps compatible with MirrorLink as various automobile manufacturers have gotten behind it.
Hit the break for the full press release.
Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are MirrorLink®–Enabled
Millions more consumers to enjoy seamless access to content from the smartphone to the dashboard
BARCELONA, Spain–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), an organization driving global technologies for smartphone-centric car connectivity solutions, today announced that the new Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones are MirrorLink®-enabled, which includes extending the Galaxy experience into the car. With millions of mass market MirrorLink-enabled vehicles rolling off assembly lines today, MirrorLink leads the way in bringing the smartphone to the dash.
“Distribution on the world’s most popular Samsung devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S5, Note 4, Note Edge, and now the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, reaffirm that MIrrorLink is real and in the hands of millions of consumers today,” said Alan Ewing, President and Executive Director of the CCC. “For consumers, the variety of MirrorLink-enabled handsets and vehicles has turned the promise of the connected car into a reality. And with deployments taking place on such a large scale, developers can focus on what they do best — crating innovative apps to redefine the driving experience.”
MirrorLink is the leading industry standard for car-smartphone connectivity and is designed for maximum interoperability between a wide range of smartphones and cars. MirrorLink is also the only OS- and OEM-agnostic standard for car-smartphone connectivity and the only vendor-neutral standard where no single entity has a controlling stake. MirrorLink thus offers the quickest global route to more responsible and enjoyable connected driving.
About the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC)
The CCC is dedicated to cross-industry collaboration in developing MirrorLink® global standards and solutions for smartphone and in-vehicle connectivity. The organization’s more than 100 members represent more than 80 percent of the world’s auto market, more than 70 percent of the global smartphone market and a who’s who of aftermarket consumers electronics vendors. For further information, please visit http://www.mirrorlink.com.
Come comment on this article: Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and HTC One M9 are all MirrorLink-enabled
GDC 2015: Paper Monsters Recut offers kid-friendly platforming fun
At GDC, we got a sneak peek at Paper Monsters Recut. This is a remastered and expanded version of a kid-friendly platform title that came out a few years ago. It tacks on new stages and improved graphics thanks to Metal support.
The usual platforming tropes are here: get to the end of the stages while collecting objectives and avoiding hazards. The version you’re seeing here is a full port of the version that launched on the Wii U not long ago. Needless to say, it’s impressive any time a console game can make a seamless port to mobile. All of the old stages are still here, and in most cases expanded with additional stages. There’s also MFi controller support if you need finer controls than those offered by touch.
Paper Monsters Recut will be available in the App Store starting next week on the 12th.
Afterlight image editor makes its Windows 8.1 debut and becomes a universal app
Afterlight, the popular image editor that made its Windows Phone debut in September, is now available for Windows 8.1. It’s also a universal app, which means that Windows Phone owners can get the full Windows 8.1 version for free and vice-versa.
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