GameStop and Marriott International Announce Apple Pay Partnerships
More news continues to circulate following yesterday’s Apple Watch-centered media event, with today bringing confirmation that two big new companies, GameStop and Marriott, are partnering with Apple to support Apple Pay.
First announced yesterday, Marriott confirmed that it will be the first hospitality company to offer Apple Pay to its customers. The roll-out will begin sometime this summer and launch in eleven total Marriott-owned locations like The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION Miami, Renaissance Hotels, and Marriott Hotels.
“Approximately 75 percent of our guests travel with one or more mobile devices, and it is even higher among 25-35 year olds – a group that will make up a much larger proportion of our guests over the next three years,” said George Corbin, senior vice president, Marriott Digital. “Millions of customers already use Marriott Mobile to quickly book a hotel, check-in, or check out. Now, Apple Pay can make it virtually effortless.”
Guests can expect the usual ease-of-use in placing their iPhone 6, 6 Plus, or following its April 24 launch, Apple Watch, near a contactless reader at the front desk to pay for their room. The company also announced an app for the Apple Watch that will allow Marriott Rewards members advanced check-in, notifications for when their room is ready, and an easier check out process upon leaving a hotel.
Following in Marriott’s footsteps, popular video game and technology retailer GameStop confirmed that it will launch nationwide support for Apple Pay, meaning “more than 4,200 U.S. stores”, beginning this month. The company hopes the Apple Pay support will grant customers a more secure and hassle-free purchasing experience in its shops.
“We are excited to make it easier and more convenient for our customers to shop at GameStop,” said Jason Cochran, senior vice president of U.S. stores at GameStop. “Providing a positive, memorable customer experience is our top priority. Incorporating the latest in mobile technology, like Apple Pay, into our stores is another way we are offering customers options to help simplify their purchases.”
A few competitors have recently entered the contactless payments market, but Apple’s still fairly new Apple Pay service has continued to grow since its initial launch last fall. At yesterday’s media event, Tim Cook noted that since its October launch, the service has expanded to 2,500 banks with nearly 700,000 merchants supporting Apple Pay across the U.S.
The Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop combines a thin keyboard with a slim mouse
Microsoft’s latest PC hardware accessory is the Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop. It combines a thin wireless keyboard with a compact mouse and will start shipping in May for $99.95
Uber wants 1 million women as drivers by 2020
To put it mildly, Uber’s reputation for supporting women is less than stellar — it’s not hard to find women who refuse to be passengers, let alone drivers. However, the ridesharing service just took a significant step toward gender equality: as part of a collaboration with the United Nations, it’s vowing to create 1 million jobs for women as Uber drivers by 2020. Just how it’ll accomplish this isn’t mentioned, but the hope is that the initiative will give women economic power they won’t otherwise have. Uber is promising updates on its progress, so you’ll likely know how well it’s doing well before those five years are up.
Filed under: Transportation, Internet
Source: Uber Blog
Download an app from Amazon’s Appstore to stand a chance to win a $25,000 shopping spree
If you’ve ever wished you could go on a big shopping spree at Amazon, there’s a chance your wish might actually come true. That’s right, Amazon is giving you the chance to win $25,000 in gift cards to spend on its site, all you have to do is download an app to your Android device via the Amazon Appstore. For our international readers, it should be noted that this is a US only competition, sorry!
If you don’t already have the Amazon Appstore installed on your smartphone or tablet, you can get started by clicking here or scanning the QR code below with your mobile device. Naturally, as with all competitions, there are terms and conditions. You must be a US resident and be aged 18 or above. The other main requirement is that you must be registered on Amazon. All you have to do to enter is download and install one app, either paid for or free, from the Amazon Appstore. Then just type in your name, email address and telephone number at the Amazon Shopping Spree link below. Good luck!
Source: Amazon Shopping Spree
Come comment on this article: Download an app from Amazon’s Appstore to stand a chance to win a $25,000 shopping spree
Samsung invested nearly $14 billion in R&D last year
An audit report of Samsung’s accounts conducted on March 8th has revealed that the technology giant spent a colossal $13.8 billion (15.3trillion won) on research and development in 2014. That’s a little more than the amount estimated at the end of last year and a new record for the company.
This total accounts for 7.4 percent of Samsung’s sales income and the budget saw an increase of 3.7 percent compared with 2013 figures. Importantly, Samsung’s R&D budget has increased despite the fact that 2014 saw poor smartphone sales and lower revenue than in previous years.
Instead, Samsung has seen it fit to cut back on marketing and sales promotions, dropping the two by 9.4 percent and 3.2 percent respectively, when compared with 2013. Samsung seems to have straightened out its priorities in order to try and turn around its fortunes. It is better to build superior devices rather than try to market mediocre ones.
Of course, being the broad consumer electronic company that it is, Samsung hasn’t spent the majority of this money on its latest Galaxy S6 smartphones. Even so, based on our own hands-on time, it’s clear that this additional expenditure has paid off with the latest entries in the Galaxy S range. All of that impressive technology can’t be cheap.
With one of the largest R&D budgets in the world at its disposal, 2015 will hopefully continue to be an exciting year for Samsung products.
Griffin Announces Charging ‘WatchStand’ for Apple Watch [iOS Blog]
Griffin yesterday announced the WatchStand, which the company calls the first entry into its “new line of products for Apple Watch.”
The stand is set to be a nightly solution for more easily charging the Apple Watch. Like other Griffin products, the stand itself doesn’t include its own charging cable, but users will need to snake in their own MagSafe charger through the stand during the initial set-up of the device.
“The introduction of the Apple Watch ushers in what is bound to be the next generation of wearable technology,” said Mark Rowan, President of Griffin Technology. “Griffin has long been at the forefront of developing solutions for Apple’s newest devices and we’re continuing that legacy with our WatchStand charging dock for Apple Watch.”
Griffin notes that the stand is compatible with all versions of the Apple Watch and provides an “easy viewing angle” when charging. The pedestal will also accommodate both a vertical and horizontal orientation, allowing personal preference to each user laying their Watch on the stand to charge.
Although there is no in-house storage for an iPhone cable, the WatchStand does provide a small dock underneath the Watch pedestal to store a user’s iPhone, providing a neat and organized solution to charging and displaying both devices.
Unfortunately, the Griffin WatchStand won’t be available on the Apple Watch’s April 24 launch date, but has been given a more general “Summer 2015″ release window. The company did note, however, that the stand will retail for $29.99 when it launches.
Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 handsets
When you have an Android smartphone, receiving a notification saying that there is an OS update available is a great feeling, even more so when it means your handset will soon be running Android 5.0 Lollipop. That feeling quickly turns sour though when the much-anticipated update ends up breaking things, as Galaxy S4 and S5 owners have experienced in Norway to such an extent that the Norwegian arm of Samsung has decided to halt the Lollipop rollout. Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5
Some of the bugs include the com.android.phone process freezing at times, the Contacts app giving errors and poor battery life. In response, Samsung Norway have admitted on its Facebook page that the complaints have been taken into consideration and that a new update with the requisite bug fixes is being worked on full-time. You can see the full response below. I own a Galaxy S5 that is running the UK version of the Lollipop update, and ca confirm the Contacts app error is not limited to the Norwegian firmware. If you have a Galaxy S4 or S5 running the Android 5.0 Lollipop firmware, have you noticed any quirks or bugs? Let us know in the comments below or at our forum.
Source: Samsung Facebook
Via: Sammobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 handsets
Nokia Lumia 1520 screen protectors on sale today for $8.95!
These bad boys are not just your average protectors; they’re made from the same material used to shield the front of vehicles from abrasive elements and provide unmatched scratch protection. Ultra thin and optically clear, the UltraTough ScreenGuardz are virtually indestructible. Includes 2 per package.
DiscStorm is bringing retro-styled arena combat to the Mac in summer 2015
DiscStorm is a new arena combat game coming to Mac in 2015. Featuring an 8-bit art style, a chiptune soundtrack, and fast-paced combat, in DiscStorm you’ll fight your opponents in challenging solo and multiplayer matches.
Combat in DiscStorm centers around hurling discs at your opponents. Discs will ricochet off of the environment, something you’ll need to watch out for and use to your advantage in order to take down your enemies.
DiscStorm features a number of single and multiplayer game modes in different arenas. From developer XMPT Games:
Choose from classic first-to-ten brawls, tactical games of survival and the dreaded one-hit-kill “Death Disc” mode! Each arena brings its own unique play-style and enemies. Whether it be the laser-shooting Stone Golem in the jungle temple or the lava-spewing Fire Elemental of the volcano lair, exciting new challenges await you at every turn!
DiscStorm arrives this summer for Mac, PC, and Linux through Steam.
Apple labored over the perfect interface for its Watch Activity app
Apple’s Watch designers did a lot of reps on the Workout and Activity apps before arriving at the final design, according to an internal memo dug up by 9to5 Mac. The company’s in-house fitness guru Jay Blahnik detailed the design process of the Watch’s key apps, saying “we kept asking ourselves, what could we do to measure all-day activity that would be more useful than traditional all-day activity trackers?” To arrive at the answer, the company decided to build both apps in-house, in order to “build our own knowledge base from the ground up” rather than using off-the-shelf software.
He went on to say that while building the Workout app was hard enough, “we wanted to build something iconic” for Activity. They built that app around the guiding philosophy of “sit less, move more and get some exercise,” but tried hundreds of interface designs to get that across. “The first time we saw the current Activity Rings design that ended up being the final design in the app, we knew that was it. Simple, elegant, unique, easy to view, visually motivating and fun.” He added that he hopes that seeing how lazy or active you’ve been at a glance will “motivate (you) to do more.” We’d hope that the $349 minimum entry ticket would be motivation enough.
Source: 9 to 5 Mac
AIVAnet 