Feel The Wear Brings Custom Vibration Patterns to your Smartwatch Notifications
There are a number of things one can do with a smartwatch: text, call, post on social media, and set reminders for later. However, all of those actions require you to be on the ball for when your smartwatch starts buzzing with a notification.
The issue is that smartwatches were created for convenience, and when you have to keep checking to see if you’ve received a notification, your device isn’t accomplishing its job. Presenting: Feel The Wear.
Now you can choose from between five preset vibration patterns that have enough force to actually alert you of an incoming item, unlike the preset vibration patterns that might not grab your attention. Once you’ve installed the app and set the permissions, you can start customizing your vibration settings.
The app itself is new—only about a month old—but as far as usability goes, it is a stellar and stable application that is a joy to put on your wrist. If you’re enticed, check out these screenshots and follow the link below.
Come comment on this article: Feel The Wear Brings Custom Vibration Patterns to your Smartwatch Notifications
Latest tip indicates April 11 for Galaxy S6 U.S. launch, but it’s probably April 10
You might be wondering when you can purchase your shiny new Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge. Phone Arena has received a tip that the U.S. launch will be April 11. Supposedly the tipster works for one of the four major carriers and was told this by a Samsung rep.
The only problem with April 11 is that it happens to be a Saturday, which is traditionally not a launch day at any carrier. Furthermore, Samsung already revealed the global launch in their press release, which we posted at the bottom of our Galaxy S6 official announcement post.
It specifically stated….
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge will be available globally starting from April 10, 2015 with 32/64/128GB storage options available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only)
I supposed Samsung could change the April 10 date, but it’s unlikely to be one day later, and on a Saturday to boot.
If you’re planning on picking up the Galaxy S6 or the Galaxy S6 Edge on launch day, you better reserve some time on April 10.
source: PhoneArena
Come comment on this article: Latest tip indicates April 11 for Galaxy S6 U.S. launch, but it’s probably April 10
Apple Watch as a filter for what’s really important
I had the pleasure of sitting next to Clayton Morris during the Apple event last Monday and chatting with him about it for a couple of hours afterwards. Clayton has a real ability to explain technology to the mainstream. It’s what makes him a powerful voice for consumer electronics on TV. So, when he talks about why he’s getting an Apple Watch, it makes for a fascinating read. From claytonmorris.com:
On the surface the Apple Watch is limited and direct with the most useful information pushed to the top. A text comes in from one of my VIP contacts and I can immediately read it and respond without being dragged four layers deep inside my phone. To respond I can only use voice dictation or tap one of the prefilled fields such as “On my way”. An Uber notification that my car is two minutes away. Great, nothing more to see here. A Dark Sky notification that a massive thunderstorm is set to strike. I think I’ll head inside. A phone call from my wife, “Hello?”. No more fumbling for the phone inside the car, the backpack or pants pocket. My phone could even be plugged in three floors away, on the same WiFi network, and I can receive a call on my wrist.
That this so closely matches my take and Serenity’s take — three people who’ve tried it both in September and now March — should hopefully help some of the more public, less hands-on doubters start to at least open their minds to the possibility that there’s something here. Because there absolutely is.
What’s more — that’s only one aspect of the Apple Watch as well. Add in the health and fitness, remote control, and other features, and I still think people are underestimating the value it can provide.
April is going to be a lot of fun.
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Apple and the origins of USB-C
The new MacBook sheds MagSafe connectors, ThunderBolt ports, and traditional USB, for a single, all-new, USB-C type plug that can provide power, data, video, and more. While it may have seemed like it came out of nowhere, it really came out of the continued drive to make computers simpler and saner for as many people as possible. John Gruber, writing for Daring Fireball:
Only that from what I’ve been told, Apple ought to be getting (and taking) credit as the leading company behind USB-C’s innovations. Not that they “invented” it, but that they “basically invented” it. I completely stand by that. But there are a lot of politics involved. One reason Apple isn’t taking more public credit for their role: they truly want USB-C to see widespread adoption; a perception that it’s an Apple technology might slow that down.
John also points out how Apple-like the USB-C connector is. That’s probably why the company doesn’t feel the need to take any credit for it. What’s important here isn’t who spear-headed the new connector — it’s that it got done and out into the world. That it does what Apple needs is evident. Provided it’s adopted at scale, it will do much, much more for everyone who wants standardized, readily available peripherals. So, good job to all.
For more on USB-C, here are a few really good primers:
USB-C is currently only available in the new MacBook, which will ship in April. Obviously, that’s only the beginning.
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Steam Spotlight: Crypt of the NecroDancer for Windows
Welcome to our new feature, Steam Spotlight! Every weekend we will look at a different game available on Steam, the popular digital distribution platform for Windows computers. With the indie gaming scene exploding on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, many of these titles will eventually make their way to consoles. But why wait when you can play exciting titles on your Surface Pro or PC right now?
Today’s Spotlight title is Crypt of the NecroDancer from Brace Yourself Games and Klei Entertainment, makers of XBLA hit Mark of the Ninja. Take one part dungeon crawler, one part rhythm game, another part ” Roguelike,” mix them cleverly together and you have NecroDancer. Exploring super-tough dungeons while hopping to catchy beats is a fresh and engrossing experience.
Read on for our detailed impressions with video!
Hangouts and Google+
Instant messengers and video chatting go hand in hand with social networks.
Facebook has Facebook Messenger, Twitter has direct messaging, and Google+ has Hangouts. However, Hangouts is a bit more than just the private messenger behind Google+ and Gmail, as Hangouts also powers one of the better live video broadcasting platforms on the net right now. Hangouts is an app with many tricks, talents, and features, and as a Google product, it crisscrosses several platforms, but none so much and so well as Google+.
So, anyone wanna hangout?
Weekly poll results: which wake method do you use most?
We’re coming up with more and more ways to wake our phone up.
Double-tapping the screen, using the home button, using the gyroscope or the IR sensors… with every phone it seems like there’s a new way to take some strain off our power buttons. Manufacturers keep coming up with ways to make our phones more responsive and shorten the time between us picking up their phones and getting to whatever it is we want do to with them. More importantly, finding ways to take some of the burden of waking a phone off the power button means that power button will last longer, and I can’t be the only one who remembers the panic when their power button on their smartphone started to fail from overuse. So, we’d think that more people would be using these methods to wake their phones up, so we put it to you, our readers, in this week’s poll.
And while a fair few of us are, there are a lot of us that aren’t.
AIVAnet 