T-Mobile brings Un-Carrier strategies to business segment
You may already be familiar with T-Mobile’s Un-carrier branding as of late. It means no more annual contracts, overages and inflated international roaming fees, and the start of anytime upgrades, Wi-Fi calling and texting, free inflight messaging and Data Stash for its customers.
T-Mobile announced at its Un-Carrier for Business event today that, now, the company is bringing these strategies to businesses. Here is the company’s reasoning, according to President and CEO John Legere:
“We’re going to do for businesses, what we’ve already been doing for consumers. Eliminate pain points and force change. The majority of US businesses − a full 99.7% − have less than 500 employees and don’t have the money or resources to waste debating, negotiating and deciphering the carriers’ hidden pricing. Today, we’re upending how business buys wireless with 100% transparent pricing, the best rates, business family discounts, and more.”
Each line for businesses will cost $15, with every line after 1,000 costing $10. That comes with unlimited talk and text and up to 1GB of 4G data. Businesses can add high-speed data per line or add a data pool for employees to share.
Additionally, T-Mobile and GoDaddy have partnered to give a free .com domain and website structured for mobile viewing, as long as businesses have at least one line and paid data. This also comes with free .com email addresses powered by Microsoft Office 365.
Lastly, Un-Carrier’s Business Family Discounts considers a customer’s company-paid line as his or her first line on his or her family plan. This means a customer saves 50% over on a Simple Choice family plan.
The post T-Mobile brings Un-Carrier strategies to business segment appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Fantastical 2 for Mac gets teased with a March 25 launch date
If you’re a big fan of calendar app Fantastical, you’ll be stoked to know it’s set to get a big overhaul for Mac pretty soon.
Flexibits, the company behind the popular calendar app on both Mac and iOS, teased a March 25 launch date Fantastical 2 for Mac.
While there’s not much to glean from the teaser other than the launch date, Flexibits says that on March 25 it will “reinvent Fantastical,” which hints that quite the overhaul is coming.
Fantastical for iOS was updated to version 2 back in 2013, and brought a complete redesign for iOS 7. Presumably, the move to version 2 on the Mac will include a similar design overhaul to bring the app in-line with OS X Yosemite‘s aesthetics. In any event, we’ll bring you much more on Fantastical 2 for Mac when it drops on March 25.
Source: Flexibits
Apple Seeds New 7.1.5 and 6.2.5 Safari Betas to Developers for Mavericks, Mountain Lion [Mac Blog]
Following yesterday’s public release of Safari 8.0.4 for OS X Yosemite, Safari 7.1.4 for OS X Mavericks, and Safari 6.2.4 for OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has seeded Safari 7.1.5 and Safari 6.2.5 to developers for testing purposes. Safari 7.1.5 is for Mavericks users, while Safari 6.2.5 is for Mountain Lion users.
The Yosemite equivalent, Safari 8.0.5, is already available to developers and public beta testers as it is built in to OS X 10.10.3.
In the beta notes, Apple asks developers to focus on general website compatibility, extension compatibility, debugging using the Web Inspector, typing in the Smart Search Field using multiple displays, viewing videos on sites like Netflix and YouTube, Address and Password AutoFill, and more.
Tag Heuer partnering with Intel and Google for a smartwatch to be announced tomorrow
It was only a matter of time until traditional watchmakers jumped into the smartwatch craze. It appears Tag Heuer will be among the first as they are cooking up something with Intel and Google.
The world watch and jewelry show, Baselworld, kicks off tomorrow in Switzerland, and Tag Heuer is set to announce the new watch around 2:00 pm local time.
It’s expected that Tag Heuer will design the watch case and the crown, but of course, they won’t be able to do the hardware and software. Tag Heuer recognizes that the “craftsmanship” in making a smartwatch is very different than tradtional watches, and that is why they separated the research and development business into two departments.
It will be interesting to see what Tag Heuer comes up with. Will more traditional watch manufacturers follow suit?
source: Pocket-Lint
Come comment on this article: Tag Heuer partnering with Intel and Google for a smartwatch to be announced tomorrow
Deal: Pick up the Jive Jumbo Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker for 42% off
If you’ve ever tried relaxing in a pool or wanted more entertainment out of your pool party, you’d know that listening to music can sometimes be a hassle. The Jive Jumbo Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker may be a worry-free solution to that problem. The AA Deals Store currently has a pretty great deal on this Bluetooth speaker, so let’s see exactly what it offers.
This waterproof speaker offers up 10 watts of power, and will supply power for 12 straight hours. With its iPX7 rating, it can be submerged in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes at a time. It also has an approximate Bluetooth range of 33 feet, so you can keep your smartphone or tablet out of reach from potential damage. And if you want to use the speaker in the shower or in the kitchen, it also has a handy suction cup on the bottom, allowing you to stick it to your wall. If you have a Bluetooth-compatible device, this speaker will definitely work for you.
Thanks to the Android Authority Deals Store, you can grab this speaker for only $22.95, which is a full 42% off the suggested retail price. Considering all of the conveniences this will add to your life, we’d say this is a pretty great deal. If you’d like to pick one up for yourself, follow the link below.
AW 4.4 code suggests Android Wear may eventually support iOS
The features offered by the Apple Watch and Android Wear are actually quite similar in many ways, but one big difference is compatibility. The former works only with the iPhone, and the latter only with Android devices. Could this situation ever change? It is already starting to happen, at least for Android Wear.
Last month, developer MohammadAG, known primarily for his work on developing Xposed Framework modules, found a workaround that allowed Android Wear to receive basic notifications from iOS. Yesterday, the developer expanded on this by finding a way to let Android Wear users answer iOS calls from their watch, no jailbreak required.
Of course, a third party developer finding workarounds for Android Wear functionality on iOS isn’t the same as getting full support from Google. Could Google ever officially bring Android Wear support to our iOS-using friends and family? A new tweet from MohammadAG suggests that Google may already be working on it.
#AndroidWear 4.4W (didn’t check 5.0) contains iOS related code(!), class name AncsHandler. I guess that confirms they’re working on it.
— MohammadAG (@MohammadAG) March 18, 2015
Of course the presence of iOS related code doesn’t necessarily mean that Google has immediate plans to offer iOS compatibility for Android Wear, but anything is possible. With cheaper pricing, similar features, and more hardware options, Android Wear could have a real edge over Apple Watch if it came to iOS. Furthermore, if Apple users enjoyed the AW experience, they could theoretically be lured into switching to Android as a result.
What do you think, should Android Wear support multiple operating systems, or is it in Google’s best interest to only support Android?
Modern Combat 5 switching to free to play model
Back in July Gameloft released Modern Combat 5, and with it brought the announcement that there would be no in-app purchases, with $7 giving you the entire game experience. A few months later, IAP purchases were introduced, but at least they were only optional and didn’t break the game experience. While MC5 players were probably hoping that’s as far as Gameloft would take it, today the developer announced that they are shifting to a free-to-play model in the latest update.
As you’d expect, the free-to-play shift comes with more restrictions, namely you’ll now have an energy meter that limits how many missions you can go on over a period of time. There’s also a credit system being added into the game, too. What about those that already paid full price for the game? Gameloft will be giving these players unlimited energy for life, Veteran status, 200 credits and “some other goodies”. Aside from bringing a free-to-play experience to the game, the update will also introduce a new support solider class, additional weapons, and a new multiplayer mode that focuses on capturing zones found in certain areas in each map.
So why the sudden change? First, it’s Gameloft, so there’s that. Second, it’s likely the game wasn’t doing nearly as well as past titles, and so developers likely hope making a change to free-to-play will garner the game more attention. The update has yet to roll out for Android users (it is live on iOS), so if you still want a chance to get veteran status and other freebies, you’ll want to pick it up for its current price of $3.99 before the update lands.
Google X’s Astro Teller admits that Glass was not ready
Prior to the shutdown of the Glass Explorer program, Google X’s Astro Teller explained that wearables are not easy to embed into consumers’ lives. He event hinted that the company shift its focus away from Glass shortly before the shutdown. Now, with the device’s successor looming, Teller has commented on why Glass’ first outing failed.
Teller believes that experiencing failure at the start of a product’s life makes it easier for cleanup than doing so later on. Everything remains cost-efficient and simple to alter. He does note that a “mistake-free learning environment” does not exist anywhere. All companies have to deal with mistakes and challenges with their products.
The biggest issue for Google Glass was consumer perception and launching too quickly. The company wanted to get hardware out to the public when it should have waited a bit longer. And, when people learned about Glass, they become concerned with the device’s privacy. Teller had the following to say about the release of Glass:
“We learned a lot on the technology front. Many things like the battery were big obstacles. [Also] to understand how to talk about these things in the real world and figure out how new social norms could be built.”
Teller admits that the company brought so much attention to the device that it became too much for it. Google wanted “to say to the world this is an early prototype.”
Source: ABC News
Via: TechnoBuffalo
Come comment on this article: Google X’s Astro Teller admits that Glass was not ready
SoCal’s first ‘water coaster’ is driven by magnets
It’s not just the Circle K, strange things are afoot throughout San Dimas, California — like the wacky 1000-foot-long, magnetically driven “water coaster” recently installed at a local Raging Waters park in the midst of a debilitating statewide drought. Dubbed the Aqua Rocket, this unusual attraction — the first such ride in all of Southern California and one of just two dozen throughout the US — combines the motion of conventional roller coasters with the sloshy fun of waterslides.
Since neither water nor the ride’s four-person rafts are naturally capable of travelling uphill, the Aqua Rocket relies on a series of hydromagnetic linear induction motors to generate an undulating magnetic field. Metal plates embedded in the base of each raft interact with this field, propelling riders up and over the ride’s trio of “continuous rocket incline zones” — it’s the same principle of electromagnetic attraction and repulsion that enables the US Navy’s railgun prototype.
The Aqua Rocket may be the first such attraction in the Golden State but it’s far from the first in America. These rides have actually been around for the better part of two decades, the very first of which — the appropriately named Master Blaster — debuted in 1994 at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas.
[Image Credit: Raging Waters]
Via: Los Angeles Times
Source: Raging Waters
‘Launcher’ Returns to the App Store After Apple Relaxes Policies
Back when iOS 8 first launched, Launcher was one of the first apps to take advantage of the new widgets allowed in the Notification Center, and it introduced shortcut functionality that let users launch an app or complete a task like calling a specific person with a single tap.
Apple approved the app and allowed it to exist in the App Store for over a week, but then the company made the decision to remove Launcher from the App Store, calling it a “misuse” of widgets. Since then, Apple has gone on to make a series of questionable decisions about widgets, banning apps for similar widget offenses and then later changing its mind.
Up until now, Apple has not reversed course on Launcher, but that didn’t stop Launcher developer Greg Gardner from continually resubmitting different variations of the app in the hopes of creating something Apple would find acceptable.
Earlier this month, a limited version of Launcher gained App Store approval (a version with only calling, emailing, messaging, and FaceTime access), and when Gardner asked for clarification on why that was acceptable when his original app was not, Apple reviewers opted to revisit the first Launcher app and stated that its functionality was now acceptable.
According to Gardner, he did not have to remove any of the original Launcher features to get it re-approved in the App Store. Apple reportedly told him that when a new feature first launches, they are conservative about what they allow, but restrictions sometimes relax over time. “That is what appears to have happened in this case,” Gardner told MacRumors.
Due to Apple’s decision reversal, Launcher will be available for download again beginning today. It’s already propagating in some countries, and will be in the U.S. App Store tonight.
Launcher has retained all of its original functionality, which means users can download the app and use it to set up shortcuts that will appear in the Today view of the Notification Center. Available shortcuts are organized into four sections: Contact Launcher, Web Launcher, App Launcher, and Custom Launcher.
With the Contact Launcher, it’s possible to create shortcuts to call someone, email someone, FaceTime someone, get directions to a specific place, Message someone, and more. The Web Launcher sets up shortcuts that will automatically launch a specified URL, and the App Launcher lets users open a specified app and works with both Apple apps and third-party apps. The Custom feature lets users create buttons for any installed apps and any other URL schemes.
Launcher also offers a few new features, including a much-requested option to make the icons smaller and hide labels for a more compact look within the Notification Center.
Launcher can be downloaded from the App Store for free, and the pro version is available as a $3.99 in-app purchase. [Direct Link]
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