Google is hoping these offers make you want to buy a Chromecast
Google isn’t just using Chromecast Offers to reward existing users, the company’s also loading it freebies in an effort to more households to get one. For instance, if you buy a Chromecast from March 20th to April 19th, you’ll get $80 worth of rewards. Namely, 3 months of subscription to Play Music, 1 month of Qello Concerts, 3 months of DramaFever, 3 months of Sesame Street GO and a free movie rental from Play Movies. While Google has reportedly sold over 10 million streaming sticks last year, having more users means getting more leverage when negotiating with content providers. That, in turn, could lead to bigger rewards or exclusive deals similar to Apple TV’s HBO Now offering.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Google
Source: Chromecast Offers
Total solar eclipse coincides with supermoon and spring equinox
The end is nigh, Engadget readers: a triumvirate of celestial events is happening simultaneously. Okay, that might be a bit of an overstatement, but until we hit the other side of today’s supermoon, spring equinox (yay!) and total solar eclipse, we just won’t know. As The Wall Street Journal tells it, this sort of thing is “extremely unusual.” Total solar eclipses — where the moon plays middleman and blocks the sun from our view — happen about once every year-and-a-half. Supermoons and the equinox? A handful of times per year and once annually, respectively.
Should you want to witness the full effect you’ll need to either be in the northern reaches of Europe or the Arctic, with the Faroe and Svalbard Islands sitting in the “path of totality” where the moon will block 100 percent of the sun. Certain areas of Britain will go dark for a few hours around 4:30 AM Eastern Time, too, but only 85 percent of the sun’ll be blocked instead of 100.
A GIF from NASA depicting the path of today’s solar eclipse
Not only do these types of eclipses look pretty neat, they serve as a great opportunity for scientists to study our star as well. For example, space-based coronagraphs (telescopes that spot things super close to the Sun by replicating solar eclipses) can’t show Sol’s hotter, inner atmosphere — that’s only visible during the real mccoy here on Earth. NASA has a whole slew of other solar eclipse facts so make sure to check ‘em out while you still can.
“A solar eclipse, the cosmic ballet goes on.”
”Does anyone wanna switch seats?” #eclipse2015 pic.twitter.com/tsake9ULLF
– SimpsonsQOTD (@SimpsonsQOTD) March 20, 2015
[Image credit: Shutterstock]
Source: NASA, The Wall Street Journal
Password Keeper for BlackBerry 10 updated with bug fixes and improvements
Although the app is often overlooked and replaced with third-party options, Password Keeper on BlackBerry 10 is still a great BlackBerry built solution for keeping track of your passwords. The app doesn’t get updated all that often, so it’s a bit surprising when one does appear. Such an update has now arrived in BlackBerry World and luckily, this time around BlackBerry has included a fancy change log for us all, even if it is rather small.
PDF Expert 5 on sale, half off for a limited time
PDF Expert 5 by Readdle is currently on sale for 50% off for a limited time.
Normally available for $9.99, PDF Expert can be purchased right now for $4.99. One of the great apps for iPad users, it allows you to read, annotate and fill out PDFs. You can also sign documents, and store your signature in the app for easy use. PDF Expert 5 also features support of a number of recent iOS 8 features, such as iCloud Drive and the document picker.
The most recent update added support for Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, bringing the total number of supported languages to nine. You can get PDF Expert 5 from the App Store at its special price right now.
- $4.99 (limited-time only)- Download Now
Xiaomi all set to launch next-generation Mi TV on March 24, FHD and 4K models planned
Xiaomi is getting ready to introduce new products in its Mi TV lineup next week.
All eyes on you: LG’s AKA series is about to turn heads overseas
The pillars of the AKA community.
Last year, LG released its AKA product line exclusively in its home country of South Korea. The quartet of devices are seemingly simple on paper, with mid-range specs across the board. Their unique point however stems from the unique “identities” each one carries. There is Wooky in white, who speaks slang, Soul in dark blue who loves beer and music, Eggy in yellow who is a romantic at heart, and finally Yo-Yo in pink whose crash-diets cause her weight to… fluctuate. This intricate couple of pairs will be releasing in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, and Turkey in the coming months. Pricing has not been set, but we expect something similar to the $460 they retailed for in Korea.
Each phone comes with a sleeve-type cover that activates the persona, which can be seen via the eyes that appear on the screen while sleeping. In addition to the standard affair of contents bundled with the product, each comes with a “Art Toy” mini figurine of the character the phone embodies as well as stickers you can use to decorate it with.
Specs are as follows:
- CPU: 1.2GHz Quad-Core
- Display: 5.0-inch (720X1080) HD IPS
- Memory: 16GB / 1.5GB RAM / microSD slot
- Camera: Rear 8.0MP Laser Auto Focus / Front 2.1MP
- Battery: 2,610 mAh (removable)
- Operating System: Android 4.4 KitKat
- Size: 138.7 x 71.9 x 9.9mm
- Weight: 135.5g (without font slide cover) / 157g (with front slide cover)
- Network: 4G LTE
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 / NFC / A-GPS / USB 2.0
In its press release, LG has indicated the four phones are being enhanced beyond their original concept by the inclusion of an “emotional UX element”. Additional unique features for the AKA series include the ability to customize the character’s eyes with various pairs of glasses and eyebrows. The aforementioned “Art Toy” figure can be used with the included Snapshoot app to digitize the character into selfies for potential photobombs of an otherworldly nature.
Check out the cool features and optional accessories on the bottom!
To expand on the potential marketing prowess, LG has ordered an animated AKA YouTube video series beginning today (March 20th) called Rotary Park.
While the AKA series caught our interests when first announced in November for its unique take on smartphones, it was largely assumed they would remain exclusive to Korea. While it’s unclear as to if the international roll-out is a product of the series’ individual success or simply LG’s, we will definitely be watching their reception closely. Will you?
SEOUL, Mar. 19, 2015 — LG Electronics (LG) will begin the first overseas rollout of its fun and customizable AKA smartphone starting in Hong Kong next week followed by China, Taiwan, Singapore and Turkey with additional markets to be announced as they are confirmed. Originally designed for the domestic market, AKA was first introduced to Korean customers at the end of 2014, where it has seen healthy sales and positive customer feedback for its originality and sense of humor.
AKA is available in four different personas, from Eggy in yellow who falls frequently in love, the ever-so-impulsiveWooky in white, the soft-hearted and music-loving Soul in navy and Yo-Yo in pink who is always on a diet. The characters’ personalities are an integral part of each phone as they are woven into wallpapers, widgets and ringtones. In addition to each AKA’s interactive, animated eyes, owners can customize their phones with stickers (provided), markers or paint, for a true DIY experience. This customer-centric thinking helped AKA win an iF Design Award for its unconventional approach to smartphone design.
With a global audience in mind, LG tweaked the AKA lineup by adding an emotional UX element. Some of the additional features include customizable glasses and eyebrows for each pair of eyes. Another unique UX feature is the included Art Toy figurine, which can be digitized and integrated into the phone’s user experience. Snapping a photo of the accompanying figurine with AKA’s Snapshoot tool creates an animated 3D version of the figure that appears alongside selfies. Other camera features come straight from LG’s premium handsets and include Laser Auto Focus, Touch & Shoot and Gesture Shot.
To celebrate AKA’s overseas rollout, LG is collaborating with TUBA Entertainment, the creators of the popular Larvaanimated series, to produce a new series called Rotary Park. The first episode of Rotary Park will debut on March 20 on YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/TheRotarypark).
“AKA is the first smartphone that gives owners a blank canvas to express their own personalities via a customized user experience,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “AKA is about being creative and never losing sight of the things that make us young and interesting. This is a whole new direction in smartphone UX and we’re excited about where it may take us.”
Key Specifications:
￭ Chipset: 1.2GHz Quad-Core
￭ Display: 5.0-inch HD IPS
￭ Memory: 16GB / 1.5GB RAM / microSD slot
￭ Camera: Rear 8.0MP Laser Auto Focus / Front 2.1MP
￭ Battery: 2,610mAh (removable)
￭ Operating System: Android 4.4 KitKat
￭ Size: 138.7 x 71.9 x 9.9mm
￭ Weight: 135.5g (without font slide cover) / 157g (with front slide cover)
￭ Network: 4G LTE
￭ Connectivity: Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 / NFC / A-GPS / USB 2.0
￭ Color: White / Yellow / Navy / Pink
￭ Other: Art Toy / Stickers
New Interview Offers ‘Inside Look’ at Potential Origin of ResearchKit
ResearchKit, Apple’s new open-source medical framework, was one of the unexpected announcements during the company’s Spring Forward media event. Dr. Stephen Friend, one of the key members of the ResearchKit team, talked about the potential genesis of the project in a new interview with Fusion (via iMore).
In September 2013, nearly one and a half years before ResearchKit was unveiled, Friend was at Stanford’s MedX conference giving a talk about the future of medical research. He explained how he envisioned an open source system where users could upload their medical data to the cloud for researchers to use in trials.
Sitting in the audience that day was Michael O’Reilly, M.D., the former Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Medical Affairs at Masimo Corporation, a pulse oximetry company. O’Reilly had just left Masimo to join Apple, and wanted to build something that could “implement Friend’s vision of a patient-centered, medical research utopia and radically change the way clinical studies are done.”
After Friend’s talk, O’Reilly approached the doctor, and, in typical tight-lipped Apple fashion, said: “I can’t tell you where I work, and I can’t tell you what I do, but I need to talk to you,” Friend recalls. Friend was intrigued, and agreed to meet for coffee.
Shortly after his meeting with O’Reilly, Friend started making frequent trips to Apple’s HQ in Cupertino, meeting with scientists and engineers. He also organized a DARPA-funded workshop exploring how biosensors could potentially help doctors and scientists understand Parkinson’s Disease.
Euan Ashley, a Stanford University investigator behind the myHeart app, told Fusion that Apple largely acted as a “facilitator”, building the ResearchKit framework in the background as the researchers designed and built the first ResearchKit apps by themselves. However, Apple did go meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration three months before the Spring Forward event to talk about medical research and smooth over any potential regulatory concerns.
Friend noted that even though his open-source ideals didn’t totally mesh with Apple’s view on open source at the time, he wanted to work with them rather than competitors like Google and Microsoft because Apple is a hardware company that doesn’t need to sell data, and that he believed Apple when the company said it wouldn’t look at the data being used in ResearchKit.
However, both Apple and Friend decided not to make the true origin of ResearchKit clear to Fusion. It’s unknown whether the idea was Friend’s or if Apple was developing it before Friend joined the team.
Thus far, ResearchKit has been a success for Apple, receiving thousands of sign-ups less than 24 hours after it was unveiled. In that time frame, 11,000 people signed up for one of the ResearchKit apps, myHeart Counts.
The rest of the interview also provides a good look at ResearchKit and can be read at Fusion’s website.
Samsung to launch Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge in India on March 23
Samsung has sent out invites to the press for a media event in New Delhi, where the vendor is expected to launch its latest flagships.
A bookmarlet mends Netflix’s annoying horizontal scrolling on the web
Netflix on the web can be a tiresome experience, because the homepage’s horizontal carousels show only a smattering of titles at once. To see more, you have to patiently hover your cursor over the arrow buttons on either side, which slide in new movies and TV shows at a glacial pace. Offering a perhaps temporary fix, developer Renan Cakirerk has created a free bookmarklet that automatically expands all of the titles in each listed category. Once it’s activated, you can scroll vertically at your own pace and quickly find something to watch. There’s a good chance Netflix will take notice and shut it down, but hopefully in the process it’ll recognize the error of its ways and offer a similar option officially.
Here’s how Netflix looks on the web normally:
Here’s how it looks with ‘God Mode’ turned on:
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Netflix ‘God Mode’
HTC One M9 overheating issues supposedly fixed with software update
Remember when those thermal images leaked online that showed HTC was building a portable oven out of the new M9? Good news! It looks like a software update has fixed the fire hazard ahead of its April 10th launch date.
A post on reddit claims that HTC is pushing out an update to pre-release devices that brings thermal improvements and camera improvements. Thermal improvements aren’t something you see on changelogs very often, but in this case, it was a much needed fix. The device reportedly runs about 10 degrees cooler and never breaks 40 degrees Celsius, even when plugged in, but obviously results may vary a bit when it’s out in the real world.
Good to see HTC nipped this in the bud. Let’s just hope they didn’t do it by gimping the performance of the Snapdragon 810 to get those results.
source: reddit
Come comment on this article: HTC One M9 overheating issues supposedly fixed with software update
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