Dell UK now offering an entry level XPS 13 at £799
We’re big fans of Dell’s latest XPS 13 round these parts, but one issue there has been outside of the U.S. is availability of the full range. In the UK, for example, the only models to go on sale initially were the range topping, Intel Core i7 models. Fortunately that’s improved since and now British buyers can spend substantially less and get one from £799.
Author of ‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ talks about his time with the Apple co-founder
Brent Schlender, co-author of the upcoming Becoming Steve Jobs, opens up about his relationship with Jobs in the new book.
Jobs and Schlender first met in 1986 as Jobs was trying to get publicity for NeXT. Schlender, who at the time was working for The Wall Street Journal, refused to do a story on Jobs and the company. But that didn’t sour Jobs’ opinion on him, and it marked the beginning of what would be a 25-year relationship between subject and reporter, according to Fortune:
“Not writing a feature was the first salvo in the twenty-five-year-long negotiation that marked our relationship,” writes Schlender in the prologue that kickstarts the book. “There was never a minute where the basic terms of our relationship weren’t clear: I was the reporter, he was the source and subject.”
Schlender and Jobs eventually began speaking regularly, with long interviews, phone calls, and hospital visits:
Jobs cultivated Schlender, gave him long interviews, called him to gossip and complain. Schlender visited Jobs at home; Jobs visited Schlender in the hospital, where they ended up together more often than either would have wished.
Becoming Steve Jobs will be available beginning Tuesday, March 24. In addition to reporting from Schlender and co-auther Rick Tetzeli, the book contains interviews with many of the people who new Jobs best, including Apple executives Jony Ive and Tim Cook, and Job’s wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. You can pre-order the book on both iTunes and Amazon.
Source: Fortune
Google develops specialized tablet for health workers treating Ebola in Sierra Leone
Google has developed a specialized tablet in order to assist aid workers in Sierra Leone with easily tracking the vitals of patients afflicted with Ebola.
The device, which is essentially a Sony Xperia tablet wrapped in a protective casing, is designed to be used with gloves and can endure the harsh weather conditions in the area. Additionally, the case’s round corners eliminate any risk of piercing the protective clothing used by aid workers.
MX Player updated for Windows Phone with subtitles and more improvements
The Windows Phone version of the MX Player media app got an update today with a few improvements listed. It also shows that there’s a new subtitle function with several formats.
Is resale value a concern with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge?
A sealed battery and no expandable storage is often considered by some to be a huge deal, and that applies to initial purchase and secondhand sales.
The secondhand smartphone market is perfect for Android junkies who need to get their hands on everything, but that’s pretty far from its primary purpose. Secondhand smartphone sales sites let people sell their existing device to pay for the next one, for sure, but these services let people pick up decent phones, often significantly cheaper than the suggested retail price. A recent post in our forums raised an interesting question about the ability to sell Samsung’s latest flagships, specifically whether or not the lack of a microSD card slot or removable battery will negatively impact the ability to sell the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge. While it’s true that secondhand consumers are often not looking for the same things as the people who pick up a phone on the day it is released in stores, a quick look at how secondhand markets treat existing phones offers the answer we’re looking for.
iMore show 449: Apple Watch buyers guide
The iMore show brings you everything you need to know about the week in iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple! On this episode — Should you get an Apple Watch? Which size should you get? Which Collection? Which band and in what color? We’ve got your complete Apple Watch buyers guide here! With Serenity Caldwell, Peter Cohen, Georgia Dow, Ally Kazmucha, Rene Ritchie.
Show notes
Hosts
Join us live!
The best way to enjoy the iMore show is by joining us live. Not only do you get in on all the un-edited action, including the pre- and post-show shenanigans, but you can interact with us in the chatroom and generally have more fun than the internet should allow. Same iMore time, same iMore channel every week:
- Thursdays at 11am PT, 2pm ET.
Be part of the show!
If you can’t join us live but still want to be part of the show, simply send in your comments, questions, corrections, or feedback in advance!
- Email: podcast@imore.com
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- Comment: Leave one below!
Rock on with the Windows Phone game Stage Dive Legends
Stage Dive Legends is a challenging Windows Phone game where you play the role of a rock star who is trying to prove he (or she) is the best crowd surfer around.
The game includes tons of customizations for your rock star, worldwide venues and simple gaming controls. Stage Dive Legends is available for low-memory Windows Phones and Windows 8 devices. In playing the game over the past few days, Stage Dive Legends comes across as a unique and fun way to pass the time gaming.
What would you change about Control Center?
Control Center is a way to get at all your toggles, sliders, buttons, and basic actions, all in one place.
Since it’s debut in iOS 7 back in 2013, Control Center hasn’t changed much. Pull it up from the bottom of the screen and you get quick access to a variety of options. The top row gives you airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, do not disturb, and orientation lock. Next is a brightness slider. After that is media, including play, pause, skip, and volume. Then you have AirDrop and AirPlay. Last row is flashlight, timer, calculator, and camera.
iOS 8 gave Control Center a minor facelift, something to make the different regions neater and easier to parse visually. There were, however, no major changes to the functionality. So, if Apple asked you what you’d like to see in Control Center for iOS 9, what would you tell them?
- Swap toggles (e.g. replace orientation lock with hotspot).
- Swap actions (e.g. replace calculator with Safari).
- Compose tweet, post to Facebook buttons. (Swappable via Control Center extensions, of course.)
- App launcher (e.g. row of four user-selectable app icons).
- Tap and hold for additional options.
- Double-tap to go to full Settings page.
- Jiggly mode to re-arrange.
I’ve written about a customizable Control Center before. Rather than putting app launchers into the Today view of Notification center, where context starts to become unclear, a similar extensibility system for Control Center could really make it so that all our controls are in one place.
But this is about you, not me. If Apple asked you what you’d like them to do for Control Center in iOS 9, what would you say?
Play legendary drum machines in your web browser
Never mind GarageBand. Here’s a drum machine that works in a web browser!
Roland’s TR-808 is the legendary drum machine responsible for some of hip-hop and electronica’s most recognizable sounds. Now it’s emulated on an HTML5-based web site, along with other popular drum machines.
HTML5 Drum Machine operates in a web browser. I couldn’t get it to work in Safari 8.0.5 on my Retina MacBook Pro running a beta version of 10.10.3, but Firefox worked just fine.
The site features not only the TR-808 but also Roland’s TR-909, Elektron’s Machinedrum, the LinnDrum and plain old acoustic drums too. Just choose the “Drum Kit Select” menu to cycle through the different options.
What’s more, you can save samples and export loops in WAV format for use in your own projects.
Source: Fact Magazine via Engadget
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