Mars probe finds super-active auroras and mystery dust clouds
As much as humanity knows about Mars, the planet is still chock-full of surprises. Just ask NASA: University of Colorado researchers using its MAVEN probe have discovered phenomena in the Martian skies that you would never see on Earth. For one, there are auroras that are so energetic (their electrons are 100 times more powerful than a spark of house current) that they plunge far deeper into the atmosphere than back home, or even other places on Mars. Scientists suspect that the Sun is to blame — Mars doesn’t have a protective magnetic field like Earth does, so the solar wind sometimes hits with full force.
Another discovery may be tougher to crack. MAVEN has spotted very thin dust clouds flying at very high altitudes of 93 to 190 miles, where they shouldn’t exist based on the current understanding of how Mars works. The clouds could simply have been kicked up from the ground, but they could also come from Mars’ moons or even comet debris. Whatever the causes, both the dust and the auroras suggest that there’s still a lot to learn about one of Earth’s closest cosmic neighbors.
[Image credit: University of Colorado]
Filed under: Science
Source: NASA
Nintendo assures its new mobile games will mostly be developed internally
For years, Nintendo has had a strong stance as to why it wouldn’t bring its games and characters to the mobile platform, but that all began to change yesterday. When Nintendo announced its partnership with mobile game developer DeNA, it shocked a lot of people. Not only because Nintendo finally changed its mind, but because many folks thought the gaming giant would simply license its content to DeNA and let them deal with it. In a recent interview with Time, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata gave us some reassurance on the subject.
When asked flat-out whether Nintendo or DeNA would take care of the bulk of the game making, Iwata explained:
Development of smart device games will be mainly done by Nintendo, but it is significant that we are forming a joint development structure with DeNA.
He goes on to say that Nintendo knows what it’s doing when making traditional gaming products. But when it comes to mobile video games, DeNA knows how to handle the “service” side of things. So while Nintendo is working on developing the game, DeNA will lend a helping hand that will make each game more mobile-friendly.
Iwata was also asked about the company’s standpoint on free-to-play games vs paid games. In response, he explains:
Nintendo does not intend to choose payment methods that may hurt Nintendo’s brand image or our IP, which parents feel comfortable letting their children play with. Also, it’s even more important for us to consider how we can get as many people around the world as possible to play Nintendo smart device apps, rather than to consider which payment system will earn the most money.
This interview helps answer some questions that we had in our original post about the Nintendo/DeNA partnership. Nintendo doesn’t want to build its own games for mobile because the company wants to do it right the first time. As far as gaming is concerned, this is the company’s first foray into the smartphone/tablet world, so why not partner with another company that clearly knows what they’re doing?
If you have time, I’d suggest reading the entire interview. It covers many more details that were left out of the initial announcement the other day. If you’d like to read on, head to the source link below. For you folks who admittedly had some concerns about this partnership: does this interview ease your minds a little bit?
Germany bans Uber once again over permit issues
Why can’t Germany and Uber just get along? For the second time in seven months, a court has nixed Uber’s operations nationwide. Frankfurt District Court Judge Joachim Nickel ruled Wednesday that Uber had violated Germany’s public transportation act because the company’s drivers do not possess the same permits that conventional taxis services must carry. In response, Judge Nickel reinstated an injunction against Uber set during the initial lawsuit last September, which was brought by Taxi Deutschland, Germany’s taxi driver lobby group.
“The basis of Uber’s business model is in violation of the law,” Taxi Deutschland’s head Dieter Schlenker told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. Uber, unsurprisingly, disagrees with the ruling and is already winding up for its legal counter-punch.
“The ban pronounced by the Court represents a fundamental infringement, in particular of our right under European law to establish and provide a service,” the company replied in a statement. “This is why we have lodged a complaint against Germany with the European Commission. In this regard, we also expect to file an appeal against today’s decision.”
What’s more, Uber appears to have already finagled a workaround regarding the ban that follows the letter, if not the spirit, of the ruling. Since the ban only applies to drivers without the national operator’s permit, both the UberBlack and UberTaxi services — which only hail permitted taxi and livery drivers — can still be used.
Filed under: Transportation
Via: New York Times
Source: Uber
Mars probe finds super-active auroras and mystery dust clouds
As much as humanity knows about Mars, the planet is still chock-full of surprises. Just ask NASA: University of Colorado researchers using its MAVEN probe have discovered phenomena in the Martian skies that you would never see on Earth. For one, there are auroras that are so energetic (their electrons are 100 times more powerful than a spark of house current) that they plunge far deeper into the atmosphere than back home, or even other places on Mars. Scientists suspect that the Sun is to blame — Mars doesn’t have a protective magnetic field like Earth does, so the solar wind sometimes hits with full force.
Another discovery may be tougher to crack. MAVEN has spotted very thin dust clouds flying at very high altitudes of 93 to 190 miles, where they shouldn’t exist based on the current understanding of how Mars works. The clouds could simply have been kicked up from the ground, but they could also come from Mars’ moons or even comet debris. Whatever the causes, both the dust and the auroras suggest that there’s still a lot to learn about one of Earth’s closest cosmic neighbors.
[Image credit: University of Colorado]
Filed under: Science
Source: NASA
Samsung launches variant of the Galaxy Tab A that has an S Pen
Earlier today, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab A lineup with tablets coming in 8- and 9.7-inch display sizes. The company also quietly included a variant that features the valuable S Pen for compatibility with the S Note application. The S Pen, which is commonly bundled with Galaxy Note series devices, allows for note-taking, drawing, and other activities common when taking pen to paper. This is the first time that Samsung is bringing the S Pen to more affordable devices.
Via: SamMobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung launches variant of the Galaxy Tab A that has an S Pen
Apple Employees Receiving Final Watch Training, Apple Stores to Be Transformed on April 10
As we approach the launch of the Apple Watch, retail employees who will be demoing the devices have been sharing information with various rumor sites, including MacRumors and 9to5Mac, detailing what they’re learning about the Apple Watch and how the upcoming try-on process will work.
Apple Watch employees have already been receiving training on the Apple Watch, but special meetings will take place at retail stores starting next week to give all retail employees a chance to go hands-on with the watch.
Many employees will see the watch in person for the first time at this point, and Apple will use the meetings to give them further training on the device. In its training materials, Apple has told employees they will “be the first to see Apple Watch, the first to try it on and the first to share it with the world.”
Some of the training materials employees are receiving
After that training period, the Apple Store will be transformed overnight on April 9, ahead of the company’s try-on and pre-order period, which begins on April 10. The store will be equipped with new Apple Watch tables, which feature the device displayed under glass. Tables will include areas where customers can try on the devices, and Apple employees will schedule 15 minute appointment times for each customer who wants to see the Apple Watch in person.
There will be employees on hand to show customers all versions of the Apple Watch, including the high-end Edition models at select retail stores. After trying on a watch, a customer will be able to place a reservation for the device, and it will become available for pickup on April 24, the official Apple Watch launch date.
In addition to scheduling appointments to try the watch on in store and make a reservation, customers will also be able to pre-order the device online beginning on April 10.
Tim Cook thinks the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch that matters
Well at last Tim Cook acknowledges that there are other smartwatches out there, but Tim seems to think the upcoming Apple Watch is the first one that matters.
Why? Because it has the Apple logo? In an interview with Fast Company, Tim reasoned it by saying that Apple didn’t make the first MP3 player, the first tablet, or the first smartphone. He then argued that they made the first modern smartphone and now they are making the first modern smartwatch.
Tim is party correct in that Apple did redefine the MP3 player, the smartphone, and the tablet. Looking back at the smartphone, they completely revamped what we thought we knew was a smartphone. When it came to tablets, they might not have been the first, but they pretty much were. No Android tablet came out before, and Apple made a lot of noise with the iPad, again changing the game.
But the smartwatch is a different animal. I have personally been wearing smartwatches for the past two years. The Apple Watch might be high quality, but it certainly doesn’t offer anything else that Android Wear doesn’t already offer. Apple Watch doesn’t change anything. Let’s also not forget that the Apple Watch is square, while we already have high quality round Android Wear smartwatches.
Now I will agree that the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch to get a decent amount of buzz, and that’s because it’s Apple. Apple will sell a decent amount of smartwatches, but let’s face it, consumers aren’t that much into them.
Mark my words, the Apple Watch will follow the pattern we have seen from Apple’s most recent products. The iPhone sold like hotcakes. The iPad did fantastic, but a far cry from what the iPhone did. Now it’s time for the Apple Watch, which will do well, but will be much less successful than the iPad. It’s not because the Apple Watch stinks, it’s because it’s not something the mainstream consumer needs to spend $350 or higher on.
source: Fast Company
Come comment on this article: Tim Cook thinks the Apple Watch is the first smartwatch that matters
Vine will now load videos faster on iPhone — even when you’re offline
Vine’s iPhone app is getting some major speed upgrades today. With its latest update, Vine will now preload videos even before you launch the app, which also makes some videos available when you’re offline. Yes, that means you’ll actually be able to check out Vines even when you’re on the subway. To help make all of that possible, the company is now moving over to smaller video sizes (likely due to better compression), and it’s implemented network caching, which stores videos for offline viewing. Specifically, the Vine app will now preload videos from your timeline and the Explore section, as well as your activity notifications. And yes, Android fans, a similar update is coming your way soon.
We’ve seen apps like Pocket and Evernote automatically download text in the background, but Vine is one of the first video apps to offer something similar. Let’s just hope it doesn’t suck up too much bandwidth in the background.
Below, you can check out a comparison of how the old Vine app loaded when it was offline (left), and the new app on the right.
https://vine.co/v/OVQKAD31Pwe/embed/simple
Filed under: Mobile
Source: Vine
T-Mobile unveils new Un-carrier plans for businesses, Un-contract initiative for consumers
In the company’s Un-carrier 9.0 event this morning, T-Mobile has announced a few initiatives that focus on both businesses and consumers alike. T-Mobile CEO John Legere outed a new plan for businesses that will package unlimited talk, text and 1GB of LTE data starting at $16 per line for anywhere between 10 to 19 lines. If a business has 20 or more employees on the plan, it will only run $15 per line. And if a company has 1,000 or more employees, the monthly fee drops down to $10 per line. Additionally, businesses can add an extra 1GB of data per line for $10 extra per line, or bump up to unlimited data for $30 per line. The Un-carrier says that these business prices are up to 40% cheaper than what customers could get at AT&T and Verizon.
T-Mobile has also added in pooled data tiers for businesses, which will give companies 100GB of data for $4.75 per GB, 500GB of data for $4.50 per GB, and 1,000GB of data for $4.25 per GB. If the business goes over its allotted data pool for the month, each extra GB will cost the same amount. So, if a company goes over its 500GB data pool by 1GB, the extra data would only cost $4.50. T-Mobile is also providing a free .com domain and website through GoDaddy, allowing businesses to optimize their websites for both mobile and desktop experiences.
Business Family Discounts
The carrier is also rolling out “Business Family Discounts”, which provide discounts to families who already have service with T-Mobile though a company plan. So, if your business and your family are both on T-Mobile’s network, T-Mobile will count your business line as the first line in your family plan.
Un-contract
The Un-carrier has also announced two new initiatives for those who aren’t on business plans. The first of which is called the “Un-contract”, which will allow customers who sign up for a Simple Choice plan to keep that same price for two full years. Just to clarify, you aren’t stuck on T-Mobile for two years. The company is just assuring that your monthly rates won’t increase while you have service with them. The Un-contract will start for all Simple Choice customers on March 22nd.
Carrier Freedom
Carrier Freedom is the last big announcement the company had today, which is aimed towards consumers who are stuck in two-year contracts with AT&T’s Next program or Verizon’s Edge program. Taking the carrier’s “Contract Freedom” one step further, T-Mobile will pay for customers’ early termination fees and the remaining balance on their phone installment plans. T-Mobile explains:
To take advantage of Carrier Freedom, a customer simply ports their number to T-Mobile’s wildly popular Simple Choice plan, trades in their smartphone or tablet and buys one of our hot new smartphones. They’ll get the trade-in value right away, and a prepaid card with the balance of additional outstanding phone payments after the trade-in value when they submit the carrier’s bill to T-Mobile − up to $650 total per line on up to 10 total lines.
Businesses can also take advantage of Carrier Freedom as long as they have more than 10 lines. In that case, T-Mo will issue bill credits up to $100 per line after the 10th line. Carrier Freedom is extremely similar to the promotion Sprint unveiled a few days ago, offering to reimburse all cancellation fees to customers when they switch from their current carrier.
If you’d like to some more information on any of T-Mobile’s announcements, check out the source links below.
Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge already rooted before official release
For rooting fanatics out there, and those that plan on picking up the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge when they release next month, the great news is that you’ll be able to root them out of the box. If you don’t know the benefits of rooting, check out the must have apps for rooted devices here.
Chainfire has managed to get root access on the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge since not many changes were required from the S5. He warns that it’ll trip Samsung’s KNOX security and an untripped KNOX will probably be required for the mobile payments.
Are you planning on rooting the S6 or S6 Edge as soon as you get it?
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