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10
Mar

Cricket Wireless nabs Moto E (2015) for $130



AT&T’s prepaid brand, Cricket Wireless, today confirmed intentions to offer the Motorola Moto E (2015). Arriving on Friday, March 13, the handset will cost $129 and will not require a service contract.

Powered by Android 5.0 Lollipop, the phone features a 4.5-inch display, 5-megapixel rear camera, and 4G LTE connectivity. Under the hood you’ll find a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage with microSD expansion, and 2390mAh battery.

moto_e_2015_large

Cricket Wireless rate plans start at $35 per month (with Auto Pay credit) and include unlimited calling and messaging. For a limited time, customers who switch from carriers such as T-Mobile, Metro-PCS, Sprint and Boost can receive one free month of service. The requirement, however, is they sign up for Smart, Pro or Advanced plan and complete two months of service.

Cricket


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The post Cricket Wireless nabs Moto E (2015) for $130 appeared first on AndroidGuys.

10
Mar

Moto 360 gets Moto Maker tool



Motorola on Tuesday introduced its Moto Maker tool for its Android Wear-powered smartwatch, the Moto 360. Head to the Motorola website today and you’ll find you can pick and choose the exact design you want for your wearable. Pricing shakes out to be the same as before with the predesigned models; there are no new… Read more »

The post Moto 360 gets Moto Maker tool appeared first on SmarterWatching.

Source: SmarterWatching


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The post Moto 360 gets Moto Maker tool appeared first on AndroidGuys.

10
Mar

Could this be our first look at the LG G4?



It seems that amongst all the excitement of the Galaxy S6 being launched, LG may have felt a little left out, as today we see what could be the first leak of the LG G4.

Coming courtesy of a Twitter account called @onleaks – managed by the editor of NowhereElse.Fr – is an image that claims to be the LG G4 in all its glory.

The leak was stressed as a ‘non-final’ build – take that as you will – but what we see here is a curved device with a display size of somewhere in between 5.2 and 5.5 inches.

So it seems the G and G Flex line of LG might have been combined to give the G4? What do you guys think of the design? Drop us a comment below.

SOURCE


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The post Could this be our first look at the LG G4? appeared first on AndroidGuys.

10
Mar

The Patent and Trademark office is finally being run by someone willing to reform the patent system


USPatentTrademarkOffice WeHint

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate confirmed former Google executive Michelle Lee to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a position that has been vacant for two years.

Lee is the former deputy general counsel and former head of patents and patent strategy at Google. She will now head an agency whose main role is to determine which inventions deserve a patent. Since her new position has been empty for two years (even though she was interim head until being confirmed), she will face a massive backlog in examining patents. The unexamined backlog in December 2011 was almost 722,000 patents while today it currently stands at 602,265.

As Ars Technica notes, Lee’s appointment marks the first time someone with a background from an Internet-focused company will take the helm at USPTO. Lee is also a popular pick due to her belief that there needs to be significant patent reforms. While she was at Google, Lee became one of the most outspoken lawyer on the issue of “patent trolls.”

PatentTrollsSuits TechHive

How out of control has patent litigation gotten recently? Before 1990, there had been just one patent damage award of over $100 million. Since 1990, there have been at least 15, with at least five topping $500 million.

Then there are people patenting general ideas and demanding millions for anyone who tries to use such a thought.

While at Google, Lee wrote a blog explaining her views of patent reform.
The current system too easily allows damages to be assessed based on the value of the whole product often containing many features — not just the value of the innovation of the allegedly infringed patent — which means the threat of potentially massive awards forces defendants to settle. Balance should be restored by requiring damages to be based on the value of the innovation’s contribution to the product…Passage of patent reform is long overdue. – Michelle Lee, Google

As TechDirt noted after Lee gave a speech about patent reform last year, this may be the first time that the patent system will be run by someone who isn’t of the belief that more patents somehow mean a better system.

I can’t recall ever seeing a head of the patent office open to even recognizing that patents are not the be-all and end-all of innovation. I can’t recall ever seeing a head of the patent office even willing to admit that there could be costs to the patent system that need to be weighed against the benefits. For the most part, they’ve tended to just want to expand the patent system on the assumptions that “patent = good; more patents = better.” So this kind of speech was actually both surprising and refreshing. – TechDirt

AndroidPatentTroll FOSSPatents

Lee almost didn’t get to this position. Last year, the White House came close to nominating a pharma lawyer as the USPTO head at a time when big pharma companies were pushing millions into lobbying against patent reform. Thankfully, the White House heard the backlash from both the public and tech industry and stepped away from that candidate and onto Lee.



10
Mar

JXE Streams: Sex, violence and ‘DmC: Devil May Cry’ on PS4


Devil May Cry, in addition to sounding like a scrubbed Pablo Neruda poem, was an evolutionary leap from the clunky 3D action games of the ’90s when it hit the PS2 back in 2001. Capcom’s game delivered a heady blend of The Evil Dead and anime flash, while redefining how free-flowing action felt in a video game. Oh, and it looked cool as hell. When it was announced that 2013’s DmC: Devil May Cry would both reboot the series and come from the drastically different creative culture of the UK rather than Japan, fans balked. How could it possibly live up to the legacy? Now DmC is getting another shot with a PS4 and Xbox One definitive edition which we’re playing on JXE Streams.

Starting at 3PM ET on Engadget.com/gaming, Twitch.tv/Joystiq, and right here in this post, we’re playing a solid two hours of DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition on PlayStation 4. Dig on the improved visuals, faster speed, and the wholly bad ass brawling and platforming that made the game great the first time around. Most of the JXE Streams crew will be hanging out as well so come by and ask questions!

Enjoy the streams? Follow us on Twitch to know whenever we go live and bookmark Engadget.com/gaming to check out our upcoming schedule.

[We’re playing a digital copy of DmC: Devil May Cry on PlayStation 4 streamed through an Elgato Capture HD via OBS at 720p.]

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10
Mar

What is an Xposed Framework/Module and how does it help you?


xposedframework

The Android platform is known for its innumerable amount of functions and the users’ ability to further customize it according to his/her liking. The first thing that comes to mind when we think of customizing our Android device is custom ROMs. The likes of CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android etc are some of the prominent ROM development teams out there that offer all the features that stock Android doesn’t.

But what if you don’t want to go through the hoops of installing a custom ROM and could get some of the features from it simply by rooting your device? Well, that’s where Xposed Framework comes into play. Rooting is a simple procedure and smartphones can be rooted these days with a single click. Doing this doesn’t change the appearance of your device, but merely makes system level tweaks which allows the installation of certain apps which are otherwise blocked.

So what exactly can you get with an Xposed Framework? Once you have the framework installed on your device, you can then search for Xposed Modules, which are basically features that you can bring to your device. These modules can access core Android features, which allows for better functionality and deeper customization options. Usually, enabling such features requires users to flash full ROMs, but that’s no longer the case with Xposed.

A vast majority of developers already work on Xposed Modules day in and day out to bring you the latest in the Xposed arena. Think of the framework as a foundation for the modules to run on your device.

We’ll walk you through the entire process of installing the Xposed Framework and the Module below:

First things first, make sure you have a rooted smartphone. You can find a large number of easy root options for your smartphone. If you use a Nexus handset like myself, it’s as easy as installing the Nexus Root Toolkit on your desktop and letting the app do the rest on its own.

xposedframework-1

  • Assuming you have a rooted device already, download the Xposed framework installer app from here. This is an apk file which you will need to side load onto your rooted device and install it there. Make sure you allow app installation from third party sources before going forward.
  • Once Xposed Installer has finished installing, head over to the app and tap Framework. From here, you will have to tap the Install/Update button.
  • In a while (mostly close to 5 seconds), you will see a Superuser request asking your permission to grant access to the app. Make sure you grant permission.
  • Once finished, you will have to reboot the device. It’s ideal to do this using the toggle shown in the Framework settings. After your device is rebooted, you will successfully have Xposed Framework installed on your smartphone.

Installing the Xposed Modules:

xposedframework-3

  • This is as easy as sideloading an apk file of your choice either online or through the XDA forums. The downloads section of the Xposed app will also offer suggestions for some of the popular modules for your device, which is worth considering as well.
  • Once you pick a module of your choice, it’s as simple as downloading by scrolling down the list.
  • Downloading the module alone won’t give you access to these modules though, as you will need to manually install them. This can be done by tapping the notification that shortly pops up on your device or by heading over to the Modules section within the Xposed app.
  • From the modules section, you can also customize and tweak your modules according to your liking.

That’s pretty much it and everything you need to know about the Xposed Framework and Modules. This should finally let you install custom features on your device which would otherwise require the installation of a fresh ROM.

Screens courtesy of Addictive Tips.

Come comment on this article: What is an Xposed Framework/Module and how does it help you?

10
Mar

Apple Watch Has 8GB of Storage, Limited to 2GB for Music and 75MB for Photos


Apple confirmed that all three editions of the Apple Watch will ship with 8GB of internal storage, according to 9to5Mac. Apple Watch users will be limited to up to 2GB of songs and up to 75MB of photos that are locally stored on the device and can be listened to or viewed without a paired iPhone. Songs can be synced using the Apple Watch companion app on compatible iPhones running iOS 8.2 or later.

Watch White

2GB of music works out to anywhere from 200 to 500 songs depending on the audio quality, while the report claims that 75MB of photos will equal to over 100 photos that are automatically compressed for reduced file size on the Apple Watch. A portion of the remaining storage capacity is likely allocated to the Apple Watch’s operating system, and will store application binaries and resources when a native SDK is released.



10
Mar

New MacBook Pro and Air Benchmarks Comparable to Mid-2014 Models


The newly refreshed 13″ Retina MacBook Pro announced on Monday is seeing comparable performance to the mid-2014 model, according to the latest Geekbench benchmark. The early 2015 model with an Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 2.7GHz achieved a single-core score of 3043 and a multi-core score of 6448, a minor variance from last year’s low-end 13″ Retina MacBook Pro single-core score of 3056 and multi-core score of 6554.

MacBook Pro Benchmark 2015
The latest 11″ MacBook Air, with an Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, also performed comparably to its predecessor in Geekbench benchmarks, with its single-core score of 2753 and multi-core score of 5486 marginally higher than the mid-2014 model‘s scores of 2430 and 5291 respectively. Meanwhile, the new 13″ MacBook Air had modestly lower scores, although more benchmarks will need to be averaged before results are conclusive.

MacBook Air Benchmark 2015
John Poole of Primate Labs, the makers of Geekbench, claims that the latest MacBook Pro and Air may see slight performance improvements after OS X Yosemite gets through first-boot housekeeping, so further benchmarks results will be needed for those models as well to determine accurate performance. Nevertheless, it is clear that this year’s refreshed MacBooks deliver only negligible improvements over the year-ago models.

The results are largely unsurprising given Intel’s focus on improving battery life versus performance with its latest Broadwell processors. The new MacBook Air and Pro lineups also have faster graphics and flash storage, two areas where improvements should be more noticeable over last year’s models. The refreshed 13″ Retina MacBook Pro in particular is up to 40% faster than the previous model with Intel Iris graphics.

Apple refreshed the MacBook Air lineup yesterday with Intel Broadwell processors, Thunderbolt 2 and Intel HD Graphics 6000. It also refreshed the 13″ MacBook Pro with similar improvements, including Intel Broadwell processors, Intel HD Graphics 6100 and all-day battery life. The latest MacBook Pros also gained a trackpad with built-in Force Touch technology that detects a small tap versus a deep press and performs a different action accordingly.



10
Mar

Apple Donates Over $50 Million to Increase Diversity in the Tech Industry


Apple LogoApple’s annual shareholders meeting is currently underway at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, and one big item on the agenda, according to Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith, is a plan to partner with a few non-profit organizations on an effort to bring more women, minorities, and veterans into the tech industry (via Fortune).

The deal is said to be a multi-year effort worth $50 million, and to start off, Apple is partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit which focuses on supporting students enrolled in “historically black colleges and universities.”

The two will work together in expanding the role of minorities in the field, with Apple planning to donate over $40 million to the organization.

“Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them,” says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “What differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits on everything that we do—it is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization.”

The company will partner with a separate, female-focused non-profit, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, to help with increasing the presence of women in the field. Apple will donate $10 million to the fund, with a four year plan to double recipients of the organization’s scholarships and internship programs.

Tim Cook will allow Rev. Jesse Jackson a few moments to speak during the shareholder meeting taking place today, and USA Today met with Jackson beforehand. He noted that the start of a more diverse presence in the tech field, most notably in Silicon Valley, is just beginning.

“President Obama said in Selma (Ala.) this weekend ‘the march is not yet over,’” Jackson is scheduled to say in a statement. “In Silicon Valley, the march for diversity and inclusion is just beginning. Several companies are implementing new diversity and inclusion strategies, most notably Intel’s landmark $300 million diversity Initiative.

“Apple and this thriving Silicon Valley are solving the world’s most challenging and complex problems. Diversity and Inclusion is a complex problem — if we put our collective minds to it, we can solve it, too. (Apple CEO) Tim (Cook), with Apple and your creative leadership, sensitivity and commitment, we know it can be done.”

Jackson has worked with Apple in these regards for over a year now, and has attended the shareholder meetings of other companies like Google, Hewlett-Packard, Facebook, Verizon and eBay, in a similar capacity to what he has planned today during Apple’s meeting.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.



10
Mar

Google Launches ‘Google Calendar’ App for iPhone [iOS Blog]


Towards the end of last year, Google unveiled a new Calendar app for Android users. The Calendar was able to pull events from Gmail, suggest titles, people, and places to add to events based on past usage, and it had a Schedule View that offered photos and maps of calendar destinations.

At the time, Google promised to bring the app to iOS, and as of today, Google is debuting Google Calendar for the iPhone. The iOS app has all of the same features that were first available in the Android version of the app, including a clean design, the aforementioned Schedule View, and the ability to pull in events from Gmail. Google Calendaris compatible with all iPhone calendars, including Exchange and iCloud.


Get the official Google Calendar app for your iPhone to save time and make the most of every day.
– A new Schedule View – See your schedule at a glance with photos and maps of the places you’re going.
– Events from Gmail – Flight, hotel, concert, restaurant reservations and more are added to your calendar automatically.
– Assists to fill in your calendar – You can quickly create events with smart suggestions for event titles, places and people.
– Different ways to view your calendar – Speedily switch between viewing a single day to getting an overview of multiple days at once
– All your calendars in one, easy place – Google Calendar works with all calendars on your phone, including Exchange and iCloud.

Google Calendar can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]



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