Apple is training its store staff to offer fashion advice
Now that the Apple Watch is close to launch, Apple is getting its stores ready to sell the wearable — and apparently, that involves turning its T-shirt-wearing staffers into fashion gurus. A 9to5Mac leak has revealed that the company is asking retail employees to suggest different watches based on how you dress and your lifestyle, much like you’d expect when buying a pair of designer glasses. Yes, that specialist may suggest a colorful watch because you have a “fun style” (ack), not just because it’s the best your budget allows. Apple is reportedly aware that you might want to skip the spiel and will have areas for people who already know what they want, but you’ll want to be prepared for some beauty banter if you’re undecided.
The notion that a plainly dressed, modestly paid worker could become a fashion expert is a bit silly, and Apple’s example customers don’t always make sense. What kind of waiter makes enough money to drop $1,000 on a steel smartwatch without flinching? However, this shows just how far Apple is willing to go to get its new device on your wrist. It’s willing to hire sales execs from non-technical fields and have them replace the conventional electronics store sales tactics with ones you’d expect from a boutique. Will they work? Not necessarily (this is still an expensive and strictly optional piece of silicon), but it’ll be interesting to see how the experiment shakes out.
Source: 9to5Mac
HP Partnership With Apple’s Beats Officially Ends as HP Moves on to Bang & Olufsen
When Apple acquired Beats Electronics, several companies that had deals and partnerships with the headphone company were forced to sever their agreements, including Hewlett-Packard (HP).
At the time of the acquisition, HP was selling laptops with “Beats Audio” branded speakers, through a partnership with Beats that was originally established in 2011. HP was only allowed to continue development on products using Beats Audio technologies through the end of 2014, leaving the company without an audio partner and without the “cool” factor Beats brought to the partnership.
Ahead of the end of its partnership with Beats, HP began using its own in-house audio solution and ceased using Beats branding and logos, but it was unclear if that solution was based on Beats audio technology, as suggested by PCWorld.
At the launch of the recent HP Spectre X360 last month, an HP executive declined to tell the IDG News Service whether the homegrown technology was influenced by Beats, or if it had Beats amplifiers in them. HP has excellent in-house technology to boost audio in PCs, said Mike Nash, vice president of product management for consumer personal systems, at the time.
Though there may have been some remaining ties to Beats in HP products, HP today signaled its readiness to move on from the Beats brand by inking a deal with a new audio partner — Bang & Olufsen.
HP will use Bang & Olufsen audio technology in its PCs, tablets, and other accessories, with “custom tuned” audio for different PC models. Beginning this spring, HP PCs with Bang & Olufsen branding will start shipping to consumers. Like it did with its Beats partnership, HP will add Bang & Olufsen stickers and logos to the PCs, highlighting the new audio technology. CNET shared HP’s thoughts on the new partnership.
“We’ve certainly spent a lot of time working on audio with Beats over the years. I think certainly a lot of learnings both ways in that relationship,” Mike Nash, an HP personal-computer and printing vice president, said on a call with reporters Tuesday, soon after the deal was announced. “The opportunity now is to take everything we already know and combine that with some new expertise … as part of our partnership with Bang & Olufsen.”
Even as HP moves on to Bang & Olufsen, the company is permitted to continue to sell its remaining stock of Beats-branded laptops through the end of 2015, so Bang & Olufsen-branded HP products may sit on store shelves beside those with Beats Audio technology.
Ruth Porat is the new Chief Financial Officer at Google
The current CFO of Morgan Stanley, Ruth Porat will be taking over the same position over at Google starting May 26, a Google press release said. This means Patrick Pichette’s tenure as the Google CFO for 7 years will now come to an end. Larry Page had nothing but gratitude for Pichette and his work with Google.
After joining Google, Ruth Porat will be directly reporting to the CEO and co-founder of Google, Larry Page. “We’re tremendously fortunate to have found such a creative, experienced and operationally strong executive,” said Larry Page. “I look forward to learning from Ruth as we continue to innovate in our core–from search and ads, to Android, Chrome and YouTube–as well as invest in a thoughtful, disciplined way in our next generation of big bets. Finally, huge thanks to Patrick Pichette for his seven super successful years as CFO”.
Speaking about her new stint with Google, Porat said – “I’m delighted to be returning to my California roots and joining Google. Growing up in Silicon Valley, during my time at Morgan Stanley and as a member of Stanford’s Board, I’ve had the opportunity to experience first hand how tech companies can help people in their daily lives. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get started.”
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Ruth Porat is the new Chief Financial Officer at Google
Action Launcher 3.3 update brings Quicktheme live wallpaper integration, new gestures and more
Action Launcher 3, one of our favorite third party launchers here at Android Authority, has just received a big update to version 3.3. Most notably, developer Chris Lacy has added a few improvements to the Quicktheme feature. Quicktheme lets you automatically create a theme for your device based on your current wallpaper. When it was introduced, the feature really only worked with static wallpapers, but now support for live wallpapers has been added. The developer has opened up the API, so LWP app developers will need to add support for the feature manually in order for it to work properly.
Next up on the list of features is fully customizable gesture and shortcut support. You can now customize double and triple tapping, pinching in and out, swiping from the screen edge and more to create whatever shortcuts you so choose.
Also included in the update are a few new animations, new home screen indicators and a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. Take a look at the video below for some more information:
We’ve provided most of the changelog below. Since this is a big update, you can find the full changelog in the version 3.3 update post on Google+.
- NEW: Live wallpaper API support, enabling Quicktheme to reliably work with live wallpaper apps. For an example of this in action, check out the excellent Minima Pro.
- NEW: Shortcuts & gestures (Settings -> Shortcuts) both expanded and fully customizable. Gestures supported include: single/double/triple tap Home button; double/triple tap empty space; swipe up single/two fingers; swipe down single/two fingers; swipe left screen edge/swipe leftmost Home screen/swipe right screen edge/swipe rightmost Home screen; and pinch in/out.
- NEW: Ability to configure action taken by a gesture. Actions include load an app, load a shortcut, toggle All Apps, toggle Quickdrawer, toggle Quickpage, open Action 3 settings, display overview mode, lock/unlock desktop, lock device, open recents, open notifications, open text search and open voice search.
- NEW: When searching, use Google search box overlay instead of switching into the Google app. Can be changed via Settings -> Shortcuts -> Global search mode.
- NEW: As requested, an additional Donate option has been added for people who are so inclined (Settings -> Help -> Donate).
- NEW: Animate to/from the All Apps background color when opening/closing All Apps (requires Android 5.0 or later).
- NEW: Home screen indicators updated to match Android 5.1’s style.
- NEW: Allow importing of Action 3 layouts by other launchers. Thanks Kevin from Nova for the prod here.
The update is now live in the Google Play Store. Follow the link below to check it out!
Kingdom Come Android game review; An addicting RPG with match-three gameplay that is sure to please fans of either genre.
Kingdom Come takes a different approach when it comes to traditional RPGs by adding in some match-three puzzle elements. While this is not the most common form of RPGs, after downloading Kingdom Come, I am now a huge fan. You start off playing as the heroic warrior Macarius (Exodus the wizard and Elena archer are the two other playable character that are unlocked later on ) as you guide him on his quest to save the kingdom from the evil minions of hades. Not very original, but it works. Throughout your journey you will battle hordes of monsters earning coins to purchase upgrades for your hero.
Gameplay
After you finish the tutorial, which explains everything in great detail, you are taken to the campaign map where you can progress forward only by defeating enemies at the various waypoints. You start off with just simple minions, that require little to defeat as the game continues to explain some things for the first battle or so, and then they get progressively harder. The battle system is where things take a unique turn. During your turn, your damage is directly correlated with how many pegs you can match. After you get at least three, your character will attack the enemy, whereafter they will attack you back. You can deal more damage by coming more than three, using the special power pegs that come up randomly, or a combination of the two.
I can honestly say that after my first battle, I became addicted an ended up playing the game for quite longer than expected. After you defeat an enemy, you are taken back to the campaign map where you will progress forward after having earned some coins for your troubles.
Animations were fluid and smooth, colors were vibrant, and everything just looked phenomenal.
You level up as you win battles and that in turns unlocks new weapons and armors to help you in your later conquests. You can also purchase more coins using crystals, and you can purchase crystals using real world money. I decided to buy some crystals to purchase a shiny new sword and I was able to procure 50 crystals for only $1.00. You can of course just play the game and win coins as well, without having to spend any money on the game.
Graphics
The visuals on Kingdom Come are what you would expect from modern Android game. Animations were fluid and smooth, colors were vibrant, and everything just looked phenomenal. Due to the high quality visuals on Kingdom Come, matching up the pegs and seeing them go was always a great experience. Each peg looked great and the different colors all had different designs. Instead of the usual colored bubble or triangle, you can a distinct orb that showed the developers took everything about the game into account when developing it.
Performance
For having such great graphics and features, the performance of Kingdom Come was spectacular. After the loading screen, I didn’t have to wait once for the game to process anything. Animations showed up quickly, but smoothly, screens loaded fluidly, and the overall experience was, well smooth.
Final Thoughts
Kingdom Come is great game that combines the best elements of an RPG and a match-three game. For someone who does not usually play games on his smartphone, I can honestly say I enjoyed playing Kingdom Come and plan on having it around for a while longer. The game is free to download, ad-free, with some in-game purchases available. For more information, or to download Kingdom Come, you can use the widget provided below.
The post Kingdom Come Android game review; An addicting RPG with match-three gameplay that is sure to please fans of either genre. appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Action Launcher updated to 3.3, brings live wallpaper API and custom gestures
Action Launcher 3 has received its 3.3 update, bringing a handful of new goodies. The launcher’s signature Quicktheme feature now supports live wallpapers, meaning your Google search bar, app drawer, folders and quickdrawer will change color will your live wallpaper app should the developer allow it and you have Quicktheme activated.
Custom Gestures is now fully supported in Action Launcher 3, allowing you to toggle system actions as well as app launching. Single tap, double tap and triple tap are all included, as well as swiping from multiple directions and pinching.
Also included in the launcher is the Google Search overlay from the Google Now Launcher, which many users have grown to love instead of completely launching the Google app.
There are more improvements and tweaks in the update that are specifically outlined in developer Chris Lacey’s Google+ post
Grab Action Launcher 3 in the Google Play Store
The post Action Launcher updated to 3.3, brings live wallpaper API and custom gestures appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google might soon let you receive and pay bills from inside Gmail
Google is reportedly working on a new feature that will let you pay bills from inside both Gmail and Inbox. Codenamed “Pony Express”, the service will let users receive and pay bills without the need to send in a paper bill or navigate to another website. According to leaked documents discovered by Re/code, the service is scheduled to roll out Q4 2015.
Once the service goes live, the document explains that users will need to provide their names, addresses, and social security numbers to a third-party company that will vet users’ identities. Once the information checks out, bills will be available from within both Gmail and Inbox. Google is allegedly working with third-party vendors that print and mail out bills on behalf of service providers like insurance and telecomm companies, as well as numerous different utility industries.
Pony Express will also let users share bills automatically with another Gmail user. This feature would really come in handy for roommates who normally split a number of different bills each month. You’ll also reportedly be able to easily grab customer service contact information from the online bill. Also included is the ability to take a photo of a piece of mail and archive it to your designated Pony Express folder.
Google has yet to confirm any of these reports, so we’ll need to wait and see what happens around October of this year. If Google rolled out Pony Express with all of the features we know about so far, would you use it? Let us know your thoughts!
When to use HDR for photos on your Android
Shooting in HDR isn’t a cure-all solution, but it can definitely make up for shortcomings in your camera.
It’s clear to see smartphone cameras have come a long way in just a couple of years, but what you may not realize is that a lot of the advancement can be attributed to software. When dealing with small camera sensors and lenses, like those on your Android, it takes finely-tuned processing to get a great-looking image from the data collected. It’s true for casual snapshots in auto mode, but it’s particularly true for HDR photography.
While HDR can’t fix every problem with taking photos on your Android phone, it can certainly help your little camera produce appealing images that you’ll really want to show off. HDR isn’t a silver bullet, though — it really needs to be used in moderation for the best results. Let us show you when to flip the switch to HDR and when to go natural.
Apple Acquires ‘Rock-Solid High-Performance’ Database Company FoundationDB
Apple has acquired database company FoundationDB, reports TechCrunch. FoundationDB is a company that “develops scalable and fault tolerant databases that support multiple data models.” A notice on the company’s site says that it has ceased to offer downloads after deciding to “evolve [the] company mission.”
According to TechCrunch, FoundationDB may have been an attractive purchase for Apple due to its ability to handle ACID-compliant transactions (aka data transfers) quickly and its strong scalability. A company blog post suggested it could achieve 54 billion writes per hour at a cost-per-write of 3 nano dollars.
FoundationDB’s attractiveness came in the speed at which it handled ACID-compliant transactions and coupled that with strong scalability. FoundationDB hosted a booth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012, where we first wrote about its approach to a modern NoSQL database and its ‘NoSQL, YesACID’ motto. FoundationDB’s latest engine, which was covered by TC Columnist Jon Evans late last year, scaled up 14.4 million random writes per second.
TechCrunch describes FoundationDB as a “fast, affordable and durable database company” that may have been acquired to boost Apple’s server-side technologies for the App Store, iTunes Connect, iTunes in the Cloud, or another service.
Apple confirmed the acquisition with the standard statement that it gives on purchases: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
Russia’s newest armored vehicle swims and picks its own shots
Russia’s latest armored prototype was recently spotted rehearsing for the nation’s upcoming May 9th Victory Day parade following more than half a decade of top-secret development. Dubbed the Kurganets BMP-25 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), this amphibious personnel carrier has been designed to replace all of Russia’s existing tracked assault vehicles, which have been in service since the Cold War.
The 25-ton Kurganets-25 will carry about a half-dozen troops and protect them with modular armor that can be adapted to meet specific mission requirements. It is armed with a 30mm cannon and a quartet of anti-tank guided missile launchers, all of which will reportedly be controlled by an onboard automatic firing system capable of choosing its own targets. The turret is remotely operated by the three-man crew.
The prototype IFC is just one of a number of potential weapons systems built off the “Armata” Universal Combat Platform, including the Armata T-14 main battle tank, a self-propelled 125-mm smoothbore gun, and various other infantry support vehicles. 25 Kurganets will participate in the parade, according to reports from Xinghua News.
[Image Credit: Military Informant]
Via: Sputnik News
Source: Military Informant
AIVAnet 