Cyanogen Inc. receives $80 million in funding
Earlier today, Cyanogen Inc. founders Steve Kondik and Kirt McMaster announced that they’ve secured $80 million in funding from a group of investors, which includes: Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm, Telefónica Ventures, Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries,Vivi Nevo and Rupert Murdoch, in addition to several other partners who have asked to remain anonymous.
“So what will this money be spent on?” I hear you ask. Well, the company intends to use the majority of it “to hire talent and accelerate the development of its open OS platform.” The rest is likely to be spent on advertising campaigns to raise awareness for the alternative Android operating system, which, according to Sandesh Patnam, Techology Sector Lead of Primji Invest, has the potential “to become the 3rd leading mobile OS.”
Markably absent from the list of investors is Microsoft, who were previously rumored to be donating an astonishing $30 million, which would have resulted in Cyanogen raising an eye-watering $110 million for the Series C financing campaign. However, according to Bloomberg, Microsoft may still strike a “commercial deal” with Cyanogen to pre-load its mobile apps on Cyanogen OS devices.
The full press release can be seen below:
PALO ALTO, CA–(Marketwired – March 23, 2015) – Cyanogen Inc., a leading mobile operating system pure-play, announced the completion of an $80 million round of Series C financing. With offices in Palo Alto and Seattle, the company will leverage the infusion of new funding to hire talent and accelerate the development of its open OS platform.
The financing was led by Premji Invest and includes participation from new strategic investors Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telefónica Ventures, Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries (the US-based industrial group headed by Len Blavatnik), Rupert Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, and several yet to be announced partners. Existing investors Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures, and Tencent Holdings Ltd. also participated.
“We’re committed to creating an open computing platform that fundamentally empowers the entire mobile ecosystem from developers to hardware makers, and most importantly, consumers around the world,” said Kirt McMaster, CEO of Cyanogen Inc. “We’re excited to have the backing of an amazingly diverse group of strategic investors who are supporting us in building a truly open Android.”
“We invested in Cyanogen because we’re big proponents of what they’re doing in opening up Android and supporting global and local ecosystem players,” said Sandesh Patnam, Technology Sector Lead of Premji Invest. “Cyanogen is well positioned to become the 3rd leading mobile OS, and we’re excited to back them in growing their business on a global scale.”
To date, Cyanogen has received a total of $110 million in funding. Cyanogen is known for both its commercial distribution, Cyanogen OS, and open-source project CyanogenMod.
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Amazon ‘Unlocked’ could be like a “Prime for paid Android apps”
Amazon may soon offer customers unlimited access to paid apps and games as part of a new “Unlocked” service. That is, of course, provided a recent TechCrunch report proves accurate. According to their sources, it would be not unlike an “Amazon Prime for Apps”.
Introducing Amazon Unlocked for Apps & Games,” the company notes in one promotional spot. “Paid apps and in-app purchasing now completely FREE from Amazon.
Allegedly, the Amazon Unlocked would essentially provide for a way for highlighting content that typically comes with a price tag or includes in-app purchases. From the sounds of it, Amazon will shave the prices down on content for limited time periods and developers may be able to opt in/out.
It is not clear as to how soon Amazon Unlocked might roll out or whether it will be offered separately from any other services. Presumably, Unlocked is just one more “wow” factor in the Amazon experience and comes free of charge. On the other hand, we’d not be surprised if there were a standalone fee that gets you in the door. Would you be willing to pay a few bucks each month for an all-access pass to Unlocked content?
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Samsung commits to loading Microsoft apps on future devices
Samsung says it plans to install a number of Microsoft apps on its upcoming smartphones and tablets. Starting with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung’s lineup will come loaded with OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype. Both smartphones come with 100GB free cloud storage for two years through Microsoft OneDrive, allowing extra storage space for media. Looking ahead, Samsung will pre-install Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype on some of its tablets.
“Great things happen when you converge services and devices,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of business development, Microsoft. “Our partnership with Samsung is emblematic of our efforts to bring the best of Microsoft’s productivity services to everyone, on every device, so people can be productive wherever, however and whenever they want.”
In related news, Dell and a host of other hardware makers have confirmed similar intentions.
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Twitter taps Foursquare for location-based features
Twitter wants to know where you are. The social media company has tied up with Foursquare so your tweets can carry your precise location. Twitter was already picking up on your whereabouts, but its in-house tagging ability has been restricted to data points from GPS, wireless networks and cellular tower signals. The update allows Twitter to tap in to Foursquare’s massive location database so you will be able to pinpoint your exact spot in a tweet.
The update makes Twitter more lucrative to brands that thrive on location-based user behavior. According to the support site, the tweet will include specifics like “the coordinates of the street intersection where you Tweeted” along with the location label selected. Users can also tap in to the chosen spot to read relevant tweets in the vicinity for a more personalized experience.
For geo-tagging enthusiasts who turn location on, all future tweets will automatically carry their coordinates. If you’re not keen on sharing your location all the time, you’ll have to remember to go back and opt-out.
Coming soon! We’re working with @foursquare so you can tag specific locations in Tweets: https://t.co/MwlLz5Pfvq pic.twitter.com/jATzXvbuV6
– Twitter (@twitter) March 23, 2015
Filed under: Internet
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Twitter
Pioneer’s Latest Aftermarket In-Dash Systems With CarPlay Support Now Available [iOS Blog]
Pioneer on Monday announced that its second-generation aftermarket systems with support for CarPlay and Android Auto are now available at select retailers in the United States. The company’s refreshed lineup of Networked Entertainment eXperience (NEX) in-dash multimedia receivers, which debuted at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, are the first to offer customers the flexibility of choosing between CarPlay and Android Auto.
The 2015 NEX lineup includes the AVIC-8100NEX, AVIC-7100NEX and AVH-4100NEX systems with CarPlay and Android Auto support, while the AVIC-6100NEX and AVIC-5100NEX are compatible with CarPlay only. The in-dash receivers also feature advanced Bluetooth capabilities, an AppRadio mode, MirrorLink compatibility, iDatalink Maestro support, the ability to stream Pandora and SiriusXM, and FLAC file playback.
Pioneer and Alpine Electronics are the official providers of aftermarket in-dash CarPlay systems. The second-generation NEX aftermarket systems are available at authorized Pioneer resellers across the United States, ranging in price between $700 to $1,400 depending on the model. CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music and more to your dashboard when paired with an iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.
Windows 10 SDK Preview tools released to help developers make universal apps
Microsoft has released the first version of its SDK tools for the Windows 10 Technical Preview. This first release will allow developers to create apps that fit with Microsoft’s universal app platform for the operating system.
Report: LG G4 to forgo metal in favor of plastic
These days were a seeing a great number of Android OEMs adopt more ‘premium’ designs, forgoing the simple plastic builds of yesteryear. Samsung was the latest manufacturer to jump on the premium bandwagon, starting with the Galaxy Alpha and Note 4, and most recently with the glass and metal bodied Galaxy S6. With most of the major players out of the way, all eyes have shifted to LG, especially now leaks of the G4 have been making rounds.
The alleged early G4 renders showcase a back cover that is clearly removable. While this doesn’t mean anything concrete (the Japanese HTC One M7 had a removable back cover for reference), given the company’s history of metal-esque plastics, as well as the G Flex 2 sporting such, hope for an all-metal make has dwindled. Now a new report unofficially confirms that LG will likely not be shifting away from a plastic build with the LG G4.
While this early mock-up shows a metal-like design, odds are we are still looking a plastic
According to ZDNET Korea, the logistics aren’t in place yet that would allow for such a construction and thus the G4 will definitely be of a disappointingly plastic premise. The report does offer some hope, however, in that the upcoming (rumored) G4 Note may, in fact, use metal. Given LG’s claims of a new product that exists above the G series, it seems fairly likely that LG would consider adopting a more premium metal design in order to help justify such a high-end status … and price tag.
Assuming this report is true, it might also follow that the G4 features a removable battery, something that ironically could help LG out this year, given that Samsung has opted to forgo such a feature. There have been a small but significant minority of smartphone enthusiasts who have expressed outrage at the Galaxy S6’s lack of removable power supply and storage, and thus theoretically it’s possible they could jump ship to LG, especially given the G4 will inevitably be no slouch when it comes to specs.
Assuming this report is true, will this affect your decision to purchase the G4? Will you hold off for the G4 Note instead, or perhaps shift to Samsung?
Samsung is planning to manufacture the S6 and S6 Edge in India
Samsung has today announced that it will begin manufacturing the recently-announced Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in India as early as next month. This move presumably is an effort to combat the nasty import fees the company has to pay annually and leave more room for profit.
Although both flagship smartphones will be manufactured in India, they won’t face a price drop just yet. The Galaxy S6 units produced there will merely be used to meet the rapidly-growing local demand, and, seeing as Samsung will need to hire more workers, it should also receive a TNC (Transnational Company) tax reduction.
So, as it stands, this decision looks like an effort on Samsung’s part to reduce its expenditure when producing smartphones to send to the Asian market, by simply manufacturing them there. This results in higher profit margins, which the company needs desperately as it didn’t do as well as it hoped last year.
Samsung is scheduled to release the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge in India on April 10.
Source: TechPP
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iFixit publishes the first teardown video of the Galaxy S6
In what’s now become its usual fashion, the folks over at iFixit have managed to get their hands on another smartphone prior to its official release to disassemble and show us just how easy or difficult it is to fix and rebuild. This time we’re looking at the Galaxy S6, which can be taken apart in just 12 steps, but due to incredibly small parts would be somewhat tedious to repair at home.
Hit the break to see the full teardown video.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: iFixit
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Galaxy S6 axes bloatware; most apps can be removed
Over the years, phone manufacturers have put more and more pre-installed applications on every new device with no ability to remove them. It got to the point where it would not only take up precious space, but it would hurt performance. Most notably, Samsung was dubbed the bloatware kings as their phone featured every Google app alongside their in-house apps which did the same functions. The good news with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge is that Samsung seems to have changed their approach and most of the pre-installed applications will be removable.
The Galaxy S6 has brought a radical new approach from Samsung in every aspect of the phone from design, hardware, and even software. Long ago, it was rumored this would be true and it seems as if an XDA user got his hands on a pre-release version of a Galaxy S6 edge to confirm those rumors.
While not every app is removable, such as the Galaxy app store and other phone specific applications, a good chunk are. Apps from Samsung that are removable include S-Health, Calculator, and even the ever annoying S-Voice app. It also seems as if every pre-installed Google app is removable and so are the new Microsoft apps.
Now that the Galaxy S6 features a radically different design and software combination, is that enough to tip your opinion over the edge (no pun intended)? Will you be picking up Samsung’s next device? Let us know!
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