LG Watch Urbane coming to Verizon for $349.99
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The LG Watch Urbane is probably one of the hottest Android Wear devices that has ever been created. The Moto 360 is still top of the list for many who want Android Wear on a round faced device. Sure the LG G Watch R did it too, but not to the elegance of the Moto 360. The LG Watch Urbane on the other hand, has easily been responsible for some puddles of drool for many enthusiasts. The new watch did receive an official announcement this week that placed it in the Play Store by the end of the month with it gracing Korea today. Thanks to a source, we also have confirmation that the LG Watch Urbane will be landing on Verizon‘s network on April 28th for $349.99.
Are you going to be one of the first to buy the LG Watch Urbane, or are you going to hold off for a Moto 360 refresher?
The post LG Watch Urbane coming to Verizon for $349.99 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google apologizes for crude Apple image in Google Maps
By now you’ve probably seen that sneaky little surprise in Google maps of an Android pissing on an Apple logo. We all sort of figured Google didn’t have anything to do with it, (not intentionally, anyway) but they’ve publicly come out and apologized for the gag, anyway.
The image ended up in the service thanks to Map Maker, which allows users to upload information about their local areas so Google wouldn’t have to do all of the heavy lifting. The edits are supposed to be reviewed and moderated before getting published, but it looks like Google got a little lazy this time around.
Either way, the joke might be worth a chuckle, especially if you’re on the Android side of the fence, but it’s still a little immature and Google is working on getting it taken down as quickly as possible, as they should. I bet they’ll be stepping up their Map Maker moderation team after this, too.
source: Washington Post
Come comment on this article: Google apologizes for crude Apple image in Google Maps
The LG Watch Urbane has launched in Korea and it’s not really that expensive
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LG announced earlier this week that its latest smartwatch, the LG Watch Urbane, was going to launch this week in Korea, and it has now done so overnight. Hosted on the Google Play Store, we’re now finally able to see what this new premium smartwatch from LG is going to cost, and surprisingly it doesn’t look like the premium-marketed smartwatch is going to break the bank. In equivalent US dollar terms, LG’s last smartwatch, the LG G Watch R, launched at about $332 and the LG Watch Urbane is going to cost a little more at $365. Whether that same difference in pricing carries over when it crosses the oceans is anybody’s guess, but it’s certainly not so much more that it makes it inaccessible to the average Android enthusiast.
As mentioned in LG’s announcement a few days ago, the LG Watch Urbane will be the first Android Wear device to get the latest update which introduces a spate of great new features including Wi-Fi support, which will allow your phone and watch to stay connected as long as your watch maintains a Wi-Fi connection and your phone has a mobile data connection. We’re interested to see how the watch is actually received when people start getting it into their hands so stay tuned.
What do you think about the price of the LG Watch Urbane? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: ETNews via TalkAndroid
The post The LG Watch Urbane has launched in Korea and it’s not really that expensive appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Portland unbans UberX
Citing violations of its hired transportation rules, the city of Portland, OR sued Uber last December and temporarily halted the ridesharing company’s operations within city limits. Now, after months of haggling with civic and community leaders, Uber has relaunched a “safer and more reliable” version of its UberX service in the Rose City. Under the agreement, Uber X drivers will have to pass background and driving history checks while their cars must pass a vehicle safety inspections conducted by a certified mechanic. Each UberX fare will now include a $1 Safe Rides Fee but should remain pretty reasonable if the table below is accurate.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Uber Blog
Samsung’s round smartwatch in sight after announcing SDK for “Next Generation Gear”
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We’ve known for some time now that Samsung has been working on a round smartwatch – the name ‘Orbis’ has been tossed around a lot when talking about Samsung’s round smartwatch. But today, we’ve gotten what is as good as official confirmation from Samsung itself that it’s working on a round smartwatch thanks to its announcement that it will be making available its latest software development kit (SDK) for its “Next Generation Gear”, accompanied by screenshots of a round smartwatch device.
Given that Samsung is releasing its own SDK suggests that the new round Gear device will be running Tizen once again, but this time it has the backing from several suitors including CBB, Yelp, Baidu, FidMe and Apposter to help it look more attractive to developers. Presumably this move is aimed at helping to drive more third party development on Samsung’s wearable platform, one of the traditional weakness of Samsung Gear line-up to date (except the Samsung Gear Live of course, which runs Android Wear). It’s an interesting move, and we’re excited to see what comes of it and what the device ends up looking like.
What do you think about Samsung’s round smartwatch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Samsung via Phones Review
The post Samsung’s round smartwatch in sight after announcing SDK for “Next Generation Gear” appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Navy researchers make bulletproof glass out of clay
The US Naval Research Laboratory announced a major breakthrough in materials science on Thursday. After decades of research and development, the NRL has created a transparent, bulletproof material that can be molded into virtually any shape. This material, known as Spinel, is made from a synthetic powdered clay that is heated and pressed under vacuum (aka sintered) into transparent sheets. “Spinel is actually a mineral, it’s magnesium aluminate,” Dr. Jas Sanghera, who leads the research, said in a statement. “The advantage is it’s so much tougher, stronger, harder than glass. It provides better protection in more hostile environments — so it can withstand sand and rain erosion.”
What’s really cool is that unlike most forms of commercially available bulletproof glass — which is formed by pressing alternating layers of glass and plastic sheeting together — Spinel doesn’t block the infrared wavelength of light. That means that this stuff can protect a UAV’s surveillance camera or the lens of a HEL-MD laser without hindering the device’s operation. Plus, Spinel weighs just a fraction of a modern bulletproof pane. “If you replaced that [pane] with spinel, you’d reduce the weight by a factor of two or more,” Sanghera continued. The NRL now plans to share the Spinel production process with the rest of the defense industry.
Via: Popular Science
Source: Naval Research Lab
Creep your friends out with this online GIF tool
GIFs are usually a source of delight and wonder. Artist Vince McKelvie, however, has taken that wonder and warped it beyond recognition. In his new site, click drag click, you can create animated terrors by plugging in a URL of a photo or GIF. Then, just select and drag the image around to start the insanity. When you’re done defying the laws of nature, your creation is uploaded to the site’s stream of equally creepy images manipulated by people just like you. From there you can share it to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to give all your friends nightmares.
Via: Boing Boing
Source: click drag click
Oppo’s upcoming bezel-less smartphone shown off in yet another video
What has perhaps become one of the most leaked smartphones in the past few years, Oppo’s upcoming bezel-less smartphone is shown off yet again in a new video. In this three minute long clip, we get our best look at the phone’s user interface, chassis, and most importantly, the tech used to achieve this bezel-less look.
The technology used by Oppo was detailed a few weeks ago in a leaked schematic, explaining exactly how the company achieves the illusion. There’s actually an extremely thin border that surrounds the display, making it seem like there are no bezels on the right and left sides of the device.
Aside from this near bezel-less look, the unofficially named Oppo R7 is turning out to be quite the premium device. A few previous rumors suggest that it could feature a 5.5-inch display, a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek MT6795 processor, a 20.7MP rear-facing camera and measure just 4.85mm thick.
One thing to keep in mind is that none of this is yet confirmed by the company, so we should approach this with some hesitation. However, now that there are two video clips among a plethora of leaked photos, we can be certain that the device is real, and that it might eventually make its way to market.
Google continues pushing for mobile friendly webpages
Google recently announced on their blog a plan to change how you see search results. They made a reference to an issue that all smartphone users know all too well. The webpage that does not support mobile views and becomes a burden to navigate.
Usually, I quickly leave these pages because I feel that if they can’t manage to operate a mobile site, it probably isn’t a good organization/group for me to be looking into. Apparently I am not the only one as people are less likely to return to a webpage that doesn’t support a mobile view than those that do according to Google.
As part of Google campaign to increase mobile friendly sites, Google has released multiple tools to help webmasters create websites that are considered mobile friendly by Google so that they viewers can enjoy the website’s content on their mobile devices in addition to a traditional laptop.
“Webmasters can check if their site is mobile-friendly by examining individual pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test or checking the status of the entire site through the Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools. Once a site becomes mobile-friendly, we will automatically re-process those pages (and webmasters can expedite the process by using Fetch as Google with Submit to Index). “
Links to those tools and more information can be found on Google’s blog post.
The post Google continues pushing for mobile friendly webpages appeared first on AndroidGuys.
These tiny gecko-inspired robots can lift over 100x their weight
Beware the tiny robot uprising, which at this point are taunting us with the equivalent of superhuman strength. Researchers at Stanford have created several tiny bots that can move things more than 100 times their weight, reports New Scientist. They’re the latest example of the university’s research into mimicking the climbing abilities of geckos. The robots feet contain adhesives that manage to hold onto the wall even when they’re carrying heavy loads, and easily detach when they need to move. And as you can see in the video below, the bots’ movement is also inspired by nature, going forward one step at a time like an inchworm. One nine gram robot can lift something that weighs a kilogram (in the video it’s hoisting Stanford’s 2006-era “StickyBot”), while an astonishingly small 20 milligram bot can lift something 500 milligrams (a small paperclip).
The most impressive robot, dubbed μTug, is a 12 gram beast that can drag something 2,000 times its weight. As a Stanford researcher tells New Scientist, that’s about the same as a human moving a blue whale.
Filed under: Robots
Source: New Scientist
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