Deal: 32GB Moto X Developer Edition for only $149.99
The original Motorola Moto X didn’t exactly have the most bleeding-edge specs when it first arrived on the market, and now that a little over a year and half has passed the spec sheet is looking even more dated. But don’t let that fool you, this is still a great handset. The Moto X was never about raw power, instead it aimed to show that user experience is just as, if not more, important than the spec sheet by bringing unique user-facing features like touchless control and active display technology.
For those that have modest needs and don’t need the latest and greatest, the Moto X is still very much worth picking up even today. This is especially true for those that take up eBay seller thegoodblokes offer for the Moto X Developer Edition, unlocked and ready to go for just $149.99 in your choice of black or white. The unit is model number XT1060 and supports both unlocked GSM networks and Verizon’s CDMA network.
As a quick recap, the Moto X features a 4.7-inch 720p display, Motorola’s X8 computing system (centered around a Snapdragon S4), a 10MP rear cam, 32GB storage, and is capable of being updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop. For a full rundown of what to expect, be sure to check out our review.
So how about it, anyone planning on picking up the original Moto X for under $200?
Alleged screenshot of LG G4 running a Snapdragon 808 is fake
It is widely known that it is possible that the upcoming LG G4 will sport a Snapdragon 808 processor rather than the plagued processor known as the Snapdragon 810. Previously, it appeared on GFXBench, which seemingly confirmed that LG would defer from the Snapdragon 810, which is already in the G Flex 2.
There is an image floating around the internet as of late, which allegedly shows off the LG G4 running a Snapdragon 808. The image of the screenshot looks to be legitimate, until you look into the details. The image shows that the Snapdragon 808 has a 28 nm process. If you head over to the Snapdragon 808 landing page, it is clear that it actually is a 20 nm process.
Now, I could be wrong, but I think someone when to a great lengths to try and fake a screenshot from a device they claimed to be an LG G4. Not only that, but they were close to getting away with it, sans that minor detail.
To give a refresher, the Snapdragon 808 is a 64-bit hexa-core processor which has two cores clocked at 2 GHz and four cores clocked at around 1.4 GHz. The LG G4 is expected to retain a 5.5 inch QHD display, 3 GB of RAM, and feature an all new 16 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and an f/1.8 aperture.
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Amazon TestDrive service to cease functionality, effective immediately.
It appears that Amazon has finally decided that the world no longer has a place for its TestDrive Service, as the retail giant has announced that they will be pulling the service, effective immediately.
For those of you that might now know what I am talking about, TestDrive was a feature that was exclusive to Amazons Apps Store, that allowed you to test an app right from the web browser before you purchased it. A handy feature, perhaps, but Google takes a much better approach by allowing you a 15 minute test drive instead. This allows you to get a better feeling on how the app works and whether you like the app or not, as its a different experience using it on your actual mobile device than on your computer. It might also be one of the reasons that Amazon decided to end the service, as Amazon stated that they saw a decline in the actual usage of the service. No point in having something around if no one is using it, right?
Well, there is nothing to do now but bid the service adieu. For more information regarding the service, and Amazons official press release, follow the link provided below.
Source: Amazon
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Apple Pay Launch in Canada Planned for November
Apple Pay is planned to launch in Canada in November, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report claims Apple is in negotiations with six Canadian banks about launching the mobile payments service in the first country outside of the United States.
The six Canadian banks reportedly in talks with Apple include the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC and National Bank of Canada. The financial institutions, which together account for more than 90% of Canadian bank accounts, are open to supporting Apple Pay in Canada, although have expressed concern about fees and potential security issues.
“The banks are open to an agreement, but they aren’t happy with Apple’s fee proposals and are concerned about security vulnerabilities like the ones that U.S. banks experienced as they rolled out the service, the people said.”
Developing…
Apple Watch Goes on Display in Milan, Phil Schiller and Marc Newson on Hand
After being announced to appear at Milan’s Salone Del Mobile Design Fair earlier in the week, today the Apple Watch was displayed for the first time to the public, outside of a retail store or pop up shop, at the design fair (via Macitynet) [Google Translate].
The Apple Watch on display in the Carlo e Camilla restaurant
On display at the Carlo e Camilla restaurant in Segheria, the Watch is displayed in long rows of glass-topped tables, identical to its presentation in Apple’s own retail locations. The fair is even allowing customers to experience the same try-on appointments happening in retail stores since pre-orders began one week ago.
The entrance to the Apple Watch showcase at the fair
Interestingly, as the Watch is displayed at the Carlo e Camilla in Italy, pre-orders for the wearable aren’t available to Italian customers due to Italy not being included in the first wave of launch countries for the Watch. There to experience the event is senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple, Phil Schiller, and Marc Newson, who works part time at Apple as a designer alongside Jony Ive.
Phil Schiller at the event in Milan
Although Apple has yet to confirm pre-order numbers for the Watch, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the device could have sold more than 2.3 million units during the initial pre-order wave. While the exact number remains a mystery, stock of the Apple watch definitely remains constrained as pre-orders for all devices slipped to a 4-6 week dispatch date, and beyond, only 6 hours after going live.
Smell-o-phone creator attaches scents to eBooks and songs
The Harvard professor that brought us a real life smell-o-phone has announced that he’s expanding his olfactory-focused products to include eBooks, songs and clothing. Now clothes that give off a scent isn’t that weird, but eBooks and songs? How does that work? Professor David Edwards is calling these unusual digital tomes and music “oBooks” and “oSongs,” and they pair up with his company’s, Vapor Communications’, “oPhone” contraption. That device (see above) contains all the scent chips meant to be mixed until it matches the specific scent indicated by the files. When it was launched last year, it was only good for giving off scents attached to messages indicated by the sender through its accompanying app.
An oBook’s images come with “scent tags,” and as long as you’re accessing the files on a smart device connected to the oPhone, the contraption can give off smells indicated by those tags (say, the scent of fruits or flowers) as you read along. As for oSongs, they trigger specific smells with their melody as they play. The bad news is, you can’t buy any oSong or oBook yet. In fact, they’re nothing but museum exhibits at the moment.
The first oBook is called Goldilocks and the Three Bears: The Smelly Version, and it will be exhibited at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York starting on April 18th. The first oSong, on the other hand, was composed by Canadian-Hungarian composer Dániel Péter Biró and will be exhibited at Le Laboratoire Cambridge on April 17th.
That said, the company does have a new product ready for purchase: its first oClothing item, the $10 oBracelet, which has an embedded scent chip that can last for weeks. We’re guessing people would be more excited if the company’s found a way to allow users to attach any scent they want to any eBook or song. But seeing as these products aren’t even ready for a wider release, we’re not holding our breath.
Filed under: Misc
Source: oNotes
How will NASA find new galaxies? Glitter
Space telescopes are great, but they’re hardly the cheapest things to build, launch and maintain, which means scientists are forced to make compromises. The solution to this problem isn’t to build a better rocket with a bigger carrying capacity, but to rely upon a low tech way to make any party fabulous: glitter. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe that the high-tech equivalent of shreds of foil could be used as a cheap and lightweight alternative to the hefty mirrors you’d find in the Hubble Telescope.
You see, big mirrors are used to see the objects magnified by the light, which greatly adds to the heft and cost of the hardware. In this project, codenamed “Orbiting Rainbows,” the mirror would be ditched in favor of a cloud of glitter-like particles that’d float behind the lens. This cloud would be held in place by lasers and could, theoretically, be shifted around to reflect radio waves instead of light when required.
Naturally, this technology isn’t likely to pop up outside of a laboratory any time soon, but early tests have proved positive. If it works, then the tech could also be utilized to help predict earthquakes and other, more local, applications. The hope is that we’ll see a small prototype dropped into near-Earth orbit with a test cloud “no larger than a bottle cap.” Maybe the JPL should dig through the rest of Mariah Carey’s back catalog just in case the secret to perpetual motion is tucked inside the lyrics to Dreamlover.
Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Accessory makers are solving Apple’s MacBook problem
We like Apple’s 12-inch MacBook with its sleek look, high-res screen and scant mass — but we have a big problem with the single USB-C port. For one, it doubles as the lone power connector, meaning you can’t even charge your MacBook and transfer files at the same time. Another issue is finding peripherals that even support the new standard, fancy as it is. However, you’re not totally screwed — if you don’t want to pay for Apple’s own (expensive) USB-C adapters, there are options coming from established companies like Belkin and some very intriguing products on Kickstarter.
Early adopters have no choice but to buy Apple’s $79 USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, because right now, it’s the only game in town. After you plug it into the MacBook’s lone port, you’ll have a USB-C charging port, a USB 3.1 port and an HDMI port with up to UltraHD output (Apple has a similar cable with VGA). Let’s be real here: the MacBook is pretty expensive starting at $1,149, and this peripheral should be included. If you want to pay less and don’t mind swapping cables, you can settle for Apple’s $29 USB-C to USB 3.1 cable that will at least let you plug in, say, a standard USB key. Belkin has a similar cable coming soon at the same price.
What about storage? As mentioned, transferring files from a regular USB key or drive is a pretty basic task that you just can’t do on a MacBook. Fortunately, SanDisk has a 32GB, $49 dual USB drive coming in June that you can plug into both Type-C and standard USB ports. If you need more space, LaCie’s Porsche Design USB-C drive (with a USB 3.0 adapter cable) arrives this summer in 500, 1TB and 2TB capacities. There’s no pricing yet, but Lacie has a similar USB 3.0-only device starting at $75.
If you’re willing to punt on Kickstarter, a company called InfiniteUSB has USB-C cables that sport a male connector and female pass-through socket, letting you stack as many as you want. The design is based on the company’s standard USB stacked cable, which has been around since 2010. The cables come in MicroUSB, Lightning or female USB flavors and start at $18 each. They’re compact and fold magnetically, letting you travel light and add connectivity as needed — but you can’t use them and charge your MacBook at the same time. The company has exceeded its $10,000 goal many times over with nearly $200,000 pledged.
Other Kickstarter options include the $19 BeeKeeper USB-C to USB 3.0 adapter, which lets you keep a standard USB cable on your MacBook, even for charging. Finally, there’s the HydraDock hub (above). From a single USB-C connection, it gives you 11 ports, including a 3.5mm stereo headphone port, a gigabit ethernet port, an SDXC card slot, a mini DisplayPort, one HDMI output (1080p max), 4 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB-C ports. It looks versatile enough to solve all your connectivity issues, but it’s still halfway to its funding goal. And like all things Kickstarter, there’s a chance it’ll never see the light of day.
Google improves presentation of URLs in mobile search results
The next time you search for something on your smartphone or tablet, you might notice a small change in the search results. Instead of displaying long URL names, Google will now display the real-world name of the site and the actual URL will be in a breadcrumbs-like format.
This is obviously more simplified, but it also helps users understand websites better. You can see the before (left) and after (right) in the image above.
The update is taking place gradually so you might not see the change right away. Real-world names will only be available in the U.S, and the new breadcrumbs format will be available worldwide.
source: Google
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Get double the 4G LTE data with Walmart Family Mobile starting April 18
Walmart Family Mobile, which is powered by T-Mobile, just announced that customers will get double the data starting tomorrow. Even better news is that existing customers will enjoy the extra data too!!
The double data refers to the lower priced offering, which is $29.88 per month. That includes unlimited talk, text and data with up to 1 GB of 4G LTE data. That used to be 500 MB, so the data is now doubled.
There is also a $39.88 per month plan that enjoys the same unlimited talk, text, and data, but you get 3 GB of 4G LTE data. This plan enjoys the same 500 MB increase from 2.5 GB, but it’s obviously not doubled.
In case you’re not familiar with Walmart Family Mobile, it’s for postpaid customers only and there are no contracts. Plans can be purchased at Walmart stores or Walmart.com. As mention earlier, the network is powered by T-Mobile so you will need a T-Mobile compatible phone. You can bring your own or purchase one at Walmart.
Come comment on this article: Get double the 4G LTE data with Walmart Family Mobile starting April 18
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