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2
Apr

Scanbot gets Slack and Wunderlist integration in latest update


Scanbot is a fully-featured mobile scanner app that allows you to scan documents up to 200 dpi and QR codes, with the latest update bringing added functionality.

Scanbot’s differentiating feature is its automatic upload feature, which as it suggests allows you to upload your scans automatically to a cloud service of your choosing. Most popular cloud services are supported, including Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive as well as the WebDAV standard. The update to version 3.7 adds team communications utility Slack to the list, letting you upload your scans directly into a conversation.

There’s a reminder service through which you can set reminders to your scanned documents, with the update bringing Wunderlist into the fold, with Evernote integration already included. Ability to add location data as well as calendar events to file names is also new in the update.

Scanbot is free, although there’s a $4.99 pro version that brings additional themes, document editing within the app, OCR mode and Touch ID integration.

2
Apr

Airbnb arrives in Cuba with US-only listings


Cuba Airbnb

Airbnb has joined Netflix and other US companies in Cuba, which “could become one of (our) biggest markets in Latin America,” according to the company. The move marks the most significant US business expansion to the Caribbean island since the Obama administration began normalizing relations with the nation, according to the Associated Press. For the last half-century prior to that, the US enforced a strict trade embargo on Cuba. Over 1,000 listings are now up on the site, with 40 percent of those in Havana and the rest in nearby tourist spots on the Southern coast.

The service will only be available to American tourists for now, even though they’re technically still barred from traveling to Cuba without special permission. However, US companies can now offer trips without any paperwork or inspections, and many tour operators expect American visitors to just ignore the rules. Ironically, tourists from nations like Canada and France who’ve traveled to the island for years can’t yet book an Airbnb property, and the company has yet to say when that policy may change.

Havana Airbnb listing for $23 per night

Private housing rental has been going on in Cuba since the 1990s, providing an alternative to private resorts for tourists who want to be immersed in local culture. Charming, renovated spaces can be found for as little as $20-30 (above), with more luxurious houses running $150 or more (not including Airbnb’s fees, of course). Local operators are hopeful that the listings will be a boon for both tourists and Cuban businesses, since the nation’s shortage of internet access makes booking private rentals difficult. One Havana apartment owner told the AP that “I think this is going to help our business prosper, to definitely improve, not just private business, but everything here.”

[Image credit: Associated Press/Desmond Boylan]

Filed under: Internet

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2
Apr

O2 SIMs will switch to public WiFi if its network can’t cope


General Images of 02 Stores As Rupert Murdoch's Sky Plc Offers Wireless Service

O2’s public WiFi hotspots can be useful in a pinch, but filling out the obligatory registration forms to gain access has always been a pain. To speed up the process, the network is introducing O2 WiFi Extra, a service which automatically connects customers with an O2 SIM card. That means no SMS codes, or even looking through your network settings for the correct hotspot. The catch? Once the feature has been enabled, you’ll be connected to the hotspots automatically if “the WiFi signal is stronger than O2’s 3G or 4G network.” It’s not clear exactly how the company is defining signal strength, and if you don’t like the service, O2’s recommendation seems to be disabling WiFi entirely. O2’s free public hotspots are available in 11,000 locations across the UK, including McDonald’s, Costa Coffee and Debenhams stores. The new service will be rolled out over the next eight weeks, so keep your eyes peeled the next time you’re struggling to refresh Twitter over 3G or 4G.

[Image Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Filed under: Networking

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Via: Pocket-lint

Source: O2

2
Apr

New invites tease more of the HTC One M9 Plus, including its physical home button


On April 8th, it’s been made pretty obvious that HTC is going to announce a new device, the HTC One M9 Plus. We’ve seen plenty of this device already through leaks, but HTC has decided we haven’t seen enough yet and has put even more explicit hints on some invites spotted in China, one of which […]

The post New invites tease more of the HTC One M9 Plus, including its physical home button appeared first on AndroidSPIN.

2
Apr

HTC One M8s to launch in Europe with Snapdragon 615 CPU and 13MP rear camera


htc_one_m8

The HTC One M9 was officially released on March 1st, and you could be forgiven for thinking that the M8 would be eased into retirement. HTC has taken a bite out of someone else’s apple though and decided to refresh a few components and sell it as the HTC One M8s in Europe.

The most notable change in specification involves the processor, and here HTC have swapped over from the Snapdragon 801 to the 64-bit Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor. The very same CPU you can find powering the Desire 820.

The battery has received a jolt in capacity to 2,840mAh, putting it on an equal footing as the M9. The camera has also seen some changes, moving from the much-maligned 4MP UltraPixel sensor to the more conventional 13MP, although it still includes the secondary camera that enables HTC’s Duo Camera effect. Size-wise the HTC One M8s is 0.2mm thicker than the outgoing M8.

The HTC One M8s is still constructed out of metal, with the signature BoomSound speakers present as you would expect.  The handset will be available in the same silver, gold and gun-metal grey flavours as the M8 before it. The HTC One M8s will be priced at £379 ($560) in the UK and will be available in Europe although a launch date has not yet been released. What do you think of the M8s? Is it all becoming a little confusing?

 

Source: AndroidCentral

Come comment on this article: HTC One M8s to launch in Europe with Snapdragon 615 CPU and 13MP rear camera

2
Apr

Moto G Google Play edition is getting Android 5.1, OTA link available


Motorola-G-Hands-On-AA-8-of-17-2

The differences between the regular Moto G and the Play edition version are minimal, but fans of Google’s firsthand vision of Android undoubtedly prefer the latter. If you are rocking a Play edition Moto G, you’ll be happy to know that Google has begun pushing the Lollipop 5.1 update to the device.

The update is rolling out in stages over-the-air, and, as usual, that means you may have a little to wait. With that said, there are probably not that many units of the Moto G Play edition in the wild, so the wait shouldn’t be too long.

The update brings the build number to LMY47M and weighs 171MB.

Android 5.1 has been unveiled last month, following more than a few leaks spotted in the wild. This version is supposed to fix and tweak various issues found on 5.0, but it also adds features like multi-SIM card support, device protection (the device will remain locked even after a factory reset), and HD voice calls support, as well as various small enhancements to the user interface.

If you can’t wait, you can install the OTA file manually, as long as you’re on the latest firmware (LRX21Z). Download it from here.

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2
Apr

Amazing iPad apps to help with autism and awareness


Today is World Autism Awareness Day and the beginning of Autism Awareness Month.

The United Nations General Assembly designated the day in 2007 as a way to raise autism acceptance and help those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since it’s launch in 2010, the iPad and iPad apps have been a tool in providing that help, and in aiding those with autism in finding their voice.

According to the CDC, one in 66 kids in the U.S. are on the autistic spectrum. According to a study by UCLA, using the iPad can help minimally verbal children more than double the amount of words in their vocabulary, and the earlier they start, the better they do.

Apple has created features like Guided Access expressly for people on the autistic spectrum, and developers around the world have created dozens of apps either specifically or incidentally helpful as well. The App Store is currently featuring a collection of apps for Autism Awareness Month, including several on sale. Toca has also assembled a TocaBox for autism bundle. Here they are, and more!

Guided access

Guide access that lets you lock the iPhone or iPad to a single app. For as long as guided access is enabled, only that one specific app can be used, and there’s no way to exit it for the Home screen or any other app. That can make Guided Access extremely useful for people on the autistic spectrum who need assistance focusing or with fine motor challenges.

Proloquo2Go

An argumentative and alternative communications (aac) app, Proloquo2Go is for anyone on the autistic spectrum who has trouble speaking. It provides natural-sounding text-to-speech voices, including American English, Australian English, British English, and bilingual American Spanish-English for children.

Grace

Grace helps give people on the autistic spectrum a voice by letting them assemble sentences based on images.

Proloquo4Text

Proloquo4Text offers natural sounding voices in 15 languages with word and sentence prediction and a customizable screen layout for easy conversation.

Autismate365

Autismate’s comprehensive approach encourages the user to develop communication and behavioral skills simultaneously.

FlummoxVision

Flummox and Friends is a fun, quirky live-action comedy show that tries to help kids learn and understand the social and emotional dynamics of the world around them.

Kid in Story Book Maker

Stories are powerful and visual stories even more more so. For children on the autistic spectrum, Kid in Store can be a fun way to learn language skills and social modeling.

Keeble

Keeble is a keyboard designed for accessibility. It helps those with fine motor challenges and others better and more easily input text, with word prediction, timing options, and more.

Pictello

Pictello allows someone on the autistic spectrum to create simple talking photo albums an books. You get one image and up to fixe lines of text per page, and audio can be recorded or added using high-quality text-to-speech voices.

Choiceworks

For those on the autistic spectrum, daily routines can be anything but routine. Choiceworks helps by providing management tools that encourage emotional control and patience.

iDress for Weather

How should you dress if it’s warm outside? If it’s cold? If it’s somewhere in between. iDress for Weather uses a customizable closet to help personalize the connection between what the weather’s like and what clothing they should wear.

PuddingStone

PuddingStone, developed with the Boston Children’s Hospital, is a way to help make language development not only interactive, but fun.

ChatterPix Kids

Take a photo, draw a line to make a mouth, record your voice, and, with ChatterPix Kids, your pictures can now speak.

Toca Band

Toca Band promotes learning sounds, beats, and rhythms through play and experimentation.

Toca Town

How a city works and what various locations are for, like stores, parks, and restaurants, are discoverable and learnable through Toca Town.

Peek A Zoo

Discovering animals, learning their names, and identifying social cues lets Peek a Zoo help engage children and build interactive experience.

Injini: Child Development Game Suite

The Injini collection of learning games can help with cognitive, language, and fine motor skills in a fun yet functional way.

Tiggly Counts

Tiggly Counts is a math toy for iPad that helps pre-schoolers and kindergartners (age three and older) develop early numeracy, counting, and math skills. It includes a set of five sleek, magnetic counting toys that interact with three different learning apps on your iPad.

Todo Number Matrix

Todo Number Matrix lets kids practice match skills with fun, challenging matrices.

Motion Math: Pizza!

With Motion Math: Pizza! kids can learn everything from basic arithmetic to economics by buying ingredients, designing pizzas, setting prices, and serving customers in a fun, simple simulator.

And more!

The iPad and the App Store make computing more available and accessible to everyone, including those on the autistic spectrum. If you or someone you know and love is using the iPad and iPad apps to help with autism and autism awareness, please let me know how!

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2
Apr

A challenger appears: HTC unveils the HTC One M8s, a new take on the 2014 flagship


It’s not quite the HTC One M9 Plus, but it is a familiar face. HTC has just announced a new device called the HTC One M8s and as you might expect from the name, is actually just last year’s HTC One M8 with a few changes. At first glance, it will look like the phone has […]

The post A challenger appears: HTC unveils the HTC One M8s, a new take on the 2014 flagship appeared first on AndroidSPIN.

2
Apr

These exoskeleton heels could help stroke victims walk again


It isn’t quite the soft exosuit that DARPA’s working on, but scientists have developed a lightweight exoskeleton that’ll take some of the work out of walking. Before you get too excited though, this is less Edge of Tomorrow and more along the lines of mechanical engineering. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and North Carolina State University devised a way to use springs and ratchets to fashion a sort of boot that increases walking efficiency by seven percent compared to folks wearing regular shoes. The idea is to make it easier for the disabled, paralyzed or stroke victims to improve their walking ability without expensive motors and battery packs.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the passive setup draws inspiration from our existing musculature system. Specifically, the Achilles tendon, ankle and calf. It uses a mechanical clutch (in parallel with calf muscles) that engages a spring when the foot is on the ground and then releases in the air for freedom of motion. All that to say, it requires less energy to walk with these than otherwise.

The efficiency bump has a few roadblocks for now according to a paper (PDF) published in Nature. Chiefly, it only applies at a normal walking speed and even then, only on level ground. More research is on deck, with plans to implement electronics that’d adjust when the springs would release and tailor the setup to individual walking styles or even graded terrain. The ultimate goal? That’d be extending active years for the elderly. The researchers hope to partner with a sportswear company and sell a commercial version that’d cost less than a pair of ski boots, too. In case you’re curious as to how it all works, that’s what the video below is for.

Filed under: Alt

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Via: Popular Science

Source: Nature (1) (PDF), (2), National Science Foundation

2
Apr

Lumia 640 Indian launch imminent as Flipkart reveals April announcement


Indian readers looking to pick up the Lumia 640 will be glad to know that the handset will be available on Flipkart before the end of the month.

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