MacRumors 2015 Blood Drive
MacRumors is pleased to announce the Sixth Annual MacRumors Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2015. Our goal every year is to increase the number of life-saving donations in real-world communities by encouraging everyone in our online community to step forward. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location or collection center, our blood drive is online and worldwide. Our past blood drives have collectively recorded donations of over 250 units of blood and platelets.
Apple often supports health, relief, and charity efforts, including facilitating cash donations after the recent earthquake in Nepal, but this drive is run by the staff and volunteers of MacRumors.
We ask that you:
1. Donate blood or platelets at any donation center or hospital near you. Join the bone marrow registry in your country. Sign up for the organ donor registry in your state, province, or country.
2. Post in the MacRumors 2015 Blood Drive! forum thread. Tell us about your donation or registration experience. We’d like to thank you.
3. Share the news and our message with other people you know, online and in person. Convince one other person to donate blood in the month of May. Help us thank the donors who post about their experiences.
For details see the MacRumors 2015 Blood Drive! thread and our traditional Honor Roll of recognized donors.
Recent donation by a MacRumors forum member
Why donate blood or platelets? Why join the bone marrow registry? Why join the organ donor registry?
– Donated blood and platelets save the lives of people recovering from accidents, undergoing surgery, or struck by illness. These are people in your own neighborhoods who need your help. Donated blood and platelets are needed every 2 seconds, not just when hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters occur. An hour of your time could save up to 3 lives.
– With a simple cheek swab you are volunteering to donate stem cells or bone marrow if you match someone dying from a disease like leukemia. There are many thousands of people each year searching for donors to save their lives. You might be the one and only person who can save a particular patient’s life.
– Thousands of people die every year while waiting for organ transplants. Your donation of organs when your own life ends could save the lives of as many as 8 people.
The lives you save may belong to your friends, neighbors, relatives, or complete strangers. Someday you may receive the same generosity from others. There’s no gift more precious than the gift of life.
Do this today
1. If you are eligible to donate blood: Schedule a blood or platelet donation, in May if possible. Register for the bone marrow registry. Register as an organ donor. Find the details in our knowledge base articles: Blood and Platelet Donation and Organ, Tissue, and Bone Marrow Donation. We’ve added over 20 countries to these articles.
2. If you aren’t eligible to donate blood: Check if you can still register for the bone marrow registry and register as an organ donor. You’re welcome to discuss donor eligibility in our Blood donor eligibility forum thread.
3. Help our drive by thanking donors and convincing a friend or relative to donate blood.
Rumored ‘iPad Pro’ Dimensions and Features Again Seen in Renderings
Following a lull in rumors and news circulating Apple’s so-called “iPad Pro”, most likely due to the launch of the Apple Watch and reported delays in Apple’s internal production timeline, a newly shared industrial rendering (via nowhereelse.fr) [Google Translate] of the device once again provides some claims of dimensions for the large-screened iPad.
The industrial rendering, dated December 2014, points to a 12.9-inch screen iPad Pro with dimensions measuring exactly 305.70mm x 222.60mm x 7.20mm, or 12 inches x 8.7 inches x 0.28 inches. These numbers line up closely with those seen in a previously purported design drawings for the device, although they are slightly larger than the earlier ones.
The latest rumor also supports the majority of sources so far pointing to a 12.9-inch display for the iPad Pro. A few sources have suggested it could carry a smaller 12.2-inch display, but they are a small minority at this point.
Beyond dimensions, the industrial rendering does appear to support the four top- and bottom-based speakers mentioned in previous rumors, as well as the typical locations for the power button, headphone jack, Lightning port, and volume buttons. As with the iPad Air 2, this iPad Pro design appear to omit a mute switch in favor of a tiny microphone hole near the volume buttons.
Notably, the rendering does not include a port or other feature around the center of the left edge as has been seen in some previous case and mockup leaks. The exact identity of that feature is not clear, with suggestions it could be a SIM tray for cellular models, a second Lightning port for docking accessories in landscape orientation, or even a USB-C port.
Cases for the iPad Pro have begun increasing in quality recently, going from simple plastic molds to complex trifold designs with higher-quality materials, perhaps suggesting more confidence from manufacturers in these rumored designs and schematics.
Regarding its specs, the most recent rumors state the iPad Pro could have a triple-core A8X processor, 2 GB of RAM, and Touch ID, and possibly ship alongside a first-party stylus accessory of some sort. The latest rumblings suggest a production build-up in September with a launch perhaps coming in October alongside Apple’s usual iPad lineup refresh.
Gold Plating Your Apple Watch is Possible Without Spending a Fortune [iOS Blog]
While the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition is a gorgeous wristwatch, its starting price of $10,000 in the United States is simply out of reach for many customers. But if you have a stainless steel Apple Watch, it is possible to gold plate your device without breaking the bank. Take a look at the comparatively inexpensive services and methods for turning your Apple Watch gold below.
WatchPlate
MacRumors forum member RianFlynn has shared photos of a stainless steel Apple Watch with Milanese Loop with what he says is a thin coating of 24-karat gold that costs just $6. The finished product looks quite impressive, and the user has since launched a website called WatchPlate where he plans to accept Apple Watch gold plating orders for $399 with an estimated three-day turnaround. Most of the price is based on the time and labor involved. While we have not confirmed the authenticity of this service, gold plating the stainless steel Apple Watch is technically feasible.
The Time Preserve
Watch restoration specialist The Time Preserve recently announced that it is accepting gold plating orders for the stainless steel Apple Watch. The company, which has been restoring watches since 1995, uses custom-formulated gold electroplating for durability, and ensures that the 5 to 6 microns thick plating will not peel from daily wear. Prices range from $550 to $650, with cheaper prices for bands only, and the service has an estimated one-week turnaround.
Gold Spray Paint
YouTube creator Casey Neistat shared a video last week where he applied gold spray paint to his space gray aluminum Apple Watch Sport. Beyond the obvious fact that spray painting your Apple Watch probably isn’t the wisest idea, given that the paint could easily chip or get stuck in the Digital Crown or other parts of the watch, the end result actually looks much like the Apple Watch Edition.
Of course, the thin gold plating is not the same as the 18-karat solid gold used on the Apple Watch Edition, but the difference is hard to tell visually and these services are available at a fraction of the price. Before placing an order, keep in mind that modifying your Apple Watch with gold plating may void your standard warranty or AppleCare protection plan for the device.
Will the birth of Project Fi bring the death of Google Voice?
The dream mobile carrier plan has finally come. Google’s Project Fi gives everyone (or those with a Nexus 6) an affordable option for their monthly smartphone service. I often dreamed that Google would do this and they finally came through. However, you might not be too excited if you’re a Google Voice user.
Based on Google’s support page, Google Voice and Project Fi don’t seem to work well together. When switching carriers, Google Voice users are used to just asking for whatever number is given to them because it really doesn’t matter since they have a Google Voice number. Once a number is given to them, they simply forward the new carrier number to their Google Voice number. Unfortunately things aren’t going to work that way with Project Fi.
If you decide to have Google assign you a new number, like you’re used to, your Google Voice number will be “released and you won’t be able to get it back.” On the flip side, if you want to use your Google Voice number with Project Fi, you will lose pretty much everything you love about Google Voice. You will no longer be able to “make or receive phone calls or access voicemail using Google Talk, Google Voice apps, or Obihai devices.” You also won’t be able to send or receive text messages on the web, nor will you be able to utilize spam filtering, call recording, call switch, conference calling on the fly, caller ID (incoming), and outgoing caller ID (anonymous Caller ID). Now if there is any good news out of this, it is that your voicemail greeting, voicemails, call history, as well as your SMS history will still be transfered to Project Fi, assuming you have rolled your Google Voice number into Hangouts.
So what if you still want to keep your Google Voice number and use Project Fi? Google’s answer is to transfer it to a different Google Voice account (Gmail address) or another carrier before you sign up for Project Fi. Assuming you transfer your Google Voice number to another Gmail account, can you still use Google Voice and Project Fi together like you normally do with other carrier phones? Google isn’t clear on this. If you have transferred your Google Voice number to another Gmail account, I guess in theory, it’s possible that you could still transfer your new Project Fi number to that Google Voice number, but we aren’t sure if Google will allow that. On top of that, you will now have a brand new Gmail address to fiddle with, which might not be the best option. I should also note that if you transfer your Google Voice number to another Gmail account, you will lose all your SMS and Hangouts history. The other option would be to open a brand new (or use another) Gmail account for Project Fi and continue to keep your Google Voice number with your existing Gmail account. Again, you have to fiddle with another Gmail account, and if Google doesn’t let you transfer the calls, than what good did that do for you?
I guess the bottom line is that Google is allowing users to keep their Google Voice number, but it appears that it’s not going to play nice with Project Fi. You have to wonder if Google will eventually phase out Voice? This very well could happen, but probably not in the near future. Project Fi is only available on the Nexus 6, and probably won’t be available beyond upcoming Nexus phones to be announced later this year. If Google ever does plan on making Project Fi a serious carrier option, it very well could be the end of Voice. If you look at Google’s perspective, there can’t be that many Voice users, so it’s not a big deal to them.
As a Google Voice user, I won’t be jumping on Project Fi anytime soon until I see what the experiences are like for other Google Voice users. If you want to see Google’s support information regarding Google Voice and Project Fi, check out their support page here.
Come comment on this article: Will the birth of Project Fi bring the death of Google Voice?
Meerkat (Beta) finally comes to Android, available now in Google Play
Meerkat announced a couple of week ago that their live streaming app would be coming to Android in beta form soon, and that day is here. The beta version of the app is in the Play Store now for your downloading pleasure.
We were thinking that this would be released as an invite only, but it appears anyone can download it. Now obviously this app won’t be free of bugs since it’s in beta form, so your feedback is important. You can do this by swiping the screen (within the app) with two fingers, which will connect you to the Meerkat team.
Now just in case you aren’t familiar with Meerkat, it is a live video streaming app. Anything you film will go live to your Twitter followers. It has been on iOS for a while now, and was quite popular until Periscope crashed the party. However, Meerkat will get another boost with a lot of Android users since Periscope is iOS only for the time being.
Meerkat did post some rules on their app page……
- Everything that happens on Meerkat happens on Twitter.
- Streams will be pushed to followers in real time via push notifications.
- People can only watch it live. There are no reruns.
- You can save your streams to your phone, but Meerkat will never keep them.
- Watchers can retweet any stream to their followers in real time.
- Everyone can watch on web.
- Be kind.
Download link is below after a few screenshots.
Come comment on this article: Meerkat (Beta) finally comes to Android, available now in Google Play
AT&T buys Nextel Mexico to create ‘North American Mobile Service area’
AT&T has acquired another Mexican carrier in what seems to be an effort to conquer the continent… well, two of its countries anyway. Ma Bell has snapped up Nextel Mexico for $1.875 billion, shortly after its Iusacell (also a Mexican carrier) acquisition was approved by the country’s telecom regulator, Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT). This time around, the IFT quickly approved the sale and transfer of Nextel’s spectrum licenses, network assets, retail outlets and subscribers to AT&T, so the carrier can execute its plans ASAP. According to the company’s official announcement, it will merge Iusacell and Nextel into a single company for wider coverage and as part of its plan to create “the first-ever North American Mobile Service area.” Despite its name, that area only encompasses the US and Mexico, but it will cover over 400 million consumers in both countries once the merged company’s up and running.
[Image credit: JeepersMedia/Flickr]
Source: AT&T
Amazon Instant Video’s iOS users can stream in HD and use mobile data
Amazon has given its Instant Videos app for iOS a huge boost, and just in time for the weekend. First up: you can now finally watch movies and shows in HD on your devices. No more putting up with standard definition if crisp, clear visuals are essential to your enjoyment. You’ll likely still find yourself switching to lower resolution every now and then, though, especially if you’re using cellular data. Yep, that’s the other big upgrade — you can watch your shows even in the absence of WiFi, so long as you have decent mobile connection. Thankfully, that feature comes with new settings that let you choose the quality of the stream, and hence the amount of data you’ll use. The update’s now live on iTunes if you want to take advantage of the new features… or to give the app another shot.
Filed under: Misc, Mobile, Amazon
Source: iTunes
NASA’s next rocket will sniff the remnants of a supernova
There’s been a lot of space stories this week, including rockets going up, satellites coming down and supply craft doing both, but not in the right order. Not to be deterred, NASA is talking up its next big experiment which will send a probe to examine the contents of the Cygnus Loop, a remnant of a supernova that exploded 20,000 years ago. The mission will involve a sounding rocket, which will sniff the x-rays that are still being emitted from the stellar event, which scientists hope will help them understand what it’s made up of.
It’s also hoped that scientists will gain a better understanding of how the universe is built and maybe even spot some as-yet unobserved matter in the process. OGRESS, short for Off-plane Grating Rocker for Extended Source Spectroscopy, will launch from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, at 4:30am ET on May 2nd. A following voyage is planned for 2018, although this time the target is the star Capella.
[Image Credit: NASA / Hubble Space Telescope/ J. Hester]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Source: NASA
Artist creates amazing photos with the Huawei P8’s Light Painting function
One of the marquee features of the Huawei P8, which launched last month in London, is the Light Painting functionality of its camera.
Put simply, Light Painting lets you capture “light graffiti,” by capturing multiple shots of a moving scene and then blending the shots into one image showing a light trail. Normally, this effect is obtained through long exposure shots, but given the limitation of a smartphone camera sensor, Huawei used this ingenious workaround.
To showcase Light Painting, Huawei enlisted Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong and gave him the task to capture some amazing shots with the P8, no Photoshop allowed. And boy, these shots are amazing.
There’s a rather big caveat: these shots are the work of a professional crew, using a tripod, light filters, and custom lighting. In other words, you won’t be able to just pull out your phone and do something similar the next time you go for a night out in the city, even if the video above suggests that’s possible.
Still, the results are quite impressive. Just a few years ago, taking shots like this with a smartphone would have been a pipe dream.
Read on about the Huawei P8 (and it’s ridiculously large sibling, the P8 Max) in our review and first impressions posts. Let us know your thoughts!
Video: new Chrome task scheduler promises to make scrolling much smoother
Sub-par scrolling has long been an issue on Chrome for Android, one that can affect even the latest devices with extensive memory and processing power. The good news is Google is working to solve the issue. In March, the Chromium team announced it would adopt Pointer Events, which should help reduce lag when scrolling, and now a revamped task scheduler promises to further increase smoothness.
According to Google’s Chromium blog, the improved task scheduler has actually been added to version 41 of Chrome for Android beta (with the most recent available version being 43).
First up, here’s what difference the improved task scheduling can make, in this video from Google:
So, how does this magic work? Put simply, Chrome now prioritizes urgent tasks, like drawing the graphics for the screen when you are scrolling up and down a website.
Before, Chrome would simply execute tasks in the order of their appearance, without prioritizing urgent tasks. That’s a safe and simple system, but the big downside was that executing urgent tasks with a delay would create visible lag when scrolling.
As Google puts it, “performance isn’t just about doing things faster – it’s also about doing things smarter.” With that said, it remains to be seen if this is really and completely going to fix scrolling on Chrome.
Users of Chrome beta, have you noticed any improvements in the latest versions?
AIVAnet 