Amazon is bringing Prime videos and music to JetBlue’s fleet
Amazon has spent an exorbitant amount of cash to grow its Prime Instant Video service. Still, the company knows there’s more it can do to make the offering better for subscribers. As such, Amazon is teaming up with JetBlue to bring Prime’s on-demand video and music content to the skies, though only in the US. The new feature, which will be powered by JetBlue’s super speedy Fly-Fi internet, will be included as part of any existing Prime membership — it’s free in-flight entertainment, and that’s a gesture people are likely to appreciate. Unfortunately, it won’t be available until later this year, but at least that gives you some time to start building out your Watchlist.
As for whether or not Amazon plans to do something similar with other airlines, we reached out to find out, so we’ll let you know once the online retailer gets back to us.
[Image credit: jeffcutler/Flickr]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Transportation, Internet, HD, Amazon
Source: Amazon
Microsoft will give you cash to ditch your old Surface for a new one
Haven’t had much luck offloading your older Surface to help pay for a Surface 3? Microsoft thinks it can help. Similar to its Surface Pro-oriented effort from a few months ago, it’s launching a US trade-in program that will give you up to $150 toward a Surface 3 if you turn in a Surface RT or Surface 2. The discount likely won’t compare to what you’ll get if you drive a hard bargain on Craigslist or eBay, but it’s guaranteed cash — if you’re only concerned with upgrading to the latest tablet as painlessly as possible, it might do the trick. Just be sure to decide quickly, since you have to give up your old device by May 31st.
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft
Via: Surface Blog
Source: Microsoft Store
Keep tabs on your Volkswagen with the Apple Watch
Volkswagen America announced Tuesday that its Car-Net app is coming to the Apple Watch and will allow drivers to remotely interact with their cars using it. The Car-Net platform is VW’s driver safety and fuel efficiency suite. It offers features like automatic crash emergency response notifications, remote vehicle access and “health updates” on wearing parts like brake pads — all delivered through the Car-Net mobile app. Now, instead of fishing for their phones in pockets and purses, drivers of many 2014 and newer VW vehicles worldwide will simply have to look at their wrists to know how their cars are doing.
The Car-Net for Apple Watch app really just ports a bunch of the mobile app’s functions to the Watch interface — like the ability to remotely lock and unlock the doors or see if any windows or the sunroof were left open. The Watch app will also provide you a map and walking directions to the car’s location if you happen to forget where you parked. Plus, as you can see in the image above, drivers will also be able to remotely check their fuel or battery charge levels. Per the VW announcement, Car-Net is currently available on “select trims of 2014 and later Beetle, CC, Eos, Jetta, Passat and Tiguan models and on all trims of 2015 and later Golf, Golf GTI, Golf R, Golf SportWagen and e-Golf models.” Now all you need is an Apple Watch.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Volkswagen America
Apple Pay Gains 24 More Participating Issuers in United States [iOS Blog]
Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 24 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has nearly 250 participating issuers nationwide, and several hundred more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future.
The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers is reflected below, although it’s worth noting that some banks, credit unions and financial institutions listed may have already had support for the contactless payments service for quite some time and are only now being reflected on Apple’s website.
The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers:
- Bellwether Community Credit Union
- Benchmark Federal Credit Union
- Blackhawk Community Credit Union
- Community America Credit Union
- Community First Credit Union
- Connections Credit Union
- cPort Credit Union
- Denver Fire Department FCU
- Electro Savings Credit Union
- Elements Financial FCU
- First Financial Credit Union
- Greater Nevada Credit Union
- Harvard Universities Employees Credit Union
- Interra Credit Union
- Kern Schools Federal Credit Union
- Nusenda Credit Union
- People’s Trust Federal Credit Union
- Premier America Credit Union
- Premier Members Federal Credit Union
- SAFE Credit Union
- Scient Federal Credit Union
- The Bancorp Bank
- Tucson Federal Credit Union
- Union Bank & Trust Co.
Apple Pay remains available in the United States only, although Apple is committed to an international rollout of the mobile payments service in additional countries such as Canada, China and the United Kingdom. Canada, a well-prepared candidate for Apple Pay, could be the first country to embrace the service outside of the United States as early as November according to The Wall Street Journal.
Dropbox Updates iOS App With File Comments, Document Creation, and More [iOS Blog]
Connected file management service Dropbox today announced an update to its iPhone and iPad apps that will debut a trio of new features to iOS devices, bringing easier navigation, introducing communication features, and allowing the creation of Microsoft Word documents from within the app itself.
Right from the home screen the Dropbox team has decided to make big changes, doing away with a static list of files and instead curating a showcase of documents and files with which a user has most recently interacted. This way, the company suggests, “The files you’re most likely to need on the go will always be front and center.”
The recently introduced comment feature for the Dropbox website will now also be available on iOS devices. Using an “@” symbol followed by a Dropbox user’s name or email address, anyone can be brought into discussion over a particular document, with the app sending push notifications to the lock screen to ensure everyone is kept in the loop on any particular conversation.
The company also confirmed that “in the next few weeks” it would be introducing the ability to create and interact with Microsoft Office documents from within the iOS Dropbox apps. Any Word, Excel, or Powerpoint file created inside of the app will be subsequently saved to whatever Dropbox folder a user was in when creating the document, allowing instantaneous access to the file from everywhere a user can sign in to Dropbox.
As the company points out, however, the new update’s most interesting feature is not any one of its individual new aspects but how they have the potential to work together to create a unique, more streamlined experience for its users.
The best part, though, is how these features work together. For example, when you’re meeting with a client to brainstorm ideas for an upcoming project, you can use the recents tab on your iPhone or iPad to quickly pull up your last project for reference. Then you can create a Word doc to take notes as you discuss. After the meeting, you can @mention your client in a comment, so they have the notes and can add anything you’ve missed. Then when you get back to your desk, you can turn that Word doc into a full project plan.
The team also notes in its blog that while the main crux of today’s new update centers on the enterprise and work-related world, all of the features can be used for “vacation planning, apartment hunting, or whatever else Dropbox helps you do.” The new 3.9 update to Dropbox on iOS [Direct Link] will begin rolling out today, with an upcoming smaller update for in-app document editing planned for the near future.
Report: Google will let devs A/B test Play Store listings, I/O announcement likely
Google is reportedly working on improving the Play Store experience, for users and developers alike.
An A/B testing feature for Play Store listings could be announced at Google I/O, according to The Information, citing developers who were briefed about the new feature. Developers will be able to create different versions of screenshots, videos, icons, and app description copy and run them in parallel to see which variant yields the best results. This isn’t a user-facing change, but it may ultimately improve the user experience by giving developers better insight into user preferences and habits.
Google is expected to showcase this feature at the I/O developer conference at the end of this month, according to The Information.
The report also hints to potential announcements related to app indexing, which is the ability to search through and go to specific “location” inside an app, as well as a way for users to try out certain features of an app without actually installing the full application. Unfortunately, there’s no hard info on these developments.
Android design guru Matias Duarte has hinted in the past that Google is thinking about unbundling apps into their basic features and making them available to users on demand. It remains to be seen if Google has anything to announce on this front at its developer conference. Google I/O is set to take place in San Francisco on May 28-29.
Here’s how the Samsung and Sony camera sensors on the Galaxy S6 differ
Yesterday, a report surfaced online claiming that Samsung is shipping some units of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with its own ISOCELL camera sensor on board, instead of the Sony IMX240.
Up until today this was nothing but speculation. However, the folks at SamMobile have managed to get hold of an S6 Edge packing the ISOCell sensor, and have uploaded some comparison pictures, which can be seen below.
Come comment on this article: Here’s how the Samsung and Sony camera sensors on the Galaxy S6 differ
Foursquare is planning on bringing “global mayorships” two Swarm
Foursquare has just announced that it will finally bring “global mayorships” to its Swarm application later this month. All current check-ins will now count towards a mayor badge, which is great news for all active users.
If you’re one of the many who don’t know what Swarm is, it’s essentially Android’s version of Find my Friends. After downloading the app and creating an account, you’re given the facility to see which of your friends are nearby who may want to hook up.
To find out more about mayorship integration, hit the source link below.
Source: Foursquare
Come comment on this article: Foursquare is planning on bringing “global mayorships” two Swarm
LG’s G4 Trial Program has now opened up for registration in the US
Around a month ago, LG announced a global program that would see 4000 G4 handsets placed in the hands of its fans before the official launch day. If you live in the States and you’ve been waiting for details on when and where you could sign up, you are in luck.
LG has opened the registration page, which means that you can now enter your details and apply to become one of the testers. There are a limited number of handsets available, although exactly how many has not been specified as yet. If selected, you’ll be able to test drive a GSM-compatible G4 for 30 days, performing tasks such as posting pictures on social media along the way in order to try and win prizes. All you need to do to enter is click the source link below and follow the instructions. Good Luck!
Just in case you don’t live in the States, LG are holding similar competitions in Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, China, India, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Let us know if registration has opened in your country yet.
Source: LG G4 Trial Program
Come comment on this article: LG’s G4 Trial Program has now opened up for registration in the US
A/B testing may be on its way to the Google Play Store
A new report this morning indicates that Google plans to announce A/B testing within the Google Play Store for app developers. The announcement is scheduled to take place at the Google I/O conference at the end of the month. The idea is that developers could use the Play Store to do some market testing in an effort to increase the revenue generated by their apps.
With A/B testing, developers will be able to setup two different entries in the Play Store for their apps, an “A” and a “B” version. The app pages will be the same except for one item that developers could change. It could be something as simple as the icon used for the app or it could be something like two different prices being shown. Developers could then assess how the two versions perform to see whether a change they may be exploring will yield better results.
source: The Information
via: 9to5Google
Come comment on this article: A/B testing may be on its way to the Google Play Store
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