Cyanogen launches Platform SDK, starting with a Quick Settings Tile API
Cyanogen wants to give app developers better access to the features of CyanogenMod/Cyanogen OS with the launch of the new, open source Platform SDK.
The Cyanogen Platform SDK will be a collection of APIs developed by Cyanogen, as well as the CyanogenMod community, that will give devs better access to “key parts of the platform.” The goal is to make developing for the Cyanogen platform more approachable and modular.
The inspiration for the project is a Stanford University-hosted hackathon, according to the Cyanogen team:
“Developing against an SDK rather than to an entire platform is a lot more approachable for developers, providing a lower barrier of entry to get a quality product up and running in a shorter span of time,” said Cyanogen’s Leigh Momii in a blog post.
Cyanogen hopes that developers will submit their own APIs, enriching the platform and making it easier for other devs to jump onboard. API submissions will be vetted by Cyanogen however and tested against its Compatibility Test Suite to ensure functionality and backward compatibility.
Cyanogen is “seeding” the alpha version of the Platform SDK with just one API for now, the Quick Settings Tile API. This will allow app developers to create their own tiles, for quick access to various toggles and settings. Cyanogen showed “Turn on Bike Mode” (seen in the image above) as an example of the kind of tiles that can be quickly created using the API.
If the project takes off, app makers will have a strong incentive to develop for Cyanogen and CyanogenMod devices. Making Android more open is one of the stated goals of Cyanogen, the business, and this initiative should make it easy for partners to access the core of Android and create richer experiences.
For more details on the Platform SDK, visit the project’s Github home.
Amazon’s one-hour delivery service now features local stores
When it’s not busy sending its delivery personnel on the New York subway, Amazon has quietly been working to expand its one-hour delivery service. From today, customers in Manhattan, the company’s first Prime Now location, can shop at a number of local businesses and have fresh food delivered within 60 minutes. D’Agostino, Gourmet Garage and Billy’s Bakery are the first companies on board, offering groceries, cooked meals and freshly baked cupcakes respectively alongside Amazon’s own range of goods. The online retailer is starting small but plans to add more stores across Manhattan over time, with Italian food market Eataly and Westside Market already waiting in the wings. As before, Prime Now’s one-hour deliveries cost $7.99, so be sure to factor that in before impulse buying those delicious treats.
Filed under: Household, Internet, Mobile, Amazon
Source: Amazon (Businesswire)
Oculus VR figures out how avatars can mimic your facial expressions
Imagine a VR game where your avatar can laugh, smile or frown as you do while interacting with other players — sounds fun, right? Well apparently, that kind of face-tracking tech already exists. Facebook’s Oculus division has teamed up with University of Southern California researchers to develop a way to track your facial expressions while wearing a chunky VR headset. What they did was insert strain gauges within the the Rift’s foam padding to monitor the movements of the upper part of your face. To monitor the lower part not covered by the headset, they attached a 3D camera to a short boom clipped to the center of the Rift. As you can see in the video below the fold, a virtual avatar successfully mimicked the expressions of their testers with that setup.
Project lead Hao Li believes the technology could make it more compelling to interact with others in virtual words; talking face to face, even as avatars, feels a lot more personal than text chats, after all. Unfortunately, Li told MIT’s Technology Review that the Oculus team worked with him purely for research purposes. But he also said that in the future, it would be easy to turn this proof of concept into an actual product with loads of potential applications. For instance, Mark Zuckerberg once revealed that he’s looking for new ways to socialize online — he didn’t mention anything specific, but this sounds like exactly what he’s looking for.
Filed under: Wearables, Facebook
Source: Hao Li
Americans are using more energy, but green tech is softening the blow
It may be tough to satisfy the US’ seemingly never-ending thirst for energy, but clean power sources are at least helping to soften the impact. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have determined that Americans’ energy use climbed 1 percent year-over-year in 2014, but its carbon emissions hardly budged at all. In fact, they were down significantly for coal and petroleum-based power. While some of that decline is due to industry using less-than-clean natural gas, it’s also helped by big jumps in solar and wind energy, which respectively grew by 33 and 8 percent.
These eco-friendly sources still represent just a tiny piece of the puzzle at 2.2 percent of the US’ entire demand, so there’s no doubt that dirty power still dominates. Scientists are quick to add that green tech is running into roadblocks, as well — wind turbine deployments have slowed down in the past two years, and California’s drought shrank the use of hydroelectric power. All the same, it’s evident that environmentally conscious electricity is significant enough to mitigate the US’ damage to the planet.
[Image credit: AP Photo/John Raoux]
Filed under: Science
Hey ladies, this German billboard wants to sell you a beer
Here in America, women are far more likely to be featured in a beer commercial than actually targeted by one. However in Germany, Astra brand beer is focusing specifically on female drinkers with an unusual and automated billboard that speaks only to them. Developed by the Philipp und Keuntje ad agency and starring German comic star Uke Bosse, these billboards will only activate when women pass by. Each electronic sign is outfitted with a small camera and loaded with cutting-edge “gender detection” software that not only differentiates between the sexes, it also accurately judges their age. Once a lady does pass Bosse’s gaze, the ad will activate and automatically play one of 70 pre-recorded snippets. However, when a man walks by, he’s told to keep on steppin’. Check out the billboard in action below.
Filed under: Displays
Source: PSFK
Limited-edition Skrillex Live Case series launched by Google, brings more than protection and art to your device
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Google is always doing something crazy. Often times the things they are working on are hidden in the depth of the Googleplex only to be unveiled when they are good and ready to show it off. A recent collaboration that Google has been involved in has just been announced and boy is it an interesting one. The search giant has partnered up with electronic music sensation Skrillex to bring a series of limited edition cases for the Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
The Skrillex Live Case is much more than an artistic shell that depicts the Grammy-winning producers life long fascination with space though. With Google’s help, the Skrillex Live Case brings something pretty outstanding to your device, a button that gives you VIP access to Skrillex content and an a companion live wallpaper. Again, not just your average live wallpaper that shows some crazy colors or light flows. No, the live wallpaper will update over the course of your day depicting stunning images of Earth from the stratosphere. Where it gets a little bit cooler is that the images are being shot with a special designed satellite balloon that Google and Skrillex designed, names after his dog Nanou, and sent up not to long ago.
Another killer bonus to the project is that once the satellite balloon has completed its mission, a lucky fan will be able to actually win the darn thing and it is signed by Skrillex. As for the VIP access to Skrillex content, the buyers of the Skrillex Live Case will be given access to a free OWSLA album from the Play Store. You will also get updates about Skrillex sent directly to your phone. The button that is built into the case launches Skrillex’s music feed on YouTube. The button is customizable too. Meaning you can set it to open your camera, other apps or web links.
The Skrillex Live Case limited edition cases are all individually numbered and are available on the Google Play Store starting today through the end of June for $40. If Skrillex isn’t your style, don’t get all down in the dumps as Google states there are other collaborations already in the works that they can’t wait to tell us about.
Hit the Google Store to check out the cases and an order placed. I am thinking the Lil Planet one would look killer on my Note 4.
Source: Google
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Windows 10 beta on Xbox One coming ‘post-summer’
Want a taste of Windows 10 on your Xbox One? It’s coming sooner than you might’ve thought. Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted today that a beta of the program that ties your console in with your desktop computer is coming “post-summer.” Exactly what features it’ll entail or a concrete timeframe (game streaming from Xbox to desktop, the Xbox Game DVR and Xbox Live) are anyone’s guess at this point. That’ll almost positively change come next month’s Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, though.
@dave125norco It will be post-summer.
– Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 19, 2015
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Via: Microsoft News
Source: Phil Spencer (Twitter)
Motorola confirms mid-June for Droid Turbo Lollipop update, then pulls post
We have good news and bad news for Droid Turbo owners. Earlier today, Motorola confirmed a mid-June release date for the Lollipop update on the device. However, not long after that post on Google+, it was deleted and is no longer accessible.
If the post was accurate, then we’re barely a month away from Lollipop rolling out to devices, but having it deleted so quickly could mean many things. Maybe Moto jumped the gun and made the announcement before they were sure that they could hit their target launch date, or maybe they found some crippling issues that are going to push it back even further.
As of right now, there’s no word from Motorola or Verizon on what the situation looks like, so we’ll just have to keep an ear out for any more news related to the Turbo. However it goes, we’ll know one way or the other in a month.
source: Google+
Come comment on this article: Motorola confirms mid-June for Droid Turbo Lollipop update, then pulls post
Huawei said to be readying the P9 with Kirin 950 processor, fingerprint sensor
The Huawei P8, despite being launched less than two months ago, is already seeing its successor receive attention. Alleged acquaintances of Huawei factory workers claim to have knowledge of the upcoming P9’s specifications.
Codenamed IP03, the Huawei P9 will reportedly have a curved rear along with a fingerprint sensor. This would be similar to what is found on the Mate 7.
The following is what the Huawei P9 is expected to offer:
- 5.2-inch display
- 16MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS)
- Kirin 950 processor
- Fingerprint sensor
It is highly unlikely that the Huawei P9 debuts at the company’s June 2 event. This handset is at a few months away from being announced.
Via: GizmoChina
Come comment on this article: Huawei said to be readying the P9 with Kirin 950 processor, fingerprint sensor
LG G4 will supposedly be very easy to take apart and repair
The LG G4 is officially available to purchase (although not in the US just yet) so of course you can expect to see unboxing videos, hands on clips, and the typical teardown and repair processes.
A roughly translated dismantling process for LG’s 2015 flagship device has been released, showing off the device’s internals and how tough it’ll be to fix it in case you break something. Fortunately, the G4 isn’t following the same trend as other newer phones and is pretty easy to take apart and repair.
There appear to a minimal amount of screws holding things together, so swapping out parts (or batteries!) should be quick and easy. The estimated tear apart time is just 15 minutes, according to the report, while an unspecified “repair” takes just 10 minutes.
The process isn’t as detailed as something you’d see from iFixit, and because it’s been mangled by a machine translation, I wouldn’t recommend following the instructions on a brand new phone unless you’re fluent in Chinese.
source: MyDrivers
Come comment on this article: LG G4 will supposedly be very easy to take apart and repair
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