Apple Transit maps could be coming to iOS 9
9to5Mac, citing unnamed sources, reports that Apple is potentially gearing up to release its updated Transit service — the same one it nixed immediately before last year’s WWDC event — with iOS 9. Transit acts as an add-on layer to Apple’s existing Maps program providing accurate navigation instructions for public transportation systems. This functionality hasn’t been available as a part of the official built-in app ever since Apple switched to its own service instead of using Google’s.
Transit will reportedly also offer a host of additional UI tweaks when it’s released, in addition to those bus, train and subway routes. That includes larger icons, a trip-planning feature and “transit view” — an alternative to the existing Standard, Hybrid, and Satellite/Flyover shots. iOS 9 is scheduled to debut at WWDC 2015 so we’ll have to wait until June to see if Transit actually does make the cut this year.
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Apple
Source: 9to5 Mac
Hangouts for Chrome updated with much more refined UI
Google has just released an update to its Hangouts for Chrome application which brings an interface that looks much more like the Hangouts Android app. As you can see in the screenshot above, the app now features a two column layout. The leftmost panel shows all of your recent contacts/messages and the rightmost panel shows your current conversation. You can also open up a pop-out window for individual conversations – a feature that was present in the past version, but definitely looks nicer now.
The new interface is available now on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. For those of you who are using Windows, Linux or Chrome OS and would like to get the new look, head to your settings menu and choose “Disable transparent UI”. If the changes haven’t made their way to your device yet, they should within the next day or so.
Android M may feature native fingerprint authentication
We’ve been seeing more and more Android device manufacturers include fingerprint scanners in their smartphones as of late. Samsung’s most recent Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have them, as well as a few lesser-known handsets like the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 or HTC’s One max. But since Google hasn’t introduced a standard for fingerprint recognition technology into Android quite yet, all of the current scanners found in Android devices today were built by OEMs. But according to a few reports around the web, Google may end up introducing native fingerprint authentication in its next version of Android.
Read more: What will Android M bring?
According to both Buzzfeed and Ars Technica, a standard for fingerprint recognition tech could be introduced in Android M, which will be announced at Google I/O 2015. In fact, we’d be very surprised if it wasn’t announced sometime soon, seeing as how hints of a fingerprint recognition API have been previously found in AOSP. Additionally, ex-CEO of Motorola Dennis Woodside admitted that the little dimple found on the back of the Nexus 6 was supposed to feature a fingerprint scanner, but Motorola ultimately decided to pass because Apple bought the good fingerprint scanning company.
When talking of all ecosystems, the fingerprint scanners found in the iPhone 5S, 6 and 6 Plus have been the ones to beat. Samsung has caught up with Apple’s efforts with this year’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, but not many other manufacturers have been able to keep up in terms of reliability. So, if Google ends up announcing the new fingerprint authentication standard in Android M at Google I/O, not only will we start seeing these technologies come to Nexus devices, we’ll begin to see more OEMs adopt these security features as well.
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It’s unlikely that we’ll see any new hardware at the annual developer conference, so we’ll probably need to wait until the next Nexus announcement (or announcements!) to see the new standard in action. Remember, Google I/O takes place May 28th and 29th, so we don’t have too much longer to wait.
Razer’s latest gaming mouse mat is a light-up wonderland
Think your mouse pad is a little lifeless? Razer thinks it can spruce things up. Its new Firefly gaming mat is ringed with customizable lighting that can glow and pulse in 16.8 million colors. It’ll even sync with Razer’s Chroma-badged peripherals, if you’re bent on putting on a coordinated show. The Firefly will undoubtedly be one of the most expensive mouse pads you could buy when it ships in June for $60, but you could easily justify the expense if you already have a flashy PC case sitting under your desk.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Source: Razer
Firefox will look at your history to show Suggested Tile ads
Starting next week, Firefox beta users will start seeing “Suggested” tiles whenever they open a new tab. These are ad tiles clearly marked as such (see bottom left above), which are a separate entity from the Directory tiles Mozilla launched in 2014. See, Directory tiles are randomly selected ads that appear in your new tab if you’ve just installed or reinstalled the Firefox browser. Suggested tiles, on the other hand, are based on your browser history. Yep, the program will look at what you’ve been visiting online to deliver relevant ads — in these codes that TechCrunch found, for instance, you’ll see that visiting Engadget tells Firefox that you’re interested in technology.
The non-profit swears it won’t peek at your personal data or third-party info, and that you’ll be able to switch the feature off whenever you want. If the beta testing does well, the program will make its way to stable Firefox browsers later in the summer. Since Directory tiles are also slated for a wider release, you’ll likely see more than one type of tile ad before the year ends.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Mozilla (1), (2)
SFW ‘Playboy Now’ app is only here for the articles
19 million people visit Playboy.com every month, 80 percent of which reportedly coming via mobile devices. In response to that demand, Playboy magazine has released a new mobile-centric app that gives its rabid fanbase exactly what they want: Buzzfeed-style listicles and light reading. Wait, what?
The app makes its way into the Android and iOS stores by dropping its famed nude pics — which never would have passed iTunes muster anyway — and focusing on written content instead. “We have a very engaged audience on mobile and about three-fourths comes after 4 p.m. So we are building this optimized experience for these guys who are coming back every day and there are millions of them,” Phillip Morelock, Playboy senior vice president and chief product officer told USA Today. The unfathomably Safe For Work app features a smattering of easy-to-digest content including clever lists, video clips and offbeat news. But no nudity. Seriously, you’ll see more skin on Game of Thrones than you will on this app.
[Image Credit: Cindy Ord via Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet, Apple, Google
Source: Playboy Mobile
Google could bring fingerprint authentication with the next iteration of Android
Right after the Nexus 6 was launched last year, reports suggested that the dimple containing the Motorola logo on the back of the smartphone was originally supposed to house a fingerprint scanner. But unfortunately, Google was believed to have changed its mind at the very last minute.
And now, new reports suggest that Google might go ahead and bake in support for fingerprint authentication with the upcoming Android M release, making it easier for OEMs to implement the feature with their devices.
This feature will apparently allow access to all of Google’s services without requiring a password. We’re guessing that Google will also encourage third party apps to bake in support for fingerprint authentication with their apps.
This also indicates that the next Nexus device will probably showcase the new feature as the Nexus smartphone of the year usually debuts with the latest version of Android. Google will host the annual I/O developer conference next week where the feature will supposedly be discussed in detail.
Do you welcome this news?
Via: Buzzfeed
Come comment on this article: Google could bring fingerprint authentication with the next iteration of Android
Google sold over 5.7 million Chromebooks in 2014: Report
Research firm Gartner has claimed that over 5.728 million units of the Google Chromebooks were sold last year, speaking volumes about the success of the platform. It is said that 72 percent of these units were sold or offered to educational institutions, which is encouraging news for Google.
Chromebooks have always been preferred by users who rely on cloud services, even more so if they’re hooked onto Google’s ecosystem. And with Android integration being cooked in recently, Chromebooks are turning out to be quite an attractive proposition to those who get most of their job done from the cloud.
Of course, Google would want more consumers to get their hands on Chromebooks, but that feat cannot be achieved overnight. One of the crucial factors in the success of the Chromebooks has been the pricing offered by Google, with most of them falling under the $250-300 range.
The research firm predicted Chromebook sales to grow even further in the coming years with 7.288 million expected to be sold this year and 7.953 million units the next year.
“The majority of Chromebook users are tech-savvy individuals who purchase one as a companion device to their primary notebook or desktop PC. Others are buying a Chromebook for the household to use as a second low-cost PC alternative,” said Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner.
“The major factors that affect the adoption of Chromebooks by consumers remain the connectivity issue in emerging markets, but also the ability for users to understand and get used to cloud-based applications, and keep content in the cloud and ecosystem.”
Source: Gartner
Come comment on this article: Google sold over 5.7 million Chromebooks in 2014: Report
Adobe will discontinue Photoshop Touch on May 28th
When Adobe launched Photoshop Touch in the Google Play Store a few years ago, it was meant to be an all-in-one editing tool that felt similar to Photoshop on the desktop. Although it was a difficult sell at $9.99 for most users, it actually did a pretty good job at mirroring the experience you’d find on the desktop. Fast forward to today, and the company has been focusing much of its efforts on new applications and editing tools for mobile and on the desktop. Because these tools have proven themselves as worthy replacements over the past months, Adobe has just announced that its pulling Photoshop Touch from the Google Play Store on Thursday, May 28th.
The company won’t be shipping out anymore updates to the app, but Photoshop Touch users who don’t want to jump ship will still be able to use the application in its entirety. All hope isn’t lost for Android users, though. Adobe explains:
Photoshop Touch was available across platforms and so I’d like to leave all of you on Android with some good news – we’re actively developing new mobile applications for Android and will share those with you very soon.
The Adobe team also has plans to bring a “serious retouching solution” to mobile, codenamed Project Rigel. Expected to be officially unveiled in late 2015, Project Rigel is shown off in the demo video below having no problem editing a massive 50MP image. Details are a bit scarce on this new project for now, but to tide you over until an official announcement takes place, check out the demo below:
Be sure to download the application from the Google Play Store before it’s gone for good! Any folks out there still using Photoshop Touch?
How to modify or disable auto-correct on your Android keyboard – Android customization
Yeah, baby!
I hope you had the chance to optimize your web experience by changing your Chrome flags through last week’s Android customization post. This week, we want to head back to a fairly beginner’s task, changing the settings, or completely disabling, auto-correct functionality on your Android devices.
Auto-correct, or auto-cucumber, or arto-monkey as it is sometimes referred to, is responsible for many humorous and disastrous exchanges between friends, loved ones and co-workers. Usually auto-correct works wonderfully, changing misspellings like ‘freind’ into ‘friend’, but other times, words like ‘things’ turn into ‘thongs’ and confusion or worse is the result.
If you, more often than not, spell your words correctly, and find that your auto-correct settings do you more harm than good, this is the guide you are looking for. You know what, if that is not you, if you find that far too few of your words are adjusted, that spelling mistakes are still the norm in your text, we’ll cover some settings below for you as well.
Before we begin
Please keep in mind that this is a relatively beginner’s tutorial. We will thoroughly walk through all of the available text correction settings on your Android device, but these are the basic settings that you can find by diving into settings. No apps or magic here today.
That all said, please keep in mind that each keyboard may use its own settings and dictionaries for your auto-correction needs. I will be using a stock Android 5.1 Lollipop device running the latest Google Keyboard for today. Your alternative keyboards should have similar settings, but please consult their individual tools for specific instruction.
How to disable auto-correct
There are two main methods to enter the Google Keyboard settings, you may long press on the ‘,’ button, to the left of the space bar and select the gear that pops up, or head into Settings -> Language & input -> Google Keyboard.
From here, simply tap on Text correction.
You will find a number of settings in the following list, we will look at a few of them shortly.
To disable Auto-correct, tap on Auto-correction and choose Off.
Go ahead and back out of your settings and enjoy your new found power over your words.
How to modify auto-correct settings
As I hope you noticed above, there are plenty of extra options available in your Google Keyboard settings. For example, you may choose to set your Auto-correction level to Very Aggressive, so that Google changes up nearly every word that you type. Or, you may keep it at modest, but add a ton of your own words to your Personal dictionary.
Again, enter into your Google Keyboard settings either by long pressing the “,” button on the keyboard itself, or heading into Settings -> Language & input -> Google Keyboard. Then hit Text correction to see your options.
Under Personal dictionary, you may manually add new words for your keyboard to recognize, including any word that is not in a normal dictionary, like your unique pet names, or any of the many acronyms that you may like to use. LOL.
Add-on dictionaries will bring support for alternative languages, and emoji.
Block offensive words, I suppose I do not have to tell you what this will do. Live bravely and free, just one toggle button away.
From there, Show correction suggestions and Next-word suggestions control the visuals of how the auto-correction operates. Personalized suggestions and Suggest Contact names gives the keyboard permissions to delve into your Contacts list and other Google apps to learn how you like to write, what words you like to use.
That is all there is to the Google Keyboard, feel free to change the settings around, see what works best for you. You may be surprised to learn that the only reason you have been piecing together legible sentences is through the power of auto-correct – which is not a reflection on you as a writer, just that that tiny little keyboard on your Android phone or tablet may be far less accurate than you previously thought it was.
What’s next
Did you know that Android has a global spell checker besides what is found in your keyboards? That’s right, check out the basic Language & input settings on your device, the second option down is Google Spell Checker. You can turn it on or off, and choose whether or not to check against your Contacts list for names. Rest assured, no matter what keyboard you use, or what auto-correct setting you put in place, Google is still trying to make sure you spell things correctly.
Next week
I hope you found the ability to turn off, or modify the settings of your auto-correcting keyboard handy in this week’s Android customization piece. Next week we want to look at an app that takes a modified approach to tackling an old task, putting quality widget information on your lock screen.
Time to share your best, what is the craziest auto-correct mishap you’ve ever sent or received? Please keep it family friendly.
AIVAnet 