Gmail app updated, now easier to find contact details and past conversations
Yesterday Google released a new version of the Gmail app, bringing a few minor changes to the mix, as well as a big improvement to how you look at contact information.
Starting with the changes to viewing contact information, you can now simply touch on a user’s avatar to see contact information, recent conversation, and other details at a glance. This is a much simpler way to find relevant info related to a contact.
Beyond this? We imagine there are the usual bug fixes and speed improvements, though Google only specifically mentions the people’s avatar change and more reliable “support for non-Gmail addresses (IMAP)” and changes that make adding additional accounts a smoother experience.
As is typical of Google, the update is expected to roll out in stages over the next few days. For those that don’t want to have to wait any longer than they have to, you can download the APK here and manually install it.
LifeProof FRE Power Waterproof Battery Case for iPhone 6 Now Available for Pre-Order [iOS Blog]
LifeProof today announced that its FRE Power waterproof battery case for iPhone 6 is now available for pre-order through its website, retailing for $129.99 with an estimated shipping date of mid-to-late June. The protective case guards the iPhone 6 against damage from water, drops, dust and snow, and has a 2,600 mAh lithium-ion battery that doubles the smartphone’s battery life.
FRE Power, available in white, black and blue, features auto-stop charging so that your iPhone automatically stops charging once it reaches 100% capacity. The case also has a built-in scratch protector to protect the iPhone’s touchscreen, an anti-reflective optical-glass camera lens and an included Micro USB port and cable for charging and syncing. LED lights on the back of the case indicate the battery pack’s level of charge.
The case has a waterproof rating of IP-68, the highest possible for solids and liquids, meaning it is able to withstand circulating talc for 8 hours and water immersion up to 6.6 feet or 2 meters for up to 1 hour. The case also has military standard 810G-516.6 drop and shock protection, safeguarding your iPhone against drops, fumbles, vibrations and bumps. FRE Power is available now on LifeProof’s website for $129.99.
LifeProof originally announced the FRE Power waterproof battery case at CES 2015.
50% off Award Winning Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker
With so many Bluetooth audio devices in the marketplace, how do you know which one to buy? Color and design are the main selling point for some while others care strictly about fidelity. We’re lovers of aesthetics, sound and quality but our main goal is to bring you a good deal. With the Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker from Soundfreaq, we’ve found a piece of hardware that checks off all of these boxes and will keep some green in your pocket.
Sound Kick, designated the Best $100 Bluetooth Speaker by Gizmodo, powers your sound for up to 7 hours with its built-in battery. The all-black modern design will fit in nicely next to your PS4 or Xbox One and doesn’t call much attention to itself. This speaker packs full-bodied sound and the ability to charge your mobile devices so you can keep the party going even when you’ve stepped away from power outlets. This iLounge Best of Show winner at CES retails for $100 but AndroidGuys can call it their own for just $49.99!
See more at deals.androidguys.com
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Amazon offering $110 in paid and games for free
Limited time promotion sees a number of popular titles set free
Amazon, as it is often wont to do, is offering a sizable selection of normally paid apps and games for free. Starting today and running through May 16, you’ll find popular titles such as Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, Game of Thrones- A Telltale Games Series, AVG AntiVirus PRO Android Security, Photo Studio PRO, and PBS KIDS’ SUPER WHY ABC Adventures: Alphabet.
As always, you don’t have to download all of the games; you can select only those you want. Also, keep in mind that your updates will come via the Amazon Appstore and not the Google Play app.
The post Amazon offering $110 in paid and games for free appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Huawei teases device announcement for June 2
Huawei has begun sending out invitations to a press event for June which figures to result in a new device announcement. It’s not clear what is on the agenda but, considering we received an invite, we imagine it’s related to an Android smartphone. We might get to see the first Huawei handset launched in the US that isn’t sold online only.
One potential scenario is a North American version of the recently introduced Ascend P8 Lite. Should that be the case we’ll get an Android 5.0 Lollipop phone with a 5-inch display, 13-megapixel rear camera, and 16GB internal storage.
We’ll share more details as we can gather them!
The post Huawei teases device announcement for June 2 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Objects to Customer Information Being Included in Sale of RadioShack Assets
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in February, confusion began to swirl surrounding the future – or lack thereof – regarding RadioShack’s brand name and the sensitive customer data the tech seller has accumulated over the years. Yesterday, the auction for those assets ended and New York-based investment firm Standard General came out on top, winning the brand with a $26.2 million bid.
Last week, as bidding went underway for the bankrupt company’s IP and data, Apple chimed in with a filing of its own at the bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware where the proceedings were underway (via Dallas Business Journal).
Apple’s objections note that RadioShack was not holding up its end of a previous reseller agreement made between the two companies that would prevent the retailer from the selling of Apple customer information. The Cupertino company went so far as to say that that information does not fall within RadioShack’s estate, meaning anyone who buys the company – namely Standard General – has no right to access any of that sensitive data.
Apple isn’t the only objector to the sale of customer data, with AT&T reaching a settlement with RadioShack and any “purchaser of its assets” to prevent the bankrupt company from the selling, disclosure, or transferring of AT&T’s protected information. The state of Texas itself filed an objection in March, claiming the sale of customer data should be prevented as it violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and basic consumer protection laws set in place within the state.
Frances Smith, a law partner at Dallas-based Shackelford, Melton, McKinley & Norton, LLP, believes the disruption by the complaints set against RadioShack’s consumer data sale could prevent the sensitive information from being included in the auction, and possibly even shift the true price of RadioShack’s estate and assets at auction.
“What could happen is the judge approves the sale of everything or approves the sale with the carve out for the customer info,” She said. “I don’t think there’s a scenario where he just doesn’t approve the sale because there are a lot of other things going on.”
Although it has the winning bid, Standard General isn’t out of the woods yet. The judge overseeing the case still needs to grant approval of the bid for the hedge fund to truly take over the RadioShack IP and any estate deemed fit by the court to be properly under the now-defunct company’s ownership. This includes that sensitive customer data Apple and the other companies are worried about, which boils down to about 67 million physical addresses and 8.5 million email addresses, as AppleInsider points out. The hearing regarding all of these claims is set for next week on May 20.
Silver Mario Amiibo will drive collectors insane this month
Nintendo has already released a gold version of its Mario Amiibo, so guess what’s coming next? A silver version, of course. We suspected as much after both figurines leaked back in February, but today the console maker has made it official. The special statue — which is identical to the Amiibo figure from Mario Party 10, albeit painted silver — will arrive in stores on May 29th for $12.99. When the gold version debuted, it was available exclusively in Walmart stores across the US. That made it something of a collector’s item, riling fans that were desperately trying to maintain a complete set. This time around, it seems Nintendo has opted for a more conventional release. The company is still struggling to keep up with the demand for Amiibos however, so if you’re interested, act fast on May 29th.
Via: Polygon
Wolfram’s new website can identify objects in your photos
Wolfram Research can already do some pretty cool things, like answer Twitter questions and spot overhead flights. Now, the maker of the Mathematica programming language and Alpha knowledge engine can perform another trick: figuring out what’s in a photo. The Wolfram Language Image Identification Project can make out about 10,000 common things, including animal species, gadgets and household objects. It uses a database of around ten million images to perform the trick, which Stephen Wolfram figures “is comparable to the number of distinct views of objects that humans get in their first couple of years of life.”
The project joins Google Goggles, Amazon Firefly and recent Microsoft research at the forefront of image recognition. Wolfram uses neural networks to build up layers of detail starting with individual pixels and finishing with specific object features. The system learns as it goes, allowing you to enter better object definitions if it guesses wrong or is too vague. It will also let programmers build image identification into their apps. Wolfram said, “It won’t always get it right, but most of the time I think it does remarkably well. What’s particularly fascinating is that when it does get something wrong, the mistakes it makes mostly seem remarkable human.” Judging by the amusing collection of mistakes (above) we couldn’t agree more, but feel free to give it a try with your own photos.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Wolfram
Shipments of ‘white box’ tablets overtake iPads
The hottest-selling tablets aren’t likely to be iPads or Galaxy Tabs these days — if anything, they’re the cut-rate slabs you see in the back of the drug store. Strategy Analytics estimates that shipments of generic “white box” tablets (which typically run Android) overtook iPads in the first quarter of this year, claiming 28.4 percent of the market versus Apple’s 24.3. The analysts largely chalk this up to consistently tepid iPad sales, but they also suggest that small, budget-minded tablet makers are having a field day. That’s not totally surprising. Low-cost Android gear also dominates the smartphone market, and a lot of these tiny outfits operate in China, where price is more of a concern. You don’t need a $500 slate just to watch video in bed, after all.
That shift is partly borne out by what’s happening with other big-name competitors. Cost-conscious Chinese brands like Huawei and Lenovo are thriving, while higher-end rivals that don’t do so well in China (such as ASUS and Samsung) are struggling. If these relative outsiders are going to come back, they may need to either compete more on price or give buyers a reason to pony up. There are signs that this is happening (see Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A and rumors of a giant iPad), but you may not see the results of these efforts until later in the year.
[Image credit: AP Photo/Koji Sasahara]
Filed under: Tablets, Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Lenovo
Source: Strategy Analytics
Movie producers call for an end to the ‘Six Strikes’ rule
It may sound like the fictional government department that Patricia Arquette works for in CSI: Cyber, but that’s not what the Internet Security Task Force is for. In fact, the ITSF is a group of independent film companies that have banded together to call for immediate reform on how internet piracy is handled. In a statement, entitled “Six Strikes and You’re (Not Even Close To) Out,” this gang of “small business owners” express dismay at America’s Copyright Alert System.
Some background: The CAS’ “six strikes” is a system used by AT&T, Cablevision, TWC, Verizon* and Comcast. If one of those ISPs has reason to believe that you’re sharing files illegally, then you’ll get the first of six warnings, each with an increasing level of severity. If you’re still suspected of defying copyright laws, then “mitigation measures” kick in, like bandwidth throttling and a sternly-worded letter to your mom.
Independent film companies @MillenniumFilms, @voltagepictures , Bloom, Sierra/Affinity, and @filmnation make up the founding members of ISTF
– ISTaskForce (@ISTaskForce) April 21, 2015
The ITSF feels that the CAS doesn’t go far enough, saying that it isn’t just ineffective, but actually a “sham.” Expendables III producer (and ITSF co-founder) Mark Gill cites the aforementioned movie as a case study for how ineffective the ISPs have been to tackle piracy. According to his data, the film was illegally viewed 60 million times, but only “0.3 percent of our infringement notices” were actually sent through to customers. If all of these figures sound a little wooly, here’s some more understandable ones: Expendables 2 had a box office of $305 million, while its sequel, which was leaked three weeks before its release, dropped to $206 million.
Gill can also call on a vast difference in figures between CAS member companies and two non-participants: Charter and Cox. Those two businesses pledged to forward on all copyright notices that Millennium Films sent to suspected infringers. The result of which, the ITSF claims, was a 25.47 percent decrease in illegal fire sharing — for balance, the group says that CAS members’ laissez faire attitude caused an increase of 4.54 percent in the same period.
The provisions behind the Copyright Alert System is due to expire this summer, and the entities involved are expecting to renew the deal as a matter of course. Gill and his other “small business owners,” however, feel that the US should import a version of Canada’s new system, based on the Copyright Modernization Act. The ITSF’s statement calls forth statistics that say that in the 13 weeks since the country implemented the law, there have been substantial drops of suspected piracy within the five main national ISPs. Whatever happens, you can be sure to expect plenty more lobbying on this issue as we get closer to July.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Verizon, AT&T
Via: The Stack, TorrentFreak
Source: ITSF (PRNewsWire)
AIVAnet 