Alibaba reportedly in talks to buy $1.2 billion stake in Micromax
According to a recent report from Re/code, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in talks to purchase around a 20 percent stake in Micromax, India’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer. Citing unnamed sources, the report states that upon completion, the deal would allow Alibaba to invest as much as $1.2 billion in the smartphone maker.
Micromax and Alibaba have been in talks for some time, but the discussions, let by Japanese telecoms firm SoftBank, were ultimately stalled “over differences in valuations”. Re/code’s sources claim that Alibaba wants to invest in Micromax to have more access to Internet users in India. Alibaba could perhaps use this investment to roll out its own services to Micromax devices, such as Alipay, the company’s online payment platform. Additionally, the stake sale could help Micromax raise money as it expands into new business segments around the globe.
It’s no wonder why Alibaba is interested in Micromax – the smartphone maker currently holds about 18 percent marketshare in India and is growing rapidly every month. And with Alibaba’s combination of its own mobile operating system and significant e-commerce marketplace, there’s no doubt that Alibaba will be able to gain a significant foothold in India if this deal goes through.
We’ll be sure to give you more details on the situation as they arise.
Recode: Apple to offer free music with its upcoming streaming service
It’s no secret that Apple plans on revealing a new streaming music service — thanks to its Beats Music acquisition — some time this year, supposedly at its annual developer conference in June. What has so far been a secret, however, is whether or not that service will be free or paid. While it’s been widely reported that Apple plans on charging $8 a month for a subscription, it now appears that the folks in Cupertino could be planning on integrating a free option or two as well. According to ReCode‘s industry sources, those options include a free trial period of one to three months, a SoundCloud-type service where artists could upload free tunes for non-subscribers, and a new version of iTunes Radio that would feature human-curated playlists similar to, of course, Beats Music.
Yet, ReCode also reports that Apple doesn’t plan on going up against other unlimited free streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora. Apparently the company thinks that ad-supported free streaming won’t make enough money, plus it’ll prevent users from ponying up for the paid version. At the same time, Apple has been under investigation by the FTC for supposedly striking up exclusive streaming deals with artists and labels — this, the FTC posits, could be seen as an unfair advantage due to Apple’s dominance in music downloads thanks to iTunes. Tidal, on the other hand, can get away with exclusives due to its relatively small size. So it still remains to be seen what exactly Apple plans to offer with its streaming service, be it free or paid. Fortunately we only have a month or so to find out.
Filed under: Apple
Source: Re/Code
‘Photofucket’ devs arrested for selling their pic-stealing app
Years before stolen pictures of celebs hit the internet in a massive bundle, news that Reddit posters were searching for private photos popped up under the term “fusking.” As detailed by Buzzfeed in August of 2012, Reddit channels were dedicated to using a security flaw in Photobucket.com to search for pictures posted in private folders. If anyone on the internet knew (or could guess) a private photo’s direct URL it was visible, and guessing the default filename of digital photos isn’t very difficult. Today the US Department of Justice is announcing the arrest of two men for selling “Photofucket” software that it says stole guest passwords for protected albums and sought out those private pictures.
Brandon Bourret of Colorado and Athanasios Andrianakis of Californias are facing charges of “computer fraud and abuse, access device fraud, identification document fraud and wire fraud.” Access device fraud carries the longest potential penalty, with up to ten years in federal prison and a $250k fine per count. According to the indictment (PDF), evidence against Bourret and Andrianakis includes emails they sent discussing exploits, customer service messages to Photofucket buyers, and Paypal transfers to fund the operation.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/QfNOAYwwUN0?rel=0
Back in 2012, many users of the picture sharing site — who may have uploaded photos years earlier for sharing on early social networks like Myspace or Friendster — had no idea that marking a folder private only hid the folder. At the time Photobucket announced that all new accounts would have their links scrambled by default, as well as an option to scramble links for existing users. It’s unclear if that helped stem the tide of the hackers for those who even knew about it, and the originally revealed Reddit channels are marked private now. Investigation of the breach and the accounts that were accessed is ongoing, but if you have any old albums gathering dust it’s probably well past time to up their protection or delete them entirely.
[Image credit: NetPhotos / Alamy]
Filed under: Internet
Source: US Department of Justice
Harvard engineering class tries to make the best BBQ smoker
As part of a 14-week-long assignment, 16 Harvard engineering students were given the task to create the perfect brisket. But what did they need to do that? A really, really good BBQ smoker. To build one, Engineering Sciences professor Kevin Parker landed his class a big-name client willing to fund the project: kitchen goods retailer Williams-Sonoma. And, after months of working on it, the result was a meat smoker called the Big Green Egg, which is designed to consistently produce the best possible brisket. The contraption’s curved shape is meant to spread heat evenly throughout the meat, while a slew of heat sensors send temperature readings to a smartphone — and this becomes extremely important in what’s typically a cooking process that takes 12 to 15 hours.
According to the Harvard Gazette, people seem to have enjoyed the Big Green Egg’s meat. “This is first-class brisket,” said Dave Schaefer, a barbecue chef who was at the smoker’s launch event on campus. “This is as good a brisket as I’ve had in months and months.” A student involved with the project added, “I loved it. I’m a huge fan of meat. I figured if we have to do all this each week, at least we get to eat brisket on weekends.”
Look, I’ve had delicious brisket from my days living in the South — including the world famous Frankie’s BBQ in Austin, Texas and, better yet, my father in-law’s (trust me, it is out of control) — so I’m kind of skeptical about the BGE smoker. Still, if Harvard wants to have me over for dinner to try its brisket, count me in. Seriously, let’s make it happen.
[Image credit: Harvard Gazette]
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Science
Via: Boston Globe
Source: Harvard
Sega will remove select games from the Play Store for not keeping up with the company’s standards
Sega, the Japanese video game developer, has just announced its plans to remove a number of games from the Google Play Store over the next few weeks for not keeping up with the company’s high standards. Users who have purchased a mobile game from the company in the past will still be able to access those games from the My Apps section in the Play Store. There’s no word yet as to which games are being removed, but the company explains that the titles may return in an updated form. These select games are also being removed from the Amazon Appstore, Samsung App Store and the Apple App Store. From Sega:
It is important for us to ensure that all of our fans, regardless of platform or operating system, have a great playing experience and after evaluating our complete list of titles, we have determined that a number of them no longer meet our standards. As a result, we will be removing these titles from the App Store for Apple devices, the Google Play Store, the Samsung App Store and the Amazon App Store over the next few weeks.
Sega has almost 30 classic titles available in the Play Store, including Sonic Dash, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Virtua Tennis Challenge and many more. When the company makes the announcement, we’ll be sure to let you know which titles are leaving and which ones are staying. But for now, you can head to the link below for the entire Sega catalog in the Google Play Store. Be sure to pick up some of these games before it’s too late!
Olloclip Debuts iPhone 6 and 6 Plus ‘OlloCase’ Compatible With Lens Accessory Line [iOS Blog]
At CES, popular iPhone lens manufacturer Olloclip showed MacRumors an upcoming iPhone case designed to work with its line of lenses, and at the time, we were highly impressed with the design. As of this week, Olloclip is now accepting pre-orders for the case, called the OlloCase, which we were able to get our hands on ahead of release.
Those of you familiar with Olloclip’s line of lenses know that they’re not able to work with iPhone cases due to the way that they fit tightly over the iPhone’s camera, so until now, iPhone photography enthusiasts had to choose between using an Olloclip lens and having a case to protect their iPhone from drops and scratches. That’s no longer the case, as the new OlloCase is compatible with the company’s latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus lens systems.
Olloclip’s previous venture into case creation for the iPhone 5 and 5s resulted in a thick plastic case that was overly bulky, but for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Olloclip has designed an entirely new case that’s impressively svelte. Available in clear and smoke black, the case is made from a thin textured plastic that lets the design of the iPhone shine through.
The sides of the case are constructed from rubber (gray for the clear case and black for the darker case) to protect the iPhone from drops. The rubber extends just a bit past the phone’s display to keep the glass free from scratches when it’s placed face down on a surface. There’s full access to ports and there is a deep camera cutout that accommodates the Olloclip lenses. The lens accessory slides right over the top of the case and cleverly replaces the lens insert that shipped with the original Olloclip accessories for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Olloclip’s OlloCase has a simple design that works well on the iPhone even when a lens accessory isn’t attached to the phone, and it makes it easy to slip on a lens when a picture-taking opportunity arises. Adding and removing a lens with the case on is as easy as it is without a case. Compared to the company’s previous lens-compatible cases, the new OlloCase is a significant improvement and worth a purchase for Olloclip owners who want to be able to use their lens systems with a case.
The OlloCase for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can be pre-ordered from the Olloclip website for $29.99. Orders will begin shipping out in June.
Quick Look: Samsung Wireless Charging Pad with MicroUSB Charger
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One feature that Samsung packed into the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge that they have never offered as a built-in function is wireless charging. It was easy enough to pick up one of their wireless charging cases, or one of a handful of others out there though. There were even a few go getters that created a wireless charging adapter that went behind the rear cover of the device. While some worked better than others, it wasn’t until the most recent flagship that Samsung made it a standard built-in ability. This function now lets users use a variety of Qi wireless charging pads, pucks, stands as anything that is Qi enabled will charge your device. here I will show you a quick look at the Samsung Wireless Charging pad.
In the box:
- Qi compatible wireless charging pad
- USB cable
- 2.0A wall block
- Quick start guide and warranty
The charging pad is a round puck style pad that is constructed of a hard plastic. Sitting in the middle is a raised rubber pad that helps the device stay in place. It is also useful for not scratching the rear gorilla Glass 4 too.
Around the outer edge is a clear plastic halo. There is a LED light that illuminates to show you the charging state. Blue means it is charging and green means your phone is charged.
I distinctively remember the first iteration of wireless chargers being horribly slow at charging a device. This was many years ago and the technology has come a long way. I ran the same battery charge tests that I do for other chargers and battery banks to see how it performed. To best test its charge rates I ran a 10 minute charge with all the usual connections still active. I did the same charge using the stock wall plug.
The stock charger that is included with the wireless charger along with all cellular connections, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and location services connected offered up approximately 7% charge in 10 minutes. The device was naked without a case. Mind you, the charger that it comes with the unit does not enable fast charging.
Leaving the same connections on and placing the device on the Samsung wireless charger it pulled in approximately 5% battery charge in roughly 10 minutes. Again, the device was naked.
While it certainly will take your new flagship a little longer to reach full charge, having wireless charging certainly is a bit more convenient and should help keep extra strain off your USB port. Particularly at the office, in the living room, kitchen or wherever a quick set down is usual. However, there is a flaw in the whole process. Once your device hits 100% the charging pad shuts off and doesn’t resume. In a nutshell, you wouldn’t want to use this as an overnight bedside charging option as you will wake up to less than a full charge on your device. I can’t compare this to others out there as this is the only Qi charging pad I have ever used, but if there are other options that will keep it trickle charging overnight please leave a comment.
I gave it a charge test with the two cases I have sitting here, one being the Samsung Flip View cover and the other being the Rokform Crystal V3. I expected the Samsung case to have no issue as it is fairly thin, I was pleasantly surprised that the phone still charged with the thicker Rokform case on as well. The thicker Rokform case did charge much slower than the slimmer Samsung Flip View though. With the Rokform it slowed to 4 – 5 % per 10 minutes. Not a huge deal if you aren’t looking to grab large amounts of power in a short period of time.
The Samsung Wireless Charger is landing in stores all over the globe right now. Here in the US you can find them for $49.99. If you registered your device you should have received a 30% coupon in your email which knocks the price down to $35 + shipping unless you order something else to get your total over $50, then you get free shipping. Alternatively you can pick them up through Amazon for a little less.
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The post Quick Look: Samsung Wireless Charging Pad with MicroUSB Charger appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Scientists are using powerful X-rays to make better chocolate
Have you ever unwrapped a piece of chocolate only to discover that it looked a little old? That white substance that appears on the delicious confection is known as a fat bloom. As the fats in the chocolate crystallize, they form the rather unattractive white stuff. Fret not, though, a group of scientists from Nestlé, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) are using extremely powerful X-rays to examine exactly what causes the process. And, of course, searching for a method of avoiding the “defects.” With DESY’s PETRA III, which happens to be the brightest storage ring X-ray in the world, the team can examine the blooming process as it happens zoomed in to just a few nanometers. This means watching liquid fats (like cocoa butter) migrate to the surface of the chocolate. A number of factors could prevent the unsightly bloom, from storing chocolate below a certain temperature (around 65 degrees) to adjusting how porous the product is so that those migration routes are slowed. While some permanent solutions are still in the works, if you happen to come across of piece of bloom-covered candy, don’t worry: it’s safe to eat.
[Image credit: EverJean/Flickr]
Filed under: Science
Via: CNET
Source: American Chemical Society
Japanese bankers get exosuits to help move stacks of cash
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation announced Friday that it will provide Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exosuits to select senior employees as part of a pilot program aimed at reducing the strain of moving currency. “There have been many cases when a physical burden was placed on senior employees carrying heavy parcels of banknotes and coins. By adopting Cyberdyne’s robotic suits, we can help reduce that burden,” Tomoyuki Narita, a spokesman at SMBC, told the Wall Street Journal. About 16 percent of Sumitomo’s employees (and 25 percent of the nation) are over the age of 65. The HAL is designed to augment its user’s strength, reducing the perceived weight of an item by 40 percent so that a 10-pound weight only “feels” like it weighs 6 pounds. Should the pilot program prove effective, Sumitomo could expand it to more branches throughout Japan.
[Image credit: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp]
Filed under: Robots, Wearables
Source: Wall Street Journal
Anti-graffiti device nabs taggers by sniffing their fumes
Australian taxpayers spent a whopping $34 million last year to remove graffiti from Sydney’s commuter trains. To combat this urban blight, the Australian Department of Transport is rolling out an electronic “nose” that alerts authorities in real-time. This device, dubbed “the mousetrap”, activates when it detects paint marker and spray-can aerosols. It then immediately engages a closed circuit recording of the crime before alerting the police, who pick up the perp at the next stop. The program has already undergone viability testing and, according to CBC News, has caught 30 vandals red-handed. Sydney Trains, the government-owned rail company that operates the region’s commuter lines, hasn’t disclosed how many of the devices will be deployed, only that they’ll be swapped between service lines at random intervals.
[Image credit: New South Wales Police Force/Australia Broadcasting Corporation]
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corp
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