Pebble Time enters mass production, new updates on the way too
A couple of months ago, Pebble Time landed on Kickstarter, offering a number of improvements over its predecessor. Mass production of the new smartwatch has begun this week and watches should be landing in consumer hands before the end of the month.
Although production has begun one week later than planed, Pebble insists that the majority of backers will see their smartwatch ship out this month. Although some backers who joined at the tail end of the reward period may have to wait until the first week of June. The factory will manufacture smaller quantities of the Pebble Time to start with, before steadily ramping up to maximum production capacity come mid-May.
As for what the new Pebble Time has to offer, there’s a pretty drastic overhaul of the original design. Hardware wise, there’s a new e-paper display with Gorilla glass protection, a quick release feature to make changing straps a doddle, and a smart accessory port.
Pebble Time is also set for some new software features, including a new time-line interface, a sports app, an expanded app storage limit, and voice replies to Android notifications, which will all be ready at launch. Voice note apps, a weather watch interface and album art support for the music app are also planned for a future update. You can check out some of the features in action below:
Pebble Time passed its $500,000 funding goal in less than an hour, so we’re sure that there are plenty of backers eager to get their hands on their new smartwatch later this month. Are you one of them?
Samsung to launch Iron Man editions of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge this month
If you are a die-hard Iron Man fan, we have a great news for you! Samsung is taking its partnership with Marvel to the next level and releasing ‘Iron Man versions’ of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
A few weeks back Samsung had released themes based on the characters of Avengers: Age of Ultron for both flagship devices. And recently artist renditions of Avengers-themed Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge surfaced, but Samsung didn’t confirm their existence, except the ones that reflect the design of Iron Man’s armored suit.
Iron Man is a Marvel superhero who is also a part of the Avengers. Samsung and Marvel Entertainment made a global partnership for marketing in June, and as part of that pact Samsung products, including its tablet PC and the S6 Edge featured, in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’
“The color of the new Iron Man phones will be red. We will decide on other details soon after discussions with Marvel Studio. It will be released either at the end of May or early June,” said Lee Young-hee, Head of Marketing for Samsung’s mobile division.
Samsung is trying to increase brand awareness and solidify its position as a future-oriented product manufacturer by partnering with popular content providers such as Marvel Entertainment.
Source: Korea Times
The post Samsung to launch Iron Man editions of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge this month appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Shots fired: T-Mobile says “Never Settle for Verizon”, offers free trial service for Verizon customers
style=”display:block”
data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8150504804865896″
data-ad-slot=”8461248232″
data-ad-format=”auto”>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();
Everybody seems to be stealing OnePlus’ slogan these days. Verizon recently launched a campaign that tells its customers to “Never Settle”, a campaign that T-Mobile has jumped on today, but with a twist. T-Mobile says it agrees with Verizon that customers should “Never Settle”, except that they should “Never Settle for Verizon“, launching a series of eight ads that spell out exactly why you should side with the Un-carrier instead of Big Red. All the ads are embedded at the end of this article, but if you don’t want to watch them all, T-Mobile has basically said that it is superior to Verizon because of:
- 0-year contract arrangements
- Unlimited data
- Unlimited data in 120 countries
- Fast data
- Data rollover
To further entice Verizon customers, T-Mobile has today announced the Never Settle Trial, which Verizon customers can sign up to for free to try T-Mobile’s network just to prove these points. T-Mobile CEO, John Legere says “I’m so confident in our kick-ass network experience that we’re footing the bill so Verizon customers can give T-Mobile a try.” The trial works by Verizon customers porting over their number to a T-Mobile device and tries it out for 14 days – if you’re sold after 14 days, T-Mobile will even foot any Early Termination Fees from Verizon up to $650. You can sign up for this offer between May 13 and May 31. With ad campaigns like this, you wonder why T-Mobile is still only the fourth largest carrier in the U.S.
What do you think about this latest ad campaign from T-Mobile? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: T-Mobile
The post Shots fired: T-Mobile says “Never Settle for Verizon”, offers free trial service for Verizon customers appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Foursquare is bringing mayorships back for Swarm
When Foursquare split its app into two separate services, Swarm and Foursquare, some users were unhappy that their favorite gamification elements had been nuked. If you were checking in with Swarm, for instance, it was no longer possible to unlock badges and compete for mayorships with the entire community. Well, it seems Dennis Crowley’s startup is finally relenting and giving the people what they want. The company says global mayorships with be added to Swarm “soon” and that henceforth, all check-ins will count towards them. While badges are still noticeably absent, Foursquare is rolling out 100 new stickers which users can add to their check-ins, photos and messages. Will it be enough to win back those that checked out after the Swarm-Foursquare split? Maybe not, but at least the company has recognised what made Foursquare such a hit in the first place.
Filed under: Misc
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Foursquare
Yes, a special Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man edition is coming!
Galaxy S6 Edge Avengers Edition concept
Samsung and Marvel are two of the world’s savviest companies when it comes to marketing. Now they are teaming up for their flashiest and likely most lucrative collaboration yet.
Fresh out of a viewing of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, a Samsung executive told the Korean press that a special Iron Man edition of the Galaxy S6 Edge is coming soon.
“Samsung is prepping up to rollout the Iron Man edition of the S6 Edge, which will be in red,” EVP of mobile Lee Young-hee told a crowd of about 50 reporters that accompanied Samsung’s brass at the movies.
The Iron Man edition of the Galaxy S6 Edge will launch at the end of May at the earliest, or sometime in June. It’s not clear if the device will be just a red version of the S6 Edge or will feature other customizations. Lee said Samsung is yet to iron out all the details with Marvel.
Back in March, a Korean designer published his concept of an “Avengers Edition” Galaxy S6 Edge collection, featuring color schemes matching the characters from Marvel’s blockbuster, including a red and gold Iron Man edition. But there’s no guarantee that Samsung’s special edition will feature a similar design.
Samsung’s marketing partnership with Marvel gave its products prominent placement in Age of Ultron. According to the brand tracking firm Concave, Samsung is the most visible brand in the action flick, outshining Audi, Under Armour, and Harley-Davidson.
Samsung has several Avengers themes for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, but creating a special Iron Man version would take the brand connection to the next level.
There’s no word yet on special editions for the other Avengers, though we suspect Samsung will at least consider it, if the Iron Man S6 Edge turns out to be a hit. And why wouldn’t it?
NIH bans funding for genetic engineering of human embryos
Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China made headlines late last month upon announcing that they had successfully edited the genes of a human embryo. This revelation set off a firestorm of controversy as the scientific community took sides in the ethical debate of genetic manipulation. Now, the National Institute of Health has weighed in on the issue and is denying funding to research that involves meddling with the human germline.
Despite the funding ban, the NIH recently acknowledges the scientific value of CRISPR/Cas9, the gene editing technique behind the Chinese team’s breakthrough. “This technology is also being used to develop the next generation of antimicrobials, which can specifically target harmful strains of bacteria and viruses,” the NIH statement reads. “In the first clinical application of genomic editing, a related genome editing technique (using a zinc finger nuclease) was used to create HIV-1 resistance in human immune cells, bringing HIV viral load down to undetectable levels in at least one individual.” What’s more, the NIH has — and will reportedly continue to — fund this sort of genetic research. What it will not do is give money to any effort that edits the human genome itself.
“The concept of altering the human germline in embryos for clinical purposes has been debated over many years from many different perspectives, and has been viewed almost universally as a line that should not be crossed,” the statement reads. “Advances in technology have given us an elegant new way of carrying out genome editing, but the strong arguments against engaging in this activity remain.” The NIH cites unpredictable changes to the human gene line, a lack of current medical applications, numerous legislative and regulatory prohibitions and the ethical minefield of changing our kids’ genetic structures without their permission. In short, the NIH argues that unless there is a real, compelling need to edit the human genome, it will not fund such efforts. So until we have to start fortifying our astronauts against brain-melting solar radiation during interplanetary voyages, germline manipulation efforts will need to find alternate funding.
[image credit: Getty]
Filed under: Science
Via: IGN
Source: National Institute of Health
7 best Android apps to transfer files from Android to PC and other ways too!
One of the more common things people need to do is transfer files from their mobile device or tablet to their desktop. Sometimes it’s a photo, sometimes it’s a song, and many other times it’s some sort of document, presentation, or other file that needs transferred. There are actually quite a few ways to transfer files from Android to PC (and back again) and we’ll take a look at them here.
AirDroid
[Price: Free]
AirDroid is one of the most popular ways to access your Android device from your PC. With it you can do things like send/receive SMS messages, see notifications, and they’re currently testing out ways to control Android and use apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, etc but that feature requires root. There are also plenty of other features. Of course, you can also send files to your PC from Android and vice versa and you don’t have to connect your device to any specific network to do it. It’s a great way to put your Android device on your computer.
Cloud Storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box.com, etc)
[Price: Varies]
One of the most popular ways to deal with files is to put them in cloud storage. Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box.com, and many other cloud storage companies let you sync your device to the cloud and also have integration with PC. Thus, you can send files to the cloud then access them in your web browser or download them to your PC for later use. Then you can upload stuff to your cloud storage from your PC and access them on your Android device. Cloud storage is a lot better than it used to be and it still has a way to go, but it works for this purpose quite well.
ES File Explorer
[Price: Free]
ES File Explorer is one of the best file managers for Android and along with its great set of features is the ability to interact with other devices on a network. For instance, you can connect your Android device to the same router your computer is on and then ES can see that computer (based on that computer’s privacy settings) and send files directly to the PC over the WiFi network. This is great for people who want to kill two birds with one stone in both a transfer app and a file manager and ES makes it fairly easy. There are other file browsers that allow for this as well so if ES isn’t doing it for, don’t be afraid to look around!
Mobizen
[Price: Free]
Mobizen is an app that doesn’t get a lot of press but works fairly well. Like AirDroid, you can connect your PC to your Android device and vice versa using Mobizen and that means you can do stuff like drag-and-drop file transfers, see your notifications, and do some other interesting stuff. It boasts being able to mirror Android to your PC for screen recording but that functionality is a bit limited. It’s great for presentations but not so great for long form recording. In any case, Mobizen is another solid option and it’s worth a shot.
Pushbullet
[Price: Free]
In the space of apps that connect PCs to Android devices, Pushbullet is right up there with AirDroid as one that is considered “among the best”. It does the SMS send/receive from PC along with stuff like copying a link from Android and pasting it on PC, check notifications, and file transfers. Like AirDroid, your device connects to your PC regardless of what data network its on so you can transfer files and check messages from anywhere which is nice and the developers have been working hard to create a clean cut and efficient interface as well. There’s also a Chrome extension for those who want that.
SuperBeam
[Price: Free / $0.99]
SuperBeam is a simple application that connects your devices directly over WiFi. To use it, both your Android device and PC will have to be on the same WiFi network but otherwise it works very well. SuperBeam has a clean interface that helps make it easy to use which we appreciate. You can also connect devices using NFC or QR code scanning if need be. It also keeps track of all file transfers so you can see the logs if needed and you get even more features if you buy the pro version.
Sync by BitTorrent
[Price: Free]
Sync by BitTorrent is an application that those with security concerns should definitely read more about. Sync allows you to pair your device with a computer without using the cloud or anything like that so you can transfer files between your devices securely. The app lets you view various folders and files that you pre-determine so it actually does work a bit like cloud storage but it’s as if your device is the cloud storage server. It’s simple to use and also totally free.
Non-app ways to transfer files
If apps aren’t your deal, there are still some other ways to transfer files from your PC to Android and vice versa.
- Use Bluetooth – If your laptop has a Bluetooth module or if you have a Bluetooth dongle for your desktop or laptop, you can pair your device with your computer using Bluetooth and send files that way. Do be warned, the transfer rates are very slow and you’ll probably only want to do this with small text files, pictures, or documents. You probably don’t want to use this for stuff like large videos or lots of files at once.
- USB On-The-Go – USB OTG cables allow you to connect your device to USB devices such as mice, keyboards, and external hard drives. That also includes flash drives. You can use the cable to transfer documents to your flash drive or external hard drive or off of those things on to your Android device. They’re also relatively cheap on sites like Amazon and eBay.
- Share to email – This only works with small files like photos or documents, but you can send most types of files over email. There is a size limit for most services (usually around 20MB), but that’s more than enough for something like a simple PDF file, a document, or even some music files. It’s not optimal but it’s easy and everyone has email.
Wrap up
If we missed any great apps or other ways to transfer files from Android to PC (and back again), let us know in the comments!
To see our complete list of Android apps and games lists, click here!
Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal goes premium for fitness fanatics
Roughly three months ago Under Armour snatched up Endomondo and MyFitnessPal for about half a billion bucks. Now the sports apparel company is looking for a return on its investment by rolling out the first paid-for premium version of MyFitnessPal. This is no casual tracking service, to be clear — this is meant for serious fitness buffs. For either $10 a month or $50 a year users can build custom nutrition reports and dig through the minutia of their health data without being bothered by ads.
MyFitnessPal Premium, tempts you with access to priority customer support, exclusive content like recipes design by dietitians, and the lack of ads, but it’s really the granular data tracking thats the draw. Your calorie and nutrition goals can differ based on the day of the week. There’s also custom homescreens that put things like carb or salt intake right up front if you’re have a specific goal like lowering your blood pressure or carbo loading ahead of a big race. You can even quickly see which foods are contributing the most sugar to your diet in case you need to cut back.
The move from helping people lose weight and count calories, to helping people cut that last ounce of body fat off their emerging six-pack is an important and obvious one. Under Armour isn’t interested in tracking what antibiotics you’re allergic to or how much sleep you’re getting (or not getting). This is a company built on high-performance and high-endurance athletics and its moves into the tech space need to reflect that. So, while Endomondo and MyFitnessPal will probably maintain their appeal to the casual runner and health nut, expect them to also roll out features in the next couple of months that will help people train for their next big fight or ultra marathon as well.
Via: The Verge
Source: MyFitnessPal
Apple launches program for third-party Watch strap makers
There’s already a number of Apple-made and third-party Watch bands out there, but Cupertino wants more — and it wants products that follow its exact specifications. The company has launched a “Made for Apple Watch” program, which gives makers a list of design requirements to follow, similar to its “Made for iPhone” program for accessory creators. Apple’s Watch straps are interchangeable, since they’re attached to “lugs” that easily slide out from the watchface with the press of a button. The tech juggernaut will provide those lugs to the program’s participants, though they can also create their own, so long as they use Apple-approved materials.
Creators have to make sure their straps fit well, since the watchface has to touch the skin for the (problematic) heart sensor to work. They also need to comply with environmental regulations where the smartwatches are sold and promise not to integrate magnetic chargers into their straps. Hopefully, the program grows to include other types of accessories, including those that take advantage of the device’s hidden diagnostic port that can transmit data and power at faster rates. For now, you can read the company’s full requirements on the program’s website.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: 9to5mac
Source: Apple
Latest Android distribution numbers see Lollipop at almost 10%
Back in January, the news came out that after just three months, the brand new Android 5.0 Lollipop was installed on roughly 1.6% of active Android devices. Since then, it has been slowly but surely climbed upward. In the latest distribution numbers, Google’s tasty sweet treat has reached 9.7 percent market share.
To little surprise, the most common Android version is currently KitKat with 39.8 percent of the market, followed by Jelly Bean with 39.2 percent. Both of these OS versions have seen a drop however, down 1.6% and 1.5% respectively. As for the rest: Ice Cream Sandwich now sits at 5.3%, Gingerbread at 5.7%, and Froyo at .3%.
While Lollipop is on the rise, and ancient versions of Android like Gingerbread and Froyo are almost finally falling off the radar for good, the reality is that many users are still very much on older versions of Androd. The problem of fragmentation is something that Apple and even Microsoft likes to call Google out on, and while the issue is greatly exaggerated, there is some true to the matter.
The Android ‘fragmentation’ issue
First, there’s the fact that Google and other OEMs only offer 18 month recommended support for all devices, and many OEMs fall short of this mark, especially when it comes to mid-range and low tier devices. Another issue is with carriers.
When Apple releases a new version of iOS, carriers don’t have much say in what to change. That’s not the same with Android. Some carriers will install bloatware, or demand that the bootloader is locked, and due to the nature of the relationship, the carriers play a big role in how OTAs are handled. All these things slow down the update process. Finally, there’s the fact that there are so many different devices out there with different skins, different hardware, and the list goes on.
The reality is that this perceived fragmentation issue will likely never fully go away, barring massive changes in how Google, OEMs, and carriers handle the update process. But does it really matter? With Google and carriers pushing many of its apps and services to Google Play, even devices running on much older Android versions can still receive plenty of new features and will likely be able to handle the majority of Android apps and games without major issues as long as their hardware is up for the job.
In contrast, Apple somewhat forces folks to upgrade to the next version by phasing out app support for older versions. Bottom-line, running on an older version of Android doesn’t necessarily translate to an “inferior” experience. Though if you are running on anything older than Jelly Bean, it’s probably time for a new handset.
So what do you think about Android’s ‘fragmentation’? Is it an accepted concession of Android’s openness or is it unacceptable? Let us know down below.
AIVAnet 