Play PC games on your Amazon Fire TV through GameFly
Amazon’s Fire TV devices may be focused primarily on Android games, but they can now do some PC gaming in a pinch. The media hubs have just scored an exclusive GameFly app that streams a mix of PC titles (such as the Batman series and Dirt 3) in subscription-based game packs starting at $7 a month. Suffice it to say you’ll want to snag a gamepad if you’re going to use this feature at all. No, this probably won’t make you forget about dedicated consoles or NVIDIA’s Shield, but it’s a big deal if the Fire TV is your only living room game machine.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Amazon
Source: Amazon
This is ‘Henry,’ Oculus Story Studio’s second VR film
Oculus’ big push into cinema began at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it introduced its VR filmmaking endeavor, Story Studio. Back then, the company debuted Lost and revealed a list of other shorts it had plans for — though it didn’t go into much detail about them. Today, however, we’re getting to know Henry, the second film from the virtual reality studio. Directed by Ramiro Lopes Dau, who previously worked on animation for Pixar’s Brave and Monster University, Henry tells the story of a cute hedgehog that has trouble making friends because of his appearance. Oculus Story Studio describes it as a heartwarming comedy.
“One of the cool things about Henry is that we’re incorporating more of that interactive discovery, where you can find his photo album and see elements of it brought to life,” Oculus Story Studio Producer, Edward Saatchi, told me in an interview recently. “You can feel as though you’re discovering parts of his story, which is really powerful. You’ll have a greater agency of discovering elements of his house.”
Henry is slated to debut later this year, but you can watch the trailer right now.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/129497938?portrait=0
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Facebook
Source: Oculus VR
Meizu M2 Note goes official for under $130
Meizu has today announced its new M2 Note, which brings a large Sharp IGZO display, Android Lollipop – with Flyme OS – and a physical home button. Continuing where the Meizu M1 Note left off, the M2 Note brings a refreshed style and impressive specs in a package that costs less than $130.
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The key difference between the M2 Note and past Meizu handsets is the physical home key, which replaces the round capacitive button that’s been present on past handsets. The button was previously rumoured to include a fingerprint scanner, this isn’t the case but the button can distinguish between a press and a tap; simply tapping the button allows you to go back a step while pressing it takes you back to the home screen.
The M2 Note features a 5.5 inch Sharp IGZO IPS display with Full HD resolution and is powered by an octa-core MediaTek processor clocked at 1.53GHz with 2GB RAM. On the back, the handset has a 13MP camera with 5-element f/2.2 lens while the front-facing camera is a 5MP snapper equipped with f/2.0 aperture. Other notable specs include a plethora of connectivity options and a 3100mAh battery.
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The M2 Note will come with a choice of either 16GB or 32GB storage, which can be expanded using a microSD card. The 16GB version costs 799 yuan (less than $130) while the 32GB model costs 999 yuan ($160). The handset is available to order in China already and should be in-stores from June 12th. Meizu has no plans to bring the handset to other markets around the world but it won’t be long before it’s available to buy a premium from third-party resellers.
Blocks modular smartwatch to run Android Lollipop, uses Snapdragon 400 for brains
Last year we wrote about a new smartwatch concept from U.K. startup, Blocks Wearables, which aimed to bring modular technology to the smartwatch world in a manner somewhat similar to Google’s own Project Ara. At the time, the project was in very early stages, though the company said it had a working prototype and would be starting crowdfunding ‘soon’. It’s now June of 2015, and ‘soon’ has nearly arrived.
The Blocks team has now shared some new details about their upcoming project, namely that it will run on a modified version of Android Lollipop and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with peripheral modules using ultra-low-power processors to communicate with the watch. Why Lollipop instead of Android Wear? Blocks says a Lollipop-based custom UI will allow for more flexibility and functionality, since AW doesn’t support things like cellular connectivity and would likely be harder to get working with the watch’s hot- swappable modules.
The watch itself will be quite basic out of the box, but the startup is planning modules for additional battery power, heart rate monitors, and much more. Even the display is a module, though at this point the only option is a circular color touchscreen (with others planned for the future). The customization aspects of the Blocks watch will go beyond just the hardware modules you choose, as Blocks is partnering with UK jewelry brand Tateossian to offer a range of colored and textured shells to further enhance the look and feel of the watch modules.
As for when the long-promised crowdfunding campaign will start? Blocks says they will kick off the campaign this summer. This is a little later than they originally planned, but the manufacturer ran into a few delays when securing manufacturing agreements and other partnerships. Now that all the partnerships needed have been secured, Blocks promises production will go quickly and smoothly, with the aim of shipping devices around seven to eight months after the funding campaign ends.
Providing costs aren’t too high and they are able to showcase some cool module ideas, would anyone get behind this project? Let us know in the comments.
BBM update brings Material Design and more
Blackberry has certainly fallen from grace in the last few years when it comes to smartphones, but one area where it still finds some level of success is in its BBM messaging service. While the service has been available to Android users for a while now, today Blackberry is rolling out a significant update to its Beta app that makes it much more visually appealing and better in line with the Android look.
The new Material Design interface is easily the most exciting part of this update, bringing a more colorful design, a transparent status bar, and much more. Aside from the revamped look, BBM is also adding private chats where a contact’s names and notifications are disabled, withe chat auto-deleting once closed. You can also now edit your message and publish status updates in the BBM feed.
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For those that are interested in getting the Beta, you’ll want to head to Blackberry’s website and sign up for the Beta.
Intel Announces New Quad-Core Broadwell Processors Appropriate for 15-Inch MacBook Pro
Intel today at Computex 2015 announced its next-generation lineup of quad-core Broadwell processors for notebooks and desktop computers, including a trio of Core i7 processors appropriate for the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro: i7-5950HQ, i7-5850HQ and i7-5750HQ. The new processors have base frequencies of between 2.5 GHz and 2.9 GHz and feature integrated Intel Iris Pro 6200 graphics.
The fifth-generation Broadwell chips are expected to be available in the next 30-60 days, meaning the first notebooks and desktop computers with the new processors should be available in July or August.
Interestingly, Apple refreshed the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro just last month, but noticeably missing were processor upgrades, as the new machines continue to use the same Haswell processors from the previous generation. While appropriate Broadwell chips will soon be available over the next few months, it is possible that Apple did not want to wait that long to refresh the notebook.
It is also possible that Apple will skip fifth-generation Broadwell processors entirely for the MacBook Pro and release Skylake-based notebooks as early as later this year. Intel also announced the future availability of Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C, and USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2 support, and the new spec would be suitable for inclusion in the next refresh to the Mac lineup.
Earphones That Detect Sharing by Multiple Users Proposed in Apple Patent [iOS Blog]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published a patent application filed by Apple in November 2012 (via AppleInsider), detailing a version of Apple’s Earbuds that would smartly detect when two users are sharing the same earphone set and in-turn switch audio to single- or multi-user mode.
The headphones would use a variety of sensors, including an “angle sensor configured to measure an angle at the Y-junction of a cable associated with the pair of headphones,” to determine in real-time whether the device was being used by more than one person. The Y-junction strain detector would measure the widening gap between the point where the headphones split into buds for the right and left ear, measuring whether to readjust the audio for two users as the gap widens or just one when it stays the same.
Interestingly, the patent also details a possible way that two users would not only be able to listen to the same music with better quality on a single pair of headphones, but listen to completely different songs at the same time. Other options are portrayed in the patent for helping to detect a change between user count, ranging from basic mechanical switches to measuring precise angle alignment of a pair of headphones using light transmission and fiber optic cables.
Given that the patent application was filed over two years ago and Apple has yet to release earphones with the proposed technology, it is unlikely the company has plans to do so. Still, as a response to a common use of one of Apple’s products in the wild, today’s patent is definitely an interesting glimpse into the way the company observes unexpected uses of even its most simple creations.
MacRumors Forums Redesigned and on a New Platform
Over the weekend, we launched a new version of the MacRumors Forums. Beyond a long overdue redesign, we also migrated to a new discussion platform called XenForo.
The MacRumors Forums have been running since 2001 and have over 800,000 members and 20,000,000 posts. We have discussions documenting the first iPod, the first iPhone and the death of Steve Jobs.
The move to a new software platform brings us a number of new features, including but not limited to:
– Responsive design
– Auto save text editor
– Social registration and login. Register with Facebook and Twitter.
– Notification system for replies, @mentions, quotes and likes.
– Improved security
The modern new design was carefully crafted by Audentio Design. We are listening to feedback and will be making ongoing tweaks. Please offer specific comments and questions in the site feedback forum or this article thread.
Now is also a great time to register for our forums. Logged-in users see fewer ads in the forums than guests, and can comment on news stories.
Existing users may have to login again if they haven’t since the transition. All users are now allowed an avatar and existing avatars should be updated to the larger size now allowed. There are a small percentage of users who may have to reset their passwords due to the transition. Otherwise, we’ve migrated all existing accounts and posts into the new system. If you have a problem with your account, contact us through our contact form.
Google Calendar SMS notifications getting phased out June 27
Google has announced, starting on June 27, that it will be getting rid of its SMS notifications for the company’s Calendar services.
Normally, whenever there were changes to your schedule, Google’s Calendar service would you send a message via SMS to let you know. However, now that smartphones are so common and easy to buy–many you can get for under $100–using the Calendar app on Android or iOS is so much easier and far more popular. That said, Google will be ushering out its SMS service for Calendar notifications on June 27.
Read more: Best Calendar apps for Android
Here’s the full announcement:
Important: SMS notifications not available after June 27th
Starting on June 27th, 2015, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be sent. SMS notifications launched before smartphones were available. Now, in a world with smartphones and notifications, you can get richer, more reliable experiences on your mobile device, even offline.
To receive notifications on your smartphone, you can use the calendar app that came with your device, or install Google Calendar for Android or iPhone. Learn more about notifications.
Note: This change will not affect Google Apps for Work, Education and Government customers.
In other words, Google recommends just using the Calendar app on Android or iOS, and the app itself will send you notifications to your notification panel, providing you with far more detail than the SMS message would. One benefit to using the app over the SMS services is that the app is not reliant on having Internet connectivity to push you notifications.
Google’s message is clear–technology is moving forward, and if you don’t adapt, you’ll be left behind.
source: Google
via: Android Police
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LG G4 (H815) is the first of many to get an official bootloader unlock
Some time this year LG will be releasing an official tool to unlock the bootloader on certain LG smartphones. They originally announced the idea last year around the time of the LG G3’s release, and we haven’t heard anything more until today.
With LG providing this new tool, developers will be able to use the company’s hardware for development means in a official capacity. For now, there’s only one device supported, and that is the European model of the LG G4 (H815). If you have one and want to pop open the bootloader, just head on over the LG’s website, and they’ll take you through the unlocking process.
Read more: What is rooting and why should I do it?
LG plans on adding more devices to the their development program, such as varying models of the LG G4 and older devices, such as the LG G3 and others. There isn’t an exact date when LG will offer a bootloader unlock for these devices, though.
Keep in mind that by unlocking the bootloader on your LG G4 and other devices they support in the future, you are voiding your warranty. So, if anything were to go wrong, you won’t be able to a get a free replacement or repair, as it would be your fault, not a hardware malfunction on the manufacturer’s side. Either way, if you want to get unlocking, just hit the source link below!
source: LG Developers
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