Blizzard’s ‘Heroes of the Storm’ officially launches today
You’re entirely forgiven if you thought that Blizzard’s take on the MOBA genre (or multiplayer online battle arena if you aren’t into the whole brevity thing), Heroes of the Storm was already released. What, with the massive beta and equally sizable ad campaign that’s taken over late-night TV recently that’s perfectly understandable. However, the official release is actually today, and with it comes a commemorative in-game portrait and experience-point boosts for those playing for this first week and the first three weeks, respectively. In case you haven’t given it a go yet and are curious what it looks like when Starcraft characters duke it out with those from Warcraft, there’s really not much stopping you from at least giving it a try. The game is free to download and play, after all. And who knows, if you dig it you could be the next hero of the dorm.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Blizzard Entertainment
Android is getting its first full Harvest Moon title this winter
If you’re a fan of the Harvest Moon franchise, you may want to listen up. Earlier today, video game developer Natsume announced that the next title in the Harvest Moon series will make its way to Android devices sometime this winter. The game is called Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories, and will also be made available on the Wii U, PC and iOS devices. Natsume has only brought the Harvest Moon series to Nintendo and Playstation consoles in the past, which means Seeds of Memories is the first (and hopefully not the last) mainland title to come to mobile devices.
The new game will fit in nicely with other titles from the franchise, bringing the same addictive farming simulation experience we’ve all grown to love. In Seeds of Memories, you’ll need to perform various tasks to collect all of the ‘Seeds of Memories’. Seeds can be collected many different ways, such as giving a villager their favorite item, catching a giant fish, or by raising your first cow.
You can expect to see cows, sheep and chickens return in the series, along with a horse to ride and a dog to keep as a pet. You can also participate in contests and festivals, and try to win the hand of one of ten marriage candidates – five bachelors and five bachelorettes – and find that special someone to make your farming life complete.
Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories won’t be widely available until sometime this winter, but there will be an early look at the game at E3 2015. Android Authority will be live at E3 this year, so we’ll be sure to bring you a first-hand look at the new title when it’s shown off at the expo.
Chrome OS update brings physical keyboard autocorrection and more
In a world made simple by computers, it is only unfair to expect people to type fully accurate sentences without the help of technologies such as spell-check and auto correct. However, a new stable channel update for Chrome OS will never let you make spelling mistakes again.
The update includes new features such as physical keyboard auto correction and autofill for credit card information stored in Google Wallet. Google has fixed a number of bugs in Chrome OS version 43.0.2357.81 in addition to a host of new features and some security updates. Here is what is new in the latest update.
- Autofill settings for credit cards from Google Wallet
- Enable always-on “OK Google” from anywhere when screen is unlocked on new Chromebook Pixel
- Physical keyboard auto correction
- Material design for Virtual keyboard UI
Google will begin rolling the update to Chrome OS devices over the next few days.
Source: Google
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Imgur gets a complete redesign, better uploader and more in its first native Android app
Imgur has been one of the most popular image hosting services on the web for some time now, even though the service’s previous Android application was pretty slow and was in dire need of a redesign. But now folks who use the service will be happy to hear that Imgur has been relaunched to the Google Play Store as a fully native application, bringing with it a huge redesign.
The whole app works much better than before. Swiping through images in the redesigned gallery is a breeze this time around, and there’s a brand new uploader that makes it much easier to quickly post a photo. If you’re interested in the full changelog, check it out below:
- Our first fully native Android app, built from scratch and with love.
- Redesigned gallery made just for mobile that lets you focus most on what matters: the images, comments, and community.
- New and improved upload. Create a new post with your camera, saved images, and a healthy dose of your superior storytelling abilities.
- Bug fix: you’ll no longer get stuck in an image loop.
- Browse by topic to find the posts that interest you most.
- Bug fix: you’ll no longer get stuck in an image loop
If you’re a fan of browsing through Internet memes and want that experience at your fingertips at all times, look no further than the new Imgur app. Version 2.0 is now available from the Google Play Store for free.
Google to test self-driving cars on congested Virginia highways
Google is to being testing its self-driving cars – also known as autonomous vehicles – on the highways of Virginia according to a new report, which suggested the testing will take place across more than 70 miles of highways adjacent to Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia.
According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The research will be overseen by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute on portions of Interstates 95, 495 and 66 as well as on U.S. 29 and U.S. 50 that are being dubbed Virginia Automated Corridors.
Test tracks at the institute’s Smart Road in Montgomery County and the Virginia International Raceway in Halifax County will be used to certify technology as safe before the cars are allowed on the highway.
Virginia will join other states such as California, Michigan, Florida, Nevada and Washington D.C. as states that currently allow testing of computer-driven vehicles but will look to make it easier than other states have for manufacturers to test their autonomous technologies. Myra Blanco, director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s Center for Automated Vehicle Systems, said:
“Other states are saying you need to prove that independently you can do all this testing. What we are trying to do is show them how to do the testing and how to facilitate the process as well.”
“I think this is going to help us advance the technology and even more important, to attract companies and satellite offices in the Northern Virginia area to develop these new concepts.”
The congested highways of Northern Virginia will provide the sternest test so far for Google’s autonomous fleet but will provide an indication of just how good self-driving cars are on busy streets. Part of the challenge facing Google – and other autonomous vehicle manufacturers – is the ability to adjust to constantly updating information, including traffic jams, construction and incidents.
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Blanco said that she expects self-driving cars to have a large impact on daily life and provide solutions to problems such as mobility for the elderly or disabled and assisting drivers (and even taking control) in dangerous situations.
“It’s potentially similar to when we started with revolutionary technology like the cellphone. We’re not even able to imagine all the benefits 10 to 20 years from now.”
When will self-driving cars actually be available to buy? One of Google’s Project Leads said he expected them to be available within five years but Google also said the same thing back in 2012. However long it takes, you’ll soon be able to sit back and relax while your car drives you.
Asus intros the ZenFone Selfie at Computex
Whether the word “Selfie” irks you or not, the trend is here to stay. The presence of selfie sticks are increasing and we have begun seeing selfie-centric Android phone variants hit the market that focus on a strong front-facing camera, such as the HTC Desire Eye of 2014.
With the popularity of the recent Asus Zenfone 2, Asus thought it a good opportunity to jump in and give us the Asus Zenfone Selfie, announced at this year’s Computex in Taipei.
Like the HTC Desire Eye, the Zenfone Selfie takes the Zenfone 2 design and slaps in a large front-facing camera, centered on the top bezel. The front camera is almost identical to the 13 MP rear camera, being that the latter has a slighter wider aperture at F/2.0 versus the F/2.2 aperture on the front.
Interestingly, Asus broke its tie with Intel on the chipset of the Zenfone Selfie, replacing the Atom Z3580 SoC with a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core with Adreno 405 GPU SoC.
Other than these changes, we’re seeing very similar device to the Zenfone 2, only with the drop of the 4 GB RAM option down to 3 GB.
There are also a multitude of features to help you make the most of your selfie-taking experience, dubbed the PixelMaster Selfie Experience:
- ZenMotion – Gesture of swiping “S” on the screen to launch into the selfie camera interface.
- Selfie Panorama Mode – So you can fit all your friends in the shot.
- Beautification Mode – Like artifical makeup, you can improve skin tone and smooth blemishes.
- Backlight (Super HDR) Technology – Improves light balance, such as with the undesirable dark face occurrence.
- Low Light Mode – Ability to capture clearer photos in dark environments.
- Dual-LED “Real Tone” Flash – More natural illumination.
We’ll see how useful these promises turn out to be in our real-world experience with the Zenfone Selfie. Pricing and availability have not yet been announced by Asus.
The post Asus intros the ZenFone Selfie at Computex appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Magic Leap opens its augmented reality platform to developers
Magic Leap’s vision for the future of augmented reality is mind-blowing. However, the mysterious startup, which Google backed with a hefty cash investment, knows this won’t be possible without support from third-party developers. That’s why it plans to open up its AR platform to content creators, including those who make games, films and more. Today’s announcement took place at MIT’s EmTech Digital conference, where CEO Rony Abovitz and other members of Magic Leap’s team took the stage to reveal their intentions. The SDK is expected to support both the Unreal and Unity gaming engines, which signals a good start. If you’re a developer interested in gaining access to these tools, you can register now via the company’s website.
Our own @rabovitz, @zaphodgjd & @nealstephenson taking the stage at this years @techreview conf: pic.twitter.com/OvEbqpbx1S
– Magic Leap, Inc. (@magicleap) June 2, 2015
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Google
Source: TechCrunch
Logitech’s Harmony remotes can control your PS4 too
The PlayStation 4 is a lot of (mostly great) things, but easy to control without its DualShock 4 paddle isn’t one of them. That changes today so long as you have a Logitech Harmony remote sitting on your couch or coffee table. The company announced that the latest update to its hub-based wands, or the app, grants the ability to control not just the console’s system menus and Blu-rays via Bluetooth, but streaming apps like Amazon Instant Video and Netflix too. Pretty handy! There’s a caveat though, and it’s a relatively big one: You can’t use the remotes to turn your PS4 on. So, just remember to hit the power button (it’s the top one) on your system before investigating why everyone’s gaga for Daredevil.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: Logitech
What’s on your HDTV: ‘Sense8’, ‘The Wire’ Blu-ray, ‘Community’ finale
First up, for sports fans this week is all about the finals, whether NBA or NHL — it’s time to take the trophy home. Otherwise, the Wachowskis have a big week, with the release of Jupiter Ascending on Blu-ray, and the new series Sense8 hitting Netflix Friday morning. The remastered version of The Wire is available on Blu-ray, along with the final season of Justified. The season finale of Community on Yahoo is also available, and there are reports it will come back for another season. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLMKk4lSYoM-y4Oq-gGzwGvORDaydDe5eO
Blu-ray & Games & Streaming
- Jupiter Ascending (3D)
- Justified (Final Season)
- Focus
- Falling Skies (S4)
- McFarland, USA
- The Wire: The Complete Series
- Scarecrows
- The Spongebob Movie (3D)
- Heroes of the Storm (PC, Mac)
- Sparkle Unleashed (PS4, PS3)
- The Escapists (PS4)
- Wander (PS4, PC)
- The Swapper (Xbox One)
- D4 (PC)
Tuesday
- Community (season finale), Yahoo Screen, 3AM
- America’s Got Talent, NBC, 8PM
- Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, Fox, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars (season premiere), ABC Family, 8PM
- Stitchers (series premiere), ABC Family, 9PM
- Deadliest Catch, Discovery, 9PM
- iZombie, CW, 9PM
- Royal Pains (season premiere), USA, 10PM
- I Can Do That, NBC, 10PM
- Finding Carter, MTV, 10PM
- Your Family or Mine, TBS, 10PM
- Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Inside Amy Schumer, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Inside Comedy, Showtime, 11PM
Wednesday
- NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 1, NBC, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey (summer premiere), ABC Family, 8PM
- Unsung: Ike Turner (season premiere), TV One, 8PM
- The Briefcase, CBS, 8PM
- Baby Daddy (summer premiere), ABC Family, 8:30PM
- 60 Minutes Sports, Showtime, 9PM
- Bullseye, Fox, 9PM
- The Ultimate Fighter, Fox Sports 1, 10PM
- Ripper Street, BBC America, 10PM
- Air Pressure, Discovery, 10PM
Thursday
- NBA Finals Game 1, ABC, 9PM
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- WWE Smackdown, Syfy, 8PM
- Aquarius, NBC, 9PM
- Wayward Pines, Fox, 9PM
- Hannibal (season premiere), NBC, 10PM
- Lost Girl (summer finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Maron, IFC, 10PM
- The Comedians, FX, 10PM
- Olympus, Syfy, 11PM
- Between, Netflix, 11:30PM
- 3AM, Showtime, 12AM
- Major Lazer, FXX, 12AM
- Axe Cop, FXX, 12:15AM
Friday
- Sense8 (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Cold Justice, TNT, 8PM
- Whose Line is it Anyway?, CW, 8PM
- One Direction – Were We Are:Live from San Siro Stadium, Showtime, 9PM
- Bitten, Syfy, 9PM
- The Messengers, CW, 9PM
- Bitten (season finale), Syfy, 11PM
- Vice, HBO, 11PM
- Comedy Bang! Bang!, IFC, 11PM
Saturday
- NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 2, NBC, 8PM
- Orphan Black, BBC America, 9PM
- Power (season premiere), Starz, 9PM
- Life Story (series premiere), Discovery, 9 & 10PM
Sunday
- NBA Finals Game 2, ABC, 8PM
- The 69th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 8PM
- Game of Thrones, HBO, 9PM
- Nurse Jackie, Showtime, 9PM
- A.D. The Bible Continues, NBC, 9PM
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9PM
- Happyish, Showtime, 9:30PM
- Golan the Insatiable, Fox, 9:30PM
- Halt and Catch Fire, AMC, 10PM
- Penny Dreadful, Showtime, 10PM
- Silicon Valley, HBO, 10PM
- Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 10PM
- American Odyssey, NBC, 10PM
- Salem, WGN, 10PM
- Veep, HBO, 10:30PM
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
A Closer Look at the New App Settings Menu with Granular Permission Controls in Android M
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One of the most anticipated features in the latest and greatest version of Google’s popular smartphone OS, Android M, is granular app permission control. To the average user, this might be the equivalent of speaking a foreign language that does not compute, but for those who prefer to take a safer approach to mobile computing, this is a welcome addition that has been requested for some time now. For those unfamiliar, or even those interested in seeing how it works, let’s take a look at what’s new in the app settings menu in the first Developer Preview of Android M.
The first thing I noticed when looking in the new Settings > Apps menu: there is only one unified screen that has all of your installed apps. In the past, there was a tab for downloaded apps, running apps, and all apps. Now, everything is listed in one place making it easier to find what you’re looking for. In the top right-hand corner, there is a search button (for those of you who like to install tons of apps) and a hamburger menu that has advanced options, a setting to show or hide system apps, and an option to reset app preferences.
The advanced settings menu has the following submenus, which I’ll give you a brief rundown of below:
- Default Apps — Set your default browser, phone, and SMS apps; there’s also an Assist setting that lets the assist app see what you’ve done on your screen.
- App Links — Developers can add an “autoVerify” attribute to their app manifest to tell the operating system that there is no need to prompt the user for certain types of links. When users click on links that meet the criteria, it will bring them straight to the auto-verified app. In this setting field, users can toggle the option to open supported links without asking.
- App Permissions — This is a super handy new field that lists all the possible permissions an app might require of your devices, like your camera, location, and phone. Clicking on any one of these fields will bring up a list of every app installed on your device that uses a particular permission. This can be extremely useful for limiting access to an app from a developer that isn’t 100% trusted. After all, a rogue app with the access to the right app permissions could end up causing more than just a headache to the device owner.
- Ignore Optimizations — Android M features a pretty awesome new battery-saving tool, called Doze Mode. The ignore optimizations tab gives users the ability to select which apps they want to ignore these battery optimizations. By default, Google Play Services, Google Play Store, and Download Manager are all set to ignore, likely because they will not function properly if this option wasn’t selected.
- Memory — Another revamped screen, the memory tab shows each app, how often the app is running, and the amount of RAM each app is accountable for consuming. This can be particularly useful when tracking down rogue apps that chew through battery life and cause your device to perform slowly.
So, What are Granular App Permissions?
Granular app permissions allow the user to pick which permissions a given app has access to. This can be tested by selecting an app from the Settings > Apps menu. The menu here has also been revamped, now displaying the amount of storage the app is using, the amount of data the app has used, permissions, notifications, defaults, and battery consumption — virtually everything you could want to know about said app. Clicking the permissions button leads you to the list of permissions the app in question can use, along with toggle switches that allow you to turn on and off each permission. For example, the Android Wear app uses the following permissions:
- Contacts
- Phone
- Calendar
- Location
- Microphone
- SMS
Any of these permissions can be denied by the user, for any number of reasons. In the case of trusted apps, you won’t likely disable many permissions, but it’s always nice to be able to do so if the need arises. When it comes to apps from developers you are not familiar with, you can now at least test their apps with total control over which permissions these apps can and cannot access.
Pretty nifty, right?
The post A Closer Look at the New App Settings Menu with Granular Permission Controls in Android M appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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