Deal: Build robots, light sensors and more with the Complete Arduino Starter Kit for 85% off
If you’ve been itching to build your own circuits but have no idea where to start, the AA Deals Store may have something for you. The Complete Arduino Starter Kit & Course Bundle is perfect for beginners and will teach you how to use Arduino to control lights, buzzers and more. Once you master the basics, you can work your way up to controlling motors on any device you can think of – robots, mood lights, instruments and much more.
To use this kit, you don’t need to have a background in soldering or electronics. It also includes easy-to-understand instructions, complete with diagrams and troubleshooting tips. You’ll even get 13 circuits included in the package, each equipped with a breadboard layout.
So, what’s all included in the bundle? First of all, there are way too many pieces included in this kit for us to list here, so you’ll need to head to the deal link below to see the full list. But just know that the kit includes everything you need and more to get started. Aside from that, you’ll get access to:
- ARDX Arduino Starter Kit – Tackle 13 different projects with this fully-stocked beginner’s toolkit ($69.90 value)
- Arduino Step-by-Step ‘Your Guide to the Internet of Things’ Course – Explore the world’s friendliest electronics Prototyping Platform ($200 value)
- Arduino ‘Make a Remote-Controlled Car’ Course – Advance your skills & build a full-featured remote-controlled car ($150 value)
- Beginning Arduino ‘Make Your Own Environment Monitor System’ Course – Create a gadget that posts your environment data to a web logging service ($100 value)
If you’d like to pick up this kit for yourself, the Android Authority Deals Store is currently offering it for only $75.99. At 85% off its normal retail price, this is quite the deal. Head to the link below if you’re interested!
HTC now expects to lose money in Q2, writes off $93 million due to unused production capacity
The price of HTC shares has been sliding ever since early March, when the Taiwanese company unveiled the One M9 to frosty reception. Today, HTC shares hit a new low after the company announced it expects a loss for the quarter ending this month, due to lower than expected sales and a one-time write-off of “idled assets.”
HTC now expects to record a net loss of TW$7.95 billion ($257 million) and TW$9.05 billion ($291 million) for the quarter ending June 30. Revenue is expected to be in the range of TW$33 billion to TW$36 billion. That compares to TW$41.5 billion revenue for the previous quarter.
HTC’s revised prediction for this quarter is 30 percent lower than the previous estimate. The phone maker blamed poor sales and intense competition for this dramatic cut.
The change for revenue outlook is due to slower demand for high-end Android devices, and weaker than forecast sales in China, while gross margin is revised primarily on product mix change and lowered scale. At the same time, increased competition has raised operating costs for product promotion; HTC is enacting measures to further improve operating efficiency.
The poor performance of the One M9 is probably the main reason HTC is doing so bad, even if the company didn’t acknowledge it. HTC said, however, that it would incur a “one-off impairment of NT$2.9bn for idled assets and some prepaid expenses.” In plain English, that means HTC booked more production capacity than it needed, and when demand for its products failed to materialize, it had to foot the bill. This meshes with the report from Taiwanese media claiming HTC cancelled 30 percent of the One M9 production due to lack of consumer interest.
For May 2015, HTC announced revenue of TW$10.79 billion, much lower than the $13.5 billion from April, which was the company’s worst April in six years. And this is just one month after the launch of the One M9.
HTC is trying hard to divert attention from the disaster that the One M9 shapes up to be. The company has launched three high-end phones (all three arguably better than the M9) in China and India in the past weeks. And just yesterday, CEO Cher Wang promised a new “hero” product coming out in October, and significant improvements for the next generation of the M series. Problem is, how much can HTC go at this rate?
HTC CEO apologizes for poor performance, promises new “Hero” device in the fall
It’s no secret that the new flagship this year from HTC, the One M9, hasn’t been a hit. Actually, a scary thought would be if HTC expected it to be. The One M9 did not bring much to the table, in comparison with the One M8 of last year.
It’s apparent that this poor performance has disturbed investors, bringing about a drop in stock to a 12-year low of NT$98. At a shareholders meeting this week, HTC CEO Cher Wang went on to apologize for the cause of the weak numbers this year thus far.
According to the Taipei Times, Cher Wang said “HTC’s performance was mainly due to its poor operational efficiency and overly conservative marketing strategy amid fierce competition in the global market.”
“HTC’s recent performance has let people down“
She went on discuss what will be done to turn things around, promising to deliver a “Hero” product in October, and make a more worthy flagship next year.
In addition, HTC will “improve its product mix strategy for smarphones”. Although limited to China, I think we’ve begun to see this with the recent One ME announcement.
It’s unfortunate to see HTC continually in a rut particularly since they were there in Android’s beginnings. Let’s hope that they can get it together.
As to whether this new device falls back on the actual Hero branding isn’t clear. Typically the fall time frame sees HTC releasing something in the Desire family.
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Apple Now Inviting Apple Watch Customers to ‘Just Walk In’ for Try-Ons [iOS Blog]
Apple today shifted its messaging concerning Apple Watch try-on appointments, which were required in the early days following the wearable’s launch to be able to interact with and size the various models of the Watch. The messaging of try-on appointments has now largely vanished from the Apple Watch’s online storefront, with a notification encouraging customers to visit their local Apple Watch store for workshops on the device or “just walk in to try Apple Watch on.”
In reality, walk-in customers have generally been able to arrange immediate try-on sessions for some time now as the crowds have significantly lessened following the initial surge. With Apple gearing up to begin in-store sales of the Apple Watch in just a few weeks, however, the company is already changing its customer guidance to omit the recommendation of making an appointment.
Even though the messaging is pivoting away from scheduled appointments, it should be noted that retail stores are still accepting try-on appointments for customers wanting to ensure their time with the Apple Watch. Try-on sessions may become a bit busier once in-store sales begin, so at that point appointments may become more advisable.
Apple Store No Longer Sells iPhone With 2-Year Contract on AT&T
Apple overnight removed the option to purchase a new iPhone on a two-year contract with AT&T on the Apple Online Store, eliminating the ability for customers to purchase an iPhone for a subsidized price of $199 or $299 through the carrier. Apple now sells iPhones on AT&T exclusively through the AT&T Next carrier financing program, while two-year contracts remain available through Verizon and Sprint.
AT&T Next allows a customer to purchase a new iPhone for $0 down and make equal payments for 12, 18 or 24 months until the full price of the smartphone has been paid, at which point the device can be traded in for a new iPhone. The full price breakdown for each iPhone model on AT&T Next, available through both the Apple Online Store and Apple Retail Store, is listed below.
iPhone 6
– 16GB: From $21.64/month
– 64GB: From $24.97/month
– 128GB: From $28.30/month
iPhone 6 Plus
– 16GB: From $24.97/month
– 64GB: From $28.30/month
– 128GB: From $31.64/month
The shift away from two-year contracts does not appear to be specific to Apple or iPhone, but rather part of a larger move by AT&T. Droid-Life reported last month that AT&T would begin moving away from two-year contracts on June 1, although the report claims that the option will remain available through AT&T’s website, company-owned retail stores and customer service.
Guess who’s (kinda) keeping ‘Rock Band 4’ from PCs
Rock Band 4 arrives on the PC-like Xbox One and PS4, so it made sense for Eurogamer to ask if the game would ever make its way onto the real thing. Unfortunately, PC gamers won’t be getting a version of their own, and it looks as if the music labels’ heavy-handed demands for anti-piracy measures are to blame. In an interview, Harmonix project director Daniel Sussman explained that the two consoles have various secure tools that make it hard for users to get at the assets inside each game. PCs, in his words, are more of an “open platform,” which would put the onus on Harmonix to protect the “licensed music” that’s featured in the title. Squint hard enough and those lines roughly translate to: we could, but labels want us to lock their music up so tight that it’d be impossible to achieve on the PC.
It’s not the only objection to the idea of launching a third version of the music game, as executives are worried that there isn’t enough of an audience to sustain a release. After all, nobody has done it before, and you know how risk-averse these types can be. Sussman did leave the door open for a PC version further down the line, saying that nothing is “unsolvable,” but given the costs of making a PC game secure enough for a picky studio head, we’re not optimistic. Oh, and if you are the head of a major music label, just remember that people can listen to all of the title’s tracks on YouTube, you know, for free. Look, we can even embed some right here:
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Eurogamer
Nubia’s bezel-free Z9 smartphone is coming to the US
If I had a nickel for every “ugh, too much bezel!” comment, I’d have… well, a few bucks anyway. That’s why it’s good news that Nubia’s borderless 5.2-inch Z9 smartphone is coming to the US next quarter at a rather tempting price. We already previewed the Z9 when it came to China last month, but here are the Cliff notes. First off, it’s a bezel-hater’s dream — there’s nothing there but a slim metal frame, which actually does double-duty as a touch surface. By gripping it in various ways, you can do tasks like unlock the home screen, adjust the brightness and even flip it to single-hand mode.
It has an optically stabilized 16-megapixel f/2.0 rear camera (8-megapixel front camera) with Sony’s latest IMX234 CMOS sensor that we first saw (and liked) on LG’s G4. The 5.2-inch screen is 1080p and not Quad HD, but we’re quite okay with that. The rest of the specs are also pretty nice: a Snapdragon 810 CPU, Android 5.0 Lollipop and a 2,900mAh battery. For all that, the price seems pretty fair. It’ll arrive in the US for $564 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage, $645 with 4GB RAM/64GB storage, and $725 with a fingerprint reader. It’s also nice to see a high-end smartphone from a Chinese manufacturer you can actually buy here — it’ll be available at “select retailers,” or online in Q3 2015.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Nubia
How an astronaut shook hands with someone on Earth from space
NASA astronaut Terry Virts is part of the current ISS crew, while ESA telerobotics specialist André Schiele is in the Netherlands. Thanks to two special joysticks with force feedback in both locations, though, they were able to “shake hands” during a recent demo of the first space-to-ground remote control. They took turns to move their respective joysticks, while the other felt the movement through theirs. Schiele said “[i]t felt as though Terry was extending his arm down from space to shake [his] hand.” This is the first time the technology was tested between two people — astronaut Butch Wilmore tried it alone in the past — and it seemed to work great even if the ISS was in orbit, flying over 3,000 miles away from the Netherlands at that moment.
The European Space Agency plans to use to the technology for future rover missions. See, it takes 12 minutes for a command from Earth to reach a Mars rover, and it would take a lot longer if the rover’s perched on a farther planet or moon. So instead of sending commands to a rover from Earth, the ESA wants an astronaut aboard a spacecraft orbiting the target celestial body to control it. During Virts’ and Schiele’s test, they only experienced a 0.8 second lag — that’s pretty much negligible when you consider the fact that the signals traveled through Houston mission control, across the vast Atlantic Ocean and to/from outer space.
It’s worth noting that Virts had a real time video of the ground, superimposed with augmented reality elements, telling him the direction and force he needs to exert on the joystick. Those elements might be incorporated into a rover’s control system in the future. Before the technology can be put in charge of billion-dollar space machines, though, it has to be tested further. For the next round, ESA plans to conduct blind tests using different objects made of foam to determine if astronauts can detect an item’s hardness remotely. That could become an important feature when picking up sample rocks, dust, ice, et cetera from extraterrestrial lands.
Source: ESA
Doom 3: BFG Edition beautifully remasters classics for Shield devices
If you’re looking for an excellent action game for your new NVIDIA Shield Tablet or Shield Android TV, Doom 3 BFG Edition is now available on Google Play.
Doom 3 BFG puts you in the center of the action at a research plant on Mars, searching for lost comrades. As every video game or Hollywood movie goes, something goes awfully wrong, and now you’re fighting off hordes of the undead.
The game is only available for Shield devices, and can be purchased from the Google Play Store for $9.99. It’s a steep price, but it’s packed full of content, as classics Doom and Doom II are included in this new edition.
If you’re ready to smash some demons in this first-person shooter, scan the QR code or hit the download link below!
Come comment on this article: Doom 3: BFG Edition beautifully remasters classics for Shield devices
Skype rolls out ‘Click to Call’ for desktop and Android devices
There’s a fine line between convenience, and laziness, and often we confuse the two, intentionally or not. Skype has introduced a new tool for us to help differentiate, or further confuse the two. This week, the folks over at Skype have released a tool that will works in parallel with your browser, and allows users to quickly call companies that have been found via search.
There are only two or three prerequisites that must be met before we can go ahead and start calling to order pizza, or to check availability of something before heading out to the store. You must have a Skype account and be logged into either your computer, or your phone.
What makes this tool cool, is that if you already have Skype on your device, you can simply tap the “Click to Call” and the number will be dialed for you and the call will be directed to the Skype app on your phone. Most phone plans have unlimited minutes, but there are plans still out there that have limited minutes, so this can help out and make sure that your minutes don’t get burned through.
Imagine you’re tracking a parcel on your computer and you need to call the delivery company. Simply find their number online, which Skype Click to Call will have highlighted for you, then select Call from mobile and the number will be sent to Skype on your mobile. Just pick up your mobile, swipe and start the call without ever having to type in any numbers.x
After the Add-On is installed, while users are searching, users will see the phone number associated with whatever company they are researching. From here, you should see a small Skype icon, and when the number is selected, a drop-down menu appears. From the drop-down menu, you will either be able to Call using your desktop Skype client, Call from Mobile, or Add to Skype.
Currently, the ability to Call from Mobile is only available for Android users, but it is expected to roll out to other platforms later this year. It will be interesting to see if this catches on, and turns into more than just a “convenience” tool. In regards to the cost, most companies absorb the cost that would normally be attached to this, so most calls can be made for free, without having to purchase any Skype credits or minutes.
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