Facebook’s Place Tips goes national, retailers get free beacons
Six months after its initial trial run, Facebook’s Place Tips program is finally expanding nationwide. Place Tips employs Bluetooth beacons to push FB posts and photos about a business to shoppers’ phones while they’re in the store. So if you’re standing in line at, say Wetzel’s Pretzels in the mall. If that pretzel stand has a Place Tips beacon, it will push information (and potentially coupons) to your phone automatically — you as the customer simply have to open you Facebook app to access them.
The program originally rolled out to a few select retailers in New York City at the start of the year, however, Facebook announced on Monday that it is now available to any business in America. What’s more, the company has released a web app that will allow store owners to request a free beacon of their own. Retailers won’t be able to advertise using this service to start but, then again, they initially couldn’t on Instagram either.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: Re/Code
Source: Facebook
Wales to ban e-cigarettes in public places
While the debate over the risks of e-cigarettes continues to rage on, some governments aren’t taking any chances and have enforced new rules to limit their use. Belgium and Spain have already introduced public bans, and now Wales is planning to do the same. The Welsh Government today announced that it will seek to prohibit vaping in “enclosed public spaces” as part of a new Public Health Bill designed to “protect the health and wellbeing” of people living in the country.
The Bill will ensure Wales becomes the first country in the UK to bring vaping into line with the existing ban on traditional cigarettes. Ministers don’t appear to be focusing on the health effects of e-cigarettes, but are keen to limit the normalisation of smoking. It’s argued that children may be incentivised to take up smoking if vaping is allowed in public spaces. The jury is still out while studies continue to assess the impact of e-cigarettes, but if Wales sets a hard line now, there’s talk it might relax the rules if they’re deemed safe in the future.
Via: BBC News
Source: Welsh Government
Snapchat for iOS switches cameras with a double-tap
If you’re recording a Snapchat clip on your iPhone, it’s now much easier to show friends both your handsome face and whatever you’re looking at. The video messaging service has updated its iOS app with a feature that switches between the front and rear cameras with a double-tap of the screen. Snapchat is also tackling some of its security woes by optionally sending an SMS code to make sure that it’s really you signing in. There’s no mention of a corresponding Android upgrade, but it’s easy to see that coming soon.
[Image credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile
Source: App Store
Netflix is producing a satirical war movie starring Brad Pitt
Netflix has scored some big names for its exclusive content in the past, but its latest coup is one of its largest yet. The streaming video service is teaming up with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to produce War Machine, a satirical movie about the war in Afghanistan that will have Pitt playing a “rock star” general trying to juggle politics, the press and the realities of combat. The flick will reach Netflix sometime in 2016, although you’ll also find it in “select” movie theaters that year if you have to see yet another Brad Pitt war movie on the silver screen.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Netflix
Apple Music still needs tuning
Apple Music: As simple as the name is, what it offers is surprisingly complex. It bundles in a streaming service, a 24/7 radio network and a whole new social outreach tool for artists. Oh, and you’ll use the same Apple Music app to access all your regular iTunes purchased music too. As soon as June 30th rolls around, the new Apple Music app will be the default one-stop shop for music on devices with iOS 8.4 and up (assuming you’ll cough up $9.99 a month for an individual subscription or $14.99 for a family sub for up to six people).
If there’s one thing that struck me immediately about Apple Music, is that its design language is quintessentially Apple. While Rdio and Spotify — arguably Apple Music’s primary competitors — have their own distinct menu trees and user interfaces, Apple Music looks very much like a default iOS app, with five menu bar options at the bottom and the header up top. If you’re familiar with the default Music app on iOS, you’ll already know how to use Apple Music. There are a few differences though. For one thing, you can minimize the music player to a mini version at the bottom of the screen, which you can then expand to the full interface. Just like Rdio and Spotify, if you like a particular song or album, you can add it to your My Music collection for later playback. There’s also the option to save the track for offline playback, though Apple wouldn’t blab about quality and bitrate.
The first tab you’ll see when you open the app is a “For You” section that lists recommended playlists and albums. The selection is based on a brief setup where you select your favorite genres and artists by tapping bubbles — if you have any experience with Beats Music, this part will seem especially familiar. In our demo, it listed the same playlists and albums as seen in the keynote, with a couple of Springsteen and rock-related playlists up top and a slew of suggested albums underneath. We’re told that the playlists are assembled by actual humans and not algorithms — apparently Apple hired a number of folks to curate these lists.
The tab next to it is simply labeled “New” which, you guessed it, lists new artists and tracks that the service thinks you might like. You’ll also see an assortment of recent playlists that are curated either by Apple’s own editors or by music magazines like Djmag, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. There are playlist organized by activities like running, driving and relaxing, too, which we especially liked. Expect the roster of curators to expand as Apple Music swells in influence; we didn’t get much time to futz around with it. Of course, there are the usual top song charts here as well, though they’re table stakes at this point.
The other big music announcement at WWDC: Radio, a whole new radio service called Beats 1. It’s a 24/7 global radio network broadcasting from Los Angeles, New York and London and while it wasn’t really up and running during our preview, we’re told Beats 1 will feature interviews with artists and segments like a proper radio station. We asked if there’ll be a daily roster or schedule so that we’d know who was going to be featured when, and were given a tentative “yes” in response. And hey, if you’d rather listen to all those genre stations from iTunes Radio instead, you can do the same here as well — the Apple Music version replaces the original.
Apple’s Connect lives in a tab of of its own, and it’s an awfully Tumblr-y way for artists to reach out to their fans. It can be more personal than you’d imagine, too. Once you — an artiste — have been verified, you can fill your Connect feed with songs, photos and video straight from within the Music app, no intermediaries involved. Meanwhile, users can heart posts, leave a comments and also share them to other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Thing is, it’s a confusing, top-down social approach that just tries to replicate what artists are already doing elsewhere.
Consider one of the service’s biggest competitors: A key driver for Spotify’s success is that you, the user, have your own presence. You can see what people you care about are listening to. You can cobble together playlists and cast them to the winds, and maybe, just maybe, people will find your peculiar sense of taste valuable. It’s a social stream that runs in multiple directions while Apple’s construct is mostly just for broadcasting. That’s not to say it’s valueless, but if you’re following Queen Bey on Twitter or Instagram, Connect probably won’t do much for you.
And then there’s My Music, which is, well, your entire music library. It’ll contain both your iTunes purchases as well as the songs that you added from the subscription service. This is arguably the least interesting part of the Music experience, since it basically acts the way the old-school Music app worked once you added all your subscription music selections. If you’re a purist, it’ll probably wind up being where you spend most of your time.
Apple’s late to the game when it comes to streaming music, and it’s going to throw every feature it can at us until we start buying in. At this (admittedly early) stage, Apple Music feels like a mish-mosh of a disparate elements the company thinks we might want, but whatever it lacks in elegance, it makes up for in presence.
There were ways to download music before iTunes, but iTunes grew in dominance simply because it was so easy to use. The same could happen to Music. After all, everyone who upgrades to iOS 8.4 will wind up getting Apple Music’s full slate of features free for three months. How many of those people have never used a streaming service before? How many people will sign up because it’s there and it’s just convenient? Competitors like Spotify and Rdio aren’t going to close up shop after this, but their jobs just got a whole lot trickier. That’s as good an outcome as a newcomer like Apple could hope for.
Filed under: Apple
Apple’s ‘Move to iOS’ app makes it easy to switch from Android
Apple’s upcoming mobile platform apparently comes with a new app called “Move to iOS” that wirelessly transfers data from Android devices to iPhones and iPads. It was curiously skipped over during the company’s WWDC keynote earlier, but Daring Fireball points it out buried underneath all the new features on the iOS 9 preview page. The page doesn’t go into details, but “Move to iOS” will presumably be available on the Play Store, so you can download it on an Android device — right next to Apple’s other upcoming Android app — to enable wireless transfer.
Apple says the process can securely copy over “your contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, calendars, wallpaper, and DRM-free songs and books.” Plus, it marks your free apps like Facebook as suggested downloads in the App Store, adds paid ones to your iTunes Wish List and “helpfully” suggests recycling that old Android phone. It’s unclear when the app’s Android part will hit Google’s app marketplace, but you might be able to check the iOS 9 version as soon as July if you sign up for public beta access.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple
Via: Daring Fireball
Source: Apple
Moto G 2015 Release Date Next Month, Hints Lenovo CEO
Yibada reports that Lenovo’s chairman and CEO, Yang Yuanqing, tells that the company is preparing for the release of products this summer.
In a statement to The Telegraph, Yuanqing explained, “We have many new models in development with the Moto brands. So you may see us launching some very exciting products, including phones and watches.”
It is expected that one of these phones will be the Moto G 2015. After all, the first ever Moto G was released in November 2013, and the second generation variant came out 10 months later in September 2014. If this is a planned 10-month release cycle, then the Moto G 2015 should be revealed in July.
Of course, this is just speculation that has not been confirmed by the company. At least we’ll know what these products will be next month.
The post Moto G 2015 Release Date Next Month, Hints Lenovo CEO appeared first on AndroidGuys.
2015 Apple Design Award Winners Announced: Fantastical 2, Workflow, Crossy Road, and More
Following today’s Worldwide Developers keynote, Apple held an event to announce the winners of its prestigious Apple Design Awards. Apple’s Design Awards are handed out each year and highlight a selection of the year’s best apps available on iOS and Mac, honoring all kinds of apps from utilities to games.
Apple created its design awards to recognize high-quality apps that combine design and technology in creative, compelling, and powerful ways. Along with significant recognition and a trophy, Apple gives its Design Award winners a selection of Apple products each year.
This year’s winners include popular calendar app Fantastical 2, personal automation tool Workflow, and stock trading app Robinhood. Games recognized included Shadowmatic and Crossy Road.
iOS and Mac
– Shadowmatic [iOS]
– Robinhood [iOS]
– Crossy Road [iOS]
– Workflow [iOS]
– Does Not Commute [iOS]
– Vainglory [iOS]
– Pacemaker [iOS]
– Metamorphabet [iOS]
– Fantastical 2 [Mac]
– Affinity Designer [Mac]
Student Winners
– Jump-O [iOS]
– Elementary Minute [iOS]
2014 winners of the Apple Design Awards included Threes!, Leo’s Fortune, Blek, and Monument Valley. 2013 winners included Letterpress, Yahoo! Weather, and Evernote.
Apple Shares Full Video of Today’s WWDC Keynote Presentation
With Apple’s big Worldwide Developers Conference keynote wrapped up, the company has posted a full video of the event on its website, letting viewers who missed the keynote watch all the announcements on their own time. Apple will also eventually upload the live stream to iTunes and YouTube.
During the keynote, Apple also shared several videos on Apple Music and a video on the App Store, which we’ve listed below.
– Apple Music – Music needed a home…so we built it one.
– Apple Music – Worldwide
– Apple Music – History of Sound
– The App Effect
Along with the videos, you can also check out our full list of media event highlights below, featuring all of MacRumors event coverage. The list includes posts with details on what Apple announced and in-depth posts on specific features that we added throughout the day.
– Live Coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2015 Keynote: iOS 9, OS X 10.11, Apple Music, and More
– Apple Announces OS X El Capitan With Split View, Contextual Spotlight, Updated Apps and More, Launches in Fall
– Apple Announces Metal for OS X El Capitan
– Apple Pay Coming to the United Kingdom Next Month, Discover Card Support Arriving This Fall
– Apple Introduces ‘News’ App to Bring Personalized Stories to iOS 9
– Apple Announces Multitasking Experiences for iPad with iOS 9
– Apple Announces Swift 2, Open Source for iOS, OS X and Linux
– App Store Surpasses 100 Billion Lifetime Downloads
– Apple Announces ‘Apple Music’ With ‘Beats 1′ Live Radio Station, Launches June 30 for $9.99/Month
– Apple Announces watchOS 2 With Native Apps, Third-Party Complications, and More
– Apple Announces iOS 9 With Proactive Siri, Maps Transit, iPad Multitasking and More
– Apple Merges iOS, WatchOS and Mac Developer Programs
– ‘Move to iOS’ App Allows for No Hassle Android-to-iOS Data Transfer
– Dedicated iCloud Drive App Included Within Settings of iOS 9
– Apple Confirms Activation Lock Safety Feature for watchOS 2
– iOS 9 Tidbits: Battery Saving Features, Search for Settings, Keyboard Changes, Email Attachments, and More
– OS X 10.11 El Capitan Runs on All Macs Capable of Running Yosemite
– Apple Music to Support Saving Playlists and Songs for Offline Listening
Google enforcing app design for Android Auto apps to minimize safety concerns
Google has typically taken a very lax stance on Android apps, as we’ve all seen in the Play Store. It’s a very different approach than what you’ll find in other app ecosystems, but for the most part, it’s worked pretty well for Google. Regardless of your stance on the issue, it’s been very clear that Google is taking Android Auto and Android TV apps a little more seriously and putting efficient design at the forefront without allowing the app stores to get flooded with stuff from any app developer.
With the first wave of Android Auto vehicles rolling out, there are about 35 apps available for the platform. Compared to the millions and millions on the Play Store, that’s an extremely small number. Google has a good reason behind that, though, since addictive apps that work on your car’s dashboard are, well, dangerous.
Instead of allowing any apps onto the store for Android Auto, Google is holding developers responsible to a template for every single app that mitigates the amount of time spent looking at the screen and the number of taps and presses that are necessary to interact with the app. This keeps distractions to a minimum and keeps drivers focused on the road, which is an incredibly responsible move on Google’s part.
Google’s template includes common typefaces and button layouts and enforces specific color palettes that are easy to see in the sunlight and not too harsh on the eyes at night. If an app doesn’t meet the criteria, it’s sent back to the developer to make changes until it’s considered safe for Android Auto.
Google isn’t taking shortcuts with this process, either. There’s no software or algorithm that checks this stuff out, but instead an actual human being that reviews every app to make sure that it meets Google’s self-imposed safety standards.
For now, don’t expect too many Android Auto apps to flood the market. At least not until Google hammers out the details of its self-driving cars. Then we can all watch Netflix and play Candy Crush on those long road trips with no worries whatsoever.
source: Auto News
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