Netflix pushes ‘OITNB’ release six hours early during primetime
We were expecting season three of Orange is the New Black to become available for streaming at about 3AM ET tonight, but Netflix surprised everyone and released it at about 9PM. That was during its “OrangeCon” event in New York City for fans, but really raises an interesting question. What if Netflix bumps its all-at-once original series releases from those early morning hours to right in the middle of primetime? There’s not much on tonight other than the NBA playoffs, but pulling such a stunt in the think of the fall TV season could be an interesting experiment — if Netflix ever does it again.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vbyLDR3mD3A?rel=0
Attention inmates! Orange Is the New Black season 3 is out on early release. #OrangeCon
– Netflix US (@netflix) June 12, 2015
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Netflix
Japanese Sony Xperia Z4 owners complain of heat issues
In less than two days after its launch in Japan, the Sony Xperia Z4 already has suffered from heat issues. The Xperia Blog explains that users have taken to the likes of Twitter and forums, telling of and posting screenshots of benchmarks in relation to the problem. They have run benchmarks in order to get a sense of why their devices are throttling.
An NTT docomo retail store warning about the Snapdragon 810 processor
Japanese retail locations are warning potential customers about the commonly mentioned heating issues of the Snapdragon 810 processor. They mention to them that if they buy a device with this chipset that they should occasionally turn it off, particularly during charging, and backup often.
Since the heat issues of the Snapdragon 810 have been well documented, it’s intriguing that Sony decided to go with it in the Xperia Z4 over another alternative. It’s possible that this could impact sales of the device, no matter how small. For now, we’ll just have to see how Sony responds to the situation.
The post Japanese Sony Xperia Z4 owners complain of heat issues appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Explore ‘Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture’ on August 11th
The middle of August is looking mighty fine if you’re an indie game fan. Not only do we get the incredibly snazzy-looking Volume from Mike Bithell on the 18th, Everybody’s Gone to Rapture exclusively hits PlayStation 4 the week prior on August 11th according to the PS Blog. What’s more, the mysterious look at what happens after the world ends from the team behind Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has a new website that’ll be updated with fiction, music and more on the road to the game’s release.
If you’re worried about said fiction spoiling the game’s mystery, however, developer Dan Pinchbeck writes that those worries are unfounded as the stories will introduce characters and themes — not plot points. It’s likely helping build the world and adding to its mystique rather than pulling a Hollywood and cramming a two-hour movie into a 90 second trailer. And speaking of which, there’s a new one of those and a fresh song off the soundtrack below.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: PlayStation Blog, Gone to the Rapture
Oculus Rift – final hardware, release info and games revealed
Every single manufacturer worth its salt is joining the virtual reality revolution. We have seen some amazing things, among our favorites is the HTC Re Vive, but there is no doubt we all have a special little place in our heart for the VR headset that sparked the new era of virtual reality – the Oculus Rift.
This small, yet amazingly ambitious project shook the internet and showed us all what VR could do for the future of gaming. We could finally play worthy games from a truly first-person, 3D perspective, naturally being able to look around the in-game environment. Nothing was more immersive and those of us who were lucky enough to try it in person were blown away. It was like magic compared to what most of us knew as commercial virtual reality (remember the Virtual Boy?).
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A successful Kickstarter campaign, an acquisition by Facebook and three years of hard work later we find ourselves taking a look at the final Oculus Rift hardware. This is the device that will actually live in your desk and rest on your heads soon.
How does it fare in an industry where it is no longer alone, and possibly not even the best around? First let’s take a good look at it, inform you about its characteristics and tell you how it has been improved over its past iterations, which only lived in developer offices and garages until now.
The new Oculus Rift and its mind-boggling controller
Details on specs continue to be a bit of a mystery, but the key elements we do know show us this thing is finally a consumer ready product. It takes but a quick glance at it to realize this much. The device is now much smaller and is made of higher quality materials. These still include mostly plastics and fabrics, but keep in mind other Oculus Rift iterations looked like half-baked products.
Key differences also include the much smaller frame, which you can now easily bear with a single hand. A pair of headphones are mounted on both sides, and these can be detached. A big improvement is that this headset can actually be used with glasses, a very important feature that simply had to be included before the Rift hit store shelves. Furthermore, you can adjust the distance between the glasses (we all have a different distance between our eyes) and there is a whole set of sliders that allow you to perfectly fit this contraption in your head.
As for the controller, every consumer version of the device will be bundled with an Xbox One controller. Kind of boring, right? But don’t go flipping tables just yet. Oculus did assure us they were working on a very unique controller that is perfectly crafted for the VR experience. It’s a pair of “Oculus Touch” controllers that seem to wrap around your hands. They include analog sticks, triggers and a couple traditional buttons. They truly look like something out of this world.
What about them games?!
The selection of games will obviously be limited at first. That’s the way things work with any gaming platform, especially one as complex as the Oculus Rift. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer came onto the stage giving us the ray of hope we needed to push us into buying this device sooner than later, though. It turns out Xbox One games like Forza, Halo and Sunset Overdrive will be able to stream to the Oculus Rift.
Granted, the Xbox One experience is not quite what you would expect out of something like the Oculus Rift. You won’t be able to look around within the game and experience the full virtual reality experience. It will seem more like you are sitting in a virtual room playing the game. Honestly, you might as well sit in an actual room and play the game… but at least this is something to hold us off until the real Oculus Rift-optimized games come around.
Thankfully, Oculus gave us a pretty neat list of games that would be optimized for the platform and ready to roll when the Oculus Rift is released, or soon after. These include titles like EVE Valkyrie, Edge of Nowhere, Chronos, Damaged Core, VR Sports Challenge, Esper, AirMech and Lucky’s Tale.
Price and release date
So this is what we all want to know, right? Will this break the bank? And how soon will it do so? While Oculus is staying pretty quiet about prices, the company has previously mentioned it should sell for under $1,500 when paired with the required PC hardware. Not too bad when you consider this PC hardware will pretty much be a gaming rig. As for the release date, the gadget should be launching during Q1 of 2016.
VR now, and in the future
So we know this isn’t exactly Android-related news, but it does give us a glimpse at where VR technology is heading and almost all of us can appreciate the doors that advanced VR may eventually open up.
Due to the limitations of mobile hardware, Android-based VR devices like the Gear VR and Google Cardboard aren’t quite as impressive as what you get from products like the Oculus Rift, but they have the advantage of being cheaper and more consumer accessible. The Rift is also being aimed almost completely at gaming at the moment, while Google and Android are looking more into the education, entertainment and productivity side of things. It should also be said that these more mobile VR solutions are powered by your smartphones, and therefore can pretty much be used anywhere.
As for the future? As technology advances, so to will the power of mobile devices, and the next-gen VR headsets that work with them. In the meantime, the Oculus Rift is an impressive look at where VR is today but, in its current form, a (likely) high price tag and the high-end PC tether requirement means it isn’t for everyone. Oculus Rift may win a place at every gamer’s desk, but Google Cardboard and other Android-related VR solutions will likely end up having more mainstream appeal, at least for the time being.
What do you think of the Oculus Rift, how much would you be willing to pay for one (including the costs for both the PC and the headset)? What do you think of current Android based alternatives, excited or do you feel they are still mostly gimmicks?
Hackers stole all federal employees’ SSN and private info, union says
A federal worker union claims that the massive Office of Personnel Management hack reported last week is even bigger and more damaging than the government cares to admit. The American Federation of Government Employees believes the hackers stole the social security number of every current federal employee and retiree, along with the SSNs of up to a million former workers. Associated Press has also obtained a letter addressed to OPM and written by AFGE’s president, J. David Cox, where he listed the other types of info stolen from OPM’s database: military records and veterans’ status information, address, birth date, job and pay history, health insurance, life insurance and pension information; and age, gender and race data. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports the hackers were inside for more than a year before a sales demo by a tech firm discovered malware in the network.
In the same letter, Cox accused the agency of failing to take the proper precautionary measures to protect federal workers: it keeps up to 780 separate pieces of information on each person, after all. “We believe that Social Security numbers were not encrypted, a cybersecurity failure that is absolutely indefensible and outrageous,” he wrote. Take note, however, the Cox and his team don’t have access to the investigation and are only basing all these from OPM’s sketchy and limited responses to their questions. An OPM spokesperson has denied allegations that the breach is bigger than the agency reported, though, telling NBC News that the official number of affected people remains the same: 4.2 million overall, including 1 million retirees, 2.1 million active civilian federal employees and 1.1 million separated workers.
If you recall, some authorities, including Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. Susan Collins, revealed that the government believes China is behind this security breach. The stolen data could be used for anything, from identity theft to blackmail. So if you’re a government employee and you receive a warning email from Homeland Security, take advantage of the credit monitoring and identity theft protection services the agency promised to offer.
[Image credit: Alamy]
Filed under: Misc
Source: AP
BlackBerry reported to release Android device this fall
BlackBerry has been quiet ever since the rise of Android and iOS. BlackBerry used to be the home for power users and people who needed more from their phone than to just call and text. The problem nowadays is that almost every phone does that. In a quest regain some of their mojo, the latest reports suggest that BlackBerry may release a device later this year running the Android operating system.
According to multiple sources, thanks to Reuters, BlackBerry’s newest strategy is to change its focus to software and device management. It is unknown if they would still employ BlackBerry OS or merely turn it into a skin, such as TouchWiz or Sense UI.
The sources also state that the BlackBerry Android device would feature a touchscreen backed by a slide-out physical keyboard. This would be huge in the smartphone market. Currently no Android or iOS device have such capabilities. Not only would it appeal to many, but it would definitely create a stir on the internet.
The post BlackBerry reported to release Android device this fall appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Reuters: BlackBerry is planning on making an Android device
Reuters has just reported that BlackBerry could come out with a phone loaded with — wait for it — the Android operating system later this year. Sources told the news outlet that this doesn’t mean the end of BlackBerry 10, but it is a big move that signifies the Waterloo company’s dwindling sales. Reuters also reports that one of the reasons for the move is that BlackBerry CEO John Chen is putting its bets on a device management system called BES12, which gives companies the ability to manage not just BlackBerry phones but also Android, iOS and Windows devices on their internal networks. Apparently the Android OS could come out on the slider device that was teased at Mobile World Congress a few months ago, which means that this Android device could launch this coming August. We’re reaching out to both Google and BlackBerry for comment and will update this post if we get a response.
Filed under: Google, Blackberry
Source: Reuters
New net neutrality rules will take effect tomorrow
Nothing will stop the new net neutrality rules from taking effect on Friday now. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has just tossed out the telecom industry’s request to block key net neutrality regulations while the lawsuit it filed is ongoing. According to the federal appeals court, the “petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements” needed to prove their case. In particular, they weren’t able to convince the court that implementing the rules on Friday would cause them irreparable damage. Under the network neutrality plan, broadband internet is reclassified as a public utility like phone service, giving the FCC more regulatory power over high-speed internet and its providers.
The rules were finally approved in February after months of opposition from telecom companies, so FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is understandably ecstatic that the court decided in the agency’s favor:
This is a huge victory for Internet consumers and innovators! Starting Friday, there will be a referee on the field to keep the Internet fast, fair and open. Blocking, throttling, pay-for-priority fast lanes and other efforts to come between consumers and the Internet are now things of the past. The rules also give broadband providers the certainty and economic incentive to build fast and competitive broadband networks.
FCC’s victory isn’t enough to make the telecom industry and its allies give up, though. Daniel Berninger, founder of the Voice Communication Exchange, told The Washington Post that he will “fight the Order all the way to the Supreme Court.” Well, we’ll know soon enough if he follows through on that promise, as the court has ordered to expedite the net neutrality lawsuit, and oral arguments could begin as early as December.
[Image credit: Getty/mindscanner]
Filed under: Misc
Source: FCC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Reuters
A game told me I don’t have what it takes to be a good Uber driver
Think you have the behind-the-wheel skills to cut it as an Uber driver? Well, the transportation company has a way for you to find out: a mobile game. UberDRIVE is an iOS title that not only offers a glimpse at a day in the life of an Uber driver, but also helps improve navigation skills. Gameplay revolves around helping riders get from one point to another by taking the safest and most efficient route possible. Opting for the best route earns a higher score, and players who grab those 5-star ratings on the regular are rewarded with new cars and access to other parts of the city. Uber created the game for current drivers to work on their navigation chops, but it’s also hoping that folks interested in signing up will give it a go to see what work day could be like. UberDRIVE is available nationwide, but for now, content is limited to the streets of San Francisco. That probably explains why I was so terrible at it.
Filed under: Transportation, Internet, Software
Via: Wall Street Journal
Using Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer from your Android phone or tablet – Android customization
I hope you had the chance to follow along last week’s Android customization post, where we used Tasker to put one-click action buttons and custom system info right on your Lollipop lock screen. We are shifting gears dramatically this week, we want to look at two of my favorite apps to remotely access and control a PC from Android phones and tablets.
The apps I am about to share with you today may not be the most full functioning, feature rich or friendly to use, but they are simply the overall two best remote desktop apps that I’ve ever used. I might add that I use them frequently, perhaps not every day, but at least three times per week as I am on the road often, with my PC back at the house.
The apps today are Google’s own Chrome Remote Desktop, which is a fairly new player in the Android remote desktop game, only releasing about a year ago. The second app on deck is called TeamViewer, which is the PC to PC remote connection tool I’ve been using for the better part of the last decade, with a newer Android app that has been around for a few years now itself.
Before we begin
Both of our apps today are free to install and use. While Chrome Remote Desktop remains just as free as most Google products are, Teamviewer offers several tiers of service. Don’t worry, TeamViewers paid offerings are focused on business users, the personal use tools are are free and more than capable.
Grab Chrome Remote Desktop from the Google Play Store.
Grab TeamViewer from the Google Play Store.
Also, and I hope I can get by without much explanation here, you will need a PC up and running, with the matching apps installed and configured, to be able to remote in from your Android device. I’ll have links to the sites and apps in the sections below.
Chrome Remote Desktop
Let’s start right from the beginning, you need to install and configure Chrome Remote Desktop on your PC before you can access from your Android device. Let me say straight up that this tool is an extension of the Chrome web browser, which you will then also need to have installed on your PC.
Head on over to the Chrome Web Store to grab the extension.
Once installed, fire up the app. You will see two sections, the Remote Assistance section that allows you to give control of your PC or take control of another. The second section is the My Computers section, which offers a shortcut method of accessing your own personal PCs, this is the one you should use for your Android device access.
If you are working with friends or family, or otherwise do not intend to keep full time access to the PC, use the Remote Assistance tool. It creates a one-time use access code that you can use to access the machine from another. This requires that a human be at both devices every time you want to get up and connected, but isn’t really the tool for your Android connection needs.
If this is your PC, and you want to generate a permanent access PIN so that you can access your machine without needing a human to click the buttons on the PC, use the My Computers tool. This requires that your PC and your Android device be logged in using the same Google Account, but the benefits are worth it.
Follow the on screen steps on your PC to start either a temporary or dedicated remote access session, then pick up your Android device and fire up the Remote Desktop app.
Once the app is fired up you will be presented the list of all of your available connected computers. Indicating which are online or not.
Tap on the desired PC.
Enter your PIN and decide if you want your Android device to remember it for later use.
Enjoy your connection, which even supports multiple monitor configurations, as you can see I have in use.
For more info, hit up the Chrome Remote Desktop support pages.
TeamViewer
One of the first remote desktop applications I had ever touched after giving up on Microsoft’s built-in tools in Windows, was TeamViewer. I started on the free personal account to manage my web and file server at home while I was at work all day. This was several years before I purchased my first Android phone.
Since the introduction of the TeamViewer Android app, I’ve been using it to write many of these very articles using just my Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 tablets from the road.
To get started, head on over to the TeamViewer website to download the application for your PC. There are two versions available, the full release allows you to both accept incoming connections and to take control to connect to others from your PC. It is installable and allows you to create a static password for access any time.
The other version of the TeamViewer application is called QuickSupport, this is a simple .exe that does not install on your PC, it simply runs to allow an incoming connection, nothing more.
Fire up either of the TeamViewer applications on your PC and you will be presented with a unique ID for your PC, and a one-time use passcode to connect.
The two versions of the app have migrated to Android as well, you’ll want the one called TeamViewer for Remote Control. I should note that the QuickSupport app for Android is only available for Android 5.0 Lollipop and newer devices.
Open TeamViewer and enter the ID number from the PC you wish to control and click the Remote Control button.
Enter the provided PIN from the PC, or the dedicated passcode if you set that up.
TeamViewer handles multi-screen PCs a little differently, providing a toggle button to control one display at a time. This may sound a little less convenient, but it certainly helps reduce your overall data usage and required connection strength.
What’s Next
While there is so much more that you can do with these two remote desktop applications, and even more that can be done with all of the other apps out there, we will basically call it quits for today.
You can try out file transfers, presenting to more than one other user and more, just for fun.
Next week
I hope this week’s Android customization post opens up a new world of mobility for you. Next week will be a toss up folks, I really want to talk about a new feature of the recently updated Tasker, but I’m not ready to commit to that yet. I also want to talk about some of the cool new things you can do with Android M, but I’m not ready for that just yet either. I may not talk about either. Sorry to keep you guessing.
Do you frequently utilize remote desktop software? What app is your favorite?
AIVAnet 